A New Journey

Unleashing The Feelings

A New Journey

...

Tarika regained consciousness slowly. She restrained her eyes multiple times before finally being able to look around. She found herself in a corner of the room she was working on. She was in middle of a mess. With great difficulty she sat up, resting her back against the wall but her right leg was stuck under a heavy furniture. She could move her leg but couldn't pull it out from there. She tried many times but failed. With the help of her shirt's sleeve she wiped the blood off her face which was running down from her forehead wound. Then, she waited patiently.

"Tarika."

A voice rang in her ear.

"TARIKA!"

This time even louder.

"Here..." She responded in a feeble voice, not knowing if her voice would penetrate the thick barriers of the mess to reach the person who was in search of her. Yet she tried, "HERE."

"Tarika, can hear me? Please response. Tarika." The voice was getting impatient.

In the fear of dying there alone she almost didn't recognize the voice before but now she did. Yes, it's him. It's Abhijeet.

"Abhijeet..." Her voice shakes. Then she tried again, composing herself, "ABHIJEET."

"Tarika!" She could feel the cracks in the voice. "Where are you? Give me direction!" Abhijeet shouted.

Tarika was totally blank after the incident. She strained her mind to recall the room she was in before the incident. But before she could give direction the door of the room opened with a thud.

Abhijeet was checking every room. But when he got response from her, he followed the voice and ended up finding the room in his second attempt.

There she was. At the corner of the room, in middle of themess. Her forehead was bleeding.

"Abhijeet, I can't move." Tarika urged him, seeing him standing there like a statue.

Her voice was feeble. She sounded scared. But less than him. Or at least that's what he assumed. He was sure no one could match the level of his fear at that moment. Without wasting a single moment he ran towards her. Yes, she looked okay. But he was not satisfied. He had to check carefully. He was kind of panicked.

Sitting down on his both knees he took her face in his palms and brushed her skin with her fingers. He moved her head right and left and checked her neck, her shoulders. His hands ran franatically all over her limbs.

All the while he was mumbling,

"You are okay? Are you hurt? You are bleeding. Where did it hurt? Huh, tell me? You are okay. You are fine." He was asking and consoling himself at the same time.

He again cupped her face and kept mumbling not being bothered if she was answering or not. He was touching her as if he had all the rights over her, as if he had been touching her this way for all of his life. He forgot that he didn't even hold her hand properly ever. But he didn't care. At that moment he didn't even know what was he doing.

Tarika was taken aback totally by his actions. His touches were shuddering her at starting as no one had ever touched her that intimately. But as her body perceived the intention, the care and tension behind the touches, it calmed down. Tarika's mind was on the other hand was focusing on his face only. Her eyes were trying to trace his travelling gaze which refused to settle on one particular part of her body. He wasn't making eye contacts and Tarika could tell he wasn't doing that intentionally. He was just not being himself at that time. He looked scared. He looked panicked. And Tarika looked completely clueless.