Solace

Chapter 12

Santosh slowly opened the door and froze to her place seeing the sight in front of her. Karishma was standing there, devastated. Her eyes were swollen from excessive crying and her right hand was bleeding.

"Karu!", Santosh almost screamed running towards her. "Yeh kya halat banai hai apni? Aur tumhare haath..it's bleeding", she said holding her hand carefully. Small pieces of glass were pricked in her hand. Santosh broke into tears seeing her in such a state.

She made Karishma seat on the couch and started to clean her wound. "Kaise lagi yeh? Kya hua hai? Tum ro kyun rahi ho!", Santosh asked anxiously waiting for her to answer but Karishma said nothing. Just a few tear drops flowed down her cheeks.

The next morning, Haseena opened her eyes when she felt the sunbeam falling across her face. The haveli was quite as it was still early for everyone to wake up. The sound of birds chirping could be heard outside the window.
"Hum so gaye the! Sab kuch batana reh gaya", saying this, she looked at the other side of the bed. But it was empty and neatly kept as if it wasn't used for sleeping at all.

"Karishma yaha nahi ayi. Toh phir kaha the woh saari raat!", Haseena thought when she didn't find Karishma anywhere in the room. "Itni hadbadi mein nikal gaye the kaal. Kyun jaane dia humne! Kaha gaye honge! Ya Allah. Kya kare hum iss insan ka!", Haseena murmured.

Santosh was making some light breakfast while waiting for Karishma to wake up. She had let her rest last night and thought to have a talk in the morning. She had to know what happened or else she would continue to imagine the worst scenarios.

Karishma woke up with a severe headache. She slowly adjusted her vision to the light of the room and looked around. She found herself in Santosh's house. She remembered that she came here last night. Karishma saw Santosh coming towards her with a tray full of food.

"Isse pehle tum apna investigation chalu karo, mai bata deti hu mujhe ab koi baat nahi karni hai", Karishma said holding her head with her hands and Santosh nodded in disbelief.

"Thik hai, pehle breakfast karo", Santosh said.

"Mai chalti hu ab", Karishma said after having brown bread and some juice, which Santosh made. She wanted to stop her but Karishma being stubborn didn't listen to her.

After seeing her off, Santosh went towards the hall area to clean it up and found Karishma's bracelet on her couch table. She must've taken it off while cleaning her wounds last night, she thought.
"Ab isse dhundte dhundte pagal ho jayegi. Sham ko jakar de ati hu, filhal to kisiki baat nahi sunegi", she thought and kept the bracelet securely in her drawer, knowing how important it was to Karishma.

Haseena looked around the study and garden area hoping to find Karishma but couldn't. She called Karishma but her phone was not reachable. Disappointed she decided to ask the servants about her. They didn't seem to have any idea about Karishma's whereabouts either. Haseena started to feel anxious. When she was going to ask the gatekeeper, she saw Karishma entering the haveli. Her jacket was hanging over her right shoulder covering her hand. Haseena went towards her and noticed it was not Karishma's jacket she was wearing. Her mind kept repeating the following questions "Where was she the whole night and whose jacket was it?"

"Apko kab akal ayegi, Karishma? Aise bina kuch bole bas gayab ho jati hai. Pareshan karke rakh dia hai apne hume", Haseena just bombarded Karishma with her pool of accusations. Although her voice showed more concern than anger.
"Phone kyu bandh tha apka? Aur kahan thi ap raat bhar!", she started scolding Karishma as her eyes went towards the jacket and it irked her for some unknown reason.

Karishma didn't reply. She was standing there lowering her head, not being able to meet Haseena's eyes. She couldn't even imagine how Haseena would react to her misdeeds. "She would hate me, just like I hate myself right now", Karishma thought. She just wanted to escape from there, escape this agony.

Haseena looked at her closely and instantly regretted scolding her. Karishma looked tired and sad. Haseena felt her heart wrench seeing her gloomy face. She held Karishma's arm over the jacket and softly sopke, "Karishma.. kya hua hai! Hume nahi batayengi? Accha humne apko danta na, hume maaf kar dijiye?! Kuch toh boliye please humara dil dehel raha hai."

"Mujhe andar jana hai. I'm tired please", Karishma removed Haseena's hand from her arm and went inside.

Haseena kept looking at her until she was disappeared from her sight.
"Bas kal hi sab kuch kitna alag tha aur aj! Aisa kya ho gaya hai jo ap humse dur jaa rahi hai Karishma?", a tear drop fell off her eyes unknowingly.

Karishma felt a heavy weight in her legs as she started to walk towards her room. Her hand was aching and something was pounding inside her head. This pain seemed like the physical demonstration of her inner turmoil. She didn't know when she reached her room and lay down on her bed. She heard a commotion around her and wanted to see what was happening but couldn't manage to open her eyes properly.

Karishma saw Haseena bending near her face, "Hasi", Karishma mumbled almost inaudibly. Her vision was blurry. She felt Haseena's palm on her temple, probably for checking the temperature. The pain inside her head didn't lessen as it did upon the touch of Haseena.

"Tumhare chune se toh dard kam honi chahiye toh ho kyu nahi rahi? Ya phir tum mujhse naraz ho iss liye?", Karishma spoke with great difficulty. "Hasi, iss baar ke liye maaf kardo mujhe, please. It is hurting a lot", she pleaded again. But no reply came from the other side or probably she couldn't hear anything. "Please Hasi, please don't hate me. I swear kabhi aisa nahi karungi, I...ouch.", Karishma winched a bit as she felt something sharp piercing her hand. She slowly drifted off to sleep as she felt Haseena caressing her forehead softly.

"Shanno abhi jao aur Haseena ko bulake lao", Shivani ordered Shanno who was taking off Karishma's damp clothes. "Aur yeh prescription driver to de do, abhi ke abhi yeh medicines chahiye", she added while covering Karishma with a blanket.

"Mummy kya hogaya hai bua sa ko?", Ashu asked concerned for his favourite person.

"Baas thodi bukhar hai beta. Tum chalo, school jana hai. Wapis aake dekhna tumhari bua sa blikul okay ho gayi hai. Thik hai na?", Shivani said to which he nodded his head. Ashu went to his room to get ready for his school.

Although Shivani could convince her son, she couldn't convince herself. She shivered remembering the moment when she saw Karishma wandering in the hallway, as if she lost her ability to walk or see. She ran towards Karishma and took her to her room. She had a high fever and almost lost her senses. Also her bandaged hand was bleeding. God knew what she had gone through, she thought.
Shivani called the doctor being tensed. She also heard some mumbling about Haseena to forgive her before the doctor injected her and she slept.

"Aisa kya ho gaya hai jo Karu usse maafi mang rahi hai. Haseena naraz kyu hogi! Aur aisi halat kaise huyi hai. Ho kya raha hai yeh sab!", Shivani said.

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That was the chapter 12 of Solace.

Hello beautiful people, I hope you all are doing well. Feel free to give your opinion in the comment section. Do vote, comment and follow. It will motivate me to write better.

See you in the next chapter.