A Sew Through Time [Bandbudh And Budbak]

19: Khushi vs the world

"How long are we gonna run in circles?!" Saira shrieked, feeling the tempestuous corridors arriving at the same point from where they had started off. Myra and Khushi ran alongside, the toddler craning her neck to watch hidden people watching them behind the pillars and some from the classrooms.

They often blocked their way; some looked like neighbors, some like relatives, but never like people wishing to help.

"Just a little more" Myra ignored the watchful stares, "Hang on-!"

A hand tried to scratch her cheek when the flesh tore apart and fell on the white tiles. Khushi saw the bullet rolling off,

"Karan bhaiya!"

"To the left tower" he shoved the gun back and pulled them ahead, "Hurry"

"To the tower?!" Myra huffed, "Our past versions are there?!"

"They're not INSIDE the towers!" Khushi tapped the ground, "They're underground!"

"Sachme?!" Saira exclaimed, "But how are you so sure that they're underground?"

"I know what I said"

"Wait!" Karan called her, asking after she returned, "If you knew they're underground, why didn't you tell us before?"

"They're not supposed to be underground" Khushi said, "The free playground, wind blowing left; they must be underground"

"Ugh! So fricking confusing?!" Saira reacted, "How will we get underground from up here?"

"There must be a route" Myra reminisced, "Remember when we went to find hidden treasure there? We saw a door on the ground that connects both towers together. If we take Badri's sister underground, she can join us back in right tower safely"

"We gotta hurry, Badri and Budh won't hold her back any longer" Karan rushed, "Come on dumb dumb, show the way!"

The journey retracked to the tower which stood miles high above their gazes. Leaving behind the empty principal's office, the old storeroom and the teacher's staffroom eerily empty, they sprinted towards the playground to find a shortcut.

Saira tried stepping below. Something came inbetween, pushing her feet off the grass. Furious, she tried jumping again, but despite her attempts it was all in vain.

Myra paused to wonder. Stepping ahead, she tried to jump down, but what she felt was an invisible barrier as thin as air preventing them from touching the grass. They tried kicking it off whilst plunging against the force before bouncing back inside.

Looks like the corridor is the only way.

"When did Apna school became so unrecognizable?" Khushi uttered.

Karan checked the classroom behind them, finding nobody. He returned and inspected the invisible barrier, muttering,

"I see the sky"

Saira knew that it was not the time to complain about their disadvantages, "We must continue through the corridor till we find the opening, let's go!" and beaming with some optimism, she took a step forward.

A pillar fell across her foot.

"SAIRA!" Myra pulled her back by a close inch. Two more collapsed like corpses and trapped them inside.

"Khushi?!" Karan discovered her gone.

"Over here!" came her voice from the other side. Climbing over the pillar, she stretched out her hand, "Hold my hand!"

Myra stood on the pillar's steep ridges. Her fingers hardly grazed against her when the pillar stretched higher and blocked her view. She stumbled back

Khushi jumped off and yelled, "I'll go find help!"