Tera Zikr

Chapter - 14

I forced my eyes open. My head ached to just another extent that I can't even explain. The sunlight made it hard to completely open my eyes. I tried to sit up straight and gradually, my whole body started hurting. I gently rubbed my forehead, it wad wet. I saw my fingers, they were red, my forehead was red with blood. I took out my phone from my pocket. It was already switched on, and had 98% battery which was just opposite because what I could remember was that last night my phone turned off and wasn't switching on. I opened the camera and saw my face in the front camera. Blood flowed down from a wound in the right side of forehead while it hurted mostly from the left side and as far as I remember, last night, the left side hit the bench and not the right side; and I don't know why but blood came out from the corner of my lips too. What was happening with me? I checked the time, it was 12:54p.m, and kept my phone back into the pocket and looked around. I wasn't in the church anymore but I lied on the ground just in front of the main gate of the church which was open at the night but right now it was closed. I struggled to stand up. At first, I couldn't and fell down but I somehow managed to stand up. I slowly walked towards the main gate of the church but couldn't walk properly either because my whole body terribly ached. I tried and pushed the gate but failed. It didn't move even an inch. I tried to recall what all happened last night after I hit the bench but couldn't remember anything. I didn't remember how I came out of the church, how my lips started bleeding, why my whole body ached and most importantly, why blood flowed from right side of my forehead while the left side hit the bench. Everything remained a mystery. I decided to go back to the hotel as it was almost one in noon, and by now Malhaar would have known that I'm not in the hotel and I'll have to listen to a long lecture from her.
As I neared the hotel, I saw Malhaar standing at the hotel gate and she looked worried and seemed like waiting for someone, or I'd say, for me. I wiped my face with my t-shirt, the blood had already dried so it was difficult to remove it completely but I managed to lighten it. I went closer to the gate and she noticed me and her facial expressions changed all of a sudden. She came running towards me and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back. "Where were you?", she almost cried. "I searched for you everywhere, asked everyone, no one knew where you were, texted you, called you, but you didn't reply even once", she continuously shot questions at me and I was glad that she hadn't seen the blood and the wounds yet. "I'll tell you everything first let's go the room", I said breaking the hug. She looked towards my face and saw the blood and the wounds and her facial expressions changed once again, this time it was anger and confusion mixed. "W...wh...what is this Darshan?", she asked as she traced the blood with her fingers. "Malhaar look, I'll tell you everything but not here, let's go to the room", I said but she continuously looked at me wanting to hear everything. "Please", I pleaded and gently pressed her hand.