My mobile battery was down

“My mobile battery was down”. Was that a lie? No. But was it the answer to the question? May be not. But everyone assumed it. I did not attend the call not because my mobile battery was down, which seems correct. But there is always a land line. The truth is, I did not remember about the call. Coming to think of it, I did not remember because my mobile did not remind me with the alarm. And the reason for that is "My mobile battery was down". Looks like I was not lying at all.
“Are you alright?”, a colleague asked me. I obviously was not listening in the meeting. “I am alright. Just that I did not sleep well yesterday night.” I lied. The meeting went on as usual with few talking and none listening. The meeting appears to be a time for everyone to meet without any agenda. So people even talked about what the agenda should be. I never listened and I am not listening now. My mind was everywhere except the meeting. As my ears picked few buzz words like “deadlines”, “deep dive”, “out of the box”, my fingers were swiping the polished table. It was drawing short horizontal lines removing the thin layer of dust that has settled in. After few swipes, the coarse dust has come off and it was all smooth. My finger tip liked it better now. I kept on rubbing it for a while applying pressure more and more. Slowly the smoothness was gone and the finger tip no longer was going straight. The friction increased and the table could not keep it quiet. It started screaming with screeching noise. The more and more I moved my finger against the table, the more the sound increased. It was as if the table was in pain. Ironic, for it was me who was in pain. Still it kept screaming and the pitch went on higher and higher. And then in a sudden moment, I stopped. The room was in silence. The table stopped screaming. I looked around where everyone was staring at me. Wide blank eyes all focussed at my face wondering what has happened. They would not understand. None of them would. I moved back my chair and ran out of the conference room. I was sweating all over my face. My fingers would not be still. Emptiness was sticking on my hand and I did not like it one bit.
Running fast to the men's room, I was glad that nobody was inside. The mirror showed a very tired face. Tired and longing hard for something to happen. Turning on the tap, I washed my face trying to find some strength. The warm water took away some of the drowsy look on the face. But the heart still felt the unrest in my mind. I looked at the mirror which could have showed a better face if not for the water vapors settling on it hiding away the reflection. I touched the glass wiping the water slowly to get back the view of my face. The more I try to clean the mirror, the more I felt the heart pounding faster. The face was turning pale again even though I couldn't stop swiping on the mirror which was already clean. I keep swiping faster and faster until I heard the sound of someone entering the room. Not willing to get caught, I rushed out of the men's room after successfully evading a crash with a stout gentleman. I walked in panic towards my cubicle holding on the walls once in a while and trying hard not to get others' attraction. Nevertheless there were few who would turn with a suspicious look. An awkward smile was all I could give them and with the dizziness increasing more, I leaned against the wall, dragging myself toward the cubicle. With just few feet to go, I could feel my air ducts close making me suffocate in a wide open air conditioned room. My fingers screeching against the wall only said that the wall is not smooth enough. With few seconds left to pass out, I entered my cubicle and tried to scream for help. But as fate would play, my voice was gone and my little puff searching for air could not alert the chair-glued nerds from the next terminals. With nobody to help, I took my phone of which mobile battery was down from my pocket. With only few ticks away from losing consciousness, I plugged the charger pin to the mobile trying to wake it up. Few seconds and even another passed and I know I do not have another second left. My repeated press on the buttons were not worthy, as I passed out on my desk.
Time either a minute or an year is always a blink of an eye for those who are just waking up from the dark void. It was the familiar chime that woke me up. I was not sure how long I had passed out. Oxygen was rushing to my lungs and my brain could get the energy first to hear followed by a blurred sight of the mobile screen lightened up. With the vibrations of the chime sending more oxygen to the lungs, my brain finally got the scent of my small cubicle feeling it home. The fourth sense was already up as I eagerly reached for the mobile with my hand. I touched the screen that caused a tingling sensation that spread through my body rejunivating the muscles that were almost dead for so long. I followed the instruction "Slide to answer". "Hello" I said. I could talk and my voice was back. "What took you so long to answer the phone?" asked my wife on the line. "I don't know.... my mobile battery was down". I said. It was true. I should have never let the battery of my iphone get drained.