Transcend

Chapter 3: By The Edge

Station Inspector Karishma Singh had understood something wasn't quite right the second Cheetashwar came into the station looking like his heart had been ripped from his chest. Before she could ask him any questions, she had been summoned by the Deputy superintendent of police to his headquarters stating it was urgent. Judging by how Santosh came in just as she left with the same glumness surrounding her, Karishma accessed that the two had probably gotten into a nasty fight.

She returned a couple of hours later only to find out that Cheetashwar had taken half day's leave due to personal reasons. She asked Pushpa Singh through hand gestures but the old woman merely shrugged with similarly concerned eyes.

"Santu," she called to the junior constable. "Is there something you want to talk about?"

Santosh didn't feel like diving into the subject of her breakup just yet. So she pulled out her transfer letter from the drawer, shoved it into her senior's hand and left to isolate herself in the gym room. At least that gave them something else to focus on for the time being while she nursed her heartache.

As she slams the door shut, the decaying brick walls come into view. They had cocooned her in dire times and provided sanctuary as and when needed. She runs a trembling hand over them, the colour of it stains her hands but she doesn't care. This is a mark of the station that grew with her. Her eyes wander the rugged clay surface- the colour bleak yet earthen. Leaving this home was not going to be easy, but she will let these emotions, memories of joy, comfort and sorrow take residence in her heart of hearts.

Karishma read the letter twice over, wishing that her eyes had deceived her the first read-through. The words were there, written as clear as day and yet her mind couldn't understand their true meaning. When she finally did, her eyes grew damp because this wasn't how she imagined her Monday afternoon to go.

Santosh was being transferred to the cyber department- away from here, no longer coming to this place every morning, leaving.

To bid the girl she had come to see as a younger sibling with a wave of the hand would break her carefully constructed walls. She had learned that goodbyes could be easy or they could shatter a soul. Yet in those moments of anguish, there was proof of loving bonds.

The proof of love is always so damn expensive.

---Transcend---

"My tolerance for patronising your stupidity is scarce."

"Don't worry. You won't need to do it much longer."

Station inspector Karishma Singh peered carefully over the edge as she took a seat beside Santosh. "How many times have I told you not to come up here on your own, especially at night?" for someone with acrophobia, the cyber expert sure loved a rooftop as high as this. "I swear it's like you are purposefully ignoring my warnings. Repeated warnings might I add. And what happened to coming up here when it is too dark?"

"Bachpan mein jis andhere se dar lagta tha abh ussi andhere main sukoon milta hain."

"Bachpan aur ajj main kya fark hai?"

The constable didn't answer. There wasn't much of an indication that she heard her senior at all. Less than seven months ago, they were here, on the same rooftop, in the same position, drenched in rain, chilled to the bone and in some ways, for the same reason- love, lose, grieve.

Grief, in its turbulence, feeling anything akin to love is plaintive and disenchanting for the memories bring a tender calm over an addled mind. She begs to feel the same numbness and indifference that had taken residence in her months ago. This love, this affection and this desire leave her emptied and hankering for more.