ArHi FF!! Event Horizon - Ch 8(A), Sep 11, Pg 25 - Page 10

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Chapter 4b

"If you hadn't opened your damn mouth during wedding, we wouldn't be seeing this day today," her aunt grumbled loud enough for Khushi to hear. It pricked her when her parents silently asserted that statement. The hunger she felt when she woke up died in her stomach. Her throat felt constricted but she held her head high and got ready for work.

"Look at where all this has got us. It's just not your sister's life you ruined but also my brother's." Her aunt continued to grumble. Their finances had been hit and her father's sweet shop business was shut down due to foreclosures. The continued silence in the house was stabbing her and tearing her apart with every passing day.

In her view, it was the most destructive way of living – where one person's point of view was always wrong and she was absolved from any happiness; because happiness came with its own set of preconditions.

"I wonder if you had done something so insensitive had it been your real sister." Her aunt didn't spare a breath in making her an alien.

Silence this time was deadly.

*****

She wandered aimlessly in the city. Her body was high strung and she felt wound by a deadly spring. Work was out of question; a simple call which lasted forty seven seconds had her supervisor accepting her leave. She purposely took a bus which took her to an alien and run down part of the city where she knew she would be ignored.

"Welcome!" A bright chirpy voice called her in as she stood on threshold of an old diner. She was momentarily disoriented when the dimness of the room hit her hard.

"Thank you," she mumbled walking in. Once her eyes readjusted after being in sunshine for so long, she glanced over the diner. By the looks of it, the diner looked cheap. Each plastic table had four plastic chairs and there were four sets. On the other end, there was just one set of table and chairs behind which was a refrigerator with glass door filled with less than a dozen bottles of cola.

"Sit anywhere you want. With anyone you want," the patron a girl who was probably of her age said.

"Excuse me?" Khushi asked wondering if she had misheard the girl.

"Everyone knows each other here. They know you too." The girl said with a large smile.

"How?" Khushi asked puzzled.

"It's Event Horizon," the girl said with a laugh pointing to the name plaque. "It's the name of this diner," she added for good measure. Khushi nodded in realization.

"When despair from words sink into skin and then into flesh, it takes years to get it out. But when the despair sticks to your bones, you ache every time someone asks you to smile. Your bones painfully creek when you hurry to your loved ones. And one day the dam breaks and every single emotion you treasured are flooded and are lost forever. Before despair sucks you into its dark abyss, this diner finds you." The girl suddenly sounded much older than she looked. Was it in the timbre of her voice or the haunting look in her eyes?

"Is this real?" Khushi asked the girl. "Am I dreaming?" There was mild panic her voice.

"You seem awfully sure you were awake all this time," the young woman trilled in laughter.