Hello Again. I'm back. And as always I have no idea how long will I stick around. I have my reasons though. My day at uni ends at 4pm and I started a part time job recently that ends at 7pm. So little to no time for myself and other extra activities.
This story has been in the works for a long time now, heck I had even sent the first part to @Bloomie weeks ago. But despite all of that I've only written three chapters. So you get it, updates will be irregular, PMs will be sent if and when I find time.
Hope you like it!
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There it was.
At long last.
Content waves washed over his burning land of a soul and quelled the fire that burnt since the day his wife of two years took her last breath. The fire that had destroyed everything in its wake and ultimately destroyed the man himself.
ACP Arjun Rawte fell to the ground as his knees gave away and took it all in. Apart from that momentary thud and his ragged breathing, he was an epitome of stillness. His glistening eyes stayed transfixed on the sight in front of him.
Victory was his. Sikandar was dead.
Yet this victory was a loss of great magnitude.
Grief pricked his veins like thorns of a beautifully picked bouquet of roses. Arjun felt it pick its course, travelling from the deepest, most broken corners of his fragile heart, through his icy veins and eventually to his curse of a beyond brilliant mind. This curse that he had been born with, a curse that the world loved and relied on, the curse that made him what he is today.
His mind finally registered everything : the cause, consequences and implications of this doomed victory.
Pain and Anger soon overtook his grief and he felt hot, strong rage in his blood. The beast that sometimes overtook him, couldn't be controlled anymore and in that moment Arjun let go.
One gut wrenching scream.
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Several hours later
Arjun fought his weighing eyelids and fluttered them open. It took him a while to open his eyes fully and adjust to the bright white light. Arjun found himself on a bed in a hospital room. His right hand stung and Arjun moved his neck, albeit with a little difficulty to find a cannula connected to the saline.
He looked around and he could make out it was sometime late at night and was surprised. But nothing was more surprising that seeing the person who slept timidly on the sofa by the farthest wall.
Riya.
The last person he had expected to see. It was an odd thing to see. A tiny force of a human backing away into the world. From the expressions on her face, Arjun could make out the very distressful state of sleep she was in. But knowing her, although very very little, he understood this might have been a daily occurrence.
He wanted to call out to her, despite understanding that she deserved the rest. But he needed answers and he thought he deserved to be selfish. For once. He debated with himself, goodness knew what the fight today reminded her of - -
It was in the middle of these thoughts when another intrusive thought reminded him exactly what went down. Suddenly all the air in the room seemed to have been erased and Arjun couldn't breathe. Panic set in, adding to his misery and he found himself taking hard deep breathes. The monitor beside him picked up his erratic beating and started beeping loudly.
It took a few beeps and Riya was by his side immediately. She took in his behavior and understood what had happened. She pressed the nurses' call button above his bed and proceeded to hold his face in her hands. "Its alright. It's alright. It's over." she whispered over and over again as she caressed his hair.
Something about her soft voice and the way she whispered to him drew his attention towards it. It was calming and Arjun focused on her voice instead of the ones currently screaming in his head.
A couple moments later the attending doctor arrived with the nurse in tow. By now his erratic breathing had reduced to a murmur. For reasons unknown to himself, Arjun reached out and grasped Riya's hand in a vice like grip,as the doctor proceeded to conduct a preliminary investigation.
———
It was quite sometime before the visitors in Arjun’s room had cleared. The team had come rushing in once they had gleaned of his condition. Even though he was smothered with affection and concern by his team, Arjun did not miss the heavy intonation of weariness on their faces. What happened affected everyone.Neither did he miss the absence of the ETF’s chief. Arjun was glad of it. He didn’t know what his mind, scratch that his heart, would make his hands would do. He wasn’t particularly fit physically or mentally.
So Arjun lay on the ivory sheets of the hospital bed, lost in thoughts. Part of him told him he was just living another one of his nightmares. The other part however was certain that even his broken self couldn’t dream what had happened earlier in the day.
Flashback
“Not this time Sikandar. Not this time. Ab nahi bach paoge.” Arjun said, pointing his gun at the criminal mastermind, the thirst for vengeance quite evident in his voice. This man had left his life in shambles and there was no way Arjun was going to let him go. Or give him an easy farewell. It had to be slow and painful, just as Arjun’s life had become.
Despite the rest of the Emergency Task Force and the army of trained personnel standing behind Arjun and surrounding him on all sides, guns at the ready all pointing towards him, Sikandar grinned like a cheshire cat. Grinned as if he wasn’t on his knees, blood running down from his forehead and teeth. Grinned as if he didn’t knew his death stood a few steps away. Grinned as if he had one final card up his sleeve, as if he had one final blow to deal to the ACP. Grinned as he saw realisation hit the ACP.
The wide grin on Sikandar’s face threw Arjun off. Panic cruised in and his mind worked twenty different ways. He looked away, frantically searching for something,anything that could prevent him from avenging his wife’s death. But to his relief, he couldn’t make out anything. A few empty barrels, a TV screen and Sikandar’s men lying unconscious. Yet the warning bells in Arjun’s head wouldn’t stop going off.
Realising his chain of thoughts, Sikandar said,”Kya hua ACP? Itne pareshaan kyu ho? Sonchrahe ho na ki ab mein kya karne wale hoon? Itna toh mein janta hi hoon tumhe. Lekin kya hai na tumhare in admiyon ko dekhke lagta hai mera time khareeb hai. Lekin jaane se pehle tumhe ek taufa dena chahta hoon. Zyada kuch nahi hai lekin itna toh mein kar hi sakta hoon tumhare liye. Taufe ke saath ek aur nasihat tumhare liye. Doston par kabhi bhi dil kholke bharosa mat karna. Hai na Rathore?” Again that vile laughter erupted.
Beside Arjun, ACP Sameer Damsingh Rathore, Chief of the coveted Emergency Task Force went pale. Arjun didn’t dare move his eyes from the criminal, yet his peripheral told him of the uneasiness that ruled Rathore in a fraction of seconds. He was taken aback. Yet he focused on the problem in front of him, his eyes trained on the way that filth of a man was smiling.
Sikandar moved a bit and Arjun moved even closer. Sikandar motioned him to stop.” Picture abhi baqi hai,” was all he said as he pressed the chain around his neck.
Arjun lunged to detain him but stopped dead in his tracks when the TV screen came to life.
It was a video of a hotel room. Empty.The timestamp on the video indicated it was over two years old. Arjun was about to turn his attention to Sikandar when the door of the hotel room was brutally thrown open and in waltzed a couple their hands and mouths all over each other.
It took Arjun a mere two seconds to identify the couple.
His former best friend and his wife.
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