ArHi SS! Escape Velocity [Completed] - Page 104

wat an ending!!1 that was some kind of brusque! when i started reading this update i did not imagine that its going to be the last chapter for this ff or akash is the serial killer who is going to be killed by arnav!

Oh my god!! What an update!!!

Beautiful RB, pls do an epilogue if time permits. Thanks for the pm.

OMG this story was amazing girl! I loved it!

Frickin Akash, jealousy issues much? He did this all for Arnav, I thought we are going to see a struggle or a fight between Arnav and Akash but sometimes endings like these give a way better impact! I'm begging you to write an epilogue! Like on my knees begging you! Just to give us a sense of where our Arhi have ended up!

So Payal is not ready to give up info...! I surprised that Payal did not express her views more vocally...? Has she given up on Kushi..?

wow ...you do love to surprise your readers and are very unpredictable which is what I love the best in your stories...looking forward to read more of your work...keep it up...

Jealousy...the need to feel loved,loneliness...very base emotions prove to be triggers for the women's deaths...to draw attention to himself Aakash kills.

WOW!! Freaking Akash. I enjoyed this fiction. Yes it was dark but it was so suspenseful and well written that you are willing (I'm super squeamish) to read it due to the way it was presented. I really liked and would love to read an epilogue for a few reasons. The first being what happened with the people looking for the children of the experiment? What did Arnav and Khushi ultimately do? And finallyI'd love to read what happened to Khushi's seizures with Akash dead.

Epilogue

They had kept it simple. The little town in far eastern state of the country with its vibrant colors hand beckoned them. The nearest airport was at least two hundred kilometers away. They embraced local culture almost immediately and learned the language in record speed. Though they had migrated to a completely different part of the country which could never be associated with either of them, they still looked over their shoulders often with an unknown fear gripping their hearts all the time. It had been six years since they went off the grid taking different names, identities, background etc. still they maintained a low profile in their new home. Marriage had come easily and Arnav called it as an eventuality. Khushi had rolled her eyes in her bright red bridal wear and mocked him for his supreme non-romanticism. Arnav could only look at her laughing face blankly.

They had settled down in their farm house quick and fast and dealt with everyday things easily. It was a massive change in their lifestyles but they embraced the new one with a newfound enthusiasm. They didn't have all the answers though Akash's therapy tapes and his journals provided most but the scars at an individual level was still unexplained. They reached a point where they wore the scars as their skin and stopped looking at it entirely.

Life was much more than past. They had a future which they could decide, dictate and design for themselves. The thought was exhilarating.

After leaving Akash's house, Arnav had gone to a man he had busted several years ago for passport fraud. It didn't faze him to utilize his services as he asked the man to create new identities for him and Khushi. In next two days he had emptied the bank account, worked with Shukla in finding the killer and investigated Akash's murder as reported by his neighbors in sheer nonchalance. Four days later, he went home early and ate dinner with his family. He was a little more talkative than normal and Anjali believed it was because of the vacation he had taken. He had profusely apologized to Bharadwaj and sent Suman a bouquet of flowers. He wanted to believe that Bharadwaj was outside all of this mess but the doubt that had crept in his mind had cast a shadow on everyone around him. The next morning he left home early and that was the last his family, friends and colleagues ever heard of Arnav Raizada.

Arnav Raizada disappeared completely that day.

Khushi felt compelled to finish her book as promised to her editor. After coming back from visiting Dr Sharma, she had fervently started to type and wrote till wee hours of morning and the pattern continued for couple of days. Payal knew how Khushi had bursts of writing phase so she left her alone. However she was scared when she saw Khushi lying on the ground and having one of the most violent seizures she had ever seen. The fit had ended several minutes later and Khushi had fallen into a deep sleep after that. Payal desperately called Dr Sharma who couldn't take her call. Scared, she called Khushi's doctor back home who said that the seizures were probably induced by lack of sleep and extreme stress Khushi underwent when she wrote.

As predicted by the doctor, sleep indeed did her good and Payal noted that the restless look in Khushi's eyes had vanished and instead there was a sudden calmness. It both scared and elated Payal. Khushi's stares had grown unknowingly uncomfortable as if she was waiting for Payal to dissolve in a puddle of lies. Payal often averted gaze when Khushi's wondering hit home and a slice of pain crossed her heart. Khushi's doctor back home had told her about Khushi's past and asked her to look after Khushi. She always felt she was betraying Khushi when she spoke of most inane yet personal things Khushi had told her in confidence.

Payal looked at the finished manuscript in her hand and a grinning Khushi in front. She had finished the pending chapters within few days and almost two months ahead of schedule. Payal wanted to see how Khushi had ended the story. There was so much of truth in there but people would read it as yet another thriller. Payal had tried to reach Dr Sharma several times in next few days in vain. She wanted to ask him what he had divulged to Khushi and Arnav. Khushi, who spoke her mind often, was unnaturally quiet about the things which Payal wanted to hear. She didn't talk about Arnav, she stopped being scared about a shadow following her all the time, she slept better and most of all – there were no more episodes of seizures.

A month later they visited Bharadwaj and came to know that Arnav had suddenly left one early morning in a desperate need to solve the case and a week later had disappeared. Payal then had whipped her head to see Khushi who was maintaining no expressions. Khushi's expression made her heart skip several beats and a mild panic settled in the base of her stomach. In that moment Khushi slowly turned her head and looked at Payal intently. A small smirk played at the corner of her lips and Payal's heart plummeted to her stomach.

Khushi knew.

Khushi always knew that this is how it was going to end. The day Arnav had held her and pleaded with his eyes not to question him further, she knew. She knew that he was going to put an end to a part of madness which was part of her but embodied with someone else. Arnav didn't see it as a problem but more like a risk. It was only a matter of time he would contact her.

He had contacted her sooner than she thought he would. It was only two months since he had left and his method of communicating had rendered her speechless.

Like every other morning she had gone to the temple and meditated while the priest performed the morning rituals. She smiled at him as he walked towards her to give her flowers and she returned book he had given her to read. They chatted for few minutes and when she was about to leave, he handed her an envelope he had received. He said that the letter was sent to him but it was addressed to her. She was surprised and rendered speechless as the priest dropped the letter in her hands. She sat on the floor right in front of the idol and read the letter in bleak morning light.

By the time she reached end of the letter, she was smiling and knew exactly what she had to do. She asked the priest for matchbox and burnt the letter in courtyard. She requested the priest to forget this moment and never to mention this to anyone ever again including Payal. The old man had nodded and looked at her fondly as she touched his feet. He told her that he always knew she was a special child and she had chuckled humorlessly at that. Gulping down the sorrow she bid him goodbye and walked out of the temple. The old priest never saw her again.

She shoved her journals and diaries in a large backpack and threw in some clothes. She packed the other necessary things, as if she was checking off a mental list prepared long time ago and was ready to leave. Payal slept late and she hesitated for a moment wondering should she leave a note or something. It was better to leave a note else she very well knew that Payal would go to police and there would a manhunt which would slow her down. She left a simple good-bye note.

Though she had read his letter only couple of times, she could remember every letter he penned and the ones he intended to. She arrived at the address mentioned in the letter three and half days later after taking two trains, three buses and crossing several states. She knocked on the door and took a step back and admired the greenery around her. It was a middle sized house amidst a luscious farm.

The door opened and he stood on the other side smiling wanly. "Welcome home." He simply said. She smiled brilliantly at him and stepped inside.

She was finally home with him.

Note:

Truly, the end this time :=) Hope you guys had fun reading this!