His Dusk, Her Dawn

Chapter 12. Drown

Where the hell is she? I am sure she went in this direction only. How can she vanish?

I increased my pace and checked all the classrooms in the hallway. I still couldn't find her. Yesterday, I saw her with Ayush near the soccer field, and I was not at all happy with the scene. My best friend was crying, and I couldn't control my anger.

Thus, I ended up hurting Sandhya, and if Mayank bhaiyya hadn't arrived there on time, I might have ended up breaking her elbow - I really regretted my actions and wanted to apologise to her, but she was avoiding me.

It wasn't her fault. I acted like a barbarian and let my rage and fear take over my judgement. I had seen Ayush like that after a long time, crying and having a panic attack; all of the memories of that day came rushing back.

Fuck... I really need to work on my temper. Why do I always make her cry?

"Hey, Bro!" Karthik yelled.

"Hi." I gave him a short nod.

"Did you lose something?" he asked.

"No, I am just looking for someone."

He thought for a minute, and I was about to leave when he pointed at the second floor.

"I saw Sandhya going up there just now," he said.

"Thanks, man."

He told me not to kill her, and I gave him a flat look. I was going to reply, but I didn't want to waste more time. I took the stairs two at a time and spotted Sandhya chatting with Rajeev bhaiyya, and he looked concerned. I gulped nervously.

Did she tell him about yesterday? If she did, then I could count today as my last day. Rajeev bhaiyya will kill me for hurting her.

I slowly moved towards them, trying to hear what they were talking about; I noticed Mayank bhaiyya, and he shot me a mischievous smile. I wished I could use telepathy; I didn't want to get beaten up by Rajeev bhaiyya. I might have known Martial Arts, but his punch was enough to send me into coma.

Finally, I reached the red zone, and Sandy Pandy quickly ducked behind Rajeev bhaiyya. Fortunately, he smiled on seeing me, meaning Sandhya hadn't told him - or he could be waiting to tell him myself. I glanced at Sandhya, and she refused to talk to me when I asked to have a little conversation with her.

How was I going to apologise if she wasn't even willing to talk to me?

She avoided my gaze, and as soon as the bell rang, she took off like Sonic. I had to catch her. I bid goodbye to the guys and followed her. Apart from saying sorry to her and checking how severely she got hurt, I also wanted to know if Ayush mentioned about his tenth birthday.

After getting him into the hospital, he hadn't spoken a single word. All he did was stare at the blank wall and refuse taking his medicines. He was tired of spending most of his time indoors due to his medical condition, but we had no other choice. Leaving him alone meant pushing him into a well and letting him drown - he was still fighting with his trauma.

Why did my friend suffer?

When I saw Sandhya fall down after bumping into a group of students, I thought she would stop, but she didn't. She was in no mood of stopping even when I yelled her name countless times. She was running as if I was some serial killer.

From her point of view, I guess it was like that for sure.

I got an idea when she dived into an empty classroom. I acted like I didn't see her and went to the other corner of the room. I felt her sneaking out from under the desk and let her cover some distance before I caught her. Her body slumped the moment I had in her my arms.