An-EXIT

EPILOGUE

A formal request to all my lovely readers, please refer Prologue before proceeding with the further chapter, as both the Prologue and Epilogue are connected. 

//Happy reading!

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2020

"Ahaana, open the door!"

"Ahaana, LISTEN!"

Kabir sir was here again. Why can't he just enjoy his own life and stop fucking meddling in mine?

"Ahaana.... Mitansh-" My eyes flung open at the mention of his name and I looked at the door through which sir's voice came.

"Ahaana, c'mon, open the goddamn door!" He knocked harder.

"It's important this time, I swear! Open the door... Please!!!" He continued knocking. His voice sounded breathless, like he came here running.

"Ahaana. It's about Mitansh."

"Are you listening????" he yelled again. His voice was getting more and more restless. I dragged myself to move towards the door. What is he trying to say? I know it's one of his tricks to open the door so that he can give me another lecture about how I am ruining my life.

"Ahaana-" I opened the door and sir stopped mid sentence when he saw me. He traced my face, looking at me from top to bottom. I looked him in the eyes, looking for the words he was dying to tell me from the past few minutes.

"Mitansh is out of coma." he breathed out. All the muscles in my body slowly loosened the tension. My body is melting. The tears appeared on the edge of my eyes and flowed down my cheeks. It felt like time had again stopped, and everything froze in front of my eyes. Just like that time. That day.

I still remember it. Completely. How can I even forget..... from past three years it played in my head on repeat. Like a broken tape.

Agastya, Zaid and I were standing just there, frozen at our spots, as the police covered the whole construction site location. They have been busy searching for hours, but they didn't find anyone. The whole situation felt like a worst nightmare, the one I was not able to get out of. Mitansh's phone was out of reach, and it became impossible to find him. Slowly I could feel the voices in my head empowering my surroundings. It was an echo. A shrill, deep and frightening echo. It felt as if I was the only person alive, looking at random souls moving fast around me. I slowly walked to the area where Mitansh was tied down. There was a chair, covered with pieces of ropes. They were cut. I could see stains of blood near the chair, a knife and a broken watch. Those were his things, his possession. His dearest watch. But why isn't he here to caress it, keep it back, safe in his pocket?

I looked at the inspectors who were busy collecting evidence, they looked blurry, probably because of tears resting at the edge of my eye lids. WHERE? WHERE THEY MIGHT HAVE TAKEN HIM? WHY? WHY HIM? WHY NOT ANYBODY ELSE? I fell on my knees as I failed to control myself. Agastya was rubbing my back, saying words which didn't even reach my ears. 'It can't be possible, he was out, he freed himself, he picked up the call, then how come he's still not in front of my eyes?' Suddenly, I stood up and started running towards the main road. He surely must have tried to do the same. My heart says, he's around me. He's here. He's close. So close. Agastya screamed from behind, calling out my name, asking me to stop. But, it's enough. I can't wait for others to find him and sit quietly in a corner.

The grassy area before the main road was sloppy. My foot slipped and I fell on the ground, but instead of falling at a spot, my body rolled down the terrain. Soon, I bumped into something. It felt warm. My heart raced as my hand touched someone's hand. 'Mitansh.' The tears of relief flowed down my eyes, before I saw him. My heart knew better than anyone else. I looked up, and his scent filled me. I found him, unconscious on the ground. His left shoulder was buried under an angular boulder. It looked painful. In a reflex I crawled towards the boulder, and saw a hand gripping the boulder. "In a count of three, let's do this together!" I followed the voice and Agastya looked me in the eyes. I nodded and we both pushed the boulder aside. He fell on his knees and started checking his pulse. After a stretch of a second, he fell back and exhaled sharply from his mouth. Mitansh, he was still breathing. He was alive.