PEREGRINATE

CHAPTER 34

Present time

POV of Ishaan Randhawa:

The student body count of this school had been in a few hundred for the past some generation. Most faces that I saw in the hallways were familiar ones. I either knew that person or if not, then someone in their immediate family. 

Ours was a small and close-knit community that had mostly witnessed people leaving rather than coming here. So when the old government house off the Last Street was bought by some outsider, an interest was sparked. Manya wouldn't know this but we had been talking of her before they had even arrived in the town.

The first time I noticed her was when she was on her way to the library on her cycle. Wouldn't lie, I was also intrigued by her but it was just an out-of-the-mill curiosity. Curiosity about where she came from in the world, the experiences she had, the people she had met.

We shared most of the classes which made it easier for me to observe her. She always sat at the front of the class with her head in her notebook. She kept silent and neither asked any doubts or answered any questions. The only time I heard her speak was when she would apologize to the teachers for coming late, which was most of the time. Her voice was soft and yet distinctive. Within a few days, I was sure I could recognize her by her voice alone.

So when the first words she ever spoke to me were 'I asked you to kill me. I am supposed to be dead,' I was rattled, to say the least.

However, my reaction was nothing compared to my classmates as their cacophony grew louder as chairs were pushed back, and shoes shuffled. Ms. Alvina broke through the crowd and kneeled next to me.

"What did she just say?" She was alarmed.

"No one told to kill anyone. This is the first time I am even talking to her." I tried to assure my classmates as they gathered around us.

At no fault of Ms. Alvina, my attention was on the new girl rather than on her lecture. This time she had taken a seat back in the class, closer to me. I was the first one to notice Manya drowsing. Her head lowered little by little until it was resting on her arms. I had assumed she had a headache but a few minutes later as she swayed in the seat, I realized she had lost consciousness. My first thought was to stop her from falling as I shot out of my seat.

I covered her head with my hand just seconds before she hit the ground. In my arms, I shook her gently, urging her to open her eyes. When she finally let me see her coffee-brown eyes, she accused me of not killing her and then fainted.

Despite my heroic efforts, she did injure her head.

I picked her limp body up and let everyone know that I was taking her back to my house. My dad was a doctor so she was in good hands.

I stepped out of the school and under the clear blue sky. The strong sunlight made her turn her face towards my shoulder. She was not totally out of it.

Within a few minutes, we were walking through the enormous oak doors of my house. These were ridiculously big but original from when the house was first built. We mostly used a smaller door at the side but it must have been cleaning day as they were open.

I carefully placed her down on the sofa of the closest sitting room. I supported her head with a cushion and looked down upon her. After one last try to wake her up, I walked over to the windows and called my father.

He accepted on the first ring.

"Hello, son. Is everything alright?" It was not often that I called him in the middle of the day.

"Yes, Dad, everything is fine with me. Only that a girl in my class had fainted. She is unconscious. I have brought her home. Can you once come by and check her out?"