Chapter5

I couldn't stay there anymore. I immediately got up and ran out, as my mind was rushing me to go back to the memories of that day.

I immediately went to the store room, closed the door behind me and collapsed onto the floor. I didn't know when the tears began flowing out or when my mind drifted back into the past.

3 YEARS AGO,

Anu moved swiftly through the corridors, crashing into everyone coming in her way, trying hard to swallow her tears. And when she reached her room, she fell on the bed not even bothering to close the door behind her and began crying profusely. 

Soon her eyes, face and nose turned red, her pillow turned wet, and her face got washed away with her tears.

She lost all the hope. That's all. It ends this way. Arjun would never love her in this life. 

That thought itself caused her to break into more sobs.

She remembered the happiness on Arjun's face few minutes ago when he told them that he told his parents about Vaishali and that they agreed to meet her.

One part of her wanted to feel happy seeing the smile on his face but on the other part, she wished for her to be the reason behind that smile.

This was not new for her. She had been seeing all this since past 4 years, but that day, it felt different. It felt like he was being snatched away from her forever. And she was not able to deal with it.

Just then her phone buzzed. It was her father. Seeing it her sobs increased further. She immediately answered the call wiping her nose.

 "Hello...", Her mother's voice said on the other side.

Anu tried to hide the lump inside her throat and just replied by a "Hmmm",

"What are you doing?", Her mother asked.

"No..thi..ng", She replied in a low voice.

"What?", Her mother asked not able to hear her voice.

Anu let out a sigh and tried to speak in a high voice.

"Nothi....", But she couldn't finish. Her pain didn't let her to. She broke down completely. For the next few seconds all her mother could hear was her sobbing.

"Anu Ma, what happened? Why are you crying? Did anyone say something?", Her mother asked worried.

Anu inhaled a deep breath causing a wheezing sound and said,

"No..no one said anything... It's just that...I want to see you all. I..I don't feel like staying here."

"What happened Ma? Why are you feeling like that all of a sudden?"

Well, she couldn't really tell that.

"I don't know...but I want to see you Amma...please come na...", She said and once again began crying.

"Don't cry beta, see your father has also come. Speak to him..", And there was some mumbling for the next few seconds followed by her father's voice.

"Hello Anu? What happened? Are you crying?"

And what could melt a crying daughter more than her father's soothing voice.

"Papa..., Papa..., I want to see you... please come here na...", She said.

"Don't cry beta... We are not very far from you...Are we? And you said your exams would be over in a month. You can come immediately after that.", Her father tried to explain.

"No papa, please...I want to see you. Please come...", She begged.

"Okay beta...but we got the new timber stock today. We are sorting it out. Shall we start tomorrow morning?", He asked.

"No... please start now itself....please.", She said.

"It becomes difficult now...",

"I can't breathe Papa...", She said in an utterly vulnerable voice and began crying once again.

Her father sighed deeply and said,

"Okay! We are coming.", He said and cut the call.

And after few minutes, Anu slipped into a deep slumber.

Few hours later,

Anu woke up to the sound of her phone. She looked at the unknown caller id and the time, 12:30 am. She answered the call as her brows frowned.

"Hello!", Her voice bore the mix of daze and suspicion.

"Is this Anu speaking?"

"Yeah,... Who's this?"

"How are you related to Mr.Vishwanath Madhavan?"

Anu's spine straightened. Her daze was long gone by  now.

"He is my father. What happened? Who are you?"

"I am Jaffer Siddiqui, Circle inspector. Umm, I think we need you here. Can you please start immediately if we give you the address?"

Hearing the word Circle inspector, her mind became numb. Her heart beat kept rising. She should have caught it from the inspector's voice itself. A small negative feeling began crawling at the back of her brain.

"Wh..what happened sir?"

"Can you please come to the ring road behind the......

You can get the details from here. Please, it's urgent."

His requesting tone scared her more. Sweat beads began forming on her forehead.

"No..no, first you tell me what happened. Why were you asking about my father? Let me know what's happening?"

"Uh...,", He took a long pause.

"I am sorry, Ms.Anu. But Mr.Madhavan, his wife and 18 year old daughter died in a road accident an hour back."

PRESENT

Anu's POV,

Fresh tears rolled down my face as I remembered that horrible moment once again. It all still keeps moving infront of my eyes everyday. Nobody in this world knows what I go through every single minute in my mind.

Many times it seems like dying is the best option. But then, who is going to take your punishment if you die?

Unfortunately, for such sins, you cannot be kept imprisoned within four walls. You are let out free. So that you can live every single day and keep dying in the guilt.

All of a sudden my breath became heavy. It felt like somebody was choking me. Perhaps it was my guilt. The pain was becoming unbearable. I gave in and threw my head back, waiting for whatever that would happen next to come. I waited. But nothing happened.

The pain slowly began fading. I tried opening my eyes. At first I couldn't, but then I was able to. My vision was so blurry initially, that I couldn't make out anything. The darkness surrounding me didn't help either. Then after few seconds, it got better. And then the first thing I saw was,

Three bodies draped in white sheets, covered in blood. There's some kind of odour from them. That you get from burnt flesh and hair. It seemed like the smell was reaching to me and pulling out my gut contents.

This...

This.....this one, I saw it. I saw it before.

I have come here before.

No, no, no. This is not true. Anu wake up! Wake up!

"Di! Why did you kill me?"

Kishu? Where are you?

"Beta! It would be difficult for us to come."

Papa! No, no! Anu get up! Get out of here! Call someone.

"Anu, we said we will not come. Now see what happened?"

Amma! Sorry! I shouldn't have forced you. Please, sorry.

"Okay, come on. No problem, now we have finally come. Come here, beta!",

And all the three bodies got up once. The white cloth covering them was gone now. They all stood there with burnt bodies, oozing blood. 

They began moving towards me slowly. I tried moving, but it's as if I never learnt to walk. I tried to shout, but something was clogging my throat from above. Blood traces of their foot formed as they walked. And then they hovered over me. I kept looking at them. And then all of a sudden, there was a ear piercing loud shriek. It was so loud that I could feel the blood gushing into my ears. And I didn't even notice when a loud cry escaped my mouth and when I fell to the floor.

Soon my mind began spiralling into oblivion. I could feel my eyes drooping, not into a sleep of sweet dreams but into one with nightmares. Those nightmares that I have been seeing since the last 3 years. 

Even in that darkness I could make out three figures hovering over me. My body began giving up. As I was struggling to keep my eyes open the last thing I could remember was a loud thumping echoing in my ears.

Shree's POV 

We were sitting in Anu's bedroom lost in our thoughts when we heard her shrieking. We immediately ran out in that direction. At first we didn't understand where it came from but after few seconds we could make out her whimpers coming from the store room and we ran towards it, me being the first one to reach and bang the door. But I didn't get any response.

When Arjun came, he didn't waste another second. He began breaking the door with all his might. If it was any other day, I would have been seriously worried about his shoulder. 

And finally after few more painful collisions he succeeded. We didn't had to enter the room because she was laying there, at the door, shivering, sweating, almost unconscious.

We immediately ran to her and Arjun took her into his lap. He began tapping her cheeks gently, rubbing off the tears and sweat from her face. He began calling her name while running his hand through her messy hairs.

On the other side, Anu began curling as soon as he took her into his arms. She clutched onto his shirt tightly, whimpering. Her eyelids fluttered like the pages of a book.

"Papa...", She said in an ailing tone. That's when I really got into my senses. I looked around the room for sign of any switches but none came to my sight. So I told Arjun,

"Ajju, let's get her out of this room. I will get her some water.", Saying so I rushed out towards the kitchen.

By the time I returned, Arjun was setting her down on the bed. I handed him the glass of water and he carefully lifted her head and made her take a few sips. It seemed to help her a bit because she opened her eyes for a brief second and noticed us.

"Ar..Jun.., Sh...rr..ee...,", She said in a blurred voice and held onto my hand weakly.

"Shhh,, now sleep...", Arjun said keeping her hand back in place and ran his hand over her hairs in a soothing manner. I wish Anu really remembers all these moments tomorrow morning. How much she longed for that touch and care from Arjun! If it's any other normal night she would have ran all around the house jumping, hanging onto that one moment.

Maybe it's all my fault! I shouldn't have told Ajju about her feelings for him. But if I hadn't, he would have never known. He might marry off someone else and I can never let that happen.

Finally, she has drifted into sleep. Arjun and I sighed in relief. We sat there still for some more time looking at her.