The Urban Chronicle ✔

23: The End

"And the idiot finally decides to graciously acknowledge our presence and wake up.”
I smiled to myself at the memory of that fateful day when I'd got whisked off into the past. Tvisha waking me up brought back a sense of deja vu. “Tara, you had me so worried. It’s been almost four and a half hours and I honestly thought you were never coming back” Tvisha said, embracing me in a tight hug.
“I was scared too. I almost lost it when I thought there was no way back.” I replied, burying my face in her hair.
I stood up slowly and my eyes fell on our unfinished assignment lying abandoned on Miss Kurukshetra’s desk. I turned to Neel who was up now, and huffed.
“Neel!” I whined, “We still have that blasted detention assignment to complete. Ugh…it seems like days since we got that I’d totally forgotten about this.”
“It’s only been four and a half hours actually.” Ishaan smirked.
“Dude you should go back to the dorm, I’ll be back in half an hour after I’m done with this essay.” Neel said.
Ishaan raised his eyebrow questioningly, but nodded. “I get it the two of you are like the best of friends now. To think, that only about five hours did the trick.” He laughed.
“Well, I guess we’ll leave you guys to finish your detention. I wonder what Kurukshetra’s going to say about taking so long.” Tvisha said, “Tara I’ll be in the dorm, you have to tell me everything before we sleep ok. I’m not letting you get away.”
They left quietly and sat down in the chair I had been sitting in the last time. Neel took his place beside me and flipped through the research we’d done before with a frown.
“Well, it’s a good thing we just visited Magadha, because I’m in no mood to sit and go through all that again.” I said resting my chin on my hand.
“Yeah, I know right,” he replied, “Ok, so you write the first half and I’ll write the second half.”
I nodded and we immediately got to work. For the next twenty minutes we worked in silence and in complete sync with each other.
After we were done with the essay titled, The Mauryan Empire I massaged my aching wrist. I think I should get a doctorate in this topic, I know that much about it. I missed the jobless afternoons in Magadha already. I wasn’t ready for seven hour school days again. At least not for a while.
“Are you wondering how you’re going to manage to survive seven hours of boring lessons from tomorrow?” asked Neel.
“Yeah, it seems too mundane a task now.” I replied in agreement.
“Let’s go submit this to Miss K.” he stated.
I nodded and we headed to the staff room, to find our history teacher correcting some test papers along with a few other teachers.
“Miss, we’re done.” I announced politely.
She looked at Neel and me with a not-so-amused expression on her face. “Took the two of you long enough. I expect a perfect essay now.”
“Yes miss!” both of us replied together and the image of Siamese twins crossed my mind.
We waited nervously for her to finish it. I hope she doesn’t find any information incorrect or unelaborated. We’d completed it in about twenty minutes so….
“Well, I must admit that this is one of the best history essays I’ve ever read. The information is just perfect and the imagery is wonderful. It feels like you have observed the conditions of that period closely and have developed a certain amount of empathy towards them.” Miss Kurukshetra praised us.
Neel and I shared a knowing glance and discreet grin. It was ironic actually. She had absolutely no clue that we had written from experience and had observed everything first hand.
“I appreciate the amount of effort the two of you have put into this. Just be a little faster in you work next time.” She continued.
“Yes miss, we’ll keep that in mind.” We said obediently.
“Then you may go now.” And with that she dismissed us.
We walked together towards the dorm rooms in the next building. The pitch black sky loomed eerily over the island on which our school was situated and I missed the starry nights in Magadha. We reached my dorm first and paused.
“Good night Tara!” Neel said.
“Nighty night!” I chirped.
After I had recounted the entire story to Tvisha I lay in bed staring at the ceiling in the darkness. My hand instinctively touched the gold bracelet on my wrist and I wondered what Sanghamitra and Mahindra would be doing at the moment. Did they miss me just as much as I missed them? Had the king of Kalinga realized that we had escaped and that his plans were no longer secret? I don’t think I’ll never know. And with that I plunged into a peaceful slumber……
                              _______________________________________

                                                    THE END
Now that has been a marvellous journey for me- writing this book, proof reading (there still are a lot of errors that I've overlooked), my friends getting all excited when I told them that I started writing again, their support and wacky ideas....
It's been amazing!!!
So thank you everyone. Love ya!!!