Shehnaaz stared at the line of luminosity the moon made on the water. Nothing could be more splendid but for the first time she could not take in its beauty, its splendor. But she kept staring and staring at something beyond. The stream was unusually silent or perhaps she was too oblivious of her surroundings.
She sat at the only recliner in the sun room facing the hills. The only light came from the moon; shining brightly at the hill top.
Her eye balls make no motion but still two crystals roll down her cheeks and land on her lap. She finally gazes at her lap, and stares at it in shock, it was empty. Her ears ring with cries, cries of an infant, a newborn, a seedling. The cries just keep getting louder. She looks here and there in desperation but remains unable to find the source of the cries.
She gives up, places both her hands on her ears to avoid the voices but they just wouldn't go. Muted cries escape her mouth as she weeps and weeps and weeps in sheer pain.
The bolt of the door turns and the door opens. Sidharth dressed in milky white casuals enters and sluggishly makes his way to the bed. He leans on his side of the bed, his head resting with the crown of the bed. He desperately tries to ignore the vacant side beside him.
For two weeks now SidNaaz have been living under the same roof as two strangers. Avoiding each other, both over taken by grief but unable to face each other.
Sleep was impossible for him, he gets up with a jerk and paces towards the window. He slams his fist on the pane which rattles for a moment. Flames burn in his eyes as he stares out at nothing in particular. After a long point in time his expression softens a bit but nothing alleviates his intense stare.
Flashbacks:-
Sidharth enters the house which is dripping in darkness. He calls out,
"Shehnaaz!"
No response.
He slams his laptop on the couch and gets rid of his neck tie and blazer, tossing them on the chaise longue as well. He calls out again.
"Shehnaaz!"
This time a little louder, still no response. He frowns.
"where is she?"
He checks in the kitchen and then in the bedroom on the ground floor. She wasn't there. He climbs the stairs and checks all the rooms n the first floor. Still unable to find her.
"Shehnaaz?"
He calls out. He shakes his head he had checked everywhere except for the sun-room.
"How can I forget her den?"
He smiles shaking his head and makes his way to the sun-room. It was also empty. He frowns.
"yahan bhi nahi hai."
He says in confusion the same moment his eyes fall on the stream from the glass of the room. He sighs. There she was sitting beside the stream.
He runs out of the house towards the stream at the back of the house.
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