Secrets And Lies [Completed]

04. northside princess

Song of the chapter is
Silhouette by Aquilo

-04-
-Siya Malhotra-
-Present-

_________________

Hauz Khas Metro Station, Delhi
7 November, 2030
2:05 pm

The conversation with my husband had left me in a daze.

As another train swished by faster than lightning, I stood by the red line, with my sepia Irene shopping bag hunched over my shoulder. Even though Kartik always insisted that I used the car, I liked travelling in metros. It gave me a lot of time to think about things and gather my thoughts.

Currently, I needed that the most.

As I waited for another train to arrive, my thoughts drifted back to my conversation with Kartik.

I had received the email an hour ago while I was shopping at the Avenue Saket. Merely reading the words 'Delmore High' had left me struggling to stand still. Thankfully, the coffee at Over Easy had allowed me to compose myself and think clearly.

Kartik and I had left Delmore five years back when we had both moved to Delhi to pursue our master's degree. While Kartik had pursued Law, I had done my degree in Education and was currently working as a primary school teacher at Ahlcon International.

We had spent five years trying to put our past behind us, with multiple therapy sessions and several meditative procedures. Forgetting the entire fucking tragedy was near to impossible; it would always be a part of us, of who we were today.

I used to go to a therapist for a few years after the incident and she had once told me that until and unless I fully forgived my sister for the pain that she had caused me and my friends, I would never be able to be completely happy.

But how could I ever do that?

How could I forgive my sister, the one person I had spent my life with, the one person I had grown up with, for the utter cruelty she had bestowed upon me?

And even if I did forgive her for all of the things she had done to me, how could I ever let go of the guilt that had been consuming me from the inside since the moment I had seen her lifeless body hanging from the ceiling?

There was no limit, no end point.

Everytime I looked at my husband, my heart ripped a little. Everytime I watched him get terrified from nightmares from that night, I would die a little inside. The sleepless nights, the waking up in a cold sweat, the heart wrenching sobs that he always tried to covet from me.... everything was a constant reminder that I had failed all those years back.

How could I have not known that the person who lived in the same house as me and ate the same food as me was the one behind all of our scars?

The metro to Vasant Vihar arrived just in time to prevent me from drowning in my thoughts.