Vodka on the rocks

Prologue

"I have survived so many fires, I can no longer tell if I'm alive or if I'm still burning"

--- Raghav

"Tell me every terrible thing you have done and let me love you anyways"

--- Pallavi

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Pallavi closed her eyes as the temple gongs sounded like a thousand reverberating echoes throughout the village. 

It was the time for the evening aarti. 

Shikha looked worried as the sun above them seemed to slowly start it's descent. There was something off in the atmosphere. She couldn't really put her finger on it but she was sure there was something truly evil lurking somewhere in the background. 

"Pallu, I don't feel very good. Let us leave, come on."

She said clutching the ends of her saree's pallu tightly in one hand as the other had the brass thali carrying all the necessities for the puja. 

"You go boudi. My work is still not over. I will have to stay the night."

Pallavi said calmly even as the wind picked up speed rustling her long mane gently. Shikha had never noticed how dark Pallavi's hair was. It seemed like the ink spilling off from a starless sky. She looked at the younger woman seated cross legged in front of the idol, her eyes shut in obeisance still. 

She was immersed, a granite statue. 

Shikha swallowed and took a few steps back from the other woman. The aura around her seemed to have amplified to an electric level. 

The Goddess Bhairavi stared down upon the only two people in Her temple, Her dark red eyes split in steady fury.

"Pallavi, what.. has happened?"

A loud noise coming from what seemed like a very far distance startled Shikha badly enough to make her almost stumble. It was a horrible noise, like the screeching of a million bats. She looked behind frightened and then almost fell over in shock as she turned her head back.

Pallavi was standing now, looking at the far distance from the entrance of the temple, her raven locks, entangled in the gajra, dishevelled from the wind, eyes shining in scary fervour and a serene smile on her crimson lips. 

"Don't worry Boudi. Go and attend to your husband and your son. Close and lock the door and do not come out under any circumstance before dawn tomorrow."

"Pallu you are scaring me now. What is going to happen?"

Pallavi's eyes shifted towards the black granite idol again and this time, her tone bore no resemblance to the naïve twenty four year old girl who had been standing at Shikha's doorstep all those weeks ago. 

"Tandav."

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