The Fine Line

Chapter 22

Zarah's POV
Realisation hit me like arrows, piercing and targeted. She always held the starting point in the second line of her riddles. It was always the same pattern. The first line is the treasure, the second linked directly to to it, the third line was the answer to question where and the last line was the purpose. Like a premonition everything came back to me. Before I could acknowledge my legs where in motion. I ran home which was three blocks away. I had to find Diya. But my house only held a remorseful stench in Diya's absence. There was only one obvious place she'll go. For once I'm thankful that her house was at the end of the block.

Her house was almost foreign to me. I forgot how it looked like. I know my flaw got the best of me, cutting off all the ends that linked me to Saira. Shutting every door to happiness or atleast peace.

The window on the right was her room, I knew. I dont know if it still is. The light was on. A pebble between my fingers, I did it with less force than before and so it gained less momentum only to just nip at the glass pane. Last time I did this I was stoned. I was high as a kite and broken pieces of glass flew around with aggression justifying my temper on that day. So lets just say I'm a bit skeptical to knock on her dad's door.

And settling my assumptions, Diya peeked from the window above. I smiled, I smiled like the world was good again. I smiled like a child in a park unaware of the cruelties of the rich, powerful aristocrats. I didnt know what came over me. I smiled into her eyes with all the drops of happiness left in me. I dont know what caused it, but somehow I see a bit of Saira in Diya. A little shade of Saira evolving in Diya. Thats what happens when you're affected by someone's aura, beauty or personality. You take a piece of them and cherish it in your heart, eventually growing inside of you. I see it, slowly but delicately pulling me out of darkness.

In the next couple of seconds Diya had disappeared. Coming out the front door, she stopped a few feet before me. She looked right into my eyes and grins.

"Looks like someones blushing !" WHAT? blushing? Was I?

"I am not!" I said, completely aware of the two tomatoes pulsing on my cheeks.

"Z and jessie sitting under a tree , K-I-S-S-I-N-G . . . "
She sang teasing me in the most immature of ways. I swear I felt a little spark in my heart, but as always I chose to conceal it every way possible.

"Stop fucking around, I found something."

"Duh, and probably in jess's pants huh?" She said wiggling her eyebrows.
God, this girl is impossible.

"DIYA, stop it. I'm serious."

"Okay, okay. What is it? And please dont tell me if its one of your literary nonsense."

"Well, umm . . . It is literary since Saira referred to you as her light."

The change of expressions was visible. Why is she surprised? She was her bestfriend. She was supposed to be her light right? Maybe she didnt know that. Saira rarely expressed. One might say that she's almost emotionless.

My revelation about the riddle has my heart soaring. I couldnt keep it inside any longer.
Theres something else that I'm missing. Maybe its something I didn't know or rather supposed to know. Something that only Diya knows about Saira. Something Saira chose to keep it a secret. Or was it just a common notion that I failed to notice in my regretful days as a drug addict. Even after going through all the possibilities of what it could be, I couldn't find one sane reason that she left something for me. Whatever it is, Diya can lead me to it, she is supposed to guide me to Saira.

Her yard was small and almost perished except for the tall tree in the middle. The shady tree hovering above us made it too comfortable for me to move. As we sit under, clear oxygen flowing through my nostrils, I let out a sigh. Beside me Diya sits impatiently for my utterance. One more inhalation of air to gather my strength and I start.