Pandher Ka Qila
Outside Pandher palace, near the edges of the forest, mount college students sat around unaware of the haunting stories. Few lay on rocks, few on the floor and few even lay on the trees. Everyone was bored out of their mind. They had their bonfire party, truth and dare, midnight trek but this long night didn't seem to end.
“Okay boys and girls I have got answer to our boredom. A scavenger hunt. I have hidden one golden coin somewhere in the middle of that old ruins we found. Whoever finds it first gets to keep it.”, announced Misha.
“One gold coin? Do I look like a beggar to you?” T mocked, as she touched up her makeup for some reason.
Misha ignored her, and turned to everyone else. Ruhi looked nervously at the direction of the ruins.
“But Misha….what if it’s…haunted?” She stammered.
“Haan so we have bigger bhoot. Look at the bimbo highness applying layers of makeup in that tiny mirror of hers. We will Use her to scare that ghost.”, said Misha pointing at T.
Kabeer and Abhay laughed hard at this as T stomped her foot.
“Excuse me! I’m no bhoot. And I’m not going anywhere, especially into those tacky ruins with the likes of you. Yuck.”
She turned her back and continued to dab her cheeks with powder. Misha rolled her eyes, pulled out a box of chits and held it before each and everyone.
“We’ll make teams of two. Those with the same number will be partners.”
"Kaun si kismat likhwa ke aaye ho dono jo humesha saath hi hote ho?" Said Misha, chuckling.
"Shut up! Mish and open your chit."
Misha was teamed with Ruhi and Kabir with Angad.
"Where's my chit?" Asked T, finally getting interested in going in those 'tacky ruins' as she mentioned.
"You don't need any chits. You already have a team of bimbos to accompany you, go with them." Said Misha.
Three couples and a trio of makeup ki dukkan entered the ruined palace of pandher.
“Ewww its so dirty! So many cobwebs. My poor hair”, said T.
“Yeah if i were you i would be more worried about that tarantula crawling up your back”, commented Abhay.
“What??! Aaahhhh!”, screamed T jumping and running inside as her bimbo friends used a stick to try get rid of tarantula.
Everyone bursted out laughing seeing the scene in front of them.
"Mishu you're pranks are always the best." Exclaimed Ruhi making T and her minions glare at Misha.
"How dare you Misha? Tum apne aap ko samajhti kya ho?" Shouted T at Misha.
"Oh, I was just taking a test of your bravery and I'm glad to inform you ki tumne mujhe bilkul bhi disappoint nahi kiya." Said Misha, still trying to control her laugh.
"Ok now enough of your pranks Mish, let's start our search for the coin. We all will go in different directions." Said Piya as her excitement knew no bounds after entering the palace.
Piya has always been fascinated about old historical ruins and getting a chance to roam in them without any restrictions was like a dream come true for her.
Little did she know that this dream come true palace is gonna haunt her for the rest her life. She chose to start her search from the chember’s of princess.
“Really do you think Misha will hide coin in that?”, asked Abhay.
“Who cares about coin? I just wanna see the room of a princess.”, said Piya struggling to open the doorknob, “only if this door would open.”
“Hang on. Let me see.”, said Abhay pulling the knob out of the door creating a hole, “great.”
They bent down to see inside from the hole and found a red cloth piece kind of thing blocking their view.
"Wait I'll just try pushing this cloth aside." Said Abhay, trying to move the cloth.
"Can't you break the door?" Asked Piya, eying his strong and muscular body.
"You must be kidding right?"
"Um no, I'm not." She said, poking his biceps with her finger.
"God Piya, you're unbelievable."
"I should get some benefits of having such a strong boyfriend."
"I can give you other benefits too." He said caging her between him and the door.
Abhay brushed his fingers softly across her cheeks and she blushed closing her eyes. He leaned close to her kissing her, forgetting the golden coin.
A commotion from the other end broke their attention. Ruhi came running from the east corridor as Angad and Kabeer burst out laughing behind her with white sheets and candles in their hands.
“What happened?”, piya asked catching up with Ruhi leaving Abhay behind who rolled his eyes.
“Bhoot. I saw bhoot.”
“What bhoot?”
Misha slapped her on back and said, “idiot, that was no bhoot. It was Kabeer and Angad”
“What?”, exclaimed Ruhi and started punching both boys as they fell to the ground laughing.
“Where is T and her chamchis btw?”, asked Piya looking around.
"She must be sitting in some corner and puffing her face with tons of make-up, instructing her fellow bhootnis to do the work." Said Misha, rolling her eyes.
Kabir and Angad chuckled again and said,
"Ok then, we are going back to search that coin."
They immediately rushed away from there and everyone knew it was just an excuse. Their next target is T and her minions.
Misha pulled Ruhi away from there with her leaving Abhiya all alone once again in front of that door.
Abhiya look at each other & Abhay said forget the coin, let's make it more adventurous. Both then went in opposite direction in search of a no disturbance corner .
As they left from there , Princess chamber opened automatically , the red cloth which was covering a big portrait moves aside revealing the face of princess...
Pia' face..
The princess stepped out the portrait. Her appearance perfectly normal as other except her gleaming red eyes. Misha came there laughing, “god here you are Piya. I was just looking for you. You should see what Kabeer and Angad did.”
She said as she held her hand and pulled her in the dark. Piya came back to that place looking for her wallet she had dropped and asked Misha,
“who are you talking to? And whose hand are you holding?”
“Yours”, replied confused misha.
“Me? I was over there with my hands”, said Piya waving her hands in air.
Misha’s eyes went wide as the ghost of princess came in the light and both the girls screamed, running.
“What are you doing? leave the hand and run”, said Piya stopping in between and telling Misha who realised was still holding the hand of ghost princess.
They were standing at the end of the corridor and realised that the princess's room was at the other end of the corridor yet Misha was holding her hand. Seeing the stretched hand of the princess, Misha screamed even louder and ran away with Piya.
Piya crashed into someone and felt a pair of hands holding her waist to stable her. It didn't take her much time to realise that she collided with Abhay. She hugged him tight and was shivering in his arms because of her and Misha's encounter with the princess.
Everybody gathered at the place where Piya, Misha and Abhay were standing hearing the loud screams of the girls.
“Great and i got no one to take care of me”, said Misha as piya hugged Abhay.
“Aww sweetums i will hug you”, replied kabeer and fake hugging her.
“Shut up.”, replied Misha shivering as Piya held her hand.
“What happened?”, asked Abhay.
“Did u see T?”, asked Angad trying to control his laughter.
“Why would they be scared of T?”, asked Abhay
“Because we covered her entire face with pigeon feathers and cobwebs”, replied kabeer and angad hi-fing and laughing.
“So guess no one is interested in knowing why we were screaming?”, asked Misha and Piya.
Sensing the air around them turning serious, everyone stopped blabbering and paid attention to the sisters.
Misha and Piya narrated the whole incident that happened with them and Piya clung more to Abhay as he tried to calm her down.
"Mishu tu phir se koi prank toh nahi kar rahi na?" Asked a scared Ruhi and the look that Misha gave after her question erased all her doubts as she ran and stuck to Misha like a glue.
"Ha ha ha very scary. Misha ne keh diya aur tum logon ne maan liya? C'mon guys, she's just trying to scare us so that we won't be able to search the coin." Said T, coming out of a dark corner with her minions while trying to remove the feathers on her body.
Angad and Kabir found it hard to control their laughter after seeing her again and well this time the others couldn't too.
“Did a pigeon explode on you or were you just training to become one?”, asked Abhay confusedly looking at her, his arms wrapped around his darling Piya who lightened up seeing T.
The party was laughing hard when someone tapped on Kabeer’s shoulders. “Hang on dude.”, said he.
The person tapped again.
He turned and said, “piya wait. Let me laugh at T first”
“I am over here”, said Piya from other aide of their circle.
“Then who is..”, Kabeer said half scared turning back and everyone ran again from there and locked themselves in one of the room.
“She has same face as Piya. Its scary yet confusing”, said Kabeer.
“Ok i know a solution. Here”, said Misha pulling out a sticky note and a marker wrote somethhing on it and stuck it to Piya’s head.
"Mish! What the hell!" Screamed Piya as Misha tagged her with a sticky note on her head.
"What else can we do to distinguish between you and that ghost princess?" Asked Misha, throwing her hands up in the air.
"Mishu tum bhi na. It's so easy, the one who's always sticking to Abhay is the real Piya." Said Ruhi, pointing at the couple who indeed were glued to each other.
"Guys, listen. We can't sit here locked for the whole night. We need to find a way to get out of here." Abhay reasoned with them.
"I think Abhay is right. And Piya you please keep sticking to Abhay so that we know it's you and not that ghost." Said Kabir, agreeing to Abhay's idea.
"I know it's a little risky, but I guess we should split up and search for the exit with our partners. It's a palace so there must be too many ways to get out of here. Moreover that ghost must have done something to stop us from leaving this place." Said Piya.
"How are you so sure about it?" Asked Angad.
"That's what they show in movies." Said Ruhi.
"But what about the gold coin?" Asked T, all of a sudden.
"There's no gold coin here, I just wanted to have some fun and there was no way to get you guys interested in this place so I lied about the gold coin." Misha finally spoke up the truth.
Everyone glared at her and she apologized for the blunder that she has created.
"We'll meet here in this room after exact half an hour." Said Abhay, and everybody nodded at him.
“What if ghost also meets us here in half hour?”, asked Ruhi scared.
“Then we will feed T to her.”, joked Misha
“To hell with gate searching, lets do that now!”, exclaimed Kabeer.
“K!!”, shouted T.
“Fine fine! We will go with Abhay’s plan.”, said Kabeer rolling eyes.
And with that everyone split up again looking for the way out.
Everyone were searching in the different directions and the ghost smirked seeing them.
"Insaan, bewakoof insaan." She thought.
"Kya kar raha hai yaar, itna chipak kyu raha hai?" Kabir scolded Angad for sticking too close to him.
"Yaar bohot darr lag raha hai, agar wo bhootni humare peeche aa rahi hogi toh?" Said Angad and Kabir gulped thinking of the possibility.
Ruhi and Misha clutched each other's hand and warned each other to not leave the hand no matter what.
T and her minions were too scared and kept glancing behind their back to make sure nobody was following them.
"Piya, tum theek ho na?" Asked Abhay, getting worried for her.
"Hmmm." She nodded and he pulled her closer, almost hiding her in his chest and continued walking further.
They heard the sound of a door creaking open behind them and turned to check it.
Abhay found a hidden door behind the stone walls and pulled Piya in there.
“Do u think we will be safe here?”
“I dont know lets see what happens!”
Ghost of princess enters there, her legs floating in air and looked around.
A gasp escaped Piya’s mouth seeing her and Abhay covered her mouth with his hand, shushing her.
The ghost turned back and looked in their direction.
Abhay and Piya stood holding their breaths as the ghost looked in their direction. They were sure that the ghost would attack them but ghost princess did nothing and went out the room.
Both of them shared confused look, “why didnt she do anything?”
“I dont know. There must be something here that saved us”
They looked around to see what was different about the place.
“These stone walls are very cold”, commented Piya shivering.
Abhay gave her the jacket and then thinking deeply Asked, “Piya, what if that ghost cant see us but only sense us with our body heats?”
“Which is why she couldn't sense us behind these cold stone walls. That makes sense”, exclaimed Piya feeling triumphant.
Yeah right , Abhay said while kissing on her forehead.
But Abhay what about others , we need to inform them too n.. let's go from here, Pia said getting worried.
Abhay cupped her face and said I know but you stay here and I will go to fetch others, okay. Pia tried to resist but Abhay said I will take less time to find them also I want your safely first. He then quickly comes out of the room and closed it before Pia could react.
Another corner of palace..
T & her extras were Moving towards main door totally frightened, but happy too that finally they will be out from this haunted palace.
T : Misha thinks she is smart, and Abhay he thinks he is some kind of leader jiska plan hamesha kaam kargea but now it's me who is going out from this palace alive.. her extras nod their head in affirmation.
But just then the door slammed shut automatically and ghost's ghostly laugh echoed in whole palace. Everyone heard it and become more afraid.
Pia in room get panicked too and come out of the room but soon she realises her mistake and turned to get in but now there was no door to get in. Pia was now face to face with her doppelgänger ghost.. who was staring at her like she is staring at mirror.
Hearing the noise of the door slamming shut loudly followed by the evil laugh of the ghost, Abhay rushed back to where he left Piya but upon reaching there, neither he found Piya nor the door.
Abhay panicked and started searching for Piya like a mad man. Kabir and Angad were the most closest to the place where Abhay was right now and they came to him hearing his voice.
"Abhay? What happened? And where's Piya?" Asked Kabir, all in one go.
"I left Piya here a while ago, and told her to stay here until I return but now she's nowhere to be found." Said Abhay, panick clear in his voice.
"Now what are we going to do? What if the the ghost tricks us into believing that she's Piya?" Said Angad, thinking of the possibility.
"I can differentiate between my Piya and that ghost easily. I can't make a mistake in this." Said Abhay, sounding confident about it.
"I'll just go and inform others about this. Angad you stay with Abhay and search for Piya." Said Kabir and left from there.
Somewhere on the other side both Misha and Ruhi held on to each other slowly stepping forward, their ear alert and eyes wide open.
“Yaar mishu, ye bhot darwana corridor he. Chalna kahi aur dekhte he?”
“Baki direction me kabeer angad and abhay piya he. Chal ruhi hume bhi dekhna to pdega”
The corridor was dark and only light coming was from lantern on the wall, on the end of the corridor they found small rooms with metal bars
“Ye kya he?”, asked Ruhi.
“Looks like prison cells. We must be in dungeon”
“Dungeons?”, asked ruhi in panicky voice.
“Stop panicking ruhi. Let me see if there is hidden tunnel or something that can lead us out”
She tried to open one of the gate and searched under rocks in vain.
Growling noise came from the other end of the tunnel and ruhi jumped on misha, “can i panick now?”
Misha gulped her fears trying to hide herself behind one of the rocks.
“Misha ruhi. Help. Abhay is missing”, said Piya.
Misha and ruhu breathed in relief, “piya is that you? We told u to stick to abhay”
“Haan but abhay gayab ho gaya he how do i stick to him?”
“Oh. What do u mean gayab ho gaya?”
“There we were searching for exit and that ghost came behind us so we hid in hidden wall. But then when i turned he was not there. come i will show u”
Misha and Ruhi nodded and went with her.
Piya smirked with her red eye and floating legs.
The only light coming from the lantern blew off as a strong gust of wind came, it was completely dark now. Misha and Ruhi got scared yet continued walking in the dark.
"Pi- Piya? Tum kaha ho?" Asked Ruhi in a trembling voice.
No response came and fear started to engulf both the girls as they continued walking further. Ruhi felt someone clutching her leg from the ground and fell down with a thud, making Misha trip over her too.
Misha felt a tap on her shoulder and realised that Ruhi was fallen beneath her that only meant the ghost was behind them. She dragged Ruhi along with her and started running as fast as her legs could take her in the complete darkness.
*******
T and her minions were standing next to a window in the corridor, too conscious about each and every step of theirs when they felt the curtain roll around them, binding the three of them together. The girls screamed in fear and the ghost kicked them like a football making them roll on the floor.
Kabeer caught up with Misha and Ruhi who were running in the darkness and they collided. Ruhi screamed in fear climbing on Misha.
“Aye ruhi chup kar”, shouted kabeer, covering his ears from her shrill screams, “its me Kabeer”
“Oh thank god Kabeer. We just had encounter with that ghost princess. She fooled us into believing her as Piya.”
“Piya is missing.”
“What? Piya is missing? Why is this girl always missing?”
“Come rest of the guys are waiting.”, said Kabeer and all three of them walked quietly each of them hugging the other and looking in different directions.
“Whats that noise?”, asked Misha as they reached the middle ground between two corridors and T and her company collided with them all, splashing on the floor.
Abhay and Angad rushed in the direction from where the noise was coming.
"Guys, are you all here?" Asked Abhay to no one in particular as they were still standing in complete darkness.
"Abhay, help us. We are crushed under each other." Said Misha, trying to push T off her body.
"Misha, you're ruining my hairstyle." Complained T.
"Where are you guys actually are? I can't see anything." Said Abhay and tried to hold them with his hands but tripped over the gang who were sprawled on the ground. Even Angad fell on top of them while stabling Abhay.
"Ah my back." Kabir groaned as he got crushed under the weight of two more people.
I think something is breaking , T said while keeping her ears close to ground.
Misha try to get up while realising that ground is breaking... But it was too late. With a sound similar to thunder, the ground beneath them break & all fall under it.
Another scene...
Pia was trying to escape from ghost but she was just going round n round.. wherever she go , the ghost appear infront of her, blocking her way. Pia gets tired and thinks it's of no use if I keep running, I need to face it. She stands still & shouts what do u want chudail and why taken my face.
The ghost laughed and said silly girl! I am not a chudail , I am a ghost and Hamne nhi tumne Hamara chehra liya h , Hamara naam h Maithili gayatri Padma Lakshmi singh pandher. .. hahahha..
Although Pia was scared but she managed to say , okay Maithili ga.gayatri..whatever pandher.. , first of all I am not afraid of you (Maithili chuckles That I can see huh!)
and 2nd thing I am not a phed in bhoot science, so whatever u r , just go away and let us go.
Maithili flies in the air like a curve and comes close to Pia.. she says I know u r afraid of me, if you are not then you should be darling ! All your friends are on my mercy so next time watch your mouth.
Pia who is now totally shocked & shaken asks okay Maithili ji , tell me what do you want.
Maithili now smirks and says without delaying I want you to hear my story ..
Pia is like Haynnnn ! What.. you story huh.. okay tell me fast.. Maithili again smirks and says I like you eagerness but you should know there are consequences too. Pia without listening further says just start it and finish this game.
Maithili laughs at her eagerness and says ... I Maithili gayatri blah blah blah blah etc pandher was princess of this kingdom but they never wanted me to become a queen.. Pia asks They?? Who..
Maithili says stop interrupting your queen.. (Pia rolls her eyes) MEN or who else... They didn't want me to become a queen, especially yours great-great-grandfather Siddhartha..
“My great great grandfather? Are we related or something?” Piya asked, wondering if this Maithili whatever Pandher shared a face with her for this reason.
“No you foolish girl!” Maithili hissed. “Anyways, he wanted power for himself, but since I was in the way, I became an enemy.”
“But what does that have to do with me? I’m all for woman empowerment…” she whispered, trying to hide the growing fear ridden stammer in her voice. “I think you would make a great queen…if I were around then you know?”
“Ah, you think so?” Maithili said, feeling quite flattered for a ghost. Piya wiped the sweat off her forehead and nodded.
Maithili continues, my father decided to choose his heir, I was very happy that now I will rule this place, the people but he choose his illegitimate child, who was a mere commander then... Maithili was now burning in rage.
Pia gets little sympathetic towards Maithili & says oh it's unfortunate but for now please spare us. Maithili lands on ground & slowly moves towards Pia smirking & suddenly starts to strangle her. Pia shouts for help... Maithili puts more pressure & says girl! that commander was your great-great-grandfather. Your great-great-grandfather is my killer, He become a king, prisoned me & I died as a princess only.
Pia was still struggling to free herself but managed to say, okay I listened your story & i got that it was my family who were responsible for your death, now spare me & my friends as u told earlier. Maithili again goes in air leaving Pia on ground and says humne tumhare doston ki zindagi baksh di hai, par yahan se koi jaa nhi Sakta. You all will be my slave & I will rule over you all. Pia is panicked now.
Another scene.. A secret underground chamber
Abhay, Misha, kabir & others are gaining consciousness one by one... All try to stand removing the little bit of debris fallen over them. They look around & Angad asks no one in particular Where are we.. T says to herself dumbo ko itna bhi nhi pata ki hum pandher me h, her chamchis nodes in response.
Kabir says seems like a underground room, Abhay looks around and think nothing happened to us & everything seems much peaceful now. What's changed, and Pia .. where is she. He moves ahead & notices an old wooden edict, which was in sanskrit . He then quickly remembers about Pia and starts shouting Pia.. Pia...
Pia Pia o Pia Pia , Pia Pia o Pia Pia ,subah shaam kare, Ruhi starts to sing but stops when she finds that Misha is glaring at her. She says I thought Abhay is trying to lighten the mood, No? he hehe. Misha is visibly irritated & frustrated, and says Ruhiiii, search Pia okay..
Everyone then start to search for Pia...
Abhay couldn't believe he lost sight of Piya, even when they promised to stick next to each other like glue. His frantic search led him into various dead ends. Even all the windows and doors were shut.
"Guys, I can't get these doors open." He panted, using up all his energy in trying to pry them open. Misha pushed him aside.
"Let me show you how its done, Raichand." She said confidently, dusting her palms.
Misha tried turning the knob but all in vain as none of the doors opened.
"Ho gaya? Now can you move aside?" Said Abhay, pushing Misha aside.
"Sadu Raichand is back." Misha mumbled, getting a glare from Abhay.
Abhay tried once again and the door opened on its own and they all were pushed inside a room.
It was dark at first then suddenly a candle flickered and Maithili appeared in front of them.
"Piya is it you?" Asked Ruhi and Maithili laughed in response.
"Still can't differentiate between me and that photo copy of mine?" She laughed as if someone has cracked a hilarious joke.
"Just shut up and tell us where is Piya." Abhay roared.
"Calm down lover boy! Humse is tarah se koi baat nahi kar sakta hai!"
"Tumhe toh main abhi batata hoon." Said Abhay advancing towards her.
"Uh uh don't waste your time and energy, tum log humara kuch nahi bigad sakte ho. Chalo I've got a deal for you, kya kare taras jo aa gaya tum logon pe. Humari di hui paheli suljhao aur pahunch jaao Piya tak." Maithili said and vanished in thin air.
Upon her disappearance, the group began to see the layout of the rooms changing. Snaking hallways that either led to dead ends or back to where they started. A maze of sorts.
"This is bad. I suck at mazes." Misha whined, worried for Piya's wellbeing.
Kabir and Angad took turns opening the doors that lined the walls. T peeked over there shoulders and shrieked when a rat scurried past their feet.
"My ears....." The two said in unison. Kabir stuck his head inside. "Should we try going through these?"
"We should split up." Abhay suggested.
"I don't think that's a good idea but will have to do it if we want to reach Piya earlier." Said Misha, trying to reason out.
"Mishu, I'm coming with you. Please mujhe akela mat chhodh ke jaana." Said Ruhi and stuck to Misha so that she isn't left out.
"Ok guys, split up. I'm going that way." Abhay said, pointing towards a direction from where a little light was coming.
As soon as he started walking towards the source of light, he felt a fog surround him and the rest of the gang were nowhere to be seen. He continued walking further and called out Piya's name in a hope that he might hear a response from her if she's anywhere near to him.
“Welcome, lover boy.”
Maithili’s voice echoed about the fog. Abhay whirled around several times to try and see the ghost, but she was too fast.
“Looking for her?”
She peered over his shoulder and extended a hand, clearing the fog in front of him. Piya stood there, spooked out of her wits, behind an old set of prison bars.
“This is where I died. First they imprisoned me, then they poisoned me. And this is where she will too meet her demise. Unless you can save her.”
“Abhay!” Piya shrieked, extending her hand towards him through the bars.
Abhay try to teach to her but Maithili appears between them & says I didn't say that u can reach to her . Abhay gets little panic but soon manages himself and says you don't wanna kill us , So tell me what do u want.
Pia shouts to Abhay, she wants us to listen her story.. Maithili looks at Pia, and says Silly girl! that was for you , for him I have something special. She winks at Abhay, and says I Maithili blah blah blah blah singh pandher, queen of Pandher want you to marry me.. we will rule together
AbhiYa are shocked . Pia screams but you are a ghost.. he can't marry you. Maithili turns to Pia in anger but stops after hearing Abhay's words.
Abhay calmly says , I will marry you princess but I have a condition. He secretly signs Pia and asks her to relax.
(Abhay remembers about that sanskrit edict ,which he understood because of his good sanskrit knowledge. On that edict it was written that " The princess of Pandher is a curse to our people. she conspired to kill the king , so she is sent to prison.." (----By King Siddhartha Pratham 1790 A.d)
In next stanza , another note was written ..
"After many efforts her ghost has been bound to this Palace. she can't go outside, she has destroyed this palace, this Pandher but now nothing more can be done. she can be captured only but it should be by her will not by force.. .. etc.. "
(---- By king Siddhartha Tritiya 1903 A.D)
“Oh? A condition?”
Maithili looked at Abhay, circling him like a vulture ready to pounce on prey. Piya tried to shout and scream at him for even thinking of such a thing.
“Let all my friends go. Let Piya go.”
He looked calmly at her with sorrow filled eyes. Maithili burst into laughter.
“That’s it? Alright.”
I’ll listen to him now, and then capture them all again later, she thought, still in need of slaves.
She snapped her fingers, and in an instant Piya and her friends were transported to the surface. As the others took a breather and celebrated, only Piya knew that Abhay was still in there.
“Thank god we’re out.” Misha exclaimed, stretching her arms. She looked at a panicked Piya. “Where’s Abhay?”
“He…he’s stil inside!” She said, pointing at the doors. “She wants him to marry her, and he said yes if she let us go.”
Piya burst into tears, not wanting to budge an inch until Abhay was with her. Meanwhile, Maithili was seen preparing for a wedding inside the ruins. Abhay stood quietly, waiting. A large mirror caught his eyes.
“I have one more condition.”
Maithili stopped spreading flower petals and scowled. She ground her teeth together and stood over him menacingly.
“You humans are very demanding. Ask. As your queen, I will provide.”
She didn’t look happy about it though. Abhay pointed to the mirror calmly.
“I used to tell Piya that I always saw her in my reflection. But if I’m marrying you, I shouldn’t think of her anymore.”
Maithili smirked triumphantly, seeing his loyalty.
“Then?”
“I want you to kill my reflection in that mirror. So that I will never think of her again.”
Maithili leaned her head back and cackled.
“That’s it? Allow me.”
Abhay had a rod behind him at the ready, and rushed at the mirror once Maithili slipped inside. One swing to shatter the glass, and another to break the metal that encased it. Maithili was frozen in the shatter pieces, with a look of shock and anger on her face after realizing she had been betrayed. Abhay threw the rod aside, and looked up. A window was open.
“I’m here!” He shouted from the top. Piya looked up, and sighed in relief. She hugged him tight once he jumped down. “I trapped her in a mirror. But we should still get out of here.”
“I couldn’t wait for you to say that. Run!”
The students of Mount college ran for their lives, far away from the old ruins. And Misha always thought twice before playing pranks in old abandoned buildings.
The End.
Edited by White-Lilac - 2 years ago
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