Till The Count Of Five ✓

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Stop brushing against my skin if you're not going to rain on me.

Kiara

27th April 2019, Saturday
12:50

There were days when I skipped school because I did not want to face people but there were days when I wanted nothing to do with my own shadow. It followed me everywhere, prominent in the daylight when it merged with everything else. But it gained power in the flames of fire, the kind that I was slipping a hold on because reality, real events wanted me to keep up with them. I wanted to keep up with her. Days passed slowly, hours even more and one minute lasted longer than a thousand thoughts I had.

The pen drive was on my table, plugged into the laptop. I rolled off my bed and turned the laptop on, plugging in the earphones before listening to it, something I learnt after Shay's prying. The audio began again. It sounded completely different now. I tried to imagine Sameer's feelings, his reluctance that overpowered his anger. If it was not for Vee, I wondered if he would have stopped from doing so.

The school could not have simply guessed from the audio that Rishab was gay. If they were betting on the last line where Sameer mentioned about telling his parents about them, they were putting too much at risk. Someone must have helped them.

Lion. Lion makes, lion breaks, lion always kills the mouse. And that was where my fears came into play.

They were lying in Tushar's tone that warned me against the school, the suspicious eyes that thought about the security breach. Oh how convenient for me it was that he never raised his suspicion to me, never thought that the person next to him could be a pawn, the pawn. I grimaced and stared at my hands, at the disaster I had become. And I needed someone to blame for this, someone who wasn't...wasn't...

I sighed and put my head down on the table, holding in a whimper, a surprised cry for truth. Shit. Shit. Shit.

My fingers brushed against the glass back of my phone and I dialled Roy's number. I rarely dialled people's number but somehow I remembered his. Injuries did that to people. When you were a patient, you kept a doctor on speed dial; when you were a teenager trying to separate the thin line between fantasy and reality, you kept a police officer's number on speed dial.

"Hello?"

I sucked in a breath. "Roy."

"Hey, kiddo," he paused. "Everything fine?"

I looked out of my room and at the flower pot that Mum had watered just an hour ago. "I need your help."

"Go ahead."

Go ahead or go back? If back, how much in the past? To last month, year and the first day of my existence?

"Pen drive," I chose to say. "Vee said Sameer threw the pen drive. It must be around the campus. Could you search for it?" I wasn't really sure if Vee had said that or Sameer.

"Kiara, Rishab wants to take back the FIR. Honestly, they didn't even register one."

They. The other officers. I loved how easily he disassociated himself from others, like me; only it was justified. He had come just to help.

"I'm losing my mind. Ash was sorry. She wrote a freaking note. Rishab's identity is revealed in a pretty messed up way and....and..."

"What do you think about him? Everyone reacted in a strong way, different initial reactions but borne from the same judgement, same mindset."