The Mystery Girl

Chapter 19: Back To Tribes?

We came home. Nishant reminded us,
"You have to leave the Queendom in 7 days right?"

Sheetal dropped a plate from her hand...

"What? Are you leaving the Queendom?"

I replied,
"Yes. We have to find our tribe within 7 days. Or else there are chances that we will be executed."

"Oh no! That's an emergency now."
Sheetal said.

Sahil stated,
"So without any further ado, we need to leave in search for our tribe."

But before we leave, Sheetal requested us,
"Please have the last meal at our home."

I said awkwardly,
"But it's not confirmed that we'll find our village today itself. If not, can we... Umm, come back?"

She said, smiling brightly,
"Yes, my doors are always open for you."

According to me, she was the best and kindest person I had met in this Queendom.

We say down, folding our legs. Sheetal and I placed the copper plates for us. I whispered something in her ear. She agreed.

I took the basket of bhakari and kept it in their plates, followed by Sheetal adding the curry. She added dal and rice along with a glass of water and the plate was full now. I alas sat down, satisfied with what I had done.

Sheetal came in, blowing off the fire that was to meant to cook. She brought a glass that was throwing off steam like it was burning hot. She came and placed it in front of Sahil, who looked at it like he saw something he never expected to see in his life. It was filled with steaming hot 'kadha'.

He immediately knew who was the one plotting this scheme from behind the scenes.

My evil smirk came into play.

His gaze turned towards me, showing playful anger. His lip sync clearly said,
'Revenge will be taken.'

My eyes turned into puppy eyes, acting innocent, I said,
"You had fever, right? You need this."

He sighed.

We all are the meal, enjoying each morsel and particle of it. Who knows, when would I get such a peaceful meal again?

Sheetal kept more and more bhakari even when we kept denying. No wonder, she cared for us just like family members.

After we had the last meal, we were all set to find the teleport today, the 4th day. Before leaving, I hugged Sheetal for the first and maybe last time. She got a little emotional.

She asked,
"Will you come back someday?"

I replied, remembering everything that happened here,
"I wonder."

We exchanged smiles.

In the journey of 4 days, I had got a kind and innocent sister, a short gossiping brother and a talkative parrot. I loved it.

It was afternoon, and really hot. As Nishant was looking at us as we left, we had to go to the forest. As we were walking, I asked Sahil,

"Why did I come here?
What is my fault?
And why is it so HORRIBLY HOT today?"

Sahil replied, exasperated,
"Stop complaining and keep walking. If we don't find the teleport then we'll be executed. We have to either find the teleport and get to our timeline, or die here itself. Only then the time will turn on there."

I said, overconfident,
"Hm? Exclude the second option. I'm not dying here at any cost. What will my family think? I gone missing like that weird shaped stone? No!
By the way, what else you know about this teleport?"

"The teleport changes it's location after an interval of time."

"How do you even know that? And why didn't you tell me before?"

"Did I even get any time to talk about those stuff here? We were surrounded always."

"Yes that's true."

"When I had entered here, I had found the way out of the teleport. But at that time, soldiers had surrounded me. I realized that only I could see the teleport. If I tried to run off, soldiers would come after me and would enter the our world. And if that happened, or even if I knock them off, news would spread around the Queendom about the missing soldiers. That is why I chose to run off. I came multiple times at the same place, but didn't find the teleport there. The teleport is always open, but not at the same place."

"So if we find it today, we have to go through it before it disappears. And you lied when I asked you how long have you been here. (Sigh) And that time was when you met me and took me off running, right?"

"Yes. When I had entered here, I was looking around, without moving my average position. When it was 14 seconds, I could see purple flares surrounding me, as if I was about to go back to my timeline. But as my clothes were something really different, few soldiers with the army commander, were roaming nearby. The saw me and immediately got orders of getting me. So, I had to move from there and I lost the chance to go back. Staying in same position for 20 seconds shows lack of interest.
That means if you would have stayed in your position, you wouldn't have been here-..."

I gasped, stopping at my place. All the pieces of the puzzle had come together. My heart still couldn't believe what I heard. I had never expected Sahil to be the reason for my sufferings in this Queendom.

If I wouldn't have seen the frame falling while he had teleported, if he wouldn't have moved me from my position, I could've been sleeping peacefully on my bed, away from the nightmare of soldiers and spies surrounding us and the Queen giving us a death sentence.

My exasperation didn't find any limits. My fists clenched, as I felt anger boiling in my veins. I relentlessly caught his collar and pulled him towards me. I spoke furiously,

"Hey! If you knew this WHY didn't you LEAVE me at that position itself?! How dare did you even touch me? The soldiers were behind you! I could've left easily!"

"They were not behin-..."

"Shut up! Don't speak a word!"
I said as I felt a tear rolling down my eye, breathing heavily. He stopped immediately.

I continued, sadness and anger evident in my crackling voice,
"Now I realize why you said I'm your responsibility."

I took a deep breath, and said,
"Okay, I can't stand a moment here now. From now onwards, you go your way, I'll go mine! One of us will find the teleport and leave, and the other will either come late-... OR DIE HERE!"

•••••

"Kaisi teri khudgarzi?
Na dhoop dikhe na chav..."😩🤧

One of my fav arcs starting from the next chapter. (According to imagery quality)

So that's all for today, folks!

Next chapter releases on Friday, until then,
Stay tuned! 😊💖