"Ugh...who drew the curtains away this early morning?"

Jiya groaned as she tried to turn away from the sun. However, she ended up banging her head on the bench's backrest.

"Owie"

She shouted as she rubbed her forehead with her palms.

Slowly, she opened her eyes, turning away from the backrest. The sunlight fell directly on her eyes, and she covered her face instinctively.

It suddenly dawned on her that she was not in her home but at the bus stop. As soon as she realised that, she jolted up, with a horrified look on her face.

She looked around to find that everything was a mess, her suitcase open and a few clothes lying outside, her passbook on the ground, shining as it reflected sunlight and her shoes in the corner.

Fortunately, it was a summer morning, so although the sun had risen, it couldn't be later than 7:00* on the clock. It was a vacation month* so, fortunately, not many people would have passed by.

At a well-guarded rich locality, it's a normal thing that her luggage and suitcase were still there, although in a dishevelled state, which was Jiya's fault alone.

Jiya quickly got up and hurriedly stuffed everything in her bag except for her bank passbook.

She took a water bottle out of the suitcase and washed her face near the sidewalk, then stuffed it back. Took out a towel and wiped her face.

Then she looked for her hair tie, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn't find it. Finally, she decided to knot her hair into a bun, but when she moved her fingers through her hair to make it even, she found her tie knotted badly between her hair.

She giggled at her own foolishness.

However, Jiya was a girl of little patience; it's clear from how she was acting so mature yesterday night, but was a total mess this morning.

So, she didn't bother herself unknotting the hair tie; she just plucked her few hairs out with the tie!

She tied her hair into a high ponytail and was set to go ahead.

'But where do I go now ?' The most important question finally dawned on Jiya.

She brought her hands to her chin and thought hard while frowning.

'Bank?' She thought

Well, since Jiya didn’t have any liquid money with her, it was only common sense to visit the bank first. After all, she can't just transfer money from her passbook directly.

'But how?'

Another question with a hard answer. Without change, no bus can be boarded. Taking a rickshaw* was not an option in this extravagant area.

'How about I walk to the commercial street and then take a rickshaw from there? I can ask the guy to wait in front of the bank till I come back and then pay him.'

Well, not every driver agrees to these terms, but it's not completely impossible.

"Hmmm~"

"If only I could use my 'board'. She sighed as she thought about the luxuries that were at her disposal till now.

She walked to the commercial street, which was about three kilometres away. She reached there all sweaty and tired.

The sun had started shining brighter, and there was more movement around.

"There was supposed to be a stand here", Jiya grumbled.

Yes, it was. However, rickshaws won't start lining up this early in the morning, which is unknown to Jiya.

Jiya looked up at the sun, irritated.

"So hot", she complained as she was trying to fan her face with her handkerchief. Clear signs of a delicate girl from a rich household

Although it was still morning, the roads on Commercial Street had started to look busy. People moving to offices, Evolvans flying across the sky, children zooming around on the 'magnetic board' just like the one Jiya had back at home. A few pedestrians walking here and there...

'This world is so different, ' Jiya thought. Last night, she was in a lavish but quite melancholy area, and this area, although noisy, looked so cheery.

...everyone here is moving busily with these motives set in mind.

'Am I the only one without a goal, walking aimlessly? ' A bittersweet smile formed on Jiya's face for some reason no one could understand.

Just like normal people find happiness in sadness, a depressed person can find sadness in happiness, it was nothing new on Jiya's part.

She started looking at the metallic road, small balls stuck in minute boxes packed together. Strange enough to Jiya, today they looked stuck there, almost as if they were choked there and would crumble down at any moment.

Well, yes, the road was metallic; more accurately, it can be called magnetic. It was made up of micromagnetic balls packed in metallic cross-sections.

The base of the vehicles had manipulable electromagnets, instead of wheels, just like the magnetic boards children were riding. Sign of a technologically advanced civilisation.

But when in history have advanced civilisations offered guaranteed happiness? It was always something bleak and inconsistent, based on a person's characteristics and thought processes.

Tears started rolling down her cheeks as her vision blurred. She forgot she was standing by the main road.

She stood there silently, gripping the handle of her suitcase, for what seemed like an eternity. Till a noise brought her back to Earth.

#Note

*Summer sunrise times in India are between 6:00 to 7:00 in the west, i.e. western states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Rajasthan. Towards the east, it's 2 hrs early.

*India Vacations for schools and colleges are extended from March to May or sometimes even June, depending on the region or school, but it will be 2 months, any two. However, May is a month that will be a common vacation month. These vacations are given after the end of the academic year.

This information is needed as I never specified the location and time properly. However, such information is given about the location passively without breaking the flow of the story.