Arhi FF:Mirage Note pg 158 for next thread link - Page 85

"Arnav, can you drop me to my friend's house?" Khushi asked disconnecting the call. Lavanya had sounded tense on the phone and she knew that her friend needed her.

Arnav didn't know how to react. Could he risk being seen in the vicinity of Lavanya's house and foil his mission? But there wasn't any way out of this either. How could he refuse to drop Khushi to Lavanya's house? He mentally cursed himself for landing up in this situation. After pondering over it for a minute, he decided to take a risk.

"Let's go." He said getting up from the bench and leading the way out, while Khushi followed behind him.

The ride to Lavanya's house had been quicker than he had anticipated. His mind was hatching plan after plan to escape from getting caught while Khushi's mind was filled with worry for her friend. Even though she hadn't liked Karthik even a bit, she was equally shocked at the sudden news of his demise.

"There! That house!" Khushi said pointing to Lavanya's bungalow. He purposefully stopped the bike a few metres away from the house, so that he wouldn't be visible to the inmates of the house.

Khushi got down from the bike and turned around to face him. "I'm really sorry for ending this day abruptly. But my friend really needs me. There is an emergency. I hope you understand."

"It's fine. Carry on!" he said with no other choice left for him.

"Bye Arnav!" she waved at him, rushing into the huge gates of the compound. Arnav quickly restarted the bike and vanished away in a jiff from the vicinity before anyone could spot him.

o0o

"How did this happen?" Khushi asked completely shocked, trying to console her petrified friend.

"Police said that his car was found ablaze in the highway. He was burnt to death. They suspect he was drunk and hence, lost control of the car, colliding with a tree and dropped down into a valley." Lavanya whispered, not sure of what she was uttering. Even though she had broken up with him, she had still been in a relationship with him for the past three months. And now she couldn't believe that the person she had last seen few days ago was dead.

"Khushi! You know, that day at the mall, I publicly broke up with him. We fought with each other. That is the last memory I have of him and now he is gone." Lavanya wept, breaking down completely at the news.

"Death is never in our hands and we cannot say when our time comes. Maybe his time had come." Khushi said consoling her friend. For her, death had always been a sensitive issue, especially after the tragic death of her parents. Whenever she heard of a death of any close ones, she would be reminded of that horrific day years ago and it would still send shivers down her spine. But she had to be strong for her friend and she would.

She pulled Lavanya into an embrace, comforting her for her loss.

o0o

Khushi was lying down on the bed and reading a book, when her eyes suddenly darted towards the Pikachu toy that sat on her table. She immediately grabbed it and cuddled it, feeling the smooth fur on her face, tickling her nose and lips. That was when she remembered Arnav.

"God knows, what he must be thinking about me now?" she spoke to the inanimate toy. "Especially after today evening. Maybe I should call him. But what if he is sleeping?" She glanced at the bedside clock. It was 11:15 pm. "Maybe I'll give it a try." She said pondering over the idea for a minute. She picked up her cell phone and searched his name in the contact list. She had unfailingly remembered to store his number.

Arnav sat on his couch, the lights dimmed out in the living room. His hand held a glass of his favourite vodka. The increasing tension inside him was only found to be relieved by gulping down liquor. It made him for a second, forget about the reality and transported him away from it. And he was always eager to take the first exit away from the harsh world.

He didn't understand how he could end up in such a mess. Who was he fooling? Lavanya and Khushi were best friends. His secret was definitely going to spill out one day. Nothing could remain hidden. But what he was afraid was the aftermath. He couldn't get himself to imagine Khushi knowing about the truth and her reaction following it.

No! He had to get over with this mission. Retrieve the file and say goodbye to this task. Maybe he could get away from Khushi and forget her. But was it really possible? She haunted every minute of his thoughts. There wasn't a minute where he didn't spend thinking about how she felt against him. Her soft skin, her quivering luscious lips, her merry filled laughter that made him feel cheerful and forget about the whole world.

He gulped down the contents of the whole glass, when he heard his phone ring. His eyes widened with surprise seeing Khushi's name flash on the screen.

"Hey! It's me." He heard her sweet voice echo through the phone. "I hope I didn't disturb you at this hour."

"Why did you call?" he asked in a hoarse angry voice which startled Khushi.

"Nothing. Just like that. Looks like I did disturb you. Sorry!" she said immediately and disconnected the call.

Fool! Khushi hit her own head. Maybe he was asleep! Maybe you should be sleeping too! She said to herself and switched off the lights and lay down on her bed, waiting for sleep to take over mind.

Arnav dropped the phone on the couch, staring at the vodka bottle on the table. He wasn't in his senses and he definitely didn't want to talk to anyone in this state. He needed his space to sort out the things. Even if it meant keeping her away from himself.

o0o

A young boy who was no more than thirteen years, lay crouched in one corner of the tiny dirty kitchen, washing the dirty vessels that were piled up in a heap. His clothes were tattered and old. Beads of sweat streamed down the sides of his face. The blazing fire of the furnace was scorching his skin. He had become used to the heat, working over here for the past six months

As the first rays of the sun made its way into the dirty room, one could observe deep maroon bruises all over the boy's body. Some bruises were deep enough to reveal clotted blood underneath the fragile skin. His fingers were reddened with the efforts of scrubbing of the stubborn blackened dirt from the base of the huge vessels that were even huger than his small body.

"Are you finished yet?" the small boy heard an angry blare from another room. He hurried up with his task, trying to finish as fast as possible. But he was exhausted. He had been toiling from yesterday evening and he hadn't got any sleep for the whole night. His eyes were drowsy and tired, but he knew there was no other way out of this. This was his only means of survival.

"This boy is good for nothing! Maybe we should hire another smart chap. Atleast, he would do the work faster than this lazy boy here." He heard the same voice continue.

"But other boys won't agree to work for such less money. They have demands. Atleast this boy is quiet and doesn't demand anything. Let him be." Another voice joined in.

Soon he heard footsteps enter the kitchen and the owner of the first voice and the low class restaurant stepped in.

"You know this isn't the only thing you get paid for. You have to go and serve the customers too. Otherwise, I will cut off your salary for the month." The man continued. The boy could hear him sneer out in mockery, gloating with sadistic pleasure seeing him struggle with the vessels.

The man took out the cane placed on one corner of the room and approached the boy. And without any warning, whipped him tightly on his fragile body. The boy hissed out with pain as tears streamed down his eyes. "Work faster!" the man ordered.

"I'm trying!" the boy cried out with pain.

"Look at this boy's audacity to answer me back! This should teach you a lesson." And with that the man started assaulting the boy with lashes after lashes. His already reddened skin turned the worst shade of red ever. The boy shielded himself with his arms, trying to protect himself from the cane. But it was useless. He screamed, shouted, howled, whimpered. But there seemed to be no end to this torture.

"I can't understand why parents bring such useless children into the world. Oh! I forgot! Your parents must have been as useless as you are. Hence, they left you to die out in the streets. All that they know is to sleep around and reproduce such useless filth in the world and forget about them, leaving them at the mercy of people like us. You are nothing but a son of a b*tch!"

This was it. The boy had enough of it. He could tolerate anything. But not a word against his mother. He felt an enormous rage begin to ignite within his body and hate, so powerful that threatened to engulf him. This was something very new to him and he felt his body shiver with the absolute intensity of the anger growing inside him.

"Don't you dare say another word!" the boy gritted through his teeth. His face was reddened with fury.

"Or else what will you do?" the man mocked at him, raising his cane to whip the boy once more. But the stick never touched the body. The boy pushed it away with all his might and ran towards the counter where the kitchen knives where placed. He picked up one in his hand and pointed it towards the man.

"You cannot beat me up like that! You cannot say anything against my parents! I won't allow you to do so. Stay away from me!" the boy warned the man. But the man approached more close to him.

The boy repeatedly warned again and again but the man was in no mood to listen.

"You B*stard!" the man growled and leapt over him. What followed next was too fast to be comprehended. It was still unclear as to what exactly had happened. But what the boy saw was that the man dropped on the floor with the knife protruding out from the chest. He was lifeless. The blood was gushing out like a fountain, a red pool surrounding his body.

The boy gasped out in shock. He hadn't meant to kill him. All he wanted to do was threaten him. He could only stare shocked at the body on the floor. Within few minutes, he saw another man enter the kitchen and scream out in horror.

He didn't know what to do. All he heard was the same voice echo in his mind. "Run Arnav! Run!"

Arnav sat on the couch staring at the clock on the wall of his living room. It was 5:30 am. He was still seated in the same position from the past few hours gulping down glass after glass of vodka. A lone tear escaped from his eyes as he remembered that day. That was the day he had first taken the life of another man. It was the genesis of his criminal life. That day had been completely unintentional. He was innocent. But the deed was done.

He had murdered the man.

But now looking back at that day, he no more felt guilty. That man had deserved it.

He had been an innocent helpless boy looking for earning his daily bread. He had toiled hard, spending sleepless nights just for that one meal of his day. Yet, he had been exploited and abused for his helplessness. Just because he was an orphan and had no one to enquire about his well being. That was the day he had decided the importance of money in his life. That was the day he had begun worshipping money. Because money had been the reason that had forced him into that life. And money was the reason that had forced him into this life too.

o0o

It was six in the evening and Khushi stepped out of the clinic, her eyes darting around in that direction where he would park his bike. But to her utter dismay, she found no one there. She glanced at her watch once again. Maybe she was early. But no, she was on time.

She remembered their previous night conversation. He had seemed upset with her. He had barely spoken to her. But he had seemed fine when he dropped her to Lavanya's house. Then what must have happened in those few hours for this sudden change in his behaviour?

Khushi waited at the usual spot, hoping he would arrive. She had so many things to talk to about. She had waited the whole day just to get a glimpse of him.

Twenty minutes had passed. But there was no sign of him. Maybe he must be busy with some work, she concluded, brushing aside all her apprehensions. She quietly walked ahead towards the bus stop, with a disappointed and heavy heart, but somewhere she felt worried for him.

Arnav, where are you?

CHAPTER 18

One more thing. For those who are curious to know when will the truth be revealed to Khushi about Arnav, patience dears! that's why the story is named 'Mirage'. This is the USP of the story. And so it will take time for that.😉