The Haunted Fortress of Bhangarh: Book 1

31. The first sighting

Post the highly effective session with Dr. Diya, Rudra was feeling a lot lighter. His never-ending woes could potentially be resolved if the sessions with the doctor would come to the proposed fruition. For the first time in the last three weeks, he didn't have a heaviness in his heart as he dropped Shweta off at home and picked up Ishita before heading towards the hospital. He was able to savor the crispness of the evening without the worry of the emergent gory scenes nagging him in the back of his mind. In fact, he was strangely calm and listened to Ishita's incessant babbles with rapt attention.

As the car meandered through the busy lanes of the city, she continued yapping about how great her first-semester classes with Shweta had been and how much she was enjoying the course. She followed up the discourse with the information she passed on about a newly opened Korean restaurant that she tried with Rishabh on their second date and how their japchae noodles were tastier than anything she had ever had.

The rosy perfume she wore was invigorating his senses as he basked in the glory of the fragrance that relieved him and elicited only positive thoughts in his brain. Inhaling the whiff once she stopped chattering, he said, "Your perfume is really nice."

She beamed. "Thank you. It's a special concoction that my grandma makes."

"Where did your grandma learn it from?"

She drummed her fingers over her lips. "No clue. I will ask her."

Before they could have any further conversation regarding the perfume, the hospital came into their line of vision, and he halted the vehicle in the parking lot before both of them made their way inside the five-storied edifice. The strong smell of medicines and disinfectants drowned the rosy fragrance for the time being as they ambled past the corridors to arrive at Aman's cabin.

His parents were yet to reach him, and he was seeking company from Siya and Ayush. Ranvir and Surbhi had apparently gone off to fetch Aman's favorite sandwiches from a nearby cafe while Shravani was on her way from the college. Hence, when Rudra and Ishita entered the cabin, the mood was light unlike what he was expecting. Aman had not yet spoken about the apparition of the lady in red and was rather waiting for the group of seven to gather at the same spot.

Ishita chose to perch herself on the edge of Aman's bed while listening to the harrowing tale of the accident he had encountered. Rudra plopped next to Ayush on the couch while Siya paced the length of the room while censuring Aman for having dozed off in the middle of the road when he was driving the car at a really high speed.

Aman was listening to Siya wordlessly as he exchanged a surreptitious glimpse with Rudra, but he didn't have to endure Siya's scolding for too long as Surbhi and Ranvir entered soon enough with two bags of sandwiches for one and all. The mood lightened once again as they began chomping on the food, but Surbhi ruined it all when she broke into a fit of sobs, telling Ishita about the scare she had when she heard about Aman's accident.

Siya and Ishita were trying to console the lachrymose girl while Rudra felt a little drowsy due to the conversation and also because of the faint fragrance of roses hanging in the air. Try as he might, he couldn't keep his eyes open for long as his lids drooped, and his head gently fell back on the couch, lolling to the side as the multiple voices around him began fading while the image of two amaranthine roses in full bloom steadily became clear.

The two pink roses were tucked in her bun as she continued bargaining with one of the merchants in the marketplace. Oblivious to the pair of eyes fixated on the blush of her cheeks, she clicked her tongue and argued with the shopkeeper about the insane number of coins he had demanded in exchange for a bag of sandalwood.

"It is exclusively sourced from outside the city. That's why it is so expensive," the shopkeeper said, shaking his head. "I can't reduce the prices. We will be running at a loss."