"MAAA!" He saw her face again as she lay lifeless. He ran up to her. Grabbed her feet.
"Maa maa" His sobs came before he knew it, he was panting. He tried to move his limbs but they wouldn't move. Why couldn't he move his limbs? He had to save her! She was still alive. He had seconds left.
"Move damn it! Move!" He willed his limbs to move but to no avail. He tried to stand up. He had lost all sensation. He was numb.
"Maa" He formed the words in his mouth but didn't hear them being said. And it all went blank...
"Chote come here, don't you run away from me. You need to have your breakfast!" She was running after him, smiling attempting to make him even more late than he was going to be. "No ma. I need to go," he heard himself say.
"Chote, you know I'll always be there," she hushed him stroking his hair. Her touch still felt so real.
"No! Maaa!" He saw it again. Her body lifeless.
"MAA!" Arnav shot up, shivering, his body drenched in sweat. He closed his eyes, let the pain seep through him. He still relived the moment. He slowly stepped out of bed, already late, the nightmare was nothing new...
----
It was the second week in and Khushi was already engrossed in revision, they hadn't been joking when they said uni was a lot of work. They had been shopping earlier, it had been fun to finally go out of the university boundaries and explore the town. Glasgow was such a lively places, a city of cobbled streets, the hustle and bustle of people busy going around with their daily activities, the sun blazing down, groups of people chatting in outdoor cafes. She was in love with the city, with the sunshine, with the happiness she was feeling.
Life was now flowing smoothly, she still missed her parents, but she was slowly getting used to it, like Arnav had said. "Arnav," she whispered to no one in particular. She hadn't talked to him in almost a week. Every so often her heart would nudge her into thinking of him, but she didn't want to. She didn't want to unnecessarily worry herself. She wasn't sure if she had the courage to confront him once more. She had the urge to talk to him on several occasions but he had always been around a group of friends and he didn't seem to be taking his normal park route anymore either.
She quickly dismissed thoughts of him in her head and continued to make notes. Humming to herself lightly. Life was good when it was simple.
----
Everyone had told her how the good weather didn't last and she saw it for herself for the first time since moving to Glasgow. There was a light drizzle it had blurred the view out of her window and she hadn't even bought a bus pass. "Oh well Khushi. Better get used to the rain," and with that she set off on foot. But you had to admit it was a sight to see, after days of warm weather, the insects and plants were rejoicing, they were quenching their thirst. Little droplets here and there, puddles on the side of the paved road. Everything looked brighter, greener, livelier than she had ever seen. Khushi felt all happy inside, a bright smile adorned her face. And that's when she saw him, it had to be him! She had to speak to him, this had gone on for too long. That day she had decided to get answers and she still hadn't acted upon it. He wasn't that bad.
"Hey stranger!" She jumped in front of him. Arnav had been lost in his own world and jumped back a little at seeing Khushi, who seemed a bit too excited at seeing him. "Hey," he managed to mutter, attempting to contain his surprise and unusual sense of joy. "Not seen you in a while! Figured you had gone into hibernation till next summer."
He had caught onto what was happening now, he had given her space, given himself space. He didn't want to hurt her anymore so had decided to let that connection be. But he couldn't ignore what was there, what was so tangibly real. They were automatically drawn towards each other, in a way he had never known or imagined of before. He had unconsciously made the decision to take his old route again because his heart yearned to talk to her. She made him feel happy inside and he wanted to escape the pain.
He gave a small laugh, "Well too bad for you I don't do that till autumn." "Oh damn, so I got my hopes for no reason then?" She was much more at ease now, he seemed his normal calm self. "Pretty much. Wait! You got your hopes at the fact that I was hibernating, ouch!" He laughed. "Oh such a drama queen," she rolled her eyes at him. "Says the one that jumped in front of me, nearly giving me a heart attack. Thought I was going to get raped!" "Yeh because that's the way rapists approach," she retorted, glad the conversation was going nowhere bad. "That's the way I imagine them to, not done a masters in rapists like you seem to have," he winked. "Urgh, whatever, leave me alone!" She said pretending to be upset. "Okay, okay Miss too excited for rain! I'll let you off." "What's wrong with rain? It's made everything look so bright!" "Seriously? Are you joking?" He asked surprised, this one really was one of a kind. "Yes! Nature is beautiful, in each and every one of its forms!" She sounded so untouched by the cruel world, he hoped it would remain like that. That she never be made to feel a pain like the one he lived with. He smiled at her genuine happiness, the joy she seemed to take from every simple aspect of life.
----
Khushi stepped out into the constant drizzle, her mind wondering off to the events of the past two months, too happy for words. He always seemed to put her through a roller-coaster ride of emotions and yet she didn't seem to mind. In fact it was almost as if she craved it. He had said he'd meet her after her lecture so she looked round, he was nowhere to be seen. "Maybe he got a bit late," she thought and checked the time, no she was the one that was twenty minutes late. "Great! He probably left thinking I had," she nearly kicked herself in annoyance. "Oh Khushi how you can't be punctual on the few occasions you need to be I can't understand!" She was arguing with herself. "Do you always mumble and growl at yourself?" He asked, almost giving her a fright, eyebrow raised with that smirk of his she loved. "You scared me!" "Good. We are even now then," he replied, his voice full of mischief. "I didn't see you," she said attempting to brush off the fact that he had seen her talking to herself. "Oh I was wearing my invisibility cloak," he replied sarcastically. "Very funny," she pouted aiming a light slap his way as he jumped back, attempting to avoid it. "What's up? You seem stressed," Arnav had caught on to it the moment he'd seen her step out, she was such an open person that even the subtlest of changes was obvious. Khushi was left baffled once again, they had been hanging out a lot yes, but she really couldn't grasp how he was able to read her so quickly. "Just got my first exam coming up," she replied truthfully, sulking. "Aah, not to worry, I'm sure you'll do fine," he smiled at her reassuringly. She wished he would smile more often, it made him look even more handsome than usual and gave a softer tone to his normal rugged look.
They took the park route back, Khushi desperately wanted to cross that 2cm distance between his thumb and her small finger. She had this desperate desire to just entangle her finger in his, then her hand, see how well her fingers would fit into the spaces between his fingers. She could feel heat radiating off of his body, pulsating through her own. They were nearly at her flat when she finally plucked up the courage to ask the question. "Arnav..." "Hmmm," he continued to look forward but she knew he was listening. "How come you never talk about your family?" He froze, his eyes wide and slowly turned around to face her. His eyes at first showed confusion but slowly transitioned into a distant vacant expression, his face darkening as she watched. He looked down, away, it was almost as if he was in pain. But she wasn't one for stopping. The rain had seized now, there was a calm quiet in the atmosphere that was slowly engulfing them. She led him to a wet concrete slab and sat him down. He was still lost in thought. She wanted answers, she needed to know why he turned so grim at the mention of his family.
"Arnav. I have all night and neither of us are leaving till you tell me what's wrong."
Hard to find a way to get through
Its a tragedy
Pulling at me like the starts do
You're like gravity
Even if the wind blows
It makes it hard to believe
He slowly turned around to face her, his expression torn. He wanted to tell her he wanted to unload his pain but he wasn't sure he was ready yet, if he would ever be ready. If someone else should be put through the tale he had to say.
Doesn't even matter to you
To see what I can see
I'm crawling on the floor to reach you
I'm a wreck you see
When you're far from home
Makes it hard to believe
She slowly took his hand into hers and looked into his eyes, her features had softened. "You know you can tell me Arnav, it doesn't matter what it is, you can tell me."
How ya gonna love
How ya gonna feel
How you gonna live your life like the dream you have is real
And if you lost your way
I will keep you safe
We'll open up all the world inside
I see it come alive tonight
I will keep you safe
And that one gesture was enough, he knew he had to tell someone and he knew that if he had to choose one person to say it to he wouldn't choose anyone but her.
It was going to be a long night. ...
Lyrics credit Safe by Westlife
Image credit Sheree (http://www.flickr.com/photos/shereezielke/3246648717/)
Thanks for reading!
This is my last update till Thursday, I have too much cramming planned and if I attempt to write anymore, the story will probably end up loosing its essence. But to make up for no updates I will attempt to put up two chapters on Thursday :) x
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