Forget-Me-Not: Taste of Freedom

Chapter Twenty Four

Chapter Twenty Four

      A yellow Beetle glided to a smooth stop inside the gates of Khurrana house. For a second, it idled. Then the driver got out, and looked at the two-floored bungalow.

      Kaira had never imagined she'd be paying a personal visit to Vidhi in her whole life, but it seemed like she'd been wrong. Here she was, on a Monday afternoon, standing in her front yard, staring at her house and wondering how she was possibly going to do this. She sighed. It felt like a chore. But after what happened last night, this visit was necessary, if not altogether pleasant. Her face contorted at the memory of her brother coming back home, looking tense and radiating misery. When she'd asked him if something was wrong, he'd used her own tactic and ignored her questions. He'd slammed his door. He never slammed his door.

      Something went wrong last night; she had a good idea about what it could be. But she wanted to be sure.  

      However, as she advanced towards the front gate, she heard noises from behind. Scraping and dripping noises. She would have ignored them, if she hadn't heard the distinct sound of a man cursing. Almost immediately, her senses went alert. She padded around to the back of the house, and her eyes went wide as she saw him. He was standing with his back to her, legs spread wide, hands in the front... Someone was taking a leak in Vidhi's garden, and whoever it was, was going to be sorry for it.

      "Hey!" she cried, stomping towards him. But she never got further than that. Two things happened simultaneously.

       From the bottom step of the back gate, a huge, thickly furred dog jumped up and started barking; her foot tangled in the water pipe, making her lose her balance. Kaira tumbled onto the ground, narrowly avoiding a face-dive into the mud, at the same time as she felt a sudden, burning pain in her ankle.

      The intruder turned, startled, and hurried towards her. The dog, meanwhile, was glaring down at her. She wriggled away from him, trying not to tempt him into biting her. But his sight was soon replaced by the man's, who was now offering her a hand to help her up. Ew, she thought to herself as she remembered what she'd seen him doing earlier. No way she was touching that hand.

       Kaira glared up at him as she moved away, and pushed herself into a sitting position. Her heart was pounding madly, and the sight of the dog had scared her a little. But she was still furious.

      "What the hell were you doing there?" she demanded. "And who allowed you in?"

      The stranger raised his eyebrows—thick, black, bushy eyebrows—and cocked his head to the side. "Are you hurt? Can you say how many fingers are these?" he held up three fingers. His voice was surprisingly low and deep, pleasant. He looked harmless; just like any other homely man, but she'd discovered over time that appearances could be deceptive.

      She snarled. "I'm going to call the cops, so you better pray for your own safety instead of worrying about mine."

      His eyes gleamed with sudden amusement as he regarded her. Kaira drew back from him, pulling out her cell phone, preparing to call the police.

      "You do know that I can run away before anyone gets here, right?" he asked. "Why don't you try calling someone from the house instead?" even as he said so, he swiftly pulled the phone out of her grasp, and she realized he'd left her defenseless. Without her phone. On the ground. With a sprain in her ankle. With a huge dog towering above her, growling at her, and a possible thug sabotaging all her chances of escape. She sucked in a huge gulp of air and expelled it in a fierce scream.