A Tale Of Friendship And Loneliness

The Unexpected

On reaching the farmhouse Atharv quietly unbuckled his seat belt to check if Sarah was conscious yet.

Thankfully,no!, thought Atharv to himself.

He bent over to her side to carefully unstrap her seat belt. He noticed that one of her fingers twitched. It made him realize that she would soon be gaining conscious. If she got back to her senses at that very moment it would be difficult to handle her, not that he would garner the attention since the farmhouse was in an isolated place but for the fact that he knew Sarah would put up brave fight against being subdued by him.

Atharv got down from the car, went over to Sarah's side, opened the door and thoughtfully carried her over his shoulders.  Atharv had the knack of picking locks, something he had learnt while growing up into adulthood. The room he chose was the one at the corner. It was not well ventilated. He went back to the car to grab another dose of injection which he had kept in the dashboard, in case Sarah woke up on the way to the farmhouse.

There was some unfinished business he had to take care of, so he thought that the wise thing to do would be to sedate Sarah again. He knew that an overdose would prove to be lethal. He injected very small amount of it into her to make her unconscious till he returned. 

Locking both the room and the front door he drove off promising her he would be back soon. 

Sarah opened her eyes. She frantically looked around. She did not know where she was or what time it was. She was wondering what time it was and how much time had passed. The last thing she could remember was that she was in the elevator hoping to make a dash from Atharv's captivity. 

Sarah could not move her hands freely, she looked at it, they were still tied, confirming that she had made no success in her previous move. 

Ahhhhhgggggrrhhh, is this ever going to end! 

Sarah was not the one who would leave things to destiny or fate, she studied the rope and the knot on her wrist for a minute. The knot was not meticulously tied, making her task easier. She first tried rubbing the rope on the ground hoping the strands of the rope would wear off loosening the grip on her wrist. She knew that the rope's strength was not more than it's weakest link. She had learnt it in school when she was a part of Scouting and Guiding wing. She did not know how much time she was left with before Atharv would come. Though it was laborious, Sarah relentless worked at it. At last, after what seemed like an hour or so, the rope started to wear off. The rope's grip on her wrist seemed to be weak. She wriggled her hands out of the rope. Sarah was now waiting for Atharv to return.

The sun had set. It was getting darker by the minute.

Sarah heard screeching of the tires as a car was being parked outside. Was it Atharv or someone who would rescue her?

Atharv unaware of Sarah being conscious, got out of his car whistling his favorite tune. 

Instantly Sarah knew it was him, she got ready for his arrival.

Atharv had got food and new clothes for Sarah. He walked over to the front door, opened it and started walking towards the corner room.

Atharv opened the door, his hand was wandering on the wall searching for a switch. 

Sarah charged at him like a bull. She head butted the unsuspecting Atharv. 

Atharv fell on the ground screaming in pain, Sarah giving him no time to recover,punched him on his face thrice continuously .Before he could put up any fight , Sarah skedaddled. It took him few minutes to come in terms with what had just happened. 

Sarah had attacked Atharv like a tigress on an unsuspecting prey. Precise and damaging!

Sarah came running to the car only to find no keys to it. She had forgotten to snatch away the keys from him.

She decided to take the chance of going back to bring the keys. But there stood Atharv regaining his balance. She started to run as fast as her legs could take her. She did not know where she was headed. Her eyes were looking out for any kind of help. But no, not a single soul was to be seen , neither was she able to spot any kind of settlements in the darkness even if there were any. 

By then , Atharv had recovered from the setback. He angled off  his car at the direction which Sarah had taken. He drove the car like a maniac until he caught up with Sarah. 

Sarah saw that Atharv was soon approaching her. She tried to get off the road only to encounter a vast barren field. 

"You can run Sarah, but you can't hide ", sneered Atharv.

She knew he was right..So much for the unbaked plan!

Atharv could overtake her any minute and get hold of her, but he did not because he liked the chase. It seemed like a cat and mouse game to Sarah. Atharv was being Atharv deriving some sadistic pleasure out of all this. He was making her miserable. Atharv wanted her to crave for an end to all of this.

Sarah was not going to plead or bow down to him. She did not intend on being held a captive by him ever again. 

The engine stopped. Sarah looked behind , the lights were turned off, it was complete darkness. She stood there gasping for breath.

Did Atharv get down from the car? What was he doing? Where was he?How long before I can get some help? How long can I keep running? 

Then Atharv did something Sarah  would never have anticipated. The car jerked to life, soon heading towards Sarah. She shielded herself from the bright light with her hands. She knew what was going to happen.

He is going to kill me!

The adrenaline rushed in her blood again making her run for her life, this time literally run for her life!

She tripped over something hard and fell on the ground. And in that fraction of second, the car ran over her. 

 Atharv climbed out of the car. 

The car's tail light was the only light blinking in that vast field of barren land.

If you cannot be mine you cannot be anybody else's either thought Atharv staring at her.

Sarah lay on the ground motionless.