Unwanted [COMPLETED]

Chapter 15

Third Person's POV

Vikrant paces inside his study, his body shaking in anger as he recounts how Nandini slapped him earlier.

How dare she slap me? How dare she?

Picking up the paperweight from the table, he throws it toward the mirror on the wall, shattering it into pieces.

He sees his reflection on those shattered pieces, his face angry and his eyes red.

Suddenly, that face morphs to form a scene, and he sees Nandini and him in those pieces. He sees them arguing, and then Nandini slapping him.

With his anger rising, he stomps on those pieces, shattering them further. But no matter how much he shatters them, the scene continues playing. Each piece now shows the same thing—him getting slapped by Nandini.

"You will pay for this, Nandini. I will make you pay," he solemnly vows.

*****

Slumped on the floor, leaning against the foot of the bed, Nandini draws her knees over her chest and rocks back and forth, her whole body shaking in angst as she does so.

Vikrant's words still play in her mind.

"You are nothing but a murderer, Nandini Iyer."

"You are a murderer."

"A murderer."

She covers her ears with her hands and squeezes her eyes shut. She shakes her head violently, trying to stop those words from reverberating in her mind.

"I'm not a murderer. I'm not. It was not my fault. Please. It was not my fault." She sobs, trying to convince herself and lessen her pain.

But she opens her eyes when she hears a voice.

"But you are a murderer, Nandini. You killed my son." It's her mother looking at her with accusing eyes.

Nandini stands up from the floor and walks toward her mother. "No, Maa. I didn't kill Vivek. How can you say that? You were there that night. You know what had happened. How can you blame for that when we all know who the culprit is?" She tries to reason.

"Yes, you were not the one who directly killed my son. But you were the one who pushed him to his death. You could have stopped him. But you didn't. You let him die." This time, it's her father who shouts at her.

"Please, Papa. It's all false. I didn't do it. I had no idea Vivek would be killed. If I had known, I would have stopped him. I would never have let him walk out of the house that night," Nandini says but notices her parents only shaking their heads at her.

She can see that they don't believe her.

"You are our son's murderer, Nandini," They keep saying, even though she keeps shaking her head, begging them not to say it.

Not listening to her, they repeatedly throw accusations at her, making it unbearable for her.

She covers her ears and squeezes her eyes shut. "STOP. STOP. STOP," she shouts, unable to take it anymore.

The voices suddenly stop, and Nandini opens her eyes slowly. Her parents were no longer in the room, making her realize they had just been the figment of her imagination.

She takes large gulps of breath, feeling her whole body trembling with her guilt and anguish.

"Maa, Papa, and Vikrant are right. I'm a murderer. I killed my brother," she whispers, closing her eyes to let tears pour out of them.