Anidita: reborn of love

Caught by monitors

" Last time we found a deep black water well and it led us toward second point. I guess this time too something like-----" , I said when jack cut me off.

" Like another well?" , Jack said, walking behind me.

He broke off the branches from the trees as he pushed through them.
I saw a flash of water in the distance, the same deep black as the water from the well at the first point.

" No, But I think I found it.", I said, pushed through the branches.

A dark pool of water cut through the trees, I knelt on the bank and bent over the water until my reflection appeared.

The water bubbled. My reflection licked her lips. I touched my mouth. Had I done that without realizing, or was I seeing things?

The bondita in the water parted her lips. And as she did, my throat tightened. A thin thread of air twisted up from within me as she was unwinding something inside of me. Slowly, the dryness on my tongue melted into something soft and moist, into memory of something I had been desirous to taste. It just wasn't a taste, but a feeling imprinted on my soul. Anirudh.

The warm taste of his lips filled me. I had only felt them once, on that night at scofflish, when we had first exchanged souls, and yet I could feel them against mine as if we were still lying in the grass. I could taste the sweetness of his breath, when the memory began to unravel. I realized it too late, the taste had faded from my lips. My reflection bubbled in the water beneath me, her mouth parted, her face whitening as though something were being drained from her. I tried to bring the memories back but it didn't work.

The memory folding into another until the taste of my uncle's house coated my lips with roasted vegetables with butter. Then my parents, The bite of a burger, A lick of ice cream, the first sip of lemonade, its glass sweating in the sun.

I swallowed, trying to keep the memories , but it was no use. My reflection rippled. My tongue felt dull. I was overwhelmed with thirst. Aesha stood a few steps away, licking her lips as she stepped back from the pool. Jack blinked beside her, blocking the sun with his hand.

I was still holding the cloth Anirudh had left behind. I slipped them into my pocket and turned to the horizon, trying to recall map, that led from the second point to the third.

" The mountains , I remember them from the map." , Jack said, excitingly.

"So do I" , Aesha said. " The third point should lie between them, right?"

I turned to them, about to agree, when I noticed a cabin.

"There's a house back there-" I began to say, when a deep voice cut me off.

" It's empty."

My uncle, rising over me,He was dressed in a gray suit and overcoat. He walked to the edge of the pool and leaned over it. It happened in a flash. He blinked, his mouth opening suddenly before pressing shut once again. He watched the light, as if he had been standing there for hours. When he turned to me, he was unable to hide the astonishment on his face. He gave me a questioning look, but said nothing. Then he removed a handkerchief from his coat pocket and patted his lips.

A dozen elders from the High Court came from behind him , They wore red batches to mark their distinction. Behind them stood two dozen others-Lower Court Monitors.

My uncle was about to speak, when one of them broke the silence by sneezing. Mrinal. She was standing on the side of the group, her father, towering over her. He had always liked me at St Peter's and I remembered him as a sweet person though now his expression was rigid. He pulled a handkerchief from his coat and handed it to Mrinal.