Chicago's wilderness is as usual basking in its wild glory at night. The network of natural areas that includes 370,000 of protected land and waters was as lonely as ever sharing its emptiness with thousands of native plants and animals. Like always the shrill sounds of plains leopard frog, spotted turtle or birds such as the meadowlark, bobolink and sandpiper and rare insect species is occasionally stirring the surrounding. But today the night seemed to have a different hope in its core...a hope to heal its soul...a hope to fill it with joy, peace and happiness...a hope to find protection and calmness. How true nature can be?? It can sense something is going to change...something will happen and will happen for good. The plants and animals communicate in their own languages to get ready to welcome someone who can help save the earth from a predator. They were humming their own welcome song when they witness a huge bowl of light illuminating near the moon ...its brightness could make sun ashamed of himself. On this full moon night when some of the humans are busy visiting fairies in their dreams and some busy eradicating all the innocence from earth an angel descended from heaven right in the middle of the tropical forest of Chicago with great authority and the forest grew bright with her splendour. She was illumining her surrounding in her glory. Within few minutes the light start diminishing and slowly started fading but the aura surrounding the angel remain intact. The invisible light she is carrying around her can even blind an owl at night.
Pia looked around with her scanning eyes to observe a different world completely in contrast with her own. She smiled gleefully brightening the atmosphere even further if possible to accept the warm welcome she has received from those plants and animals. The scene still play in front of her eyes when she had to literally beg the head of the seventh heaven... those archangels who are not surprisingly largest and tallest of the angels ...to let her visit the earth. She still shudder remembering how hard it was to convince them all. She has been deprived of some of her powers for the time being she will be on earth. In a way its good she thought afterall it will be easier to mingle with the humans without raising suspicion. As she saw the sun ready to kiss the horizon she glanced at herself... she is no longer a translucent semi opaque creature. Her skin which was colourless earlier was shinning white in the glowing morning sun..Her hair reflected three shades of brown Shining like silk in the early morning sunAlmost like a princess, with a diamond crown. Smiling her eyes were almost shut closed breathing in the morning sun.
As she started walking past the forest to reach the main city where she will hopefully be able to find the reason of her stay on earth... the man who is mercilessly butchering human line especially girls out of his lust and hunger. She wonder how it will be to meet that monster who can onehandadly defeat any angel in looks...how will she be able to suck up the darkness out of him... will it be even possible?? But she has no other option she has promised herself that she will save those humans from becoming dinner of that monster. Her own people have called her foolish emotional brat but she did't care. So what she can't handle these emotions. Its in her nature to be sensitive enough to be unable to bear someone's plight and its too long for now.. that vampire is mercilessly cutting down every human he could find and that too just for his fun. He has no soul... Its like he is empty from inside and that's the challenge. She has to seed humanity inside of him. She has to make him feel sorry for what he has done and most importantly she has to make him pledge that he won't repeat his mistakes ever.
She has left her world just to save humans and mostly to save him from his own monstrous self and it has cost her some of her powers like flying. She touched her back and sighed. Her swanlike glittering wings are no more. She consoled herself reprimanding that it will again grow back when she will finish her task. That reminds her of the ultimatum she has been given that if she won't be able to achieve her goal they won't take her back. As she finally reached the street after surpassing the whole of jungle after almost two hours of walk she felt a twitch in her heart dreading what will happen if she will be unsuccessful... that monster is one stubborn bull what if he won't agree?? Then she will be left to rot on the earth. The faces of her small brothers.. those cherubs( look like small babies with wings) came in front of her they were almost on the verge of crying when she informed them of her plans. After a lots of persuading and cajoling they agreed to let her go but not without the promise that she will return as soon as she can. With this thought she felt more confident. Yes she will do it. She has to if not for her then for her brothers...for those innocent humans who could be his prey for no mistake of their own and in one corner of her heart she felt like she want to do it for him as well... How can someone be so ruthless...so non repentant... there must be a reason behind the way he has developed himself and she will reach to its core. She is an angel and that too the one blessed with special powers and angels always keep their promises and never break them for anything and she wont let anything change this fact.
She reached the main city of Chicago after a while. A chill ran down her spine not only due to the weather but also the surrounding. Those towering building and the crowd of people who are looking at her like she is some align creatures are giving her creeps
She wonder whats wrong with her...she has been transformed to look as much as human as possible. When she looked at her reflection in the lake of Michigan( she recognizes it by the tall Hancock tower in the background .Afterall she has done her homework before coming here and moreover she has seen from above that the monster at night was roaming around this place with one of his prey in his arms two days back according to the earth clock. He was heading towards the jungle nearby from where she has just now came into the city and out of curiosity and of course urge to find him she has found out about this place by listening to the talks of humans and hence decided to land in that jungle itself but it seems like that monster has took a break for a day from his night life) she herself was fooled for a second that she was seeing a human not herself. She even looked back to confirm that its her shadow only or is it an illusion. But then why is everyone scrutinizing her so intimidately. Then her eyes move over to the dress she was wearing and she looked here and there and guessed the reason immediately. Her dress was a complete contrast and moreover inappropriate when compared to the clothing of the people around her. She is wearing an rosy evening gown with drop waist and long fringes.
She was very happy when one of the guardian angels gifted this to her while she was confused what to wear when she will land on earth. Definitely she can't wear her normal clothing which will look like opalescent chiffon coverings to the humans. Even she had to bear the brunt of listening the full story of how the guardian angel was employed to look after a girl since childhood and as per the custom she will have to leave the girl when she will going to get married... How on the day of marriage the guardian angel invisibly helped the girl in running away as the girl loved someone else but her father who was a king refused to accept a peasant as the prince. But the guardian angel took away her wedding dress after the girl's marriage to her lover as a symbol of affection she has shared with the girl. Pia was ecstatic and thankful accepting the dress which she thought was pretty. What she forgot at that time was that the incident took place centuries ago and people now a days dress differently. She scrunched her nose looking at the girls around her thinking how on god damn earth could people change so much within few centuries. Angels are same from billion of years then why do humans change so much and the dresses the girls are wearing looks like just for the sake of covering themselves. No wonder that beast treat them as sex object if they are offering themselves on a decorated plate to him
She made a mental note to first thing get a new dress from the first clothing store she will come across. Not finding anything to buy here she decided to roam around the city till the night time when the probability to find the vampire will be highest. And moreover she was feeling cold and even her stomach has started grumbling which she after debating for an hour to herself understood that is a sign that she is hungry. Yes the head angels have doomed her with all the human emotion and charateristics and she know in her case they are even magnified. So in order to find a solution of her current problems she decided to take a train... yeah that's the name she remember...thank god she had the hobby to look into human lives from heaven otherwise she would be facing more trouble than she already is. Being human is not a cup of cake she got to know within hours. She almost freaked out when she was asked for money to buy the ticket to board the train but it was just for a split seconds.. she quickly composed herself and gave the ticket collector a sparkling smile and he was bowled over. He has handed her the tickets without spelling a single word. She sat into the elevator train patting her back victoriously. Angels have power to charm anyone with their pure character. They are the only creatures who can make a person do anything they want not because of hypnotising but because that's the right thing to do . Angels tend to bring a good side from the inside of the person to the surface. But That's not in her favor while thinking about Abhay as his altruism is buried someway very very deep inside of him from where its almost impossible to extract it. But that's why she is here isn't she. She will make this possible with her might. She thought zealously.
When she was busy planning her moves to get the vampire into check she could not notice some guys checking her out from head to toe. They came nearby and sat next to her a little close. Pia was still unaware of her surroundings. When one of the boys hands brushed her hand then only she came back to senses. She looked around to found herself surrounded by a gang of six boys who are looking smugly at her and dressed up like ...umm...what humans call them...yeah hoodlums. Another problem. ***sigh***
"Hey Queen Alizabeth where are u going" the ugliest and bulkiest of them asked her
"umm pardon what did u addressed me as" Pia asked curiously but the gang of boys laughed like she has said something incredulous and Pia almost pouted. How is she supposed to know Queen Elizabeth whom she is compared to. She just hope that Elizabeth was not someone ridiculous
"U r wearing this costume and u r soo bad at history. Ohh u r so cute" the guy sitting by her side pinched her cheek and Pia got they were just try to bully her
" Thanks for appreciating.. but can u please shift a bit I need some air..u guys are suffocating me" she asked politely shifting a bit but the guy on the other side held her hand. This didn't go well with Pia. The otherwise calm Pia had a sudden urge to do something violent but then rather decided to make them decide whats good for them by letting them see the conscience but she got distracted
"Hey why r u troubling the girl??" came a voice from the door. Pia turned her head to see the door blasted open and a handsome figure stood there with half angry and half worried expressions... he wore a steel grey Armani suit ...had pitch back eyes his fair face looked slightly flushed as if he wanted to kill those guys surrounding her.
" Becoze we looove doing that" the gang stood up between the guy and pia
"Leave her alone if u want to land to east Chicago intact without missing some bones" the guy dared them authoritatively . The passengers are witnessing the scene whispering to each other. while Pia was surprised that how come a complete stranger is standing up for her safety.
" Heey why r u soo concerned. Is she ur girlfriend or wh**e? Even if she is I guess u must have had enough of her.. now its our turn. U can take her tomorrow we will make sure to hand her over to u INTACT" the head of them mocked and others hooted
The guy couldn't take it more. Its like he was burning with rage. He punched the goon right on his big fat nose who in return stumbled backwards and fell. His friend moved towards the guy and held him and hit him on his leg causing the guy to kneel down in pain. Seeing the situation getting out of hand Pia decided to intervene before its too late. But before she could move forward and use her powers of persuasion some security guard came and captured the goons. It seems like a fellow pessanger has informed them about the trouble and they immediately rushed to help. Pia stood up for the guy and told them that he is helping her so the goons released him after clapping for his bravery which Pia can easily conclude that he was worth of. Pia politely thanked them and moved towards the guy who was now sitting on her place holding his leg where they have kicked him. She sat beside him and asked softly "Hey is it hurting too much .Are u ok?"
He just returned her smile and even her question " I m fine but are u OK? They didn't hurt u right!!!." He asked. Pia could easily see the genuine concern in his eyes and was touched. Humans are afterall not that bad.
"No they didn't. They could have if u weren't on time. Thanks a lot but u should have been more careful. What if the cops haven't arrived. They could have harmed u badly." Pia said almost teary keeping a hand on his shoulders. Yes her emotional imbalance is showing signs. But she was touched beyond words. Someone has stood up for her.. hell a human... a complete stranger has helped her for no benefit of his when she is all alone in this world. So her concern is justified. She consoled herself
The guy just smiled seeing her all emotional " If the cops haven't interfered I would have killed them with my own bare hands" he again turned grim
Pia could easily see there is more to this matter. The way he is behaving is not natural. She pressed his shoulders in assurance "What happened does this situation remind u of something"
He looked at her stupefied. How did she know?? But Pia gave him another one of her rare assuring smile calming him down all of a sudden "Okay if u don't want to tell me its fine but show me ur injury. Let me see if I can help u"
To his own surprise he didn't protest he let her move down his socks slightly. She rubbed her thumb around the blue mark on his feet which has occurred due to blood clotting and he instantly felt the pain all going away. She stood up and again took her position and ashed softly "Is it good now?? U r not feeling the pain anymore right!!"
And he for the first time genuinely smiled "Yeah ur hands have some magic" but he again turned gloomy "U know my sister died due to one of these kinds of bas***ds. Three years ago she was returning from a club...my club... when some of these goons picked her up ...raped her and killed her." He paused for a moment. Pia could see those tears floating in his eyes but he blinked them back "Seeing u today being getting bullied by these bas***ds reminds me of her and that's why I wanted to throttle their neck" his eyes were red and Pia knew he meant what he said. Two pearls escaped her eyes without her consent. The guy mentally kicked himself for venting out his pain although for the first time he felt good doing so "Hey I m sorry I don't know what came over me that I told all those tragic things to u. u don't need to feel bad because of it" but Pia hold his hand and smiled which again acted as a medicine to calm him
"Its okay I m glad u told me. I bet u must be feeling good now... right !!" the guy nodded genuinely this time pressing her hand. "Wherever ur sister is she is seeing u and she must be feeling proud of u. U r a gr8 human and keep her with u in ur good memories. U will feel gr8 and she will gain peace in the heaven. And those culprits would have been punished by god by now. So u stop worrying about them. Ok" the guy chuckled. For the first time he felt like someone has genuinely consoled him. Yeah she is right his sister will be with him in all those happy memories they have shared together and he will be happy for her.
The guy missed to notice that the train has stopped and its time for them to get down as it's the last station. When Pia called him he followed her and got down. She again thanked him and waved a small good bye and was about to go back when he remembered that he didn't even asked her name . So he called her "Hey miss pink gown. Whats ur name"
Pia turned back and smiled "I m Pia. And you"
"I m Kabir" He took out a small thing from his right pocket and gave it to her. She looked at it amused trying to see what it is when he replied "This is my card if u need some help call me ok"he smiled and she nodded knowing they won't meet again"By the way where are u going ??"Kabir asked or rather shouted so that Pia could hear it as the place is crowding with every passing second and looked at her dress doubtfully
"well just for an errand. And please don't ask about the dress" he chuckled yet nooded and bid her goodbye hoping to see her again
Pia after a good conversation with a warmhearted man dashed the streets of Chicago and this time rather more enthusiastically. She wondered what a nice man he was. She felt a different feeling around him... may be it could be compared with the feelings humans share with their siblings and she share with her cute cherubs. She wondered what they must be doing right now. God knows which angel they r playing prank on this moment. She laughed remembering their antics and her eyes fell on a clothing shop for girls and she decided to finally do something of her weird dress and try to take her first step in getting aquainted with humans. After all Abhay should consider her as a mere human if she wants to tame that wild beast. She entered the large shop and got mesmerised by the quantity of clothes scattered all over the place and girls swooning all around grabbing a dogen of clothes each. Pia mused how many clothes these humans want to cover their body and still they seemed to be unsuccessful. She rolled her eyes seeing people looking at her weirdly. "Oh god I want to get out of these clothes" she prayed and moved swiftly towards a section to see some jeans and tops when she heard the cry of a child.
She threw back the jeans in her hand on the face of the shopkeeper (unintentionally) and rushed to the child's side. He was standing at the door of the shop shouting and crying vigorously. His head was bleeding and he was continuously calling "mamma mamma where are u ?" Pia's felt a lump in her throat seeing the condition of this cute little boy. He must be missing his mom terribly but where is she? Pia looked around to see people making weird faces at the boy...some showing sympathy...some annoyance. So she gathered the boy in her arms. First she felt him stiff in her embrace but then he relaxed. His sniffs subsided to hiccups. So Pia took him to the bench placed on the lounge of the shop which was meant for boys as they are not allowed in the shop. Luckily its empty today so she sat there comfortably setting the boy in her lap. The boy leaned his forehead to her chest and took breaths as he must have been tired by excessive crying. Pia watched him lovingly. He looks four or five years old. Wearing blue jeans and a superman shirt looking so cute that Pia could not resist herself from planting a kiss on his cheek. Then she noticed the bruise on his head. Blood is prickling down slowly from it. Pia lovingly caressed that spot and the bruise vanished instantly.
"Hey jaadu di mera sir bilkul theek ho gaya" the boy said in his babyish voice to which Pia nodded smiling. She could understand hindi as being an angel she was witnessing humans all over the world so has the knowledge of almost all the languages known till date
"Yes par yeh batao apko chot lagi kaise aur aap ro kyun rahe the haan" she asked caressing his head feeling motherly affection towards him all of a sudden
"Woah mumma she went away. Paa ne kaha the wo aenge. Mumma unhe lene gayi par mujhe nahi lekar gayi. kaha wait karo. So I cried went to the door to stop her but she was gone by then aur phir main gir gaya aur mujhe lagi" he pointed to his head "but apne mujhe theek kar diya" he smiled showing the dimples on his cherub cheeks and kissed her on her cheek and Pia poked his dimples and chuckled
"Oh u r so cute" she threaded his hairs with her fingers "Acha apka naam kya hain" she asked
"Ayaan aur aapka" he asked in the same sugary tone
"Pia" Pia replied
"Nice name" he commented wisely and Pia could not help but chuckle "Acha yeh batao aapki mumma ne aapko kaha bethne ke liye kaha tha?" she asked looking into his eyes
"Waha unn bohot boring uncle ke paas jo billing counter par bethe hain" he replied
"kyun u don't like him?"Pia inquired
"naah he gave me a sour strawberry and asked me to shut up when I asked him few question about the dresses spread on their counter" he made a face and Pia laughed and stood up taking him into her arms moving towards the place where he is supposed to wait for his mom. She went there and saw a girl shouting at the man sitting on the counter
"u don't know ??? how dare u say this? I told u to take care of my child for ten minute. Just bloody 10 minutes and u could not " she banged his computer table making all the files fell down( luckily the laptop was saved by that fourty year oldman who was fumbling for words in front of the lady) "I will sue u and ur damn little shop. U can't take care of a five year old boy. How the hell are u managing this whole good for nothing shop. What if my baby was crying?? What if he gets hurt??. I will drag u to court and u will be banned from owning anyother clothing than ur own foul smelled jeans and yucky shirts" she was crying ...tears flowing down her eyes. Pia immediately understood that Ayaan must be her son for whom she is turning the shop upside down. Pia nudged the boy to call his mom who was by now enjoying the show of his mom shouting at the poor old man. "Mamma I m here" the girl turned around recognizing her baby's voice and Pia landed him on his foot and the girl came running by and hugged him instantly. Her tears knew no bounds. Pia also felt emotional suddenly sympathising with the girl who went through the fear of losing her son ...that too such a cute son.
After few moments Pia started moving out when Ayaan's voice stopped her in her tracks "Where r u going di?" she turned around and smiled at him
"You met ur mom so I should go now hainna" she asked but he separated himself from his mom and came running towards her and hugged her legs
"Please don't go. I have no friends. If u will leave me main phir se akela ho jaonga" he looked up at her still hugging her legs apprehensively. Pia heart almost melted at this sight . She knelt down and cupped her face
"Baby u have ur mumma now . how will u be alone then??" she asked
"But I want u" he replied firmly blinking his black eyes innocently. Pia looked at his mother for some help who has by now squinted her eyebrows is now looking at her softly. She asked her to accompany her to the nearby cafe for a chat. Although reluctant but looking at the pleading eyes of Ayaan she accepted the offer. They moved out of the shop when someone picked Ayaan up in his arms and kissed him all over his face "Beta where were. U scared the hell out of ur paa" Pia recognised the voice and faced him startled. The guy also stopped swirling Ayaan when he saw her.
"Kabir"!!" Pia squealed
"Oh god Pia. What r u doing doing here?"Kabir asked rather delighted to see her once again
"long story" Pia replied sighing
"Now I guess we should definitely chat" the girl butted and dragged all of them to the posh restaurant nearby.
They asked Pia to order and she ordered a plate of each item in the snacks section startling Kabir and his wife. Getting out of the initial shock the girl began with the pleasantries "Hey I m Misha. Misha Singh Rathore. My husband and son both met you. So I guess now its my turn. I would love to know the story of ur encounters with both of them." Pia explained her everything point by point while Kabir shook his head at his shakki wife. In the meantime she also finished everything she has ordered while feeding Ayaan something or the other in between who for the first time ate happily without creating any drama. Misha had her mouth agape first by the way her rather unfriendly Ayaan behaved with the stranger and secondly wondering how come she mange such a nice figure eating so much at a time like she was starving since ages.
In the meantime Misha has developed her own great Misha's theory of Pia's abduction which Pia supported fully not knowing what else to say as she suck at lying. Misha looking at her apetite and dress assumed that she must be sold here by her reckless relatives to work for some American family from where due to abusing she ran away collecting whatever she got and now wondering where to go. Misha sympathised with her and even asked her to accompany them promising that they will help her get a job to which Pia refused politely saying that she will manage and she don't want to trouble them anymore than she already has.
When finally Pia thanked them and started leaving after kissing Ayaan. He again stopped her. "Don't go di please" this time he started crying to which Pia could not hold herself and hugged him. This child has sure make an impact on her within an hour "I know kewal aap hi mujhe sahi kar sakte ho. I hate those useless doctors. Woah bus mujhe injection lagate hain aur phir mamma paa ko kehta hain ki I have less time aur phir mumma cries." He said hiccupping while Pia looked at his parents aghast. She could not understand what he was saying but could see Misha crying leaning on Kabir's shoulders. "Aaap mat jao. Jese aaj aapne magic se mujhe theek kiya the. Waise hi u will cure my disease I know" Pia brought him out of the hug and caressed his cheek.
"Ok baby I won't go. Now don't cry" she wiped his tears and smiled "that's like a good boy. Now go and wash ur hands. They r dirty"
"u will be there nah" he confirmed
"yes baby I will be" Pia smiled and looked at Kabir and Misha for explaination
" he has a hole in his heart" Kabir replied holding Misha and planting kisses on her hair to soothe her. Pia quickly processed in her brain and got statled knowing that how harmful it can be for him. Her eyes stung as she gathered Ayaan in her arms who laughed hysterically seeing her when he came back after washing his hands
"Please stay with him. For the first time he has shown affection towards anyone else than his parents. U want job I will give that to you. U can work in any of the the clubs I own at night and in the daytime u can work as his nanny. I hope it's a fair deal" Kabir looked at her expectedly and she couldn't deny. In addition to Ayaan her mind got red alert thinking about clubs. That's the place from where that monster took his preys or rather lure them with his charms and Kabir owns the most famous club of Chicago. And going by his theory of the bigger the better there are gr8 chances of capturing him there. She exhaled a deep breath. She will be meeting Abhay soon afterall
here is the part please leave ur comments as they mean a lot to us. cowriters please tell me if u found something absurd and out of order
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