'Footprints': ShivGauri (IP) FF Part 7,Pg.9 06/16 - Page 5

Originally posted by: luv_pavi

no no u are not dearrr 😛

saba

Originally posted by: luv_pavi

nice updateee n their first meeting huhhh well continue asap :))))

saba

Originally posted by: starfan.shrk

THT WS FAB! rlly enjyd it.but i cant undrstand da basic story line so far .plz can u help me n lemme no.thx- i rlly appriciate it.con soon

!!!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by: amneet89

Hey di,

Rocking just rocking...u as usaul take intot he another world and by god di does this world take my breath away...I was just managing to sigh...u leave me at total loss of the words...i don't know what to say....its was just wonderful...jsut continue soon di

Time mil gaya tuhanu? Lol... Thanks Amnu! *japph* I know how busy you are, I'm in teh same dabba😕 I'm glad you're enjoying... I hope to continue like next week. I hope you do as well... *ahem* And don't you go out of breath on me!

Cheers,
dc

love ya

Amnu

Originally posted by: desi chic

sugar coated ahem ahem no no yaar not lyk dattt......😳

saba

Dude, that sounds like a sugar-coated threat!😆

Cheers,
dc

Originally posted by: desi chic

Thanks Saba!! Yep... the first... but definately not the last😉

Cheers,
dc

A bland expression fell across her face, much like the failing stream of light cascading sleepily across the floor. The night outside was rich, but falling prey to a slow morning. Sound was feeble against her numb ears, while she sat slightly bent forward in her crouched position. From a distance, her silhouetted figure probably looked much like a cucoon of sorts. The cool surface of the hardwood stuck like ice against her flat feet, but she didn't remove them. She could still feel the fast drops of water rushing against her body... The soft ticking of a clock desperately vied for attention against the reigning silence. She had stood there, underneath the watery flow for minutes uncounted... trying to drain the thoughts. But they were as relentless as the water. At some point she had pressed her fingers against the steel knob, enclosing it tightly in her iron grasp... for a pause, she the ambitious thought of controlling the thoughts like the water ran past her mind. Holding her hand there for a minute longer, it occurred to her that her ambition was beyond her control. Instead, she had stepped loosely outside, slipping carelessly into the soft robe awaiting her warm presence. Now, she sat unmoving… vulnerable to the gulf of the past readying to choke her…

(Flashback)

Oh god Gauri, dus minute! Indeed, if she did not get to Janki madam's office within the ten minutes, the lady would have her head and that being the last thing she could lose when she had three papers due in four days! Grabbing her blue notebook, she shoved her locker shut and stepped urgently down the hall. The hall was quite vacant, with the odd person hanging near a door, or sitting on the floor… their nose lost in some fat, non-interesting book. A breezy, inward smile crept on her lips as she passed one such yawning figure… The smile faded almost instantly as her eyes transiently caught sight of him.

The absolute last person she wanted to see right now would be that idiot Shiv Kapoor. Too late sweetheart, he's already filled your eyes, she thought bitterly. She could feel her arteries already begin to constrict at the mere thought of his arrogant name. Breathe baby, she reminded herself mutely and continued past him in a whiff of ignorance. "Bijli…" Freeze. Hell, why does he have to do this every single time, she thought with a flicker of irritancy. Squinting her eyes shut for a passing second, she clung tighter to her notebook and turned. Why do I even bother, she thought disgustedly. Looking up, she perceived the expected… That damn grin… as lazy as himself! His eyes were clearly mapping her, as she tried to control the fire emitting through her eyes… Shouldn't he be a pile of ashes by this point…

If looks could kill, he thought amused. She irritated him to no end, but still, there was this inexplicable thrill he got out of annoying her thus. He could almost feel the heat from the embers glowing through her eyes… those eyes… shrugging them off, he continued his lazy, nonchalant tone of addressing her. Its payback time for the last humiliation, he thought vilely. A polished smile snaked across his lips as his mind mapped it out. They had encountered each other enough times, and each time it was more than an encounter… it was an unnamed friction. Last time she had the upper hand, this was his day… He knew where she was headed and the person she was supposed to meet in ten minutes was in another building. If she were late, Lady D (Janki Ma'am, the principal) would unleash hell, he thought with an intense thrill. "Chakarborty ne bola… apna wohe paper waper utaane ko…" (Chakarborty said… pick up that paper of yours) An electric amusement ran outwards through his body seeing her rigid features try stubbornly to remain so. The embers of her eyes betrayed the thought… he could see them dim mournfully. Sweet revenge, he thought while casually striding around her frozen figure. His feet stopped teasingly at one point as his lips hung devastatingly close to her left ear… "Aur waise bhi, tum toh jaanti ho na… Chakarborty ko addat hai, na ek minute upar… na ek neeche… Run fast." (And anyways, you know… Chakarborty has this habit, not a minute before… not a minute after… Run fast). He hung there, in the midst of her fog… a part of it. He could smell a crisp combination of lavender and something else tingle his nose. It was a strange mixture, whatever it was… strangely enticing. Lingering for a few seconds more, he stepped back just as casually… the fragrance still loitering on his lips… just as he left the words in her broken bubble… Stuffing his hands in the pockets of his denims, he inhaled deeply… satisfied.

A thousand things ran blindly against her mind… The fog created by his words had successfully affected her vision, at least for a few minutes. Could he be lying, she thought contemplating his news. But why would he lie. She paused for a sarcastic chuckle at this, why wouldn't he… duffer. For another pause, she thought the situation over. Well, what harm could it cause? She was already in the building, and Chakarborty's office was just on east end of it. She could probably reach there in two minutes, grab the paper, which she had handed in for editing for the actual one, and then run quickly to Jank ma'am's office. I can do that, she thought resolutely. No doubt, she couldn't stand him, but at least he was good at something… khadoos.

"Arre yaar, ye dhuaan kaisa?" (Hey man, where is this smoke coming from) he wondered aloud to none of his buddies in particular. His eyes were fixed on a steadily growing fog coming from the eastern sector of the science building… the one he had left but a few minutes ago. Suddenly a blaring sound erupted in the air. A sort of chaos began to form and he could catch fragments of conversation… "Aag lagi…"… "Science…"… "Third floor…" Bijli struck him… the colour slowly falling from his face. Without a further thought, his feet voluntarily raced towards the building, leaving behind faint traces of calls…

Smoke had just begun to descend into the first floor. Taking the staircase two at a time, he raced to the eastern side of the building. He could now start to feel the competition between oxygen and smoke in his lungs, while his eyes squinted through the dismal fog… A raw tension attacked his muscles as a nerve pulsed erratically at the side of his neck. With wild eyes, he scanned the hallway… Chakarborty's class was near the far end. Stirring up again, he reached the room to find it quite filled with smoke. There was little he could see… and time seemed to pause for a defying second. No. The pulse at his neck hammered harder now, ready to burst in anxiety… and then the subtle cough set the dials of time clicking again. He wanted to yell out her name, but a part of him felt she would not respond… something he could least afford. With alert ears, he found her rather close, fumbling blindly against the wall to his right. A hand covered her mouth, while the other supported her disshelved figure. Thoughts were amiss. Grabbing hold of the oblivious hand still searching aimlessly against the wall, he led her out back into the hallway. "Kapoor?" he heard the choked voice whisper questionably in the air. He let it hang.

He could sense the heaviness of her legs, her pace had slackened considerably. She had in fact tolerated the smoke much longer than himself, and now they were standing on the first floor… searching for escape. While he scanned the deteriorating surroundings, her sharp voice whispered into the inferno, "Tum kyon aaye ho?" (Why have you come?). Goddamit woman, he thought… Turning calculatedly to his side, he looked at her with gravity, "Maine tumhe yahan bheja, aur main hi le kar jaoonga" (I sent you here, so I will be the one to take you out). A pause held sway until her voice betrayed it, "Mere liye…" (For me…) She gave out a low, sarcastic chuckle. Immediately, the tone changed. "Jiss din mujhe tumhaari zaroorat padehgi na Kapoor…uss din waqt toh kya, saari kayanaat ek pal mein tham jaayegi…" (The day I need your help Kapoor… that day, not only will time stand still, but so will the entire universe…) Silence hung in slow motion in the background of the scene… And then the clatter of a fallen piece lit with fire brought it back into the immediate pace.

He looked around once more, noticing things fall apart… Rubbing a hand over his stubble, his mind contemplated the situation. In the midst of wandering aimlessly, his eyes caught hold of the closet… A distant memory whizzed past as he realized the door was hanging loose… but above, flames threatened the wooden composure of upper floor baseboards.

Immediately, he turned towards her unstable figure. She coughed again… and again, oblivious to his observation. As though sensing the presence of his vision, she paused after another weak cough. Her face was blank as she looked from him to where he looked again momentarily. "Oh no you don't Kapoor…" she started defiantly, while approaching him. "Go," he stated firmly. Her face twisted in a mixture of emotions… The fire outside began to show itself within her as she put it all into context. Stepping in front of him thus, she allowed not a breath of exchange by without her touching it. Acidic moisture stung at the edges of her blurring vision, which she tried to match with his. Her eyes bore into the coals of his… it occurred to her rather alarmingly how dark they were… was it possible? It seemed almost as though they held another unexplored world beyond… Shrugging off the thought, she felt the cough tingle at her throat and she released it wheezing. "Aisa kuch bhi nahin hone laga Kapoor…Main… main mar jaoongi, lekin waha… tumhaare bina hargiz nahin jaoongi… samjhe tum?" (Nothing like that is going to happen Kapoor… I… I will die, but won't… go there without you… you get it?). She cursed inwardly at the whispering tone at which her voice trailed off. Cough. Was it that cough?… Her eyes blurred again… The smoke hit her again… She could feel her shoulders slouch, but her heart was steel… impenetrable… It irked her, that he did not respond… His face was blotted by the stains of smoke. She watched him look back towards the only exit. It could hold only once… the moment someone ran past it, the baseboard above would fall over. She knew not anything, but she was not leaving him here. "Tum chahte ho ke main wahan… akeli… akeli jaoon na? Taan ke tum hero banjao… Aisa… kuch bhin nahin…hoga…" (You want me to go out… alone… alone right? So you can… become the hero… Nothing… nothing like that is going to hap… happen…) She again stubbornly pulled at his empty gaze. A moment passed again, as he remained unresponsive. And then the earth fell through… she watched it confused for a second, as it passed her vision with such quickness. Her body suddenly felt very light… and it dawned on her, she wasn't the one carrying her own weight… he was. She watched with her neck strained up as the baseboard fell through, barely as they did… him, with her over his shoulder…Feeling utterly exhausted, she felt herself being placed… somewhere… His eyes were the last sight her vision captured as the rest of the world fell into that black abyss…

(End Flashback)

The moment freezed for him then… the rest of it was blank as he had blanked out… Getting up from the warmed leather of the couch, he wandered to the full length window… Mumbai was alive, even at this hour… It was one such night, when fate restored itself through another encounter…

(New Flashback): Next Time!

Comments/Suggestions/Criticisms, etc.!

Originally posted by: luv_pavi