Chapter 1- Alice.

"This has GOT to stop."

Alice said to herself as she idly scrolled down random Farcebook posts.

"I mean- just look at this woman. She just shows one half of her face-

because the other half is the birthing ground of 3 perfectly hairy

moles."

"And... she has more likes than me! Whatta farce!"

I wouldn't blame Alice for being in a bitchy mood.

She was currently on Vacation and had absolutely nothing to do.

I never thought I'd miss holiday homework she dolefully told Puddles,

her 7 year old spaniel.

He just looked up at her bored. And yawned. Alice finally broke out in

a thin-lipped smile.

"Yeah, you and me, both, boy."

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“All I need now is like a little break from all these damned idiots.” Alice exclaimed, disgusted.
She had woken up when the power had gone and had waited till the little AC room where her entire family slept in summer, (to save on the electricity bill) resounded with deep snores and little puffy snores, to start browsing Youthube- an interactive music platform that launched new artists.
There was this new single by a sweet little band called Blind Pilot and the song was ‘3 Rounds and a Sound.’ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll6vUo0Su80

Alice let the harmony wash over her quietly; as her mind went back to the times she had spent with Norbert. ” He would have been 23 today, if he hadn’t…” Norbert, or Nor, as she used to playfully call him, had been snatched away from her almost two years ago.
Unusually, she hadn’t let that stop her from moving on. She had had her string of hopeful maybes- expecting every other relationship she engineered to prove her wrong – to show her that all had not been lost. She was an optimist- sometimes.
“This damned song is making me nostalgic. I TOTALLY need a new Playlist- pronto!”
Alice was always weird like this. She thought Music was super important in changing the way you think- you could change from a super happy mood to a super down-in-the-dumps mood- all in the precious time window of 3 minutes and 11 seconds , or however long the latest Coldplay track lasted.
And speaking of dumping, there was a little time to reflect on that as well- her most recent ex had dumped her- hard.
“Screw this, I’d rather see what’s happening on Farcebook.”
Luckily the power had returned and with it- the Wifi- (god bless that!)
“Hmmm, Humans of Lajpat Nagar, (yes, because this story is set in New Delhi, no matter how Anglicized it seems.) Terribly Tiny Trolls, Lion Shroff- nothing new here… oh, hey!”
Her eyes narrowed slowly at a common friend’s new profile picture. It was a guy who used to be her classmate back at the University. He had just returned from Jilin, China, after an official trip.
“Everyone is traveling EVERYWHERE!”, Alice used her irritated voice. Puddles opened one sleepy eye and growled. “Oh go back to bed, idiot.”
This guy, Luc, had some amazing profile pictures it seemed. So, at 3:35 in the morning, Alice started looking at the pictures.

“Here is Luc on a bike (typical). Luc and girl-friend. Luc and beer can. Only beer can. Luc and ex University buddies- wow, Laisha was SO thin here. Luc and….”

She stopped speaking.

Her eyes rested on the guy taking a selfie with Luc, wearing a Converse t shirt, and… a ring? On the ring finger too. The sign behind them said ‘Emergency Exit. Keep Clear.’

Kenelm Stevens.

Youthtube took this precise opportunity to start a fast track by Smash Mouth, ‘I’m a Believer.’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaKDOYTZbJg


“I thought love was only true in Fairyyytales… Meant for someone else but not for me… Oh love was out to get me, that’s the way it seemed; disappointment haunted all my dreams… Then I saw your face… now I’m a BELIEVERRRR….”

“Can’t you ever go to bed on time?” Alice’s dad suddenly slurred, sending her packing – laptop and all to the hot sitting room.

“Kenelm-  What a strange name. It sounds … ancient. I wonder what it means.”

There was something about Kenelm that Alice kept returning to.

She clicked a button that led her to his Farcebook profile.  The privacy setting was pretty high. All she knew was that Kenelm was working. in Delhi and Some pictures of a recent trip to some place in Uttarakhand.

She checked the time-

4:55 a.m.

“What the… ! I need to go to bed now or morph into Girl with Zombie Eyes tomorrow.”

She slept a strangely restless sleep as dawn broke on a bright blue morning that day.

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