Weird and Wonderful

Chapter 20

Present Year

Saarthak wanted to run away. He wanted to run away from his past, he wanted to run away from the questions posed in that email, he wanted to run away from his life. It seemed that life had left him with no option other than killing himself. But what if the last line written in the Email he had received from Swasti was true? What if she really...?

Saarthak could picture each word written in the Email in his mind. The Email said,

Hello Mr. Saarthak Sharma,

I know that you are a very busy person and you don't have a minute to spare for a mad girl like me. But the question I am going to ask you is a question of life and death for me. And the question is how are you connected with Rachit? I won't ask whether you are connected to Rachit or not because I know that there is some connection between two of you. In your debut book When shadows dream, the poem Dreams on page no. 53 was written by Rachit in the fourth seat of the leftmost row in Aryabhatta's class for Mathematics in Kanpur. And the poem God given dare on page no. 121 was written by Rachit in the eighth seat of the second right row of Toppers' Chemistry classes. The poem Lost on page no. 361 was written by Rachit in the seventh seat of the leftmost row in Aryabhatta's class for Mathematics. And I have seen and read all these poems in the year 2011, two years before your book was released. I don't want anything, I just want to know how are you connected to Rachit then I will end my life without any questions.

Thank you for reading my Email.

Swasti Khare

Saarthak's brain was of the opinion that the last line written in the Email was nothing but a weapon used by Swasti to emotionally blackmail Saarthak. But what if that girl was really dying? But how was she connected to Rachit? Saarthak was tempted to type an Email like:

Dear Swasti ,

You are very beautiful. I am attracted to you since the first moment I saw you. And I must acknowledge that each line that you have written in the Email you sent is true. But before I tell you how I am connected to Rachit, you must answer a simple question- How are you connected to Rachit because I have never seen you in my entire life before you have sent me your missile like Email.

Yours sincerely,

Saarthak Sharma

But Saarthak didn't type a word. There is a huge difference between what we wish and what we do- and Saarthak knew that. So like a well- mannered gentleman, he typed like this:

Dear Ma'am,

Greetings for the day! I apologise for not answering your E-mail earlier. But I couldn't get any time on account of my hectic schedule. But I am very sorry to say that I could not be of any help regarding the question you have asked me. I have no idea who is this person with the name Rachit and I don't know what you are talking about. But I hope that you are not accusing me of plagiarism, because if that is the case, I have a very competent legal team to handle the situation.

Thanks and Regards,

Saarthak Sharma

Saarthak took a deep breath as he finished typing the Email on his laptop. With trembling hands, Saarthak pressed the button Send.

Saarthak could not sleep that night. He was wondering whether he had done the right thing. Was he too harsh on a girl who was going to die soon? The fact that Swasti was going to die soon filled his heart with bitterness. Why his fate snatched everything away from him? First his mother was taken away from him, then his brother, and if that was not enough, his only refuge from reality, his music was also snatched away from his life. And now, the first living girl whom he had crush on, was going to die because of his lie? Why was God always unjust with him?

Saarthak's pain was doubled due to the guilt that he would be responsible for Swasti's death. Even if he had no feelings for her, he would still be haunted by the guilt that an innocent life ended because of him. And he had loved Swasti! He really had loved her since he had seen her. And now he would kill her! But this was life! As a kid, Saarthak had seen on Discovery channel, that animals killed their family members, when posed with threats such as starvation. And human being is no better than animal. So Saathak concluded that what he had done was the only wise thing that a prudent person could do.

But Saarthak's heart refused to listen to the orders of his mind. He was constantly checking his smartphone for any Email from Swasti. His heart wished Swasti to reply back, accuse him for plagiarism and threaten to file a court case against him. But no reply came.

On the third day after sending Swasti Email, Saarthak could not stop himself from typing an Email to address khareswasti@gmail.com:

Swasti,

Can we meet at The Bliss restaurant tomorrow at 5 p.m.?

After eight years, Saarthak went to a temple to pray that Swasti would reply to that Email.

And after six hours, Saarthak's smartphone blinked.

Yes- was the message which came from the address khareswasti@gmail.com.