Silent Hearts

4| Four

"She knew she had fallen for him the very moment, 'home' went from being a place to being a person..."

***

Nandini looked down, her uncertain mind frozen to an extent where no amount of warmth could soften it, her body shivered over and over again as the images of that day flickered through her frozen mind, while the echoes of Tushar's words disturbed her ears. She could feel her eyes filling with a heavy layer of moisture again and again as tears continued to escape, trailing down her cheeks.

'I want to marry you, Nandini Roy."

His utterances meandered through her ears to her mind, like a wave of lava gushing towards the depth of the world, destroying everything in its way. Every word that erupted from him attacked her numb mind until those words hit the strings to her heart, making it beat wildly against her chest. Her soul was whacked hard by that phrase nearly killing the remaining spirit she had in there for her to live. She felt broken. She felt shattered and she had known, she would destroy another life also.

Tushar Chatterjee wanted to marry her. There was no reason for him to do that, or, was there any? He was just like every other human, judgemental and hypocrite, wasn't he? Then why had he wished for her? She was a nuisance to this world, and she knew that very well. She was nothing more than a burden and could never be someone important to anyone. She was hidden under the cloud of disdain...where no fraction of light could ever enter. This was her haven, the shadow was her home... Then why had he wanted to enter that darkness?

She was a bad omen...she was a witch who couldn't even have the luck to lead a happy married life...she was nothing but a repulsive creature.

Then why? Why? Why had Tushar wished to destroy his life?

Her hands trembled as she lifted them to her face, wishing to wipe away all the tears that stained her soul. Those tears were nothing but a shame to her pain because Nandini believed...she didn't even deserve those tears. In an attempt to quiet herself from those horrendous sobs that left her, Nandini pushed her palms to her mouth, but never did she manage to hold back her wails, she cried harder, her shoulders shaking with the impact of her loud wails as well that curly mane that concealed her face away from the judgemental eyes that lurked through the shadows.

Deafened by the loud wails that echoed through her soul, Nandini did not pay any attention to the sound of the door of her room opening and the rushing footsteps of a person towards her, and in the very next moment she could wipe her tears, a warmth surrounded her body, being pulled into a tight hug by her sister, who had run through the halls the second she had heard those painful cries just to comfort her sister.

"Di, what is it? What has triggered you di?"  Naitee tried to know what was the reason for such state of her sister after so many days, months to be exact. Nandini had been quite stable a few months back but after her third attempt for that horrible thing, she had been again back to square one; the rarely noticeable changes that had bloomed in her behaviour had again withered to ashes, vanishing her sanity into the thin air, never leaving any trace of existence.