It was a regular morning at the college. Meera was socializing with her friends Aliya and Samara in the canteen. "So...whose going to win?" Aliya asked.
"Obviously Meera," Samara replied. "She's the best one out of all the contestants."
"You guys are so sweet!" Meera exclaimed.
"You girls act like little children." a voice said.
The trio turned around to a young girl dressed in red top, blue skirt, and sandals approaching their table. "Oh its only you, Shaina." Samara rolled her eyes.
"Are you really taking a simple beauty contest so seriously?!" Shaina asked Meera.
"Why not?! Meera plans to enter modeling after college." Aliya said.
"And winning the Miss Delhi contest will set the platform!" Meera smiled.
"Girls like you are so naive," Shaina snapped. "If you really think winning some silly beauty contest will get you in the modeling world, then you really need to grow up!"
"Are you sure about that, Shaina?!" Meera asked. "Or are you just saying that because someone with your face wouldn't be allowed to enter?"
Shaina's mouth dropped in anger, while Meera highfived Samara and Aliya for her winning comeback comment. And so, Shaina stormed out of the canteen in fury, while the trio shrugged their shoulders and continued chatting.
"Wow," The Judge said. "You had quite an attitude. And look at you now. Who would think the girl shaking in her chair at this moment, was so sassy only a few months ago?!"
"I...I don't know why I said that." Meera said shyly.
"So you wanted to go for modeling?"
"Yes."
"Who was Shaina to you?"
"She was my classmate since grade school. We used to be best friends then. Things changed once we got to college."
"What happened?"
"I don't know. As we got older, I got a lot of attention from other students at school. People would always tell me how pretty I am and I guess it got to Shaina."
"You mean she was jealous?"
"I guess...you could say that."
"So from what you said, she did seem rude. But what you said seemed far worse. What made you talk like that to her?"
"I guess...I just didn't know what else to say. Everyone else would compliment me all the time. She was that one person that always seemed to bring me down. So...I gave her what I thought she deserved."
"I see. So then...what happened afterwards?"
"After that incident, it was the night when they were crowning Miss Delhi."
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Flashback to Delhi Girls College, Miss Delhi Contest:
At the stage, the ten girls stood in a line, dressed in beautiful gowns. Meera, in particular, was dressed in a long midnight blue colored gown with sequins on the front. She stood impatiently, waiting for the results. Prinipal Raina Sen then came on the stage, holding and envelope in her hand. She came to the podium in front of the large crowd, and said, "Good evening everyone. The results for Miss Delhi have come in. And now, I will reveal our winner."
Meera crossed her fingers as Principal Sen opened the envelope. She then announced, "And the winner is...Meera Sahni." The sound of her name brought a smile to Meera's face as the audience clapped in unison. Meera pleasantly walked forward up the stage, shaking Prinicipal Sen's hand and then being blessed with a beautiful golden crown on top of her head. She waved to the audience as she stood proud and victorious.
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Present:
The Judge smirked. "So you won?"
"Yeah."
"How did you feel then?"
"It felt really good inside. I got exactly what I wanted. All I was waiting was for college to end so I could begin my modeling career as soon as possible."
"Did your friends attend?"
"Yes. Samara and Aliya congratulated me along with Arjun."
"Aah! Arjun! The same guy who brought you here."
"May I ask...who is he to you?"
"Arjun is my cousin. After my parents died, I shifted into Arjun's house along with his parents."
"I see. So...everything seems pretty decent so far. Where did the trouble begin?"
"After I won the contest, I thought everything would be great afterwards. But then...something happened."
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Flashback at Delhi Girls College:
Meera walked into the college halls, smiling as she knew people would be noticing her even more as the Miss Delhi contest winner. But as she walked in the halls, she noticed people looked at her from their phones with unsure looks on their faces. She tried greeting them, but they continued to look at her the same. Meera became puzzled. As she continued walking, her eyes beamed as she found Aliya and Samara coming towards her.
"Hi guys!" Meera greeted the two girls. Aliya and Samara stood in front of Meera, sharing unpleasant faces. "What's wrong?" Meera asked, still smiling.
"You mean you haven't seen it yet?" Samara asked.
"Seen what?" Meera asked, confused.
"Come with us." said Aliya.
Meera followed Aliya and Samara down the hall, puzzled inside. The two girls led Meera into the library and Aliya took out her laptop from her bag. As she logged on, Meera stood impatient. "What is it, guys?!" Meera asked. Aliya and Samara stepped back from the laptop. Meera got closer to it and was appalled at what she saw. The screen displayed a Facebook page which was titled "We Hate Meera Sahni". Meera scrolled down on the page and looked at the array of morphed photos which defamed Meera's appearance. "Who...," Meera began to speak as tears came down her face. "Who did this?"
"Meera, we really don't know." Samara answered.
"We just got a chain mail and found this." Aliya said.
Meera slammed the laptop and began to walk out. "Meera!" Samara and Aliya called out. But Meera didn't listen. She rushed out of the library and ran outside of the school, crying. She sat at the bench, clunching onto her bag in her arms. As she continued to cry, she heard the sound of her phone ring from her bag. She wiped her tears off her face and took out her cellphone from her bag and checked it to see that she had received a message from an unknown number. She opened the message and read:
You have probably seen it by now. How does it feel?
If you want to know the mastermind behind this, meet me at the well in the park after classes by the evening.
Come alone.
Meera sat back on the bench, stuffing her phone in her bag.
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Present:
"So someone posted a hate page on you?"
"Yes."
"What exactly was on the hate page?"
"There were several pictures of me that were morphed to make me look like some monster. Many people had liked the page, which also hurt me."
"Did you have any idea or clue at that time on who made the page?"
"No."
"Why?"
"I guess...I wasn't able to think. I was so caught up with the fact that someone actually made something like that about me that I didn't stop and think about that. It was too much for me."
"I see. Then what happened?"
"After a lot of thinking, I went to go meet the person who messaged me after classes had ended."
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Flashback to Delhi Central Park:
In the evening, Meera came into the park, standing beside the well as she was told to. She stayed by the well, restless. As she continued to wait, a voice said, "So you came?" Meera became alarmed at the sound of the voice. She slowly turned around and was shocked at who she saw. Her mouth dropped open and she said, "Shaina?!"
And that was it. The girl who just approached Meera was none other than Shaina. She came towards Meera with a smirk on her face. "You did this?!" Meera asked.
"At least you're smart enough to figure that out."
"Why would you do that to me?!"
"You really think I would let go the comment you made on me?!"
"I didn't even mean it! And this is beyond cruel compared to that!"
"I am the top student at the college! I don't like the idea of being downgraded by some day dreaming, fantasizing fool! And now you're going to pay the price!"
"Okay! Okay! I'm sorry! Now please take down the page!"
Shaina then took out her cellphone and revealed a picture of Meera which was photoshopped to make her look like she was dressed scantily clad. "When someone messes with me, they go down as far as I can take them. Once this morphed picture is sent to everyone at the college, your reputation is done," said Shaina. "And then you'll never even think of making such a deragatory comment on me again!"
As Shaina was about to hit the send button on her cellphone, Meera grabbed hold of the phone. She and Shaina kept tugging on the phone, both trying to grab it back. Meera then pushed Shaina away, finally grabbing hold of the phone. She immediately deleted the picture. But before she could feel relieved, she heard a scream. Meera looked up to see Shaina had fallen down into the well. Once Meera got to the well, all she could see was Shaina's body drowning into the water. In shock, Meera dropped Shaina's cellphone into the well. She backed away from the well, speechless. And immediately, she ran away from the well, never looking back.
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Present:
The Judge looked at Meera in shock as Meera's face was drowned in tears, unable to control herself.
"You pushed Shaina into the well?"
"Yes."
"How exactly did that happen?"
"It was an accident! I was just trying to get the phone from her so I could get rid of that picture before she could send it! So I pushed her so I could snatch the phone!"
"But you didn't realize that you pushed her so hard that she fell aback into the well?"
"No! I wasn't thinking then! I really didn't mean to kill her!"
"Then why did you run away instead of get help?"
"I guess...um...I was in shock. I didn't realize that I did something so terrible. And in that shock, I just wanted to escape."
"What happened after that day?"
"When I came home, I acted like nothing happened. No one even knew where Shaina's body was."
"Meaning you didn't tell anyone what happened?"
"No."
"Why?!"
"How could I?! No one would believe it was an accident! People would assume I pushed her on purpose and tried to kill her!"
"So what happened after all this?"
"Four months had passed and Shaina's parents were trying to find Shaina with the police. But they couldn't find her. By then, I had already graduated from college and I got my first modeling assignment. By then, I thought everything would be okay."
"You mean to say you didn't even think about the fact that Shaina was dead this whole time and that you were the only one who knew the truth?!"
"Well...the truth is...it haunted me every night. I kept trying to forget the guilt that I had for what I did. But it didn't seem to go away."
"Then what brought you here? Arjun took you here. Which means he knows about this. How did he find out?"
"Arjun's parents were out of town one night. So I was home alone with Arjun. Then something happened during dinner time."
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Flashback to Arjun's house:
At Arjun's home, Arjun and Meera were sitting at the table, eating dinner that Arjun had just made. "So how's the modeling assignment?" Arjun asked Meera.
"Its great. Manish Malhotra visited and asked me to model in his next show."
"That's great."
"It is. Its a great opportunity."
"Can I ask something?"
"Yes, go ahead."
"You were friends with Shaina, right?"
Meera stopped eating for a moment. She gulped the food that was in her mouth. She looked at Arjun and tried to smile, saying, "Yeah. Why?"
"Then do you know anything about what happened to her?"
"Um...no..."
"Its sad. Her parents are worried about her. Its been four months and no one's heard anything. And the police have no clue on where she is."
Meera placed her fork down on her plate. She put her hand to her head as she began to sweat. "I just wonder," Arjun said. "I hope she's okay."
"All right!" Meera cried as she slammed her plate to the floor. She got out of her chair in tears as Arjun got up, looking at her in shock. "I can't take it anymore! Its too much!"
"Meera, what's wrong?!"
"I can't hide it anymore!"
"Hide what?! What are you talking about?!"
"I'm sorry, Arjun! I'm really sorry!"
"Meera, what's going on?!"
"It was me, Arjun! Me! I killed Shaina!"
Arjun stood aback, speechless. He was as still as a rock. "What?!" Arjun said in shock. "What are you talking about?!"
"It was an accident! She blackmailed me! She made a hate page of me on Facebook and threatened to send a morphed picture of me from her phone!" Meera explained in tears. "I tried to take the phone away from her and ended up pushing her into the well! It was all a mistake! I'm sorry!"
Meera dropped down onto the floor, crying to the point that her face had turned red. Arjun put his hand to his head, unable to bear the shocking news.
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Present:
Meera was left in a teary eyed state while The Judge looked at her, holding his hands near his face. He let out a deep breath and said, "So now we're back to here. From what I see, once you confessed to killing Shaina to Arjun, Arjun brought you here for my judgement. Is that correct?"
"Yes."
"And now, I'll explain what happens now. In this room of mine, there are two doors. One, the doorway to heaven. If I send you there, you're free of your sin, the burden is gone, and you can start life fresh. Then there's the doorway to hell. And you may know what can happen if I send you there. You can take the next trip to prison or I can have even worse things done to you."
"Then what have you decided to do with me?"
"I've looked at this whole situation. Though you did push Shaina into the well, you did not intentionally try to kill her. It was an accident. In fact, that isn't your real sin. Your real sin is hiding the truth for four months. Because of this dillema, I'll have to do what I rarely do."
"What?"
"My guard here will take you to purgatory, the waiting room. While you are there, I will take fifteen minutes to make a decision. When fifteen minutes are up, you will come here and know what is to be done with you. Take her away."
The guard nodded and took Meera out of the interrogation room into purgatory where she sat and waited in fear.
The Judge sat in his interrogation room, pondering as he laid back in his chair. The guard returned to the room and said, "What are you thinking, sir?"
"I don't know what to say, Raman. Its a tough choice."
"The girl seems innocent. I admit what she did was wrong, but she had no wrong intentions."
"That is the point of my job...to analyze the intentions of sinners. In her case, she hid the death of a classmate. The parents of the classmate were unaware that their daughter was dead for four months."
"I think anyone in that situation would hide the truth. Its human nature."
"Indeed."
As time was going by, Meera sat in purgatory, panting. She folded her hands, bowing her head downward like she was praying. Time went by and Raman, the guard, came to her and said, "The Judge will see you now."
Meera gulped, following Raman down the hall into the interrogation room. Raman closed the door while Meera was seated in front of The Judge. The Judge glared at Meera as she looked down at the floor, a tear dropping down her face. "Meera Sahni." The Jude called. The sound of her name made Meera look directly at The Judge.
"For fifteen minutes I thought about this whole case. And now...I have a verdict. Are you ready to accept it?"
"Yes."
"In this case, I considered all the points if high matter. The first count is that you kept silent about Shaina's death for four months. You were the only one who knew about her death and you didn't reveal what had happened to her in that time period. Second count, you were the one that pushed her into the well which was the cause of her death. However, you did not intend to push her, as the push was a reaction in link with you wanting to take away Shaina's cellphone to delete the defaming photo of you she had. I have considered all these points and have come to a conclusion. I have a doorway to send you to. Shall I reveal the verdict?"
"Yes."
"Very well. The verdict...I sentence you to the doorway of heaven."
"What?! Do you...really mean that?!"
"The one thing I could tell...was that you were sorry for what you had done. And above all, it was an accident. Hence, I send you to the doorway of heaven so that you may live life anew. Raman, remove her handcuffs."
Raman took off Meera's handcuffs. She wiped her tears away heading to the white door that was known as the doorway of heaven. She then turned back to The Judge and said, "Thank you."
"I only hope for one thing," The Judge said. "I hope we never meet again."
294