Adam raced down the marble hallway. The sounds of his sneakers and the ruffling of his blazer and khakis echoed in the church smelling corridor. He had an envelope in his hand, and a sweatband on his head. This was it, his time to shine as a senate intern. Kaitlyn, his coworker was catching up behind him. “So long, MaJUMdar!” Kaitlyn smiled and her blonde hair wobbled under her thin frame as she ran ahead. Her glasses practically strapped to her head. She was  definitely  a nerd.

 

      Today was the great senate race for interns. Each year when the Supreme Court had revealed a unanimous decision, senate interns raced with an envelope to a news group waiting outside with cameras. Today was the vote on the high profile case of a health care issue. It was a festive day. Everyone sort of had a Republican vs. Democrats vibe during the race when in reality everyone at the end would get a cupcake or something. But the real winner was the first person to deliver the sacred answer. Usually it was always some bouncy redheaded democrat delivering to CNN, but this time Adam wasn’t going to lose.

 

       “Shit!” Kaitlyn’s laces made her trip. Adam ran ahead slowly catching up to 2nd place. He could see his other coworker, Jamison Weber. He was.. annoying. Sly even. Adam even hated looking at the way Jamie ran. Nonchalant and care free, but Adam knew that Jamie secretly thought of himself as the golden god. Better than everyone else in any room he walked into. Adam ran ahead of Jamie, and realized Jamie probably didn’t care about any of this.

 

       Adam felt warm air and his sight was blinded as he ran outside to the large flat concrete path way. He heard Kaitlyn's pitter patter behind him. He saw all the camera crews around the plateau and ran as fast as he could, then the stairs hit. As the cameras zoomed in on Adam, a dark figure against the bright pale concrete, the contrast was strong as he suddenly tripped and fell down the stairs. Every camera had honed in on the poor intern tumbling with his envelope flying in the air. Adam was winded and felt the pang of pain in his right shoulder as he sat there and  wanted to crawl away from everyone. The whole nation had just watched Adam fall down some stairs. From California to New York.

 

      As he got up he saw Kaitlyn, of course being the first one to deliver her envelope to CBS.

She looked back at Adam laying on his back  and helped him up. Some other colleagues ran past the two of them. A few of them scoffing for being in their way. Adam saw Kaitlyn’s black frames enter his view and that’s when he knew it was Summer.

 

       The heat of the sun settled into his skin as he watched the blue sky and Kaityln’s hair blow around in the wind. It reminded him of a school field trip from 4th grade, but more serious. Adam hadn’t reached the age yet where he wasn’t sure if he were a kid or not. He didn’t feel like an adult. Kaitlyn and Adam walked behind the camera crews as they gleefully announced the verdicts. Jamison had finally entered their field of view, delivering his envelope to Fox News. Adam thought for a moment he may of caught a glimpse of his eyes staring at him across the grass field. Drinking koolaid with his other friends. They all worked under Sen. Porter. A very calm young  Democratic man from rural Indiana. He wasn’t a showy person. Very reserved and pays his interns. He was also very humble about his artistic skills, something Adam admired in a sea of old men who didn’t even know what an iPhone was.

 

  “So” Kaitlyn was trying to catch her breath as she was hunched over. “You good?” Adam smiled and nodded silently. “Yeah, ha I’m pretty sure my dad is going to see that and want to kill me.”  Adam touched his right shoulder under his dress shirt and felt discouraged from moving it any more.  He had forgotten how fragile he was. Usually he pushed himself  through things like this but maybe this was a sign telling him to calm down. Take a break and stop trying to compete with others. Adam was stubborn enough, he didn’t need a broken arm to stop him.

 

                The cheering of the massive crowds of activists and camera crew of the news stations broke his train of thought. He looked over and saw protesters look disappointed right next to a group of people jumping for joy that their families would get health care now. Many of them crying.

 

Kaitlyn faced the crowd as well. “It’s nice.”

 Adam slowly agreed and felt content with himself as the trees blew in the wind.

 

 

                They walked back into the capitol bulding. The smell of the old infrastructure was fuming a dusty old smell during the 90 degree heat. Tourists stared  at Adam and Kaitlyn as they walked down into the underground metro. Adam’s ID badge was sloppily scanned as the two of them walked further down into the white and grey corridor of the train area. It was quiet as they sat and waited for a small bus to pick them up. A few other senators were there. A few of them radiated joyful energy as they kept to themselves. The other two, a short woman clad in a red pant suit, and a tall hunched older man had no expression. They were tired and probably just wanted to go to sleep. And have to explain to their children why they lost.

 

         Kaitlyn and Adam’s small little red train arrived and they hoped in as they went down the tunnel. The two of them were quiet as they whirred by, heading towards the senate area.

    Kaitlyn looked at Adam’s shoulder. “So.. what happened with you and Jamison again?”

 

                “I don’t know. In all honestly I think I was over thinking it.”

      Kaitlyn laughed loudly and it echoed in the chamber.

            “Adam! You always over-think it!” She smiled and watched his face turn into an embarrassed position.      “Really dude, like. I saw you and I didn’t want to laugh in front of the cameras, and I felt really bad, so sorry I couldn’t help you up sooner.”

 

Kaitlyn looked down and twirled her hair.

 

        “It’s fine. I was just thinking about how I was trying so hard to beat Jamie that I forgot that most people weren’t.. You know. Intent and dead set on delivering a letter.”

 

 Kaitlyn was staring down at her phone and Adam felt a little embarrassed. She probably didn’t care. He saw the reflection of Instagram in her glasses and realized the video she was laughing at was of him tumbling.

 

  “Oh geez.. Adam, you’re a meme now.”

 

 Adam looked over her small screen and felt even worse about the situation, though he couldn’t help but laugh. Kaitlyn looked up “You’re funny Majumdar.”

                  The small bus had finally halted and the two of them had walked towards the senators offices. This area always made Adam feel at home. The cozy small ceilings and the soft carpet that lined the hallways evoked the many childhood memories. And as a bonus, this area was always quiet. He never had to give tours to tourists or deal with kids asking him questions like “How old is the president?” and “Are you married?”

 

 “Hey. Wanna get lunch after you’re done?”

“God, yes” Adam agreed like a desperate hungry dog.

 

Kaitlyn leaned against the wall and suddenly the two of them heard a loud yell.

“Son!!” Adam’s dad was racing up the hallway in his black suit. Adam felt sick to his stomach.

Rizvan Majumdar, known as Sen. Majumdar was a fiesty man. Passionate and at times sulky, but he got things done in the senate. A democrat from Ohio who really believed in his fellow citizens and the power of freedom. He came from Southern India at the ripe age of 21. Met his wife, Manasvi in law school, a woman who also was from the southern end of India. She too also believed in the idea of America, but she settled for something more calm. Her husband made great money. The both of them earned their own respective fame in the U.S. and the South Asian area of politics. Well respected progressive figures in many circles. So what’s the hurry? They had 3 kids, Amna, the oldest, then Adam, and finally Nishi.  They all had great childhoods. Nothing to worry about ever. Holidays to India for Navratri. And lots of toys. And a lot of media coverage of them.

 

      Adam felt instantly sick to his stomach and felt the wind of his father walking by. He opened his office and motioned for Adam to walk in. Adam peered over his shoulder back towards Kaitlyn who seemed worried as he walked in.

                      “Sit.” Adam’s dad motioned with his hand.

Adam sat in his own office chair and stayed closed to his father.

“Adam, I’m not mad.”

Adam then scooted away a bit. Making sure not to annoy him any further.

“You did fine.”

“I guess”

“Adam, you did fine.”

Adam stayed squirmish and couldn’t help but nervously chuckle.

Adam’s father got up and took off his blazer and stretched.

“I don’t have anything for you to do. You can go home.”

Adam saw the feeling of stress in his dad’s eyes. For months he had been working on this health care reform bill. And now it was taking a toll on his dad, even if it was over with. Adam felt guilty for only just being an intern.

“If you see your mother, tell her I love her.” Rizvan looked at Adam with heart in his eyes.

Rizvan knew how much it meant to the both of them and could only imagine his wife’s face during the live verdict at home. Even Amna stayed at their house and took a day off from her teaching job. All of them felt proud. Someone was missing though, and they all tried to ignore the feeling.

 

 

                    But what they all knew and felt was the feeling of failure and abandonment.

       Within the family in the past year there was a shock to everyone. Adam’s sister, Nishi had went missing before graduating stenography school and presumably left to Raqqa, Syria to join ISIS.

          Nishi growing up was always quiet. She was thin and short with messy, almost emo like hair in contrast with her more plump relatives with their hair put up in buns. At parties in India. Nishi insisted on standing in the corner, chatting with other kids her age. She was a computer hog and was very persistent on talking about people she had met online. Even though she got along with her brother and sister very well. She felt oddly disconnected from the world around her. Dissociative even. With a big red bindi annointed on her forehead. She showed the the whole world that she was a Majumdar, as much as she wanted to be forgotten about. Their mother felt guilty and horrible. Their father felt worse. If the news had broken out that a senator’s daughter had left to join ISIS, his political career was over. It was worse enough that they were Hindus. To the public at least. In India there’s enough discorse between Islam and Hinduism already that the Majumdar’s would suddenly become the main targets for “Breeding terrorists.”

The whole case was extremely kept under close eyes. No one outside of the family had even known about the whole thing.

       Adam and Amna had cried for days. Amna at times remembered the smell of the kumkum Nishi had used for her bindi and could sob on the spot. Adam would sit in his bed and not say a word. Scribble and doodle on a few pages or two, eat some food and go to bed with little to no emotion. Manasvi viscously cooked and prayed a bit to Krishna. Old dusty idols of Krishna were brought out and the smell of incense fumed the house for months.

                 The FBI had heavily investigated into everyone. Rizvan at times felt offended that he could even be considered a “threat to national security.” The man worked for the U.S. and met crying mothers thanking him for his service. Young couples who had lost everything, old women smiling at their grandchildren’s futures and people who had missed the feeling of voting.

                 When Nishi’s computer had been confiscated, her mother couldn’t bear to look at the screen. Chat logs with a man named  Aamil had convinced her for over a year to join ISIS. Nishi had expressed intimate details about her life. Times she didn’t feel real or felt alone. Aamil had met Nishi on a fourm while Nishi was looking for ISIS sympathizers out of curiosity.

                  Aamil had sent Nishi books on Islam. Some of them more peculiar than others. With names like The Rights & Duties of Women in Islam and Islamic Dress Code for Women. Even gifts with chocolate and gifts cards. At one point he had even sent her high quality niqabs and hijabs.

Letting them be shipped to her best friend’s house so no one would suspect a thing.

She never was able to use the scarves though. She actually enjoyed wearing her bindi every day. Her mother always told her any girl looked beautiful with one. Regardless of how religious any of them were.

                  The same mother cried when she saw the last known taken picture of her. Nishi’s secret Twitter had a picture posted of herself  on July 5th. 2016, with a caption of only a heart emoji. Nishi was smiling and looked for once in her life genuinely happy. Her eyebags were gone and she seemed for once, content.

 

Adam sometimes wondered if she ever felt justified

 

Adam walked out the office saying his goodbyes and walked out with Kaitlyn.

 

They had a coffee at a small local coffee shop just outside of D.C. that Adam had been going to his whole life.  And drove home awaiting his mother and sister.