A Brain Cell Roundtable

Cells One, Two and Three have gathered for their meeting inside Mili's brain. The rest either don't exist or are doing whatever brain cells do. These three are special, however, because of their exceptional slacking abilities. They don't do much, but they give it all in mindless chatter every night.

One: Okay folks, it's time for our nightly chit-chat. What's up?

Two: There's this really obscure, avant-garde song Mili's been listening to on repeat. Personally, I don't like it, maybe because it's not her style.

Three: Don't worry, it's just a phase. It'll pass before you know it. Play the song anyway.

They listen to the song together.

One: Yeah, I don't like it either. But let's keep it in the background. Three, any words?

Three: I'm feeling very philosophical tonight. What's the meaning of life? What does true happiness feel like? Can peace be achieved without violence?

They ponder upon other rhetorical questions, leading to a heated debate.

Two: Alright, all this musing is making me–

One: Yeah, enough of this. We need something lighter.

Two: Remember that one time Mili got into a fight at school over a pencil?

Three: Two, she was only eight! Leave it alone!

Two: But it's still funny.

Three: And extremely embarrassing, because she got detention afterwards.

They all laugh anyway, recounting the memory in detail.

Two: It's funny how Mili doesn't even get scolded anymore, given the amount of classes she skips.

One: I know, right? How does she not get caught?

Three: Guess we could put some effort into helping her skip classes more effectively. Our other pals are doing all the hard work.

Two: Or we could put some guilt into her. At this rate, she'll end up failing this semester.

One: Let's add some longing as well.

Three: Longing? For whom? Don't tell me it's for that plain-faced celebrity.

They laugh.

One: Seriously though, it's kind of sad to see Mili hasn't fallen in love with anyone yet.

Two: All these love songs, even the one I'm playing as we speak, and she still can't relate to the feeling.

Three: Neither can we. If she did have a genuine crush on somebody right now, we'd only talk–wait, is Mili getting up?

Two: I think so.

One: Eh, never mind. Maybe she needs to pee.

Mili realised that this was going to be another sleepless night. She went outside and opened the fridge even though she wasn't hungry, she realised eating now would be a bad idea and just had some water. She went back to her room and got under the covers once again, and begged sleep to grace her closed eyes.

Adhora Ahmed daydreams too much. Send her reality checks at adhora.ahmed@gmail.com