Strength |✔️

twenty-six

Neil

I watch Alisha as she gets up from her seat and walks out the entrance doors. She is fine, right? hShe probably had to go to the bathroom 'cause, well, she had to. I take a deep breath. Everything is fine, she is fine. I am at my sister's wedding right now, and I need to be happy for her.

During the ceremony, my mom comes to me at the front door and motions for me to come on the stage. I stand up, straightening my kurta, and not letting the thousands of gazing eyes at me deter on me. I glance over at Monika, who is chanting words along with the announcer and throwing dry rice into the fire with Raj, and she gives me a glance and smiles. She looks so happy, and I am so proud of her and how far she has gotten in life. 

I walk up the stairs and sit at the empty chair, which my mom tells me to sit in anyways. Looking over where I was sitting, Alisha still has not come yet. I sigh, starting to get a little worried, but then I decide to shake it off. If she doesn't get here before Monika and Raj walk their rounds around the fire, I will march down to the bathroom and see if Alisha is doing alright.

The first few stages of the marriage ceremony goes down really quick, and Monika and Raj start to walk around the fire, starting their nine rounds. After their nine rounds, they will be married, and I know Alisha wants to see it. Speaking of Alisha, I look over at the first row again, and she is not here. What the hell? Okay, something has to be up now. She can't be gone this long, except for a valid reason. 

I want to check up on her, but I can't leave now. It's going to show up as suspicious and it wouldn't look right if the bride's brother just left during the fire ceremony. I gulp. I have to wait several more minutes before I can go.

My mom, being dressed in a rich designed sari and drenched in pounds of jewelry, but not as much as Monika, hands me flowers to shower Monika and Raj with. I smile at her reassuringly. I don't want her to know what's up, because just by looking at my face I know she will be able to tell that something is up, and I don't want that to occur.

The actual chants begin, and I can translate. The Maharaj, or the announcer, claims that the couple walking around the fire is dedicating their lives to each other, and that they protect each other, love each other, and support each other for the rest of their lives, and so on. I think of Alisha, and wonder if we are ever to get married in the future. I try not to think of it as much so I won't jinx it, but it comes to my mind every now and then. Besides, I am going to get married in 5-8 years, so might as well start planning who I want to be with for the rest of my life, and with no hesitation I can evaluate that it's obviously going to be Alisha. 

I can't wait anymore. I need to know what's up.

The 9th round is about to be over. Monika's face lights up in a smile and tears almost start to form in her eyes. That's it. She's not going to be a Shah anymore; she's a Patel now. I almost start to cry as well. The sister that I always had is starting a new and beautiful chapter in her life where she spends the rest of her eternity with the love of her life, with is Raj. I couldn't be any happy. I start to cheese really hard when they finally finish the 9th round. Monika bursts into tears and Raj gives her a hug, stabilizing her. Mom, Dad, Mahi, and I eventually join in as well, hugging her. Though, I feel like one more person in missing.

I hug Monika really hard. "We've come a long way, huh lil' bro?" Tears start to run down her cheeks again and I immediately wipe them away. "Actually, you have." She starts to laugh. "So have you, Neil. You started college, you have a girlfriend... speaking of girlfriend, where's Alisha?"

I sigh. "She's been in the bathroom for ten minutes, and to be honest I am really worried right now."

She swats my hand. "Then what are you still doing here? Go!"

I laugh. As i'm about to walk away, I say, "Congratulations, Monika!" I congratulate Raj as well and walk out the doors.

The sound of laughter and chatter fades away as I close the door. Then, all I hear is silence. I take a deep breath, straighten my collar, and rush to the bathroom. I see the women's bathroom, and I before I rethink what I'm about to do, I burst into the women's bathroom and see a group of girls getting ready. When they see me, I expect them to scream in horror and start punching me away, but instead their mouths gape open when they see me.

"Oh, um, what are you doing here?" One girl says, in a surprisingly annoying flirty tone. I try not to sound annoyed with them already. "Uh, never mind," I say and I run out the door. That was a terrible idea.

Then where's Alisha? I contemplate on where to go next, but then I hear a door slamming shut on the second floor. I see a glass stair case adjacent from me, and I climb up to the top. Already out of breath, I walk very quickly yet subtly to where I think the door had slammed shut. 

Then I hear noises coming from a door that is a couple of feet away from me. It is the sound of a woman and a man, arguing back and forth. When I get a little closer to the door, I realize that it's Alisha, and the man's voice... it's her Dad.

I frown. Why the hell is he here? But then I start to panic. Alisha is in trouble, and I need to help her, before things may go the wrong way. I'm just going to hope that her dad isn't facing the door, so I can creep up behind him, strangle him to the point where he passes out, so Alisha won't be in the danger zone. Everything will be alright.

I creep up the door and immediately feel my heart start to race and my hands starting to shake. Why am I so nervous? I shake my head, close my eyes, and twist the door knob open, revealing Alisha and her dad, just as I thought. But unfortunately, he is facing me. I see that he is pointing something at Alisha... pointing something...

My eyes widen when I finally realize what it is. A gun. Pointed at Alisha.

Adrenaline and anger shoots up my veins and I scream, "Alisha?!"

Alisha turns around and looks at me. Her face is covered in sweat and there are tears streaming down her face, and mascara as well. She bursts into tears when she sees me. "Neil!" She starts to run towards me.

And that's when everything happens in slow motion.

As she started to run, I hear a bang vibrate into my ears. Suddenly after, a burst of pain shoots up in my chest, and I clench my teeth, gritting in pain. Alisha's eyes widen and her mouth forms an "O", and she screams. If I had normal hearing, her scream would've been the loudest thing I have ever heard. But I can hear as if I've been drowned underwater and everything sounded so submerged and drowned out. The pain twists and turns into my stomach, and I clench my hand against my chest, and pull my hand out to look at it. It is covered in blood. I gasp and I look at Alisha's Dad, who has pointed a gun directly at me. He sneers and starts to laugh. Alisha runs towards me, not caring that her dad might kill her as well, and before I can feel her hands against my body, her soft, soft hands, my vision starts to blur. Finally, I can see nothing, and all I can hear is static.

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A/N:

Welp, guess who's crying...

This chapter I was honestly so scared of writing, because I didn't want to get too into it nor did I want to only dab at it a little bit. So, I had to be very careful while writing this chapter.

So, I don't want to spoil too much for what happens in the future, but as you can tell, Neil got shot. In the chest. Yikes.

Now, all I can say is, stay tuned for future chapters. 

-ru <3