Chapter 47

sleep had been a welcome escape for her....
until her dreams began...
she was wid raj...her love...her life....laughing...playing....kissing...

inexplicably the dream changed...

bullets!....pain...shadows.....masks...gunshots....
she was losing consciousness...one last time maa....hug me...lull me to sleep...don't go away from me...don't leave me alone....nooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!......babaaaa!!!..maaaaa!! !!
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!! an excrutiating pain....blood....darkness... ...

she fought the nightmarish image...but she knew dat dis was the end...

something touched her shoulder & naina grabbed for it blindly to keep from slipping into dat darkness...
but dat something started shaking her hard....demanding dat
she wake up.....

raj had heard her scream & had rushed to her side...
here too the fire had died down...& a chill had settled instead...
he was bent over her..

naina was drenched in cold sweat & shook uncontrollably...
tears still flowing...
the vividness of the nightmare clung to her...
not fully cognizant of wat she was doing..
she sat up & threw her arms around his neck in panic..
needing the comfort of his strong arms...

his arms circled around her wildly trembling body...
he picked her up & carried her to the fire,
placing her on the couch in his room ,hoping dat the fire's heat would warm the cold terror within her heart...

"i h...had dis dream," she tried to explain, stammering in a frightened whisper.
she had to talk about it to end its posession of her mind....
"bh..bhaiya...kahaan hai?...h..has he come back?"

"nahi naina...relax...it's over...but if u do feel like talkin bout it...i'm dere to listen to u"
she shook her head...kaash bhaaiya hote...he knows everything...come on naina...
she took a deep
breath as if trying to calm herself...
distancing herself....withdrawing from those memories