Sweetheart under the moonlight

Blood

~Maithili~

It was around 11 a.m. when we reached Viraj's apartment. From the outside, it looked a lavish apartment. It was located on the 5th floor. When I went inside, all I could see was a mess. A foul odour had filled the entire room. The clothes and everything else in the apartment were just scattered everywhere. But I didn't say anything. I didn't complain. Viraj moved some of the things from the sofa and made me sit there.

Quickly, he went inside the kitchen and got me a glass of water. For the rest of the day, I quietly laid there on the bed, with very few things to talk about with Viraj. I couldn't muster up the courage to tell him about the incident that had happened. We just talked about the weather, and some few random things. He looked uncomfortable. I felt bad for being a burden on him. But despite his rude behavior sometimes, I could see that he was kind. I didn't know what job he did or who were his family members or anything else about him. I just knew he was an angel sent by God to help me.

At around 9 p.m at night, there was a knock on the door. Viraj opened the door, and I saw the same policemen that were there in the hospital yesterday. They talked to Viraj for a while and then came to me.

"Maithili, how are you feeling now?", one of them asked.

" I'm feeling better sir", I replied.

"We've arrested him. And we've recovered the body too. You'll need to come to the Court when called to give your testimony", the policeman said.

Hearing this, I felt my entire world had fallen apart. I knew it had happened. And I also knew that this would happen. But I still felt a strong urge of just disappearing. Everything looked blur. But I had to be strong. I had no one to hold me at this point.

"Sure", I told them and then they left.

Viraj looked at me. I knew he had so many questions to ask. So without him asking, I told him " I know you want to ask me so many things about how did all this happen. I escaped from my house because.... " I couldn't continue further. I broke down. Viraj stood beside me, and said "It's okay. You don't need to explain anything right now". It gave me a sense of satisfaction. How can I ever tell anyone about all that happened? How the ugly fight between my parents has created a havoc in my life. How I was beaten up by my father for no reason at all. How could he... How could he become such a beast? Since my childhood, I knew he was a monster who would beat up my mother every now and then. I've spent my entire life seeing him like that.... And there was probability that this would happen... But how could he? How could he actually kill my mother? How will I ever come to terms with the fact that my own father had killed my mother... In a moment of rage... Everything happened in front of my own eyes. I saw my world collapsing in front of my own eyes. My heart couldn't bear the loss. I couldn't believe my eyes. All that I could understand was that I had to escape. I ran, as fast as I could, with blood oozing from the different parts of my body until I no longer had the strength and stood in front of Viraj's car.

All this was difficult to explain to anyone. And how could I tell all this to Viraj, who was a still a stranger to me. He rarely talked. He only asked me about my health, food and medicines. We didn't have much to talk about. As I was still lost in my thoughts, I heard a noise from the kitchen. I rushed towards it and saw that Viraj has injured his hand with the knife. I quickly ran towards him to help him, but there I saw blood. It made me feel nauseous. Everything looked blur. The sight of blood from the previous night appeared in front of my eyes. I started to breathe heavily. My palms turned sweaty and I started to tremble. And then, I lost consciousness.

When I regained consciousness, I saw Viraj standing beside me. I was still sweating. I saw that Viraj had put a bandage over the cut and he looked fine. But I still couldn't figure out what happened to me. I just sat there in confusion.

"You fainted on seeing blood. I got worried so I called the doctor. After examining your condition, he said that you have developed a phobia of blood, something called hemophobia", I heard Viraj say. It took me some time to process this information. I wasn't surprised, though. This was bound to happen.

"I'm sorry Viraj, I'm sorry for everything. I just wanted to help you, but...."

"It's okay Maithili. You just need to stop worrying about everything."

I wish it was this easy to "stop worrying". I gave him a reassuring smile and went to sleep. When I woke up the next morning, Viraj wasn't there. I looked for him but to no avail. I saw that he had prepared the breakfast for me. "He is a kind guy", I thought to myself. I thought that maybe he had some work so he must have left.

When I picked up the plate, I saw a note under it that read "Maithili, I have some work today and will be out for the entire day. I have prepared the food for you. If you need anything else, you can call me on this given number". I still didn't know what work he did. But anyways, I had my breakfast and just laid on the bed for most of the time for the day. I had nothing to do; neither there was a television to watch and nor did I have my phone with me, though there was a telephone in Viraj's house. So although I was still weak, I decided to clean up at least a portion of his apartment, only as much as I could. It didn't take me much time to keep the things in their places, and the room looked better. During the process, I found an entire cupboard filled with lots of books. I guess Viraj was fond of reading. I took out one that I thought would keep me engaged for sometime.

It was around 11 p.m and I was still reading the book. Just then, I heard a knock on the door. I opened it and saw Viraj, his clothes all covered with blood. There was a blood-stained knife too in his hand. He looked at me with eyes full of hope. But I couldn't stand it anymore. I was no longer in my senses.

"You... You have.. You have killed someone... You have murdered someone right? You.... kk... killed... You have killed... " I uttered. I couldn't even speak clearly anymore.

"Maithili listen to me... It's not as you think. You're getting anxious because of the blood on my body... But something else has happened.... Please listen to me... "

"I can't, I can't stay here... I need to leave... Move away, move away... I have to go... ", I yelled, and immediately rushed out of the house. I didn't know where would I go. But I just couldn't stay there for another second. I needed to breathe. I needed to hold myself together. And without thinking anything more, I just rushed to the beach. I wept there with the rain pouring down. I didn't know where to go. I didn't know what to do.