The Covert (AR) Chapter 5 : Page 22 - Page 9

Chapter 3

~The First Talk~

I shouldn't have done it. I was so scared. And I didn't know what to do. I wasn't supposed to scream. I just had to sit quietly and listen to everything he wanted to say. I wasn't to react but I did, knowing very well what the consequences of my actions meant.

"Riddhima" I jumped on the bed as I heard his voice. He was coming. I could hear his footsteps. I tried controlling my trembling but when it came to him, nothing was in my control ever. The door opened and got locked with the click.

"What did you do now?" He asked coming towards me.

Grabbing my arm tightly he made me look up at him. He was angry, he was mad and I was the reason for it. I whimpered as I looked at him. It's been weeks saw him. Last time he was in this room when Luke died.

"I...I...I don't know," I tried cowering away but his hold on me didn't let me.

"You don't know? Are you hiding something, Riddhima." He taunted. The malice was present in his tone. He twisted my arm behind my back roughly. I wanted to scream but I couldn't. Because making any type of noise meant more punishment. And I just wanted to be alone.

"I swear it was..Aah..it was just an accident." Tears pooled in my eyes as I felt him gripping my arm tightly.

He's going to break my hand.

"No, please no. Believe me. I didn't want to..."

Crack

I heard a cracking sound as he threw me out of the bed. This time I couldn't stop the scream. The pain was too much for handle.

Holding my broken arm tightly against my chest I screamed as loud as I could. I wanted help, I needed help and nobody could have helped me at that point except for one person. Each and every person in the hospital was against me. He had made sure of it. And I didn't know for how long he would have let him help me before he's forced to go against me just like others.

"Riddhima," I heard him knocking on the door. "Open the door. Riddhima? Why is this door locked? Somebody bring me the key." I heard him shouting at others. For now he was trying to help before he would be taken away like others. And it was the present that held importance, not the future and not the past.

"This will teach you a lesson." I was looking at the door, praying for him to come quickly. But his words brought me back to him. He whispered those words crunching down beside me. Holding me by my hair he made me look at him. I knew this wasn't the end but the start of the pain that was missing from my life from sometime.

Pushing roughly he got up to open the door. The next instant I felt someone's touch. This touch wasn't rough like I was used too. It was different just like hers. And for a moment I thought she's back. But when I opened my eyes and looked at the source I saw a pair of deep blue eyes staring down at me.

"It's okay. I have got you," I heard him murmuring, trying to calm me down with soothing words but it wasn't helping at that time.

"M...My...My... arm, it ...it hurts." I said.

The pain was so severe that I was gasping for air, like someone had knocked the air out of me. It felt like it was broken just like before. But I knew it wasn't because this time it wasn't that painful like last time. And that time there wasn't anyone to help me. But this time I had someone, at least for a small amount of time.

"It's not broken. You have dislocated your elbow. Try to stay with me and everything's just going to be fine. Okay. Are you with me?" He asked.

I nodded weakly. Gently he lifted me from the ground and settled me on the bed.

"I am going to give you pain medicines and then we are going to work on your elbow. Alright?"

Again I nodded. He was speaking so slowly and carefully as if he was scared of my reaction. He didn't know that in so much of pain I wouldn't have done anything except obey. He didn't know that I wasn't given those medicines from a couple of hours which would have caused some kind of scene. And if he stayed with me they wouldn't have any chance of giving me for the next couple of hours.

"Don't leave...leave...leave me alone." Grabbing his coat I pulled him closer and whispered in his ears. He was my only way of sanity at that time. My only lifeline. And in no way I was letting him leave me. Even if it meant raising some doubts in his mind.

He had question. I saw it in his eyes but now wasn't the time. Now I just needed him to help me overcome the pain I was experiencing.

"Promise me. Promise me you won't leave me alone. Promise..." I whispered maintaining my grip on him. There I said it.

"I promise." Those were the last words I heard before the darkness consumed me.

*********************************************************************************

"Alone" I kept repeating the word in my head as I sat in the room.

The way she looked at me when she said that word spoke volumes. There were so many things that I could interpret but none of them felt right. This case was tempting. She was tempting me and me, after seeing and meeting her face to face knew there's a lot more that was missing from the file.

I saw so many emotions getting reflected on her face in such a short span of time that it was hard for me to interpret which one's the real and which ones are fake. There was no doubt in my mind that there were times she was faking. And I wanted to know why?

The picture she wanted to present was very much clear. 'I am not sane. I am insane.' Any person would have fallen for her act. She was that good. But was she actually insane? I had my reserves. I wasn't too sure now especially now when I got the chance of seeing and observing her closely.

She was trying to act crazy, screaming, throwing tantrums, trying to project something which wasn't clicking somewhere. The more I met her, the more she intrigued me. I could have been wrong and it wasn't something I was ready to accept. I needed to get to the bottom of this and that's what I did, starting with her.

I had just gotten out from my seat when I heard a gut ' wrenching scream.

Riddhima.

I opened the door and ran towards her room. Her scream kept getting louder and louder as I reached her room.

"Riddhima" I knocked on the door when I couldn't open it. I tried opening it but it was locked from inside.

"Open the door. Riddhima? Why is this door locked? Somebody bring me the key." I yelled at the nurses and the ward boys who were standing behind me. One of them ran to bring the duplicate key as I kept standing at the door, knocking, calling her name. There were so many thoughts going in my mind and none of them were good.

Is she having another nightmare?

Or has she hurt herself.

Her screams held so much of pain. Pain, just like the terror I saw in her eyes when I saw her the last time. Both were real and both held answers to a lot to question that were going through my mind. But my first priority was to make sure she's okay which I knew she was not as she continued screaming.

The ward boy who had gone to bring the key wasn't back and it meant I had to break open the door. I was about to do it when the door opened and I came face to face with...

"Dr. Malik I was waiting for you."

"You?" I asked looking at him. For a second I was completely blank. I didn't know what to do. Should I ask him the questions that had started forming in my mind as I saw him or should I jump to the conclusion or wait? But as I heard her scream I pushed him aside and ran towards her. A long conversation was due but my patient was my first priority.

She was lying on the ground holding her arm, crying and screaming in pain. I looked around for any more damage but didn't saw. I knelt down beside her and touched her lightly. To be honest I was a bit scared for a second. I didn't want to surprise her or make her more uncomfortable than she was already. Any unexpected movement could have created more problems. And I wasn't ready for it.

I tried calming her down. And to some extent I was even successful when she didn't try cowering away like before. Very gently I helped her on the bed and it was only when I was sure she's going to be okay I tried getting up. The only good thing that came out of this incident was the fact that at least her arm wasn't broken. That would have caused more problems.

I tried leaving her for a second to ask for her medicines but her grip on me tightened.

"Don't leave...leave...leave me alone." She whispered in my ears before her eyes darted towards the door for a second and back at me. It was the first time she wasn't pushing me away or trying to push herself away from me. And in no ways I was letting her down. Not when I looked down at her tears filled eyes and saw a tiny hope that was directed towards me.

She was asking for my help and I was more than ready to give it to her. This was the start that I needed to make her trust me. Trust would have helped me in uncovering and clearing the doubts that were increasing each day. Each day brought with itself a new mystery whose answers needed to be answered. And there were just two people who had answers.

Riddhima and him.

Our first talk, though small, directed me towards the door that I was waiting to open. The only thing missing was the KEY. And the key in my case was Riddhima.

*******************************************************************************************************************

About PM service- I don't know how many are still interested in reading this FF anymore. So I am not sending any PM for this part. IF you want a PM service, press the LIKE button and send me a buddy request in case you are not in my buddy list.

Cheers!!!