Chapter 43

9 5 6
                                    

Shruti suddenly heard her brother scream, before hearing a loud bang. Her heart raced in her ears as she repeatedly screamed his name into the phone.
"Shri? Shri, are you okay?"
There was no reply, only the disconnect tone that told her that he wasn't on the line anymore. Shruti wasn't sure what to do, if Shri was okay, and how she was going to face Misao in Japan.
Shruti ran to her father's office and barged in.
"Pa!" Shruti called.
"What is it, girl?" Shridhar asked.
"Pa, Misao passed away and Shri is rushing to KLIA now," Shruti panted, out of breath. "He says he's going to Japan now to see her one last time."
"What?!" Shridhar blurted in shock. "What lah! How that girl die?"
"Something happened yesterday, she fell off the Shirakawa Bridge."
"Oh my god..." Shridhar shook his head in disbelief. "She's so young..."
"Pa, Shri is rushing to KLIA to book us a flight!" Shruti exclaimed. "I was on the phone with him, he suddenly screamed. I don't know what happened to him lah, Pa..."
Shridhar looked at her in surprise. "What?! He going to KLIA?!"
"Yes!" Shruti sighed. "Pa, let's go."
Shridhar frowned. "Go and call your Anneh."
Shruti nodded and ran off to Siddharth's office.

The three were driving down the Federal Highway in the middle of the afternoon traffic. Shridhar was on the phone, informing Suganthi why they were suddenly going to Japan without even packing anything.
"At least come and take your things before going," Suganthi insisted in Tamil. "You don't have anything on you, how can you go?"
"We'll get some stuff at the airport," Shridhar said. "This boy lah, just like that, he wants go Japan. Alone too."
"What did he say?" Suganthi asked.
"He's not answering," Shridhar frowned at Shruti who didn't stop trying to call her brother. "He's not picking up his phone."
"Aiyo..." Suganthi said in a worried tone. "Go to the airport first and see what's going on there."
Siddharth suddenly banged a fist against the steering wheel. "Stupid lah!"
"What lah?" Shridhar asked after hanging up.
"Look at this jam," Siddharth groaned, gesturing towards the building traffic. "How are we gonna go to KLIA at this rate?!"
"Why ah jam?" Shridhar frowned, peering at the road.
Shruti suddenly gasped, pointing to the distance. "Smoke!"
Indeed it was. A line of black smoke was rising into the sky, blending within the clouds. Whatever the issue was that caused the traffic definitely had something to do with it.
The traffic slowly moved forward and the back of a black car appeared. The three gasped as soon as they recognised the Proton Perdana, number plate and all. The front was crushed, engulfed by angry, roaring flames. Black smoke rose above it like a thick cloud of darkness.
The source of what they saw from a distance.
"No!" Shruti pried the lock open and sprang out of the car. "Shri, oh my god!"
"Shruti!" Siddharth shouted, unlocking the car and running after her. "Don't go!"
Shruti ran to the right side of the car, crying as she tried to open the scorching back door. But no matter how hard she tried, it didn't budge.
"Shri!" Shruti cried, not giving up on pulling open the door as she bashed her fists onto the glass.
But it was just no use. Her brother was gone.
"Shruti, stop!" Siddharth cried, pulling her away from the car, grabbing onto her waist.
"No!" Shruti struggled, crying uncontrollably. "I have to save him! What if he's still alive?!"
Shridhar exited the car next, gripping onto his head. His lips quivered, unable to let out anything at the sight of his son's burning car.
With him still in it.

***

Mikail was the first to arrive that evening, a bouquet of flowers in his hand.
"I'm very sorry for what happened..." Mikail quietly said. "He was too young to go..."
His gaze fell on Shruti, who just sat on the couch, her eyes red and puffy from crying.
"You okay, girl?" Mikail asked. "I know it's hard to accept... Shri was very close to you."
Shruti looked at him, her eyes welling up with tears. To everyone's surprise, she got up and ran out to the porch.
"Leave her, she's... she's really sad when this happened," Shridhar sighed, gripping onto his forehead.

Shruti stood on the porch and bawled, her wails smothered under her hands. She couldn't bear it, the thought of her house, her home, becoming the host for a funeral. A funeral of all things... she never even dreamed of it.
A van suddenly came up and stopped in front of the house. Shruti looked up and dried her eyes when she realised that it was the delivery service.
"I have a package for Shri... Mohan?" The Chinese guy was surprisingly good at pronouncing the name.
Shruti frowned at him.
"Umm... is this the right house?" The delivery man asked again.
Shruti nodded and tried to keep herself from crying. "My brother."
The man heaved a sigh of relief and passed it to her above the gates. Shruti signed the document and handed it back to him.
"What's with the tent?" The man asked, looking at the white canopy above him. "A wedding?"
"A funeral," Shruti said with no emotion, handing the clipboard back to him.
"Oh... my... my condolences lah," the delivery man nodded respectfully as he took the document before leaving. "Sorry for your loss."
Shruti nodded and looked at the international package, unable to stop herself from crying. The package was sent by Misao, more than two weeks ago to a person who was just as gone as she was.
Shruti turned around and brought it into the house.

I know... end of the road for both of them. But let me tell you this:

"This does not... end here!"
-Kasumi Alpha Phase 4, Dead or Alive 5: Last Round.

Ride on TimeWhere stories live. Discover now