Weird and Wonderful

Chapter 22

Swasti was aimlessly wandering on the road wondering how she should she end her life when somebody caught her by her hand. Swasti tried to say something when she found a finger on her lips.

“Shhh...don’t speak a word. Get in the car!” Saarthak said to her.

“I won’t!” Swasti hissed, “I won’t go with you until you tell me where you are taking me.”

“I am taking you to the place where I killed Rachit,” Saarthak said.

Swasti could not speak a word. She simply sat in the car beside Saarthak. It was weird how she took the decision to go with a person who had murdered the boy she loved. But when Swasti looked back at her life, all the decisions she had made were weird. She had a crush on an animated character, she aspired to become a ghost hunter, and the last nail in the coffin of her possibility of having a normal future was falling in love with a dead boy.

On the other hand, Saarthak was wondering how he would tell Swasti what had happened eight years before. Was it even possible to describe it in words?

Year - 2008
Rachit and Saarthak were best friends since childhood. Both hailed from a lower-middle class family. But as Rachit started showing promise in studies, his parents admitted him into a prestigious school in the city. The school was like a magical wand in the life of Rachit. It transformed Rachit completely from a shy, studious boy to the most popular genius in Kanpur. Rachit started getting scholarships and his parents were so proud of him. But Rachit’s friendship with Saarthak was never the same. Rachit’s parents didn’t want their genius son to hang out with a dull boy like Saarthak. Saarthak had become like an appendix in Rachit’s life of whom he wanted to get rid of but didn’t know how to erase his existence from his life.

Rachit’s mother asked Saarthak to do daily chores for her like bringing vegetables from market. Saarthak did everything without any complaint.

One day, Saarthak’s father asked him, “Why do you these menial jobs in Rachit’s home? You are not his servant,” as Saarthak returned after cleaning Rachit’s store room for the festival of Diwali.

“Papa, Rachit is my best friend and he was busy in studies. That’s why I helped his mother in cleaning the store room and I don’t feel that helping my best friend is something I should be ashamed of,” Saarthak said with a smile on his face.

But Rachit never acknowledged Saarthak as his friend. Saarthak was merely a boy from neighbourhood for Rachit. And ever since Rachit had made Jia, the most popular girl in their coaching class, as his girlfriend, he didn’t even want to be seen with Saarthak.

One day, when Saarthak had come to Rachit’s home for helping his father with a problem in the fan in the drawing room, he found Jia there. She looked like a model with her tall and slim frame. Her sleek, straight hair added beauty to her perfectly sculpted face.

“Hey, you! I have seen you at the coaching class. What is your name?” Jia said to Saarthak.

“Saarthak Sharma,” Saarthak said in a shy voice. But his shyness was not due to the fact that the hottest girl of the coaching class was asking him his name. Saarthak was always shy in front of strangers.

“You sing really well,” Jia said.

“What?”

“I have heard you humming while you were fiddling with the motor of the fan,” Jia said without any hesitation.

“Oh, that! Actually I am not a singer but I can play Casio,” Saarthak said.

“Will you play it in front of me?” Jia said. Saarthak had never thought that Jia would ask him to play Casio. He didn’t reply.