Chapter 6: Confessed
I blinked my eyes open. My head was spinning and I couldn't make out my surroundings. The light slightly hurt my eyes. I realized that I had stopped breathing.
My eyes wheeled around the room and took it in.
I was in Bittu's house. And I was lying on the bed beside the window. I realized my clothes were changed. I tried to sit up and all my muscles strained. When I finally did after little struggle, I saw Mukund enter the room with his sword open. He glanced at me as he moved towards the cupboard.
"Hey! Good morning bro!" He cheered and opened the door.
I looked outside the closed window beside me, "Is it morning really?"
There was vapour on the window-pane. I rubbed it out with the ball of my hand, insanely thinking that if the vapour removes, bright sunlight would fill the room.
There was faint darkness outside, clouds hovered and I heard the low gurgling sound of far-away thunder. The sky was grey. The ground was wet. I could not see anyone. It was not raining heavily, just drizzling. And it was misty, cold.
I did not like the rain now. I wanted sunshine, bright sunshine to scare away the conquering darkness in my life. The weather flushed my heart further.
Mukund said as he dragged out a polishing cloth from the cupboard. "Yeah, I know. It's been raining all night. Only now it retreated a bit. How well are you?"
"Okay." I said absent-mindedly.
"That's good. You need to be okay now."
I looked at him knowingly"I knew what he meant. Noticing my eyes on him, he kept his sword and the cloth on the table aside and walked up to me.
"Listen, there is some important news that Bittu had got when we reached Misthaven yesterday. He was away, he tried to contact but you know the service of the messengers. The Church investigated further. But they still have not found any trace of wizardry or witchcraft from the atmosphere of Hazelwood. The plague is a natural epidemic."
I smiled warily, "So now we go back? Mission cancelled."
He shook his head, "Rishabh, from what happened last night, we still have to find out the daughter. You know about the other law."
I recalled it from my dream, "A dead witch can take her family in control, because if she has a pact with the Devil, her abandoned soul in Hell will be released by the Devil himself. And with that control on her family, she would make a witch or a wizard out of any of them."
I remained quiet.
"Can I ask you something?" He sat down on the edge of the bed.
I chuckled weakly, "Would you keep quiet if I say no?"
"Yeah." He mirrored my half-hearted smile, "What happened to you last night?"
"Ask me clearly."
"I'm clear." He pursed his lips, "I mean...when I reached you, you were slipping away. I realized you were bleeding badly, like...really badly. But when I brought you here and checked, your wound was...vanished. Simply." He shook his head in wonder, "Like, there was not even a scar."
The words floated in my head, "I know how to heal that scar on your elbow"
I looked at Mukund in the eye, "She healed me. And fled." My voice was surprisingly low. The weird look on his face had started to take form but Bittu's entry interrupted.
"Hey!" He thundered into the room, his cloths dripping wet. He had his hands full with packages. Bittu was a sexagenarian, a little, healthy fellow. Easy to become a companion. He was funny and always light-heartedly emotional. But one look into those walnut-shaped eyes and you will know that he possessed the wisdom of the ages...and a secret. "Help me out kid!" He always called us kid'.
Mukund gave me a soft pat on the arm and went to catch those packages.
"What's up with these, Sir?" He asked innocently.
"Uh! None of your business! Personal stuff, clothes and all." Bittu shook his dripping hair as his eyes caught me, "Hey! How you feeling kid? You okay?"
I nodded with a slight smile, "Yes."
As Mukund struggled with the packages, Bittu continued, "Okay now you kids better get ready. We got serious business out there."
He had begun to move into the washroom when I blurted out, "What is this Ritual of Xavier?"
Both the men turned to look at me, my friend had some kind of a weird energy in his eyes while my senior seemed flushed.
"Huh? You don't know about the infamous Ritual of Xavier?" Mukund asked with self-pride, "Seriously, you are a kid! What the Hell were you doing in the Academy?"
Bittu snapped him, "The Academy doesn't teach its students such kind of rituals. You've acquired the knowledge from somewhere else." His tone was flat as Mukund's face dropped, "The Academy teaches you those which are healthy. Not infamous. Only the Church had the right to perform such rituals in the rarest of rare cases. But since the past seven years, it too has been curbed of this right. This Ritual humiliates the birth-right of a human being to know everything of his own life. And thus, Father Xavier III banished his own grand-father's ritual. "
I demanded, "What is it about?"
"This ritual was carried on those who had been either directed off their path by some kind of black magic or witnessed or known something that would affect his life as well as the rest of humanity. This ritual makes the person forget those unwanted things of his life, doesn't matter whether he wishes to or not. You know, it sort of erases those happenings. It was wholly decided by the Church. This was last carried out fifteen years ago""
"On me." I butted in.
Bittu blinked and bit his lower lip, "On a boy who was misdirected by the witch's daughter, on a boy who would have risked his own life for the sake of fake sweetness."
There was silence. Bittu and I kept staring at each other, while Mukund stood confused. Bittu broke the silence, "The Church did it for your own good. Now you both get ready. We got business." Bittu vanished into the washroom. Mukund looked helplessly at me, as if he wanted to say something to comfort me but couldn't find logic in his words.
I jumped down from the bed and reached for my cloak beside the lamp. As I donned it, Mukund asked fearfully, "Where are you going?"
I looked outside the window and then at him. As I pulled up the hood over my head, I answered, "To die."
Ignoring Mukund's usual half-scared, half-puzzled expression, I opened the door and walked out into the drizzling rain outside.
She had said, "Think of me whenever you need, I will do the same. And then, we will meet."
Well, I was thinking of her. Her and the forest. I thought till I reached the forest perimeter. And then, I started translating the English Scriptures to Spanish in my mind.
I walked slowly. Kept walking. I will see her. She would know. The rain kept drizzling around.
I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see her. There was trouble in her eyes. And a shimmering fury.
She looked deep into my eyes, almost as if to penetrate my soul. She shook her head with rueful disgust, "You still don't believe me, do you?"
I didn't say anything. Her eyes suddenly turned blank and then there was confusion in them again. "Are you going crazy?"
What was near to a smile, formed on my lips. She had read my mind and did not find anything.
I asked flatly, "How did you know what happened to me?"
She sighed. "After that day, I fled past Misthaven and far from Hazelwood, to where my father had once hinted to be staying. I found him there, distressed. We lived in a small nameless village, very far away from this kingdom. And every day I wondered whether you lived or had died." There was venom in her voice, venom of repentance, "My father who most of the time stayed away from his family now was my only world. He did not ever let one second go without me leaving his sight.
"My father said that those tricks that I had learnt, I would never practice them in my life. He feared that the priests might sense the practice of sorcery, no matter however harmless it is, and would find and burn us.
"I obeyed him blindly. But each time I felt people moving around me, I felt the urge to open up my senses and read their minds. So that if by any chance any of them knew your whereabouts, I might know.
"When I turned fifteen, we moved to Misthaven. My father used to go to the Hazelwood City market everyday to sell his artifacts. He used to keep me away from the forest and the city. I used to shut the door when he used to leave and it was opened only when he returned.
"After he died, seven months ago, I took the risk to carry on my living on my own." She looked at me in the eye, "Still hoping to find you.
"When I first put my step into Hazelwood City I sensed something. It was the place where I'd last seen you. I sat in the corner of the marketplace and noticed everyone's habits and movements. I didn't get anything. But I still had that sense in me. One day I took up the risk and opened up my senses. And I read everybody's mind."
She stopped. I knew what was coming. I remained quiet as she continued.
"I found you." A smile curved her lips, a weird smile. There was a mix of awe and sorrow. "And you know irony?" She laughed awkwardly, "You know what I first heard to attract my senses to you?"
She leaned closer to me, whispered, "I will kill her. She would die in my hands.'"
She backed away again, "And then I recognized the voice, almost. You wouldn't know how. It was not from the timber that I recognized but the type of thinking. Every person has a type of way to think. And I knew your type very well. I turned my face to see you admiring a dagger at a stall selling handy weapons. You didn't buy it, however. Because you thought swords are far more..." She tried to remember my word, "Vicious." She smiled.
"I was flabbergasted. I didn't know what had happened to you. But I did feel that you were missing something in your mind. I was determined to find out. After that I always kept my mind open. Even when I was in Misthaven. After the day the plague hit the city"" She stopped abruptly, and then said, "I guess now you already know it is a natural epidemic. Anyway, when the plague hit the City, I heard Bittu. And I saw and heard every scene and every happening he thought. And then I knew about the Ritual of Xavier. I knew what had happened to you."
She sighed, "You know the rest."
I remained silent and started to translate the Scriptures again.
Madhubala shrugged, "Rishabh, speak."
I just stared.
Her face turned into a scowl, "C'mon speak! I won't read your mind anymore."
Seeing me not reacting, she desperately walked to me, "You still don't believe me, right?" She grabbed my lapels, "All these years I spent half living and half dying for your life and now when I know everything, when you know everything, you would just abandon the truth?" Tears lined her eyes, there was more than just mere desperation in them, there was something that I would never be able to describe, something that I might never feel, but something that broke my insane behavior and shredded my heart into pieces as if struck with a sword.
She said, "I did so much to show you the truth! I dreamt so much that I had finally found someone who believed me after my father! I thought I will no longer be alone now! And you? You still don't believe me!" She left her grip and started to back away, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I am still alone."
I shook my head, "No, Madhu." I walked towards her and reluctantly touched her shoulders, trying like a novice to calm her down, "Who said you're alone? What the Hell am I here for? Who said I don't believe you? Did I ever say that?"
She pushed me away, "Liar! You are a liar! And why should you believe? I'm a witch's daughter after all! And I am destined to die and stay locked up in Hell for the rest of eternity!" She sobbed.
I froze, as if someone had drew out a weapon and aimed it at me. I shook my head vehemently as I walked towards her again, "No...Madhu...I...I am not a liar..."
Before my good senses could forbid, my heart gave away. I threw my arms around her and pulled her close, held her tight. Her body tensed in the first instant, and then softened, melted and carved itself against mine. Her sobbing stopped abruptly.
I rambled into her hair, "Please Madhu. You have to believe me now. I am not lying. I trust you. Oh God, Madhu! Read my mind! I was trying to know your side of the story. I wanted to see your reaction. Please! Read my mind! I am not lying. Please, for God's sake!"
I now knew what it felt when no one had trust in you. I knew what it was like to be abandoned by the world. I knew how it was to hold high hopes and then see them shatter just for the sake of insanity. With her one misunderstanding that I was lying, I was on the verge of going mad. I could only begin to imagine what she has gone through all her life, what she is still living through. I don't want to be among the rest of the world now; I want to be with her. For her. By her.
You die twice in your life if you ever fall in love. And I died a sweet death on some day. I don't know when, but I did. I know that now too.
Yes, I am in love. I am in love with whom everybody despises by calling her a witch'. I am in love with a person who never wished ill for humanity. I am in love with Madhubala, a normal human girl.
I thought, "Are you still reading, Madhu?"
In answer to that, she wrapped her arms around my waist, first hesitantly, then gently, feeling the touch.
I heaved a sigh of relief into her hair as a tired smile curved my lips, "I am sorry."
That was all I could say.
Around us, the drizzling had stopped. Faint sunshine started to kiss the world. The darkness in my life was scared away finally
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Health and Fitness
