Breaking Free

Ch.3 - Her Tears

Hello again...I guess today is a lucky day cuz I got 2 chapters done in one day!! HOORAAYYY

Here goes the next chapter, its very quick and only 1 new character introduction but it shows some detail in the previous characters' relationships. Enjoy!

Ch.3:

 Kolkata:

"The number you have called is currently switched off, please try again later." Ragini pulled her phone away from her ear and stared at the screen.  It was a picture of 2 kids, a girl with a doll and a boy holding a purse-like purple pouch in hand, a wide smile on his face as he looked at the camera.  Right above the picture 2 letters repeated twice to form the word "DADA" with his number saved right under.  

"Dada is not picking up and Shivu left her phone at home.  No one is here either.  Should I go talk to Mr.&Mrs.Thakur? No, no I shouldn't disturb them.  I don't even know if they like me being in this house." Ragini thought to herself.  

It had been a week since she came back from Jodhpur.  She had been living there for 3 years with her aunt.  She shook away the thoughts that came to her mind.  She could feel herself breaking down.  

After her parents' death Ritik was emotionally shattered and Ragu had tried to take care of him, but she was considered only a teenager.  According to the society she was not capable of taking care of herself, let alone her older brother.  The 2 siblings had been glued to each other since childhood, Ritik always standing behind his sister, providing her whatever she needed.  But the deaths had shook him as a person, considering the attachment any kid would have with their parents.  Seeing the condition of the siblings thus, relatives had decided that it was best if Ragini was handed over to an adult to look after.  

"But dada was an adult too!" Ragu's mind argued, digging old graves again, with a new zest.  Ritik had agreed to let her go, without a second thought, without looking at his baby sister he let the society take the decision of her life.  She had never held it against him though.  Nope, never.  However, after that, her Dada was never the same.  

The time she came back to the city, her face had brightened up with the thought of seeing her Dada after the 3 long years she had spent away from him.  She just waited for the moment when she entered her old home and embraced her brother.  She wanted him to hug her and fade away the distance that had formed between them the past 3 years.  A tear rolled down her cheeks, a tear had escaped her eyes finally.  The girl who could not get herself to emote during the cremation of her parents, the one who had stood strong against the male chauvinists in her engineering college, and volunteered at an army hospital, where the cases she saw could make people faint had finally let her emotions go.  

She had always wondered what made her so emotionless, she hated it.  But the moment she began to showcase her emotions she knew she'd regret it.  The fear, it had been the fear that first made her cry and since then Ragini was never back to being the headstrong teenager she was.  How she wished she could go back to being the cold-blooded girl, at least things won't hurt her so much then.  

The day she set foot in this house a week back, 4 faces had come in front of her; 2 with confusion visible, 1 filled with bliss, and the last was frozen, almost like a statue.  She waited and waited for the person to come forward but all he did was give a faint smile and mutter "Welcome Ragini".  He had called her Ragini, not mishti, which pierced a hole in her heart.  His face had become shallow, different from when they were kids.  He seemed.....different.  

But he was her Dada and she was not going to give up on their relation.  She would try her best to bring him back to the boy he was as a kid.  

The alarm on her phone jerked Ragu out of her thoughts, it read FARM on it.  She stood up from the sofa and gathered her materials, putting them in her bag before taking a piece of paper. "AT THE FARM. SEE  YOU AT 7 :)" she wrote in big bubble letters with green marker and put it on the dinner table with the utensil stand on top as paper weight.  She headed out and took her bicycle in hand.  

She moved out of the house doors and just when she was about to pedal forward, she saw a shadow.  The same body structure, muscular and well built arms hitting the wind as he walked to his jeep.  Ragini adored him, his dress, his attitude.  She had first seen him a week ago.  Coming out of the train she spotted a few police officers and in the group stood a young, very young face, void of any smile yet giving off vibes of safety.  He had a serious look, scanning the platform for something or someone.  Ragini had left soon after but did take a last glance at his face before sitting in the tuktuk.

  She encountered him again at her window.  It was her second night in the old but new home.  Unable to sleep, she opened the doors of her balcony and stood gazing at the horizon.  There were ample amount of stars in the sky, but they never gathered Ragini's attention.  She considered them specks of dust taking away the precious darkness from night.  It irked her to have such a disturbance during the peaceful time.

She stared at the trees in front of her house, and in the middle of the trees stood a mansion, with lights out.  It was pitch black all around.  She saw a police jeep pull in the front of the mansion and a person came out, he seemed familiar to her somehow.  She saw the resemblance, he was the guy at the train station.  She was glad for the stars that day.  They had provided just enough light for Ragu to look at him.  He was her neighbor, a little smile had unknowingly found a place on her face.  

Beep! BEEP!!! Ragini was startled by the sound.  She looked back and a face peeped out of the window of the jeep.  "Would you do me a favor of moving aside?  I don't know about you, but I have a place to be at this time, and I have to reach today.  Can you move to the side a bit?" He taunted her.  

She was taken aback by his attitude but before she could move aside her feet gave way and she fell down from her cycle.  How embarrassing! She thought to herself.  The cycle had fallen on her left leg but she felt no pain, it was very slightly on top of her leg, not enough weight to injure her.

She was trying to pick herself up when a chill ran down her spine.  Her body turned cold, she felt numb as if struck by lightening.  The neurons in her body seemed to do taandav.  Her head turned at a 45 degree angle and she saw the hand on her back.  Ragini pushed the hand away with full force, gaining all her strength to stand on her feet.

"What the..." she heard the guy say.  His face took on a quick change as it filled with worry.  He saw tears rolling down her rose red cheeks, which shouldn't be red in the first place!

"Listen I was only trying to help you up." he explained himself to her but she seemed busy in gathering her stuff.  "You didn't get hurt anywhere did you?" he tried to hold her shoulder to ask but before he could place his hand, she moved far back, followed with more tears.  

"What is wrong with her?" he thought.  He picked up the cycle and handed it to her, "Sorry for this, but I have to reach somewhere." he rushed back in his jeep and took off.  As he was passing by Ragini caught a sight of his name pin which had SURAJ RAJVANSHI written on it. 

"Suraj Rajvanshi" She said to herself out loud as if to check the existence of the name. 

Done with Chapter 3!  Very detailed again...I think i am gonna give up on saying it will get less descriptive lol.  Anyway, hope u guys enjoyed reading this. 

Do comment and vote :)

-Ruch