MaNan FF - Angel In Disguise

#19- Nightmare Come True

#19- Nightmare Come True

For the twelfth time, I press the rewind button just in case the face of the girl changes, the one in micro-mini shorts, the one who shouts in an empty corridor of all her insecurities. The one who calls Mukti up. The one who says the revenge is done.

I close my eyes and rest the case.

A friendship is about to break.

***********************************************************

Malhotra Mansion
2:30 AM

Manik bangs open the door of his bedroom and throws his guitar on the bed. His red eyes wander around until they land upon a bottle of whisky down the shelf.

4 AM.

Down with the third glass of whisky and the fourth bucket of remorse, he kept the drink aside and picked up his guitar. The little melody from the guitar took not even a minute to turn into ear-splitting agony as the budding Rockstar started composing yet another dazzling music from the instrument, the kind his fans would do anything to be an audience to.

"Saab," came inside a half-sleepy housekeeper,
"Nyonika madam disturb ho rahi hain, kya main yeh darwaza band kar doon?"

And yet, there wasn't a single soul who'd want to hear his pain.

************************************

2:30 PM
Space Academy

"How is Manik coming back so soon?" Alya asked the three sitting in their jam room along with her.

"Even I'm surprised. Dad ne office se nikal diya kya?" Cabir started laughing but stopped noticing the gloomy faces of Dhruv, Alya and especially, of Mukti.

"What happened guys, itna soojha hua shakal leke kyu ghoom rahe ho?" Cabir asked.

Mukti, Alya looked at each other, then at Dhruv who looked away.

"Actually," Mukti spoke, "Hum-" Alya elbowed her, "I mean mujhe, kuch share karna hai tum sab se. So, I'm waiting for Manik." Her eyes landed at Dhruv who gave her an approving nod.

Cabir could sense the tension in the air. Having nothing else to do, he opened Fab Five's whatsapp chat where Manik had left a message at 4 in the morning:

'Meet me at 2 in jam room. Need to have a word with someone. I want all of you there.'

...and has been offline since then.

About fifteen minutes later, Manik entered the jam room with swollen red eyes and a sullen face. Mukti in an instant turned and went towards him not noticing his facial expressions.

"2 baje bula ke 3 baje aaya hai idiot, kabse tera wait kar rahe hain pagalon ki tarha.. Aur...tu... tu itni jaldi wapis- everything's fine?" Mukti shot her questions at Manik.