BROKEN THINGS

36

It had taken a really long time to convince the team to not accompany them to West Indies. Not that the three of them DIDN'T want a bit of help especially considering that they would have to manually look for Rahul all over an entire city. But if Team India just turns up in Barbados and lurks around suspiciously, people were bound to start talking. They had to keep this as under the wraps as they could until they couldn't anymore. Sachin's patience had been hugely tested this entire month, everything in him urging to just go down to the nearest police station and get the entire law enforcement of India hunting for the country's cricket captain.

He hadn't obviously. The entire country would have started rioting. And Rahul, wherever he was, his safety could be compromised. That was one thing he couldn't play with.

So it was them versus a few trillion square feet of the damn earth. A bright and hopeful prospect...

He sighed and trudged into their shared hotel room. They could have booked seperate rooms but no one wanted to be alone after each disappointing night. And eight nights had already passed, the jubilation of discovering the most likely place Rahul could be found had gone stale long ago. By now, Sachin was wondering if they should call their wonderboy wicketkeeper over. After all it had been Mahi who had come up with the best lead, maybe he could provide another miracle? It was too much to ask from the young boy but Sachin was losing hope. Losing hope fast. His heart twisted in the absence of the man he had hopelessly fallen in love with and had then proceeded to lose him in every single way possible.

He wasn't even a good friend, let alone a partner. Where had he been when Rahul had been getting beaten up? It had been Sourav who had rescued him. Sachin hadn't even wanted to go up to their rooms, not wanting to even look at the face of their captain for fear that his hatred would finally overpower his love. He had been grateful that Rahul hadn't come to dinner, unsure if he could hold from putting the blame for their failure at the World Cup on Rahul's head. He had held the man responsible for everything that had happened, for doing this to their team. If Rahul had never schemed with Chappel and thrown Sourav out, he had thought furiously, they wouldn't have been disgracing themselves internationally. No, had Rahul been present at dinner, Sachin would have been throwing atleast a few sharp words at him if not actually having a screaming match. He had not wanted to see the man's face until he could get his anger and hurt under control. If not for grabbing a hoodie to hide his face so he could go out, he wouldn't have even chanced upon the corridors through which horrifying yells were echoing; Sourav's enraged ones and Chappel's choked roars as he tried and failed to fight back. Anil had already been dragging Sourav off by the time he had reached. If not for the sight of bleeding, battered, semiconscious Rahul; Sachin would have still been blaming him like the terrible friend he was.

Why should Rahul even be found by a terrible friend like him? If it was not for Rahul himself who deserved to not be alone, Sachin wouldn't be trying. Wouldn't be trying so hopelessly. Rahul deserved better than him.

Anil came out of the shower looking similarly dejected, having returned a little before Sachin had.

"No luck?" he asked hoarsely, the question he already knew the answer to.

A shake of the head was all he got. He sighed and closed his eyes, the warmth of the mattress not reaching his heart. This was going to be a tough battle to conquer. And Sachin wasn't sure if he could conquer it anymore.