Till The Count Of Five ✓

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It doesn't matter what you meant. It doesn't matter if blood is colourless. In the end, she bled.

Kiara

23th April 2019, Tuesday
13:40

The shoes in my feet must have been replaced by roller skates because I could hardly walk up the stairs. Somehow I had managed to drag my limp body from the ground, disappointment running through my veins. Roy wanted to see me. After last time, I ended up staying in my room for two days. I had pushed Papa away and kept a wary watch on Mum whenever she approached me holding his white coat.

Roy had pulled me out of my happy bubble too fast. I could not even enjoy the good time I was having, no matter how little it was. Nolan had been smiling at me one moment and next I was summoned. It just made me realize what things could have been had Ash been here. I sucked in a breath. Maybe she was here. I glanced up at the notice board where her painting was pinned.

"Are you alright?" Roy asked.

I blinked at her smudged signature and turned to face him. His hand was wrapped around the door handle, a sign that he wanted to get done with this just as fast as I wanted to escape. When I didn't answer him, he pushed the door open, silently asking me if I was ready. I nodded.

"I'm sorry to bother you in the school," he said just as I sat down on the chair.

The bright coloured chart behind him caught my eye, its vibrant words describing why school counsellors existed. "Not many people have understood the purpose of this room," I said. Even if they understood, they never bothered using it.

Roy followed my gaze and turned back to me, his face set in the same manner it had been before. "How are you?"

I wanted to laugh. Is this why he came all the way here?

"Fine," I answered. "Ready to answer your questions. But I'd be more comfortable if you sat down."

His mouth rose in a small smile.

He pushed his hands out of his pockets and sat opposite to me, trying his best to hide the relief on his face. I bothered looking out of the window to see Nolan with the rest of his classmates. A defeated sigh escaped my lips and my concentration fell back on this police inspector. The Counsellor's office was a secluded place, in a sense that it was small, situated in a corner with one window giving a view of the outside world and the school ground.

"I thought you would be more comfortable here," Roy said. "The reception isn't a great place to talk when parents and teachers come and go."

I shrugged. I had been to the reception quite often. Nidhi Ma'am's office was right there. It reminded me of the stunt she had pulled today and suddenly I was thankful Roy thought so. I needed to keep my distance from her for some time.

"How long have you known Ashiamma?"

"Since my third grade," I replied and thought back to when we used to share the same bus and had fights over the window seat. I would rarely sit there and she would think that maybe I was being generous to her. I wasn't. I simply could not tolerate hot wind on my face.

"That makes you the friend to know her the most." He glanced at his phone, probably going through the information.

"Does time define strength of a friendship?" I asked.

His silence was the answer. That decided my fate.

Maybe, maybe not. If I was the 'closest' friend and still did not see this coming, I thought about the friend who would be the farthest. Weren't we all close friends and strange acquaintances at the same time? It all depended on the situation. Ash and I rarely talked about paintings, that was Vee's territory but we talked about us, school and other things. It did not include her death on her birthday.