The Eternal War.

Dehradun.

"Yo Bitch Wake up" my best friend and room mate yelled at me and I groaned in annoyance. There was a slight pause and I tightened my hold on the blanket knowing what was coming. "You are going to miss the train." She said and I jerked awake.

"It's the day" I said and she nodded unhappily. "Oh don't be sad silly. I'll visit every holiday." I promised.

"Yeah right," she snorted and I hugged her. "Go brush your teeth" she said wrinkling her nose and I rolled my eyes.

We lived in an orphanage, Mrs Gupta Home for girls. And it was a home, Mrs gupta was a businesswoman that loved kids but couldn't conceive any of her own, so she took in as many as she could and sent us to school. Mr Gupta was a doctor, an oncologist. That's how they found me, he once tried to save my mother's life, when he couldn't he promised her he would take care of me.

And he did, he was the father that stayed. Unlike my own.

I shook off the thoughts as i got packing.

"You done packing?" A worried voice called and I turned to look at my foster mother.

"Yes mom" I teased and my heart broke a little as I saw her sadness. "I will be fine I promise, I will video call every weekend I promise."

She nodded and began going through my stuff. "Don't skip any meals, don't go out without a scarf, Dehradun is a cold place."

"Stop badgering her" Mr Gupta said and They both started bickering.
An hour later they dropped me to the railway station and after a lot of tears, I left. I was going to miss those people.

Dehradun was beautiful, all green with twisty roads and always a hint of mist in the air. I loved the chill.

Mount college was located in the outskirts of the town, and boy it was empty.

Coming from a place like Mumbai I was used to a bustling crowd, and the change was very much welcome.

"Hey" a voice said and I turned. My head whipped as I was slapped across the face, it was a soft one but I wasn't expecting it. It was immediately followed by sounds of snickering. "Don't take it personally, all part of the ragging."

I gave her a smile and slapped her back, slightly harder than she had.

"You too"

The snickering turned into full blown laughter.

The girl in front of me froze for a moment and then a smile broke across her face. "I like you" she said beaming and extended a hand "Misha Dobriyal"

"Pia Jaiswal" I said shaking her hand. I turned to look in the direction of the laughter and saw three girls looking right at us in anger. The middle one huffed and left.

"That's T, she's a year senior to us, I've known the psycho all my life, but she won't bother us much, my sister is in her final year." She said perkily and i finally got a good look at her.

Slightly ripped jeans, sneakers and a loose sweatshirt. Her hair was a mess and there was paint on her fingers.

I like her. I decided.

"You are a localite" I observed and she nodded. She grabbed my suitcase and both of us began walking towards the hostel.

"So where are you from?" She asked.

"Mumbai" I said.

"Nice" she stretched. "I've been here all my life. So if you need any advice on where to go. You can ask me." She said perkily. "Here give me your phone." She said and I handed it to her, she didn't react to the dire condition of the old phone. It was a hand me down from mrs gupta. "Hey your mom's pretty." She said.

"Oh that's not my mom." I said. I didn't put her photo up because it made me sad. "That's Mrs gupta. The owner of my orphanage, she's a sweetheart."

"Oh" she said. "I am sorry." She said.

"It's okay, I am used to it now." I said and began telling her about the orphanage when a voice interrupted us.

"Hey shorty" a voice said and misha groaned.

"Your majesty" she scoffed and the guy rolled his eyes. "Pia this is my friend kabir, la casanova de dehradun, his brother and my sister are about to get married so we have a guardian here, he's a senior" she explained.

"Now Don't go on promising protection to strangers, however pretty they might be." he teased his eyes on me, I blushed.

"Man whore this is my new friend Pia Jaiswal." She said.

"Can you move" a cold voice said and all three of us turned. The guy was a poster kid for goth, black from top to bottom.

Kabir glared at him and Misha pulled me out of the way expecting him to ram past us. The guy grabbed my hand instead. Eyes wide with fear, I stared at him, I could feel his stare burn through the glasses.

"Hey" kabir yelled and pulled me behind him "Who the fuck do you think you are?" the guy kept staring at my face and then left towards the office.

"You okay?" Misha asked checking my forearm, it was red and throbbing. "Take care of that will you?" She told Kabir angrily and he nodded. He got out his phone and texted someone.

"Come on let's go" I said and we left for the hostel, my arm tingling and stinging where he had grabbed it.

"What the Fuck!" she said as she examined my room. The bed was thrown over and the mattress was torn with the fluff spilling out. The bulb and tubelights were broken and it smelled like weed and alcohol.

"Some of the seniors messed it up" the matron said coming up behind us. "We can adjust you with a few seniors tonight, come back tomorrow."

"No need" Misha said and grabbed my suitcase. "Have it cleaned up she will will stay at the Dobriyal Mansion for a week. It's completely fine pia, mom dad won't mind and there is more than enough space." She said as I opened my mouth to argue.

After a bit of haggling with me and the matron, she dragged me out. Her house was big and empty. "Panchi is at college, dad is probably locked in his office and mum is out shopping for dad's birthday party." She explained.

She showed me to the guest room and commanded me to sleep, tired, I complied without an argument.

I slept the rest of the day and the entire family was home when I woke up. Panchi greeted me first, she was polar opposite to misha, well groomed with a skirt and a blose, light make up and a sweet smile.

Panchi took after her mother who was slightly plump and could feed anyone to death.

"What do your parents do beta?" She asked me politely.

"My mum passed away when I was 10 aunty." I said "Dad went before i was born, I was raised in a home." They didn't need to know that the asshole was still alive.

The mood went somber and it was broken by a voice.

"Is anyone home? Why is it so quite"

"Dad" Misha yelled and went to hug him.

I knew the voice well, it was the same voice that visited us once every two months, bringing in chocolates as if it made up for his absence. The same voice that fought my mother when she told him to stay longer fot my sake. The voice belonged to my father.

Fuck.