The Valley || ONC2023

Chapter 9

Bhairavi woke up with a start and an ache in her chest. She felt apprehension, fear, confusion, and sorrow all rolled into a ball that the powers-that-be were bouncing on their fingertips.

Instantly, she turned to her left: Mia's side. Finding it empty, she ran her hand over the sheets. Cold.

Mia was long gone.

How long have I been sleeping?

Where is Mia?

Did she elope with Raghav?

A legion of scary scenarios threatened Bhairavi's sanity, pushing her into action. She threw a shawl on her pajamas and rushed outside without a second's delay.

"Mrs. Chopra!" Bela exclaimed exaggeratedly, one hand covering her mouth and the other fisted over her chest. "What's gotten into you!?" she added dramatically. "You almost caused me a slipped disk!" she accused, massaging her lower back before rolling her large, beady eyes at the bewildered-looking woman and continuing towards the dining area.

"Bela-ji, have you seen Mia... Maithili?" Bhairavi ran to catch up with her. "She isn't in the cottage."

Bela stopped and fixed her with an amused stare, "Of course, she is not there. She left with the first batch, didn't she?"

Bhairavi felt a headache come on. Massaging her temples, she looked at the other questioningly, "First batch of what, exactly?"

Bela cocked her head. "How lucky Maithili is to have a broadminded mother like you." Sarcasm dripped from her words like honey from the comb. "I wouldn't have let my daughter go to the spring, let alone allow her to go first."

Bhairavi blinked a few times in quick succession. But when Bela continued to stare at her with a condescending smile, Bhairavi couldn't take it anymore. "It's a good thing then that you don't have a daughter, isn't it?" she regretted it as soon as she said it.

She opened her mouth to apologize, but Bela, eyes swimming with tears and lips quivering like a lone leaf sacrificed to harsh winds, shook off her hand and walked away.

"What's wrong with me!?" Bhairavi bemoaned. Amrit, before the accident, had mentioned that she had overheard Preet, Bela's roommate, that the thirty-six-year-old lawyer had gone through a bitter divorce after the couple had tried without success to beget a child.

Deciding it best not to approach Bela at the moment, she returned to her cottage and made haste to catch the second batch of women who were, as she was informed by Golu, in various stages of getting dressed and heading out to the spring.

Bela had decided to sit this one out. She was neither a fan of water nor comfortable getting undressed in front of others.

On arriving at the pickup point, Bhairavi was surprised to see three others waiting for their driver. It meant that only Pallavi, a twenty-seven-year-old homemaker from Bengal, and her Mia had accompanied Raghav in the so-called 'first batch.'!

Frantically, the anxious mother's eyes scanned the area for their driver. They had to leave for the spring now. Alas, Golu had disappeared.

"Preet, have you seen Golu?"

"No."

"You, Chaya?"

"No, he told us to be here by seven. He is-" Chaya snapped her mouth shut and shrugged.

What the hell is up with them? Agreed, I haven't made any effort to befriend them, but I have always been civil, haven't I? Bhairavi shoved the hostile stares directed at her to the back of her mind and called the driver's number.