STAINS an ArShi SS

Part 3

Dark shadows greeted him in the musty dark room. The small window on the upper wall filtered very little light that bathed the room in an eerie glow.

Arnav was sacred, for a man who has hidden himself in drowning darkness to escape from it swallowing him, felt afraid of the pale glow of that room, which, to him, was oddly familiar. He walked forward, no his legs carried him ahead, closer.

A persistent dripping noise reached him, the sound of something wet hitting the floor. He stood near the puddle it made on the floor, and took one single drop on his palm.

It was sticky, warm and red

Blood red.

Arnav sat up in a flash, throwing the comforter off him. He was gasping for breath and drenched in sweat. The same nightmare that shook him was back, how could he have forgotten...? It was that day after all. In his mind there were smiling happy images of his lost family, his Ma his Papa, everything that was once dear to him, everything that was his.

He raised his palm and bought it near his eyes, it was clean. Breathing a sigh of relief he glanced at the wall clock.

It was pat mid-day and though the curtains were closed he felt harsh light bothering him. Wondering why no one had waked him up, he stood and made his way towards the wash room.

While inside the comforts of the shower, he tried to remember the last time he had overslept, sleep was yet another thing that had refused to come to him or he to it, it made him revisit certain things he wanted to avoid and so he evaded sleep. Staring at his reflection in the mirror he tried tuning out the wayward thoughts that infested his mind.

He tried thinking about business, chanting his business mantra inside his head, thinking about the new stock market up's and down's, the rivalry, the newest trend in town and suchlike stuff, but somehow he knew, he knew it wasn't going to help him today.

When had hiding his emotions been such a hard task...it had always been the easiest thing for him, and all those years of being ASR one would think Arnav had finally gotten the knack of it, but no, ASR was just a virtual image the one that never existed outside a mirror. But being the fine actor he was his act always passed up people. But if one had taken pains to look closer they would know the vulnerability of the hard shelled man.

"Stop feeling," Arnav whispered to his image, and saw his tired, exhausted defeated self stare back at him.

But he knew his time on the stage was up, it was time to face the reality, he had hidden inside him for too long and now the shell that protected him had cracked. Though he knew what had to be done, he couldn't quite summon up the courage to do it, he was afraid of breaking and losing.

No, he could go on like this, he wouldn't hurt anymore, this was his fate, to be alone...just the way he chose it.

His mind finally decided, the dark shadow of ASR crept on him, like some invisible, indestructible cloak, hidden from everything around him. Summing up all his pent up frustration, the signature frown that defined the ASR character lined his face. Fury, decision and power, his stance screamed, a man of no nonsense, who wrote his destiny.

Storming out of the room, he flew around the room like a tempest, forging for his discarded stuff,

Khushi and Anjali, prattled around the room, making arrangements for the afternoon puja and Mami was quite unlike her usual self, silent. Because she was painting her already bhooteefool nails to perfection.