The Ballad Of Nirvana

Chapter 5

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Yours living in imagination,

Deets.

Chapter 5

The next morning Chag was worried when he saw that Indriya's temperature had shot up to a whopping hundred and two degrees Fahrenheit again.

"Okay, we need to go to the hospital. My home remedies cannot keep your fever down." He said as he shook his head focusing on the mercury thermometer. "I have taken an appointment." Her fever had shot up again since last night.

Indriya took a quick shower and dressed up a little so they could go to the hospital. She never thought she needed a jacket in the tropical summer climate of India. So she did not carry one. She wore a simple kalamkari shirt, khaki jeans and shivered like a hairless polar bear. Chag tossed one of his jackets to her that did little to block out the non-existent cold.

She glanced out of the window the whole time while going and coming back. It somehow comforted her, maybe because it kept her mind off of things. Things she wanted to forget forever and ever.

Just then she saw a big, vibrant advertising hoarding which read:

"LECTURE ON HINDU MYTHOLOGY AND INCULCATING THE PATH OF LIFE by Anthariksh Sadhu."

The name on the hoarding rang a bell. She had heard about his man before. But not for the same reason.

She heard this man's name from her parents. She remembered her mother saying that he had once helped the government or them or both, she didn't know exactly.

She wanted to go to this lecture not just to see this man but also because she loved to hear about Hindu mythology.

The lecture was the next day and she was unwell.

"Chag, I want to go to this lecture," She said, looking at him sideways.

"Sure, we'll go once you feel better and your fever is gone," he said focusing on the road ahead.

"No, I want to go tomorrow." she insisted, her voice now grave.

Chag now glanced sideways, his weary eyes looking at her as he frowned.

"But you're unwell and I can't let you go out in this condition." He said exasperatedly.

"Chag, please I have to attend this lecture!" She begged.

"Indriya, you have a hundred and two-degree temperature fever! Why would you want to go out? And what is so important about this lecture? Stop acting like a kid." He almost shouted as he shot her another annoyed look.

"Pwease, Pwease, Pwease! It's by this guy called Anthariksh Sadhu and....." She continued to explain when Chag interrupted her.

"Did you say Anthariksh Sadhu?" He asked in disbelief.

"Yes. Can I please go?" She begged.

"Okay. I'll take you to the lecture." He said deeply. Indriya looked at him in astonishment.

"But please, I want to ... wait, what? You said you will take me. Thank you!" She beamed at him. She had thought he wouldn't take her, her fever had shot up and her condition had worsened since last night. But Anthariksh was someone she had to know. He was a preacher with a criminal record, anything she could know about him, she could know more about her parents and where they were from.

Every time she asked them about where her family was from she noticed how her mother hesitantly said that the past didn't matter. So she wanted to go and see if she could find out anything about herself and her parents and where they worked.

"Do you want to eat pizza?" Chag smiled as he shook his head and asked cutting through her thoughts.

"Yes! Of course!" She said beaming at him. "Who eats pizza when they are sick, though?"

He drove for a while before pulling over and parking the car. "A certain someone, who you remind me of, someone back from when I was in Ujwa...I mean home." He said.

"Oh, Who is this certain someone? Your girlfriend?" She teased.

"What? No! Just a friend. A good one." He looked away when he said that and his tanned cheeks showed a slight red. That was when she heard an uncomfortable sniff from behind, where there actually was no one. Indriya thought she was losing her mind bit by bit.

They went inside and ordered their pizzas and side dishes while they chatted with each other.

"Indriya, I will wash my hands and come," Chag said as he got up from his seat.

She simply nodded at him as he strode off towards the washroom.

She looked around the pizzeria and in the corner of her eye, she saw a sudden movement outside the restaurant. When she turned back again to see what it was, she saw a pair of dark eyes staring at her from outside on the other side of the road on the pavement.

The man to her horror was dressed completely in black and there was a shiny metal piece strapped to his back. To her, it looked as though it were a sword.

Her heart skipped a beat and her lips parted as she gasped. Ice ran through her veins despite the cold due to fever, as she saw him staring right back at her.

Just then the waiter brought the tray carrying the food and set it down on the table with a slight thud which made her snap back into reality.

She looked up at the waiter and realised that she wasn't breathing all this time and drew a long breath resting her palm on her chest as she coaxed her brain to calm down.

Chag came back from the washroom and sat down taking tissue from the tissue stand to wipe his hands. Indriya looked back to the spot where the man had been standing just to see he had already disappeared.

"Indriya, are you ok?" He asked, lowering his eyebrows.

"I'm fine!" She said almost shouting. Chag stiffened as he saw the look on her face. She was pale and her lips were trembling.

"Are you sure?" He asked again.

Indriya looked up at him, staring right into his eyes. Her dark eyes now looked disturbed. Utterly disturbed.

"Chag, can we go home?" She asked.

"Yeah, finish your pizza and we will go home." He said, stuffing a slice of pizza into his mouth. Indriya slammed her fists on the table and got up rattling everything on the table.

"Now, Chag! We need to go now!" She said, her eyes nearly stinging as she fought to keep her tears from falling. Her heart hammered against her chest. She had no clue or control on the things that were happening around her and she was not liking that very much.

All through her ride she smelled a very strong scent of night jasmines and she noticed Chag looking behind once every now and then in the rear mirror.

"Whoa! Okay, let's at least pack and take the pizzas home after all we did pay for them." He said, taken back at her sudden behaviour.

His eyes met her turbulent ones that were lined with silver as they sat down in the car.

"What's wrong?" He asked softly as he drove.

Indriya kept quiet and closed her eyes resting her aching head on the headrest of the seat. "Nothing. I was feeling very sick." She said softly.

Chag only nodded and remained silent for the rest of the ride.

Something was off, he knew it but what was it? She's never shouted at him like that and he knew she saw something that made her worry.

Was it another makara Demon? If not, then what? The question was answered by a text message from Agni, his friend. "She saw me, She knows I am following her." Was all the message said. He wanted to half bury his friend alive for making himself visible in front of Indriya who was already so traumatized. But he would probably smack him once all three of them reach home.