I Found You

36.

"Are you okay?" The man asked, leaning forward to check if he'd by mistake stepped over her toe.

His moments were calculative as his eyes searched her face, a flicker of recognition passing through his haze or so she thought before he shook his head and stood rooted to his place.

Sweat beaded down her forehead as she struggled to control her shaking hands. Her heart pounded against her chest and blood roared in her ears. Suddenly, it felt as if a vice were gripping her lungs, making it hard to breathe.

She felt like her life was draining away, her feet tingling and her vision distorting as if she were looking through a fisheye lens.

Before she could collapse in front of the man who remained clueless and utterly calm, contrary to her messy self.

She turned and sprinted to her room,
taking long strides and skipping two stairs at a time to get there as fast as she could.

"Adhira wait! Where are you going?" Vikram jogged behind her, matching her pace, as he couldn't wait to get some alone time with his wife.

But before she could lock herself in the room and embrace the darkness seeping through her veins, she heard a faint, familiar, and soothing voice.

"Adhira? Why have you locked the door?" He asked as she closed the door just before he could step in.

He knocked lightly, waiting patiently outside, smiling to himself as he reminisced every special moment they've had together and couldn't wait to make more.

She slid down to the floor, tears streaming down her cheeks. One moment she was hot and sweaty and the next she felt like she would freeze to death.

Colours spun and swirled around her head, making it impossible to grasp what was happening. Thoughts rushed through her mind faster than she could process, as though she were bobbing in a ocean, out of control, with no one to help her.

As time began to speed up, her thoughts became incoherent, streams of blinding unrealities, cascading floods of insanity and ridiculousness.

She felt like she was slipping in the past as her present seemed to slowly fade away.

"I wish you were never born."
   
"If you utter a word to anyone, I'll make sure you're sent far away from your father."

"If only you hadn't been born, everything would have been different now."

"Why can't you just leave me alone?
I don't want you anywhere near me."

"Do-don't hurt p-papa please. Don't hu-hurt him. I-I won't tell an-anyone. Pl-please."

The words echoed around her like a broken record and the air around her began to suffocate her as the dreadful memories flashed before her eyes, making her squirm.

She pressed her palms flat over her ears, squeezing hard in a vain attempt to shut out the voices inside her brain.

Her head felt heavy as the burden of past made her stomach churn. Ribbons of red and yellow flew past her eyes, pink and orange assaulted her senses, overwhelming her mind with immeasurable amounts of unfiltered loudness.

Her mouth went dry and she felt dizzy under the weight of intense emotions. She clutched her hair tightly, choking on air, fighting to even her breaths as she felt her chest and wind pipe closing up.

"Adhira baby, you're scaring me. Are you
in the washroom?" The anxiety behind his voice was clear as he continued to knock since the moment she locked herself in.