Where are you?

CHAPTER 5 - ( part 1 )

I and Avni sit on the mat laid out on the floor in the most small hospital ever. If it could even be called that. It was even smaller than a little polite clinic. I look back at the small door that was locked shut from the inside, look around once more. Absolutely no other exit aside from the door. Only one single yellow lamp near the corner of the room provided a little light.
I had woken an hour ago, head heavy and aching from sleeping too much. Found Avni outside sitting on the sofa, looking at a map, already in gear as if we would be setting back on the journey in a few minutes. A vibe of impending doom hung in the air, heavy enough to make breathing hard.
She had looked up, taken one glance at me and asked me to take a shower and get ready. I had done so and drank a cup of tea on her request before setting out to find a doctor. Only to find out that the house we were staying in ( there were no hotels in this world, only houses that rented out rooms for the night ), already had an inbuilt hospital. A small room hidden in the top corner of the house. The door was the size of tall ten year old. Small enough for us to bend while entering. A room that was the perfect personification of the phrase chaotic discipline stood in front of us. With a ten year old sitting inside surprisingly. Or maybe obviously.
The room was packed with stacks of books, scrolls and jars and glasses filled with liquids and solids and some other things I couldn't comprehend. And all these things were stacked imperfectly near the ceiling. There were racks hanging from the ceiling a few feet below. And they were packed with all these things. There were torn pages hanging from them. There were also books stacked against the walls. No side of the wall left untouched. The stacks started from the left side of the door, all around to the right side. However, aside from all this, everything was empty and clean.

The little girl sat in front of us on a pillow, while we sat opposite her on a big mat with a low table in between us. She might be the most unnerving child I might have ever seen. A halo of curly hair stood on her head, deep red eyes staring at us, a nose sharper than the edge of a blade, pointed teeth smiling at us. She sat with her legs folded, back straight as a rod, with her hands resting on her knees. She glowed as if a hundred suns were hidden inside her.
I wonder what her name might be.

"Hi Maya and Avni. I'm Dev." The girl says, teeth all open on show.
I smile a little forcefully, still a little uncomfortable with the fact that the closest doctor available was a 10 year old girl, a devilish looking one at that. I look at Avni, only to find her looking like she probably agrees with what I was thinking.

"What brings you two here today?"

"You know us?" Avni asks, not too surprised but surprised enough to ask the question.

"Of course, the infamous spy. For a spy, you're actually quite famous. I wonder if that is because you're so good at your job or so bad." The words rolled right off the little girls tongue.

I fear not, for her, knowing Avni's limitless patience, and instead pray for my own patience, which is thinner than a strand of my arm hair. The immense tiredness of my body, along with the sting on the wound that had started as soon as I woke up ( I had ignored the ball of fear in my stomach when I saw the wound again ), along with my legs that pained as if they would fall off in a few hours if not given a few years' rest, anyone was going to be a victim of my outburst, hopefully this girl wouldn't bring that onto herself.

"Me not being an adept spy is unfortunately not my most recent concern," Avni says calmly, her hands on her knees, relaxed," as you might've received the message of our reason of visit today, haven't you?"

The girl laughs, getting up to go to the racks hanging above us, her yellow dress moves wierdly about her, "I knew about your arrival before you even reached here."

I look at Avni at that, who also looks at me, my eyes wide open. She holds my hand below the table, fingers curling around mine on my thigh, and looks ahead to the girl, "Did someone inform you?"