Malaria

A human body beneath me tossed and turned. I didn’t know his name, nor did I bother to make an inquiry when he came into the cabin in that evening. I had nothing personal against him, but he was just another nuisance in my already tiny private space. For a second I wished I could switch my life with him. For all his tossing and turning, for him this trip would soon be over. Sometimes it felt like I’ve always been running away from something, and always will be. I could already tell that my fever got stronger in the few hours I’ve slept.

I was on my first night on the Vivek Express from Dibrugarh to Kanyakumari, and I had Malaria.

A short story by Roni Goren Ben-Zvi