FF Meri Mehbooba (harshad & additi)ch 11 pg 14 - Page 6

Chapter'5

The next day gaurav deliberately went into that room agen.. he searched evry nook and corner of the huge room and came across some more portraits of Heera'though in a bad state bt he selected 4 among those paintings in wich her face was almost clear.. he took then to his own room and took snaps of them as he had decided that he wud include Heera's story in his project.. as THE STORY OF A BRAVE RAJPUT PRINCESS..to add to the historic glory of the rajputanas' the whole day went away in carving out the story and taking other pictures'. By the evening,Gaurav became quite tired and decided to take some rest' he laid down on his bed and kept gazing at one of the paintings of Heera' he cudnt take his eyes off her' in his tired and lazy mind'somehow he wished he cud see her alive,praise her extraordinary beauty on her face and see her blush shyly,he wished he cud touch her'. The deep desire in his mind started to disturb him' as a totally alien feeling filled up his mind and heart'. Unable to keep himself relaxed,he sat up on his bed'.

suddenly agen the lights went off... he sighed--ooff ye yahan ke electricity problem... dimag kha jata hain....

he got up and decided to call manju,the caretaker as the bell wud nt be working without electricity.. bt then he realised,that he himself cud fetch some candles frm the dining room,downstairs without the help of the caretaker....

he climbed down the stairs and started approaching the dinig room,slowly making his way out in the almost dark hall... wen suddenly..he collided with someone and due to his reflex,he stepped back.... the person with whom he had collided looked up at him.... it was a girl...the first live female figure he saw in the palace.... he was so surprised that he stared at her face without any reason... he cudnt see her face properly and it was almost hidden by her long black strands of lose hair... all he cud make out in the moonlight creeping through the window panes was that she had big,beautifully expressive eyes.. he was about to say something,perhaps a " sorry " ,wen to his utter astonishment,she quickly walked past him and then started to run.... Gaurav,attracted by curiousity, ran behind her... he even called out---hey...kaun ho tum...? kahan ja rahi ho? ruko..... bt she paid a deaf ear.... she continued to run in the dark quite swiftly unlike gaurav whu kept on colliding with things and balancing himself.... suddenly she disappeared.... Gaurav stopped, panting.... he looked around him... no... she was nowhere.....

gaurav(to himself)--are ye gayi kahan? yehi to thi....

then he thought that perhaps she had hidden herself somewhere in the dark... he wondered who she was.... whu knew this palace quite so well that she cud even make her way out in the dark..... he gave it up and started walking towards the dining hall.....bt... he didnt realise that a pair of big,black and careful eyes were continuously keeping at his track.... he took some candles frm the drawer of the kitchen shelf and started walking back towards the stairs... as he stepped inside the main hall agen....all of a sudden,an eerie feeling misted up his mind.... he looked around him carefully,his eyes searching for something in vain.... he didnt know why he cud feel the presence of another living person in the room....it seemed that he cud even feel someone's breath.... bt he cud see noone..... just then the lights came back... and the room became all bright.... Gaurav heaved a sigh of relief and started ascending the stairs....

a part of the room was still dark,bacause of the shadows created by the constantly blowing curtains... unnoticed by gaurav, there was a different type of shadow....a more humanly kind....with long straight hair wich was also blowing continuously.... bt the person was nt visible.....only her shadow was there....staring at him,whu was slowly climbing up the stairs......