MaNan- Love Diaries

Chp 7: Fixed Alliance

Manik watched his parents talking to Nandini's parents about fixing their alliance. He could tell that they will be married sooner or later by the way they talked. He smiled. It was afternoon, Nandini was sitting in her room lost somewhere as usual. She couldn't get the picture of her sister's dead body out of her head. She knew that no matter who comes and becomes her friend or marries her, she won't be able to forget Anjali. She wasn't sure if she was hallucinating her the night she died or was she really there? In fact, she could feel her presence.

She stood up from her bed and went to the store room after getting it's keys and unlocked it. She coughed as the dust flew in her nose. She went inside and saw all her toys in there. She picked the small dolls which had the hair of woolen thread and smiled. She took it and her gaze went on the piano. She took out the wooden bench from below the piano stand and sat on it. She played the piano beautifully and it reminded her of her childhood where she used to play this tune with Anjali.

She smiled faintly as the tune touched her heart and broke it into many pieces. Manik sneaked into Nandini's house to check if she's fine. As he heard the piano, he could tell, she might be in store room. He tiptoed upstairs and went inside. He saw her lost somewhere and went from behind and placed his hands on her hands which played the piano, she smiled feeling his presence. "Manik," she said softly. "How beautifully you play the piano, wow," he praised her. He could feel her smile. "You know what? We're getting married," he said taking her tiny hands in his hands hugging her from behind.

"Really?," she asked. "Hmm," he replied. "But how did you got inside? Who opened the door for you? Mom dad are in your house," she asked in a go. "Actually I sneaked in," he told her. "Oh, when will we get married?," she asked. "Whenever you say," he said. "What? Isn't the date decided yet?," she asked. "I came when the discussion was going on so don't know," he told her. "At least you should've listened the whole thing," she said. "They'll tell, don't worry, let's go to your room and talk," he said and held her hand, she stood up.

"Wait Manik," she said and he turned. She closed the lid covering the piano under the white sheet and they went outside locking the door. The sheet flied upwards uncovering the piano and the lid opened on its own. Its seat got pulled back and the piano played the same tune on it's own. Manik and Nandini went to Nandini's room. They sat on the bed pulling its curtains backwards. She rested her head on his shoulder. "So where we stopped?," he asked. "Marriage," she replied. "Oh I wanted to tell something."

"What?," he asked. "Two days ago, it happened again," she said. "What happened again?," he asked. "Anjali came," she told him. "I will take you to a good doctor," he said. "Manik I know its stupid, I know what you're thinking, at least let me tell you even if you don't believe me," she said lifting her head looking at him. "OK, ok, tell me, what you saw," he said politely.

2 days ago..
Nandini went to the beach as she needed a break from everything. Drenching her feet in the water and standing with the waves passing by her really helped her. So she went as far as she could go, the water reached her knees. She stared at the water for sometime and smiled. She went back getting out of the water and walked near the water bare feet for a lot of time till she got tired. She sat down and picked a stone to draw something in the sand. She drew a pinky promise sign and had completed one loop and got shocked as she saw the other loop already made there. She stood up and turned to go, just then she noticed the footprints beside her footprints.

It seemed as if someone else was also with her over there. She froze on her place for a moment taking small steps backwards and ran as fast as she could. She heard running footsteps behind her but she was too scared to look back to see nothing but something invisible. Even though she knew it was Anjali, she didn't wanted to be there. She was even more scared when she felt something cold around her wrist. She lifted her wrist while running and saw the same promise bracelet Anjali gave her on their 16th birthday.

She promised to keep it with her always but forget to wear it that day. She continued running and sat in her car and drove off. She could see her from the mirror keeping her head on her shoulder. "Anjali," she muttered. She wiped the tears off her face, crying and driving together was difficult. After a long drive, she reached her house, she checked the front mirror and saw she wasn't there anymore. She went outside the car and ran inside her house to her room for bath. She saw the curtains of her bed were spread, she could see a shadow as if someone was sitting inside.

She switched on the light and slowly tiptoed to her bed pulling the curtains open and saw a girl with long hair sitting hugging her knees. She wore a promise bracelet just like Nandini so it was clear that she was Anjali. Don't know why she wasn't scared, she sat beside her and tapped her shoulder. She heard her crying and slowly hugged her. "Tum mujhe chhor ke toh nahi jaogi na? (You won't go leaving me right?)," she said. "No," she replied and they hugged each other, Nandini didn't knew she had possessed her dead body that's why she could touch her.