Serenity Meets Chaos (Rewritten)

Ch 4

•|Adhiraj|•

There was darkness engulfing my surroundings, I blinked my eyes several times to clear my vision only to see the house where the memories of my childhood reside. It was a beautiful and cozy cottage located in Dehradun; warm sunshine glistened on the freshly mowed grass. An old man wearing an off-white kurta crouched on the grass bare feet as his hands covered in mud planted saplings of blue poppy because his wife loved them.

"Raj" My ears perked up hearing the familiar motherly tone.

She stepped out of the house tying the loose end of her saree around her waist, a bright red bindi on her forehead creased as she frowned looking around. Her long hair was tied in a loose braid with streaks of grey in them, she huffed looking here and there searching for someone.

"Phir bhaag gya?" The man turned around to look at his wife and laughed. She shook her head at her husband who enjoyed her annoyance.

"Aap toh chup rahiye aap ne hi bigaada h usse!" She jibed at her husband, and he instantly turned quiet focusing on his work.

Suddenly, her eyes met mine and she tilted her head at me before intaking a deep breath and coming in my direction, "There you are! Why do you always tease me so much? Come now and quickly finish your meal and today your outing with your grandfather is cancelled." I stared at her flummoxed as she held my wrist.

"What?" Her husband stood up immediately and retorted," You can't do that. You are just jealous of our grandfather and grandson time."

They can see me? Were they really talking to me?

Her mouth hung open at his audacity.

"Raj beta, you don't worry your Dadu will take you for an outing. " They argued as they often did, but reconciliation was swift; their love for each other was profound. I watched, smiling, as a wave of emotion tightened my chest, and a lump formed in my throat.

"Aree why are you standing here now? Come let's go and eat." Her words rung in my ear, but I was too overwhelmed to move. I was ecstatic to finally have them by my side. Alive and merry with me.

"Chal na beta." I nodded my head eagerly and began to walk with them when suddenly I noticed them walking away holding the hand of a ten-year-old boy who was none other than me. My younger self whom they recognized.

Of course they won't know me. I am not their Raj. I was once but not anymore.

Content by just watching them I decided to leave the place, but before I could turn around, I noticed them standing at the entrance of the door with knives in their hands. They were here to kill my grandparents, again.

I screamed with all my might, but they didn't turn around and continued walking talking animatedly with the ten-year-old me.

"Stop don't go there!" I screamed again running in their direction, desperate to stop them from going any further but I was late, too late.

I heard her blood curdling scream. They stabbed her husband multiple times before slitting her throat, their clothes got soaked with blood as they fell on the ground motionless. The boy wailed loudly shaking them to wake up, his hands getting smeared with the blood. His eyes found mine as they glared at me and yelled," You couldn't save them! why? why?" His screams grew louder. and I couldn't breathe anymore.

My chest felt heavy, and I gasped loudly. Sweat trickled down my body as I sucked harshly trying to stabilize my breathing. Tears pour out of my eyes with guilt gnawing at me.

"Fu*k." Another nightmare. I sat up straight staring at the wall clock striking sharp five in the morning, chugging down a bottle of water from the mini fridge. Ghastly nightmares and sleepless nights have been my constant in my life ever since that day. I sleep just for three to four hours hardly, its sufficient for me to get through the day. Burying my head in work, relentless meetings and business trips are my escapade. I have seen the heights of immense success, but the sense of failure always resides in me, I am a billionaire with all the luxuries and power in the world, but truth to be told it's the hard shell and iron walls I have built around me so that no one can see the broken, damaged and ugly part of my life.