The Ballad Of Nirvana

Chapter 4

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I won't let you down! Be ready for a bumpy ride! 

Chapter 4

Indriya opened her eyes, her head felt light and heavy at the same time. She glanced at Chag's moonlit face as he slept on his arm in the same chair, his keen eyes closed and his handsome face was weary.

She was feeling much better now, good actually. She checked her phone, it was nearly midnight. She realised she could move, walk around and she couldn't go back to sleep no matter how hard she tried.

After a while, she felt a sharp pang of hunger in her stomach. It was a good sign. It meant that her fever was almost gone except for the light body aches.

She was still in the same clothes that she was too tired to change when she woke up in the morning and while she used the bathroom during the day, so she changed into her nightdress tossing the ones she'd been wearing into the laundry basket.

Indriya decided to sneak into the kitchen to sneak some food and come back to her room as quickly as possible. She opened the door of her room very quietly but it creaked.

"Going somewhere?" Chag mumbled, stark awake as he opened his eyes and was on his feet in an instant, reaching for his spectacles. He was so quick that Indriya jumped and turned back to look at him.

"I was not able to sleep and I wanted some fresh air." She said retreating from the door as he approached her.

"Okay, but don't stay out for too long, it rained in the evening." He said, looking at her with concern and grabbing her blanket and wrapping it around her.

Her lips tugged upward with a slow, warm, heartful smile and then briefly touched his forearm sending him out of the room, closing the room door behind them as they walked out.

She'd seen that look before. On her mother's face. It was quite comforting like there was always one person who cared about her. She smiled at him.

Even for an instance she never felt like she was not home, for some reason she felt very happy that Chag was with her. He had stayed up all night and taken care of her just like how her mother would have. She had always yearned for a person like this and finally, she had found him.

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When Chag noticed that his cousin was staring at him and smiling, he jerked his chin at her so as to ask her why she was smiling.

"Are you smiling at me because I was drooling all over my shirt?" He said, with a ghost of a shy smile spreading on his face as he pictured himself.

"What?! No bro." She said her smile widening into a grin as she lightly punched on the shoulder.

"Besides why would I smile at you for drooling, I would have laughed, you enormous man child." She added, chuckling.

"Oh well! I can also complain about you snoring in your sleep. It was so loud, I bet even the cat on the third floor could not have slept." He said, laughing as he strode off toward his room.

He had seen her at a young age of three when she had laughed at the way he made funny faces at her and tried to grab his spectacles. When he had told her his name 'Chaitanya' she mispronounced it as Chag. Ever since then his nickname was Chag.

It was surprising how his cousin looked so much like her mother. Beautiful, strong, compact with dark flowing hair that cascaded down her back.

And her eyes, the dark brown eyes with a golden ring, the eyes of that looked like an eclipse. The similarity they shared. The similarity the Vatsalyas shared.

She was a queen, she just doesn't know it, yet.

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"No, I was not snoring. Besides, even if I did, it could not have been that loud." She said, raising her eyebrows at his back.

Just before he went into his room he turned back to look at her gravely as he lowered his eyebrows, smiling wickedly and said: "Even a bear cannot beat the sound of your snoring." And he laughed, when she threw a pillow at him but completely missed him.

"You need to learn to aim from the best." He chuckled as he disappeared into his room behind the door.

Indriya walked out into the balcony where she was greeted by a rather cold wind. She looked at the night sky and looked for stars that were blanketed by thick clouds.

The grotesque thoughts about the creature came back to her.

'Why was it there? It seemed out of place.'

'Why in the world was a crocodile in a restaurant's washroom in the middle of the damn city?'

She tried to focus on the city far away that looked like the very stars that disappeared from the sky had landed on earth and rattled back and forth quietly mourning the loss of once alive evergreen forest and the wildlife that existed on that land. She still couldn't stop the flow of thoughts as questions bubbled up in her mind.

Who saved her? It was not Chag she knew for sure but if it was not him then who was it? The person was waiting right behind the doors of one of the cubicles. Was he the one who had killed it? What was the creature and where in the name of celestial heavens did it come from? It had an unearthly aura. Why was it in the restaurant of all the places on Earth? Too many questions and no answers.

'Did Chag see it?' She wondered as she shifted her gaze towards the lake to distract herself, that now looked like a large mirror that reflected the city lights. When she noticed sudden movement on the grey pavement she looked down at the track surrounding the lake which was lit at equal intervals with street lights.

She saw a man dressed in all black walk quickly towards the gate of the community as though he didn't want to be seen and wanted to be discreet. Even from the distance, she could see something glimmer that rested on his back.

She narrowed her eyes to see the man again as he sprinted under the next street light. She saw the glint again but this time it was shined in blue and green rather than white.

She wondered how she could see the object glimmer from nine stairs above and kilometres away not even trying to narrow her eyes.

Her gave a sudden throb and she saw a flash of light, a vision of a lady. Her lips were red as a rose and her skin was milk white as it shone under the moonlight. The folds of her white saree seemed ethereal and her eyes, They were the most beautiful in the world. Dark eyes, almost black with a silver ring around it.

"Come, princess, come home," She whispered as she gave a calm welcoming smile.

She stretched her hand towards Indriya and Indriya involuntarily reached out to it.

But all of a sudden the lady disappeared and the city lights shone in the distance and the man on the sidewalk had disappeared.