Somewhere Only We Go (Editing)

Chapter 39

Kabir

Rishabh narrates the story of that night or at least their version of it. After they went downstairs hearing the scream, Avi's mom didn't let them stay there long. They got a short version of Ishan's accident but none of them bothered with questions because they weren't important anymore. They had just lost their brother, and nothing beyond that made sense. After telling them about it, Avi's mom got all three of them to go back to their room and also had a servant look after them for the rest of the day. There were no conspiracy theories and the police, after talking to a few people who were with Ishan the previous day, decided that it was an unfortunate accident. There were headlines like a teen star gone too soon, rest in peace, and Indian household favorite teen actor dead at 18.

Throughout the narration, Rishabh kept sneaking glances at his chachi. My eyes were roaming between Avi, I wanted to make sure he was okay and his mother, whose every reaction counts. "So why did you lie to us, chachi? I know it's possible that it's not a big deal, there wasn't any murder investigation but why lie to us about when he died? We trusted you. Your son trusted you? Do you even remember that? Do you remember that you still have one son alive?"

Avi looks at her like he wants some acknowledgment of the fact himself. It's normal for a mother to just forget about her son. His mother, Reema, is still sitting on the couch, fisting the pillow tightly but says nothing for a few seconds.

"How do you know he isn't lying?" She looks at Aman.I can see Rishabh's jaws clenching. This woman has managed to get on the nerves of someone who is usually so laid back. But before Rishabh can reply it is Avi who answers. "Because he has no reason to lie, especially after 10 years. And Rishabh cross-checked it with Chachu before we came here."

Aman looks up at Avi like he is shocked Avi came to his defense. If I am being completely honest with myself I am too. I am not saying Aman is a bad guy here but I am a little pissed at the fact that he thought Avi is the one to be blamed.

"So stop distracting us mom, we are not kids anymore." Avi's voice sounds more like steel."Okay fine, I lied to you kids. It doesn't change anything, does it? I told you he died around 3 in the morning, but it was around 1. How does it change the fact that my son is dead?" she shouts."Why do you keep saying it like you are not a mother anymore?" This time it's Rishabh. "Don't you fucking see it? Don't you see how your indifference affects your son? What kind of a mother are you? God, I know our family isn't some amazing, always together kind, we have all messed up each other's lives but still, you keep pretending like Avi doesn't exist. Even now for the questions he asked you are answering me. You won't even look at him. HE IS YOUR SON GOD DAMMIT, YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE FIRST PERSON WHO PROTECTED HIM."The silence that followed Rishabh's outburst was deafening. Aman is looking at Rishabh with his eyes wide open, Avi is still standing where he was but now his knuckles are white because of how tightly he is clenching his fist and me, I am shaking with fury I am having a tough time containing. "FOR FUCK SAKE WOMAN, OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND FUCKING ANSWER US. WHY THE FUCK DID YOU LIE?"Reema gets up from where she was sitting. "I am not going to answer any of you. I don't owe any of you anything.""Maybe you don't owe the answers to me, or Kabir or Aman, but you owe the truth to Avi, so you are going to answer our questions Chachi, we are not leaving.""One call and I can ask security to kick all of you out," she says. "No, you can't. This isn't your house Mom, and those are not your employees, they are loyal to Dad, and I can guarantee you none of them will touch any of us if I ask them to." Avi replies. We have gotten her cornered. "Was this all about London?" Aman asks. There is a similar look of confusion on both Avi's and Rishabh's faces and Aman is frowning like he is trying to solve a puzzle. "What about London?" Rishabh asks but now he is looking at Aman. "Um...you guys didn't know? I thought Ishan must have told you." "Shut up Aman. This is none of your business, I don't even know why you are still here.""He is here with me..., I mean with us," Rishabh says, and Avi side-eyes Rishabh for the way he fumbled. "What about London?" Avi asks. Aman bites his lips and looks down then takes a deep breath and mumbles "Maybe it isn't about that." Then he looks up and opens his mouth to say something but closes it when Reema starts moving. She moved at such a fast pace and none of us thought she would do something like that but before any of us realized what she was doing, both her hands wrapped around Avi's neck and she started strangling him."THIS IS ALL YOUR FUCKING FAULT. YOU ARE THE REASON MY SON IS DEAD."

All three of us run towards them, Rishabh is the one who reaches her first and tries to get her off him. It takes all three of us to restrain her and Avi falls to his knees breathing loudly. His eyes were red and tears streamed down his face. He held his neck where his mother was trying to strangle him. When I know Rishabh and Aman can keep her restraint I run towards him."Avi baby, are you okay?"

He nods but is still breathing loudly. I help him get up and get him to sit down on the couch. Rishabh and Aman had managed to find something to tie Reema's wrist and make her sit on the other couch, the one that was furthest from Avi. They also stand in front of her like a wall. Avi starts coughing and it takes him a few minutes to finally catch his breath. I rub his other shoulder and he leans on me slightly.

"I am okay," he says.

After a few more minutes, Avi has his eyes closed and is still leaning on me and I look at Rishabh and then Aman. They look at each other and none of us say it but we don't need to. Their eyes are wide with shock like mine is. We just witnessed Avi's mother attempting to kill him. All of this got a lot darker than we expected and we might be way out of our depths here to handle it.