FEELING YOU EVERYWHERE

KAIRA’S POV

“Ishani! That bitch”, I cursed.

But why would Ishani do that? I know she hates Asha. But would this hatred take her to the extent of killing her? Was Asha cruel to her more? No! She could never be. But it was indeed that her relationship with Ishani was not as good as with others. Ishani was always against Asha’s relationship with Vedant. Ishani always tried to rip them apart but all her efforts didn’t work before their love.

I and Anjana should be extremely stupid to accuse Vedant as Asha’s murderer. Despite knowing how much he cared and supported Asha,we accused him.

“He must be feeling betrayed”, I murmured.

“Betrayed,my foot! He must be happy that our Asha’s chapter is closed”, Anjana said with burning eyes.

“But,he looks genuine”,I said.

Anjana rolled her eyes.

“But,Do you really think Ishani would do that to our Asha?”, I asked suspiciously.

“Kaira !! Do you have second thoughts? Didn’t you hear Vedant? He said Ishani hated Asha and she created problems between them”,Anjana shouted.

“Yes! Exactly she hated Asha! But,she didn’t kill her”, I said.

“Do you have any proof that why she would not have killed Asha?”, Anjana shot me.

“Anjana, I can ask the same to you. Do you have any proof that she killed Asha?”, I questioned.

“Seriously Kaira,you are defending her now. How could you? She killed our Asha. Don’t you think we should confront her?”, Anjana shouted more.

“Anjana! Listen! I am not defending her. I am not saying that she is innocent either. But I don’t think she would kill Asha because she doesn’t like her relationship with Vedant. Can it be a reason to kill someone? I think we are in wrong direction”, I sighed.

“Kaira! I think you are going in wrong direction. You are out of your mind. All you need is to straighten it up. Sit and think about what Vedant said. At least after that you will understand what you are blabbering.I have anatomy class in five minutes. I am leaving.”, she banged the door.

Why is she yelling at me? I am trying to find a reason why Ishani would be the reason behind Asha’s death. However it is not ever connected with her. We are accusing her only because Vedant pointed her. I am confused.

Vedant’s words were running in my mind. But how was he sure that Ishani might have done this. I was hell shocked when Vedant said that Ishani was the reason for Asha’s death.

Does she hated Asha so much? Did their relationship made her vulnerable ?

———–PREVIOUS ENCOUNTER WITH VEDANT-FLASHBACK—————-

Vedant :Yes Ishani get obsessed with things. She really hated Asha. There were a lot of fight between us because of mere misunderstandings created by Ishani. When we eventually found that Ishani did everything,we confronted her. She said to our face that she would kill Asha if she didn’t leave me. If I stand for Asha she said that she will remove me from the path also.

Anjana:How could she say so?

Vedant: She can Anjana. She is such an arrogant girl. Actually being the heir of IV Companies I don’t get that much power as Ishani is getting. She never regards me as her brother. She looks at me like a competitor. She does not like me.

Kaira: Why?

Vedant : Because… She is… Wait. I have to call a friend. It’s urgent.

By then they heard someone coming towards the lab. Anjana peeps out and checks to find the peon coming to close the lab.

Anjana : Kaira.. Peon uncle is coming to lock the lab.

Vedant : (to himself) Thank God. I have escaped from telling things to them.

Kaira : Vedant. Come. Let’s go.

They come out when the peon is not looking. The dusk broke when they come to the campus.

Vedant : Kaira… It’s getting late. I have to leave.

Anjana : Let him leave Kaira. What if somebody sees us with him?

Kaira : That would be a problem.

Vedant : Ok bye. Take care. If you need my help,call me anytime. I am ready to help you.

He leaves sighing.

——————–FLASH BACK ENDS————

After going through what Vedant said,I am quite convinced. But literally Ishani had made a statement that she would kill Asha. Then she is capable of doing it. But what will be the reason?

Vedant’s POV

Asha! The love of my life! How much I ever try to forget you,somehow you come into me.

I still can’t believe that you are not with me anymore.

I cannot say that I think of you every second,but there is no day,in which I had not think of you.

My hands still have the feel of your hand touching mine. Your smile is the most beautiful thing which I see everyday in my dreams. Your voice is the sweetest thing in my playlist which I listen to everyday . The twinkle in your eye still lights my night.

My only job,nowadays is reading the thousands of our old texts again and again. These things make me feel like you are alive. My heart still cannot believe that you are gone.

You came into my life like a rain. One day,you stopped pouring abruptly. My life had become a sludge.

Did you see Asha? Your Ved has now started writing poems. Does not it look weird? I am becoming strange these days. But you are not with me to see all these.

Today,your friends called me and they accused me for your death. How could they do that??

I know it is obvious why they accused me but it could never happen in my dream that I would hurt you. I have hurted you before. But that day,I took an oath not to hurt you till the rest of our lives but our fate is so rude that you left the world on the same day. I love you to the core and I will not forget you at any cost. That’s how my love is! That’s how you changed me that’s the truth of our love. All in this whole world you were everything to me. Why did you leave me?

He cries.

TO BE CONTINUED….

MY INCOMPLETE LOVE

ANJANA’S POV:

Vedant tried to escape from the lab. We both don’t know how to catch him. Within a fraction of second,I found a surgical knife in Kaira’s hand. “Don’t move!”,Kaira said coming towards him. Soon I found my hand on his neck with another surgical knife.

“We know that you killed Asha! “,Kaira said .

Vedant rolled his eyes.

“No,I didn’t do anything!“,he said.

“No you did. You killed her, you only forced her to write the suicide note“,Kaira said in a choking voice.

“Please try to understand me. I didn’t do anything. I was not here on that day. I went to my native to attend my relative’s marriage”, he said.

“We are not idiots to believe whatever you say “, I said to him.

“See, here is my tickets from Mumbai to Chandigarh “, he showed the mail of the flight tickets and also the pictures that were clicked in the marriage function.

“So what ? If you were in Chandigarh during Asha’s death , you might have sent some goons to kill her. You only killed her,you liar!” I shouted at him.

After hearing my reply he became emotional. His eyes brimmed with tears. His eyes become red.

“Stop your non sense! What are you both thinking of me? That I am such a cruel and selfish lover? Do you think I’ll live happy after my Asha’s death? After her death, each and every day is like a millenium to me. Do you guys even know what I went through after her demise? How can you think that I’ll be happy after her death? She may be important to you but she is everything for me “, he told and tears made their way on his face.

We both were standing numb. We both looked at each other. He continued,

“I accept that we both fight often. But,everytime she is the first to ask Sorry. And I am the one who do not accept it at first. She pleads to me to talk. Literally I enjoy that. I irritate her more. Then at last, I accept her apologies“, he said with tears flowing like a cascade . We both glared him.

“She always wanted us to be together.But she left me alone“,he cried.

“Vedant! I don’t know whether I should believe you or not”,Kaira told him.

“I don’t want you to believe me Kaira. My Asha knows how much I love her. That is enough for me”,he said and stared at the floor.

“He is genuine,I think”,I whispered in Kaira’s ears.

“My guilty conscience is killing me everyday. This time,the mistake was mine. We had a serious argument a month before her death. I was the one to start it and I hurted her badly. I thought she would come and talk to me as always. But she did not. I think I had tested her patience. It took 2 weeks for me to realise my mistake. I apologized her. But she didn’t accept that. She didn’t speak to me till her death. I used to apologize by texting “sorry” for atleast thousand times. But she didn’t reply even Once. She didn’t attend my call too“, he said .

“ But I didn’t see your messages on her mobile,when I checked it”, I told him .

“Yeah, we checked the mobile phone. I too didn’t see any of your calls or messages “, Kaira told.

“Is it so? I am not lying. See this”,he showed us the messages in his phone. There are thousands of messages with kissing emojis. He opened his call log and showed us. He had been calling her 20-30 times everyday. We have to trust him now.

“ If she is angry on someone, she deletes his/her message and the whole chats. I have seen her doing so”, I added.

“ May be“,he said.

“Vedant! I really don’t know what to say. We could understand how you would have felt after Asha’s death. But,we checked your social media accounts. They are so different than what you are saying”,Kaira had asked him what I had in my mind.

He smiled weakly. “Whatever you see in social media is not true always”.
“But the girl with you in the pictures?”,I bit my tongue as I had asked him what I should not.

“She is my childhood best friend. She is the one who saved me. After Asha’s death,I underwent emotional trauma. So much of investigations in addition to my grief! I could not handle them and I was about to become a drug addict. She saved me and gave me this second Life. I am grateful to her and she is just my friend. I can’t move on so easily. Asha could not be thrown from my mind so easily”,he said.
Kaira looked at me. I nodded.

“You came now to get money from Ishani,isn’t it?”,I asked him.

“Yes. I am just paying her back whatever she gifted me”,he answered with hatred in his eyes.
We were confused.

“You are the son of a millionaire right? What is the need to get money secretly from your sister?”,Kaira asked him.

“ Actually , Mine is an orthodox family,they will not support love marriage, they don’t know that I’m loving Asha . Only Ishani knows. After her death,they came to know about our love matter. Because of frequent police investigation,my parents started quarreling at me. They threw me out of the house as they think that I have spoiled their reputation. They stopped speaking to me. I need money and I get it from her”,He said .

I really felt bad for him and at the same time I wanted to slap him hard.

He smiled and continued.
“ I still remember the first day how I met her.”

FB STARTS :
Vedant pov:

Everyone were rushing to one corner of the college. Well I don’t know why they were rushing. It’s just my sister’s college. I came there to give her the keys. Suddenly a girl in her blue denim and white shirt appeared from a corner of the building. She was just passing through the corridor wearing a black goggles and in loose hair. She was just mesmerising. All of them saw her like a goddess. Some girls ran behind her and said, “Thank you didi”. I don’t know why are they thanking her. Soon I too rushed to the crowd and saw some seniors lying down and bleeding in their mouths.
Soon she came back with the first aid kit and did first aid to them and went. I enquired about her and they said that the seniors were ragging the junior students and so she had beaten them.

“ They were her classmates?”, I asked pointing the seniors.

“No Bhai , she is also a junior”,a boy said and left.

“Brave girl!“ I thought.

FB ends.

All reminisce that incident. Everyone’s eyes brimmed with tears.

“I was a spoilt brat before I met her. She made me a man. She loved me and my imperfections. But I don’t deserve her. That’s why she left me”,he sobbed.

“Don’t cry Vedant. Crying will not give her back”,Kaira said.

“If she had been alive now,I would promise her that I will not hurt her anymore and fall in her feet”,he said.

“Why did you both fight?”,I asked him.

“Just misunderstanding. There were many people who wanted us to fight and separate”,he said.

“Means?”,Kaira asked.

“ It’s Ishani. She didn’t like Asha. so she always tried to bring misunderstanding between us”, He said.

“What?”,I said. Kaira and me looked at each other.

“Why are you blackmailing Ishani ?” I asked.

“ She deserves this. She is the reason for everything. She is the reason why Asha left us”,He said with anger in his eyes.

Kaira and I looked at him keenly. We wanted to know what he had to say.

To be continued. …

So guys I hope you all were read the story and enjoyed . Do comment and like .both positive and negative feedback you can give….

MOUSE IN THE TRAP

ANJANA’S POV

After our analysis of Asha’s suicide note,we came to a conclusion that Vedant might have blackmailed and killed her. Asha loved him for the past two years and there were times in which they would fight. Kaira and I would try hard everytime to unite them. But one month before her death,Asha was lamenting about her relationship with Vedant. We tried to know why they have fought but adamant Asha did not say anything. We were busy with our project and we almost forgot about their fight.

I don’t know what Kaira thinks,but I have a strong intuition that Vedant would be the killer. He is a typical high class guy,who goes to college only for time pass. He had a very bad company,I came to know this when I saw him with his friends who got drunk and misbehaved with people.

Initially,I did not like asha dating him,I warned her not to do so. But later,Asha told me that he was not like his friends. I have met him a few times and he was nice to me. I don’t know why,but after reading her suicide note,I feel like someone has forced Asha to write it and that someone has to be Vedant.

I dozed off last night after we talked about Vedant But I could say that Kaira had barely slept. I saw her tossing and turning in bed whenever I opened my eyes.

Both of us had decided to meet Vedant and confront him. He had called me one or two times,if Asha’s mobile was not reachable. I have his number and we tried to contact him,but it was a failure. He could have changed his number. I tried to contact him in Instagram,but Kaira stopped me. She told me that he would become alert if we contact him. She also told me that we have to catch him unexpectedly.
I think he is not in Mumbai now. Most of his recent posts had location in Bhopal. Is he gone for vacation or has he permanently settled there? I wanted to know.

By then,an idea struck my mind,why not contact his dearest sister Ishani? Yes! Ishani is Vedant’s sister. But,she is so arrogant and she will not answer if we ask. We have to plan something to get information about her brother. I am thinking of a way.

KAIRA’S POV

I want to meet Vedant immediately and confront him for Asha’s death. I am at the peak of anger and I want to slap him hard and ask about Asha. But this is not the time to show my anger. I have to be patient so that all the things will fall in place.

So,Anjana and I have decided to know about his whereabouts through Ishani. But it is not an easy job. We have to think to find a way to know the things from her.

Finally I got an idea. We decided to meet Misha. Misha had a crush on Vedant. After she came to know that Vedant loved Asha,she was heartbroken. Ishani befriended her telling that she would make her meet Vedant . Being an innocent soul,she believed Ishani and did whatever she asked her to. Once,she got scolded by Vedant when she tried to create misunderstanding between Vedant and Asha. Later,Misha came to know that Ishani was only using her for her favour,she started staying away from Ishani . But even now,they talk,but not much.

We went to Misha.

“Hey Misha! How are you?”,asked Anjana.

“I am good. How are you?”,answered Misha.

Eventhough she dislikes Asha,she is nice with us. I said nah,she is so innocent!

“We are fine too”,we said in unison.

“I am sorry. I know how you feel on Asha’s absence. I can understand your pain. It really hurts when someone we love leaves us permanently. It is true that I don’t like Asha,but I know about her good heart. She tried a lot to befriend me”,she said without a pause.

She sighed and continued,”Making mistakes is human nature. I did mistake by trusting Ishani and asha did mistake by loving Vedant”.

“Why do you think that it was a mistake by Asha to have loved Vedant?”,I asked.

“He is not loyal for his love. Seems like he has moved on so easily. His Instagram posts are filled with girls and parties. He don’t even care for Asha. Thank god for saving me from loving him”,Misha said.

We were silent.

“Nowadays,Vedant comes to college often”,continued Misha.

“What? Is he coming?”,Anjana said in disbelief.

“Yes. He comes during class hours and meets Ishani”,Misha said casually.

“Meeting Ishani? But why?”,I was curious.

“Seems like he gets money from her by blackmailing her”.

“What? Don’t his parents give him enough money?”,I asked.

“I think he needs more money to enjoy his life. Rascal!”,Anjana frowned.

“His parents have stopped seeing him after Asha’s death. They have stopped giving him money too. So,he blackmails his sister and gets money”,said Misha.

“Oh”,I said.

ANJANA’S POV

Kaira and I looked at each other for a second.

“Misha! Can you please make us meet Vedant?”,I asked.

“Why do you want to meet him?”,she asked.

We did not speak a word.

“Hello girls! I am asking you only”,she said,this time angrily.

“Misha… act.. actually…”,I stuttered as I don’t know what to say her.

To my surprise,Kaira started telling everything to her including the suicide note. Misha’s eyes opened wide in shock.

“Will you please help us to meet him?”,Kaira finished.

“ Infact,I want to help you. But,I have problem with Vedant already. I fear that this will create more problem. So I can’t help you guys”,she said plainly.

“Misha! Please think about it”,I tried to convince her.

She was not convinced.

“Won’t you do this if Asha were your friend? We suffer everyday thinking about her. We want to get justice to our friend’s untimely demise. The killer has to be punished. Do you think asha deserved such an end?”,Kaira asked Misha.

Misha was moved by Asha’s words.

“You are right Kaira. Asha did not deserve such a sudden end. Don’t worry. I will help you”,Misha said finally.

“Thank you Misha. It means a lot to us”,we said in unison and hugged her.

MISHA’S POV

I don’t know what I am doing is right or wrong. But I am doing all these to get justice for the death of an innocent soul. God! Please forgive me for doing this.

I had promised Kaira and Anjana that I would make them meet Vedant. I got an idea too. I am just waiting for the right time to execute it.

*********
It was our anatomy lab hour. All of us left our bags out when we enter the lab. I noticed where Ishani kept her bag.

Fifteen minutes after we went inside the lab,I came out excusing that I wanted to use rest room. As I came out,I casually opened Ishani’s bag as if it was mine and took her mobile in my hand and shoved it into my coat pocket. After making sure that nobody had seen me,I ran to the rest room.

I tried to unlock her phone. Thank God! This high class Ishani did not have face recognition or fingerprint recognition. She just had pin number.

I carefully swiped it up and typed her date of birth. Oh god! It was wrong.
Her date of birth is not the pin? Then what could it be? I tried with Vedant’s date of birth. Of course! I know his date of birth. Not only that,I know every single detail of him. Above all,I loved him.

Coming back to our mission,it was a failure again.

As the time was passing my heart started beating fast.

“Oh God! Please help me! What can it be?”,I was sweating.

Suddenly,something struck my mind. I typed her car’s number. I typed ‘ok’.
It’s a failure again.

“I am gonna give up. I don’t want to be labelled as thief for helping someone. Let Kaira and Anjana do something to get justice for their dear friend. Let me go out”,I told myself.

By then,Asha’s smiling face came to my mind.

“One last time”,I told and began thinking.

I remember once Asha told me that she is obsessed with her mobile number. She believes in numerology and she said it was her lucky number and she waited for months to get that fancy number.

“Why not her mobile number?”,I tried with the last four digits of her mobile number.

Ishana’s picture in the wallpaper flashed on the screen. “Thank god!”,I sighed.

There was a new message from Vedant. “Ishu! I need money immediately. I will come and collect it in half an hour”,I read.

I think,God is helping me. This message was unread by Ishani and this made my work easier.

I hurriedly opened her conversations with Vedant.

“Ved! Don’t come to the college during my class hours. Somebody may suspect me. Come to our anatomy lab after 4 o clock today. I will wait there with money. Don’t ever come again to get money”,I typed the message and sent it to Vedant’s number.

I waited for a minute and a message from Vedant popped saying,”Ok.. You are the best sister in the world”.

Thank god and Vedant.He had seen the message at once. I deleted the messages which I sent and he sent. I locked the mobile and came out of the rest room. I again kept it in Ishani’s bag when nobody was looking. I entered the lab casually. I saw two pairs of eyes staring restlessly at me. I looked at Anjana and Kaira and showed a thumbs up. They smiled at me.

ANJANA’S POV

When the bell rang,all the students came out of the lab. Kaira and I went inside saying that I missed my notes there.

We waited there for sometime. We heard footsteps. I ran and hid behind the door. Kaira hid behind a table. From the gap in the door,I confirmed that it was Vedant.

“Ishu”,he said and stepped in. As soon as he did so,I closed the door from behind. Kaira got up.

“You are caught Vedant! Don’t you dare to escape from here”,Kaira said as she stepped towards him.

He stared at both of us with terrified face.

“How dare you kill my Asha?”, I came in front of him and looked into his eyes which were bloodshot. He looked at me without blinking and ran to open the door. Kaira and I ran to catch him.
***To be continued***

THE SUICIDE NOTE

ANJANA’S POV
We both were getting ready for college.

“Kaira, shall we move?”

“Yes “.

We both came out. Our old Room was opposite to our new one. After Asha’s death,we changed the room. But we could not change the heart ,her memories. Whenever we saw the room ,tears rushed to our eyes. Remembering her cute antics, I smiled faintly and we made our way to the class room.

“Anjana! After our class gets over,we should go to the police station to inquire about Asha’s suicide note”, Kaira said. I simply nodded.

“I know it’s not a suicide, something is hidden “ ,I thought.

Our day was over and we went to our room and freshened up. It was 5.30 while we left our campus to the police station.

We reached there and waited for the inspector Siddarth to come. He came after a 15 minutes.

Siddarth said,”Sorry for being late, I was just held up in another case”.

“ Its ok sir”,Kaira replied.

“So why you are here? What do you want?”,the inspector asked us raising his eyebrows.

Kaira and me looked at each other.. After glaring I broke the silence.
“Sir we came here to ask about Asha”,I said as politely as possible.

“ Ok. Listen now! The case is already closed and it’s proved that it was suicide. She had written a suicide note and her fingerprints were matched with the fingerprints found in the injection. So it’s a suicide case”,said the inspector in authoritative tone.

“Sir, but she is a strong girl. She would have not done so”,we said in unison.

Siddharth got hyper. “Look! Not everyone’s mind is the same all the time. We can’t say what they think . Their mind can change any time. So, you cannot judge that she could not have done so”.

I gathered up courage and spoke,”Ok sir.. Can we see the suicide note now?”.

The inspector Siddharth was adamant.

Kaira tried her luck. “Sir,but we need to see, if we see that , we can say whether it was suicide or murder”.

Siddarth was at the peak of anger. “ Look! This is your limit. It is a suicide. There is no point in you guys waiting and wasting time here. So you can leave now”.

We hung our heads low and came out. We waited for him to go out.
After 45 minutes, Siddarth left the place.

“Anjana ! Let’s get in“, Kaira said.
I nodded. And soon an idea struck my mind .

“ Kaira, the inspector has left the place now ,we can go inside and get the suicide note by bribing the constable” ,I told her and I saw twinkle in her eyes.

“ Will he accept it?”, kaira asked.

“ Yes, did you see how all the other police treated him? Definitely he will accept”, I said .

“ What if he does not ? What if he says about this to the inspector?”,Kaira said.

“ Kaira ,don’t you want to find out the truth?”,I asked her and she nodded.
We both entered the station, our luck no other police was inside. The constable was standing near the rack and checking some files. I went to him and explained that we wanted to see that suicide note of the closed case file. At first,he was hesitant. But later, he accepted the bribe and allowed us. We took a quick picture of the letter and left the place.

KAIRA’S POV:
After reaching our room,we decided to read the letter. At first we didn’t have the courage to read it. Some how we composed ourselves. My hands started trembling when I opened the gallery in my phone. I managed and started reading the letter.

LETTER:

After reading this letter, ours eyes brimmed with tears.

“Kaira! Once she told us that she had an argument with Vedant. Do you remember?”,asked Anjana.

I nodded. “We might have talked to him and United them. We have done a mistake”,I told her.

“You are right Kaira! You have been telling that you are responsible for her death. But see,I have also done a part in it unknowingly”,she blamed herself.

We were silent for sometime.
We started reading it again and again. We came to a conclusion that it was suicide because it was her own handwriting which in the letter.

Moreover, three days prior to her death,she was crying continuously thinking about Vedant. I asked her about the problem but she refused to tell me. Because of crying the whole night,she had fever which lasted until her death.
When I was lost in thoughts,Anjana had read it again.
“EVERYTHING IS FARE IN LOVE AND WAR”
I gave a confused expression.

“ Kaira did you notice? ‘Everything is fare in love and war’. We once had an argument regarding this nah? “, Anjana asked me.

I remembered the day when Asha told us that Vedant,while convincing her after a small fight saying that ‘Everything is fair in love and war’. Myself and Anjana argued that he was right. But Asha did not agree with us saying that he will hurt her again and say the same. She also told that she did not agree with this saying “Everything is fair in love and war’”. She added that everything has a limit and even love has a limit in tolerating others mistakes.

But now,she has used the same phrase. This arose a doubt in our mind.

Again Anjana yelled,”Kaira! Look at this”.

“Eiffel tower!! She does not like us calling him Eiffel tower. She did not speak for one week for calling him Eiffel tower. When we patched up again, you were saying that she would also enjoy calling him Eiffel tower,isn’t it?”,asked Anjana.

“For that,she told me that she will never ever call him so,even at her last moments”,I told her.

“ What is this? I feel like something is fishy!”,Anjana said looking at me straight in the eyes.

“Somebody might have forced her to write”,before I could complete,Anjana shouted,”Exactly”.

I felt like the ground shaking. “Who can it be?”,I asked Anjana with terrified face.

“Vedant?”,Anjana asked me.
“Why would he do that?”,I asked her out of disbelief.

“Asha had written that her loved one was cheating on her. May be he was in a relationship with another girl. Asha was the only obstacle. That way”,Anjana said as slowly as possible.

Something struck me.
“Let’s check his social media accounts”,I told her.

Anjana quickly opened his profile in instagram. He had posted a lot of pictures after Asha’s death.
We found a picture,on Jan 11,which is one day prior to Asha’s death. It was a black and white picture of him with a caption “To lead a happy life,you need to eliminate some of the elements of your life.. be it people,thoughts or whatever… If they refuse to go,just chase them out”. Anjana read it louder.

“Is he talking about Asha?”,she looked at me.
“ May be”,I replied.

We scrolled up. After Asha’s death he didn’t stop posting. There was no sign of being sad. We saw pictures of him with a girl after that. They were posed in different places.

“Kaira! Seems like he has moved on”,Anjana told.
I nodded.

“ Kaira! See here . He has posted a picture with a girl and he added the caption as my soul”, Anjana said.

“The girl who regarded you as her soul is dead you dumbo”,I yelled out of frustration.

“Kaira! I think what we think is right. He might be the killer. He might have killed our Asha. We should not leave him. We should get him punished. He has killed our friend. How dare he do that?”,Anjana blamed him and started crying.

I hugged her. She slept on my laps. For me sleep is too far. How can he do this to us? To our asha? How could he cheat that poor, innocent soul? I am not going to leave him. I will get him punished. This train of thoughts were running in my mind which snatched my sleep.

To be continued…

ANJANA’S POV
It has been six months after that terrible incident happened to us.I lost my best friend Asha or I should say my only friend Asha. Though I have Kaira with me Asha was the thread connecting us. Every morning was a fun with her. She used to wake up everyone in the hostel with her weird singing. She made everyone’s birthday parties a mind blowing one. She never let anyone feel alone including me. Whenever I feel humiliated ,under rated she was the one who cheered me up raised my self confidence.
“Goooood morning!!!! Friends it’s time to wake up, make up ,show up”, “This is Asha’s voice where it is coming from?”, I wore my spectacles and ran to kaira.
“Did you hear that?”,kaira said looking at me.
We both ran downstairs. I can’t understand what is happening here? Is this my asha’s voice? Is she alive? I ran as fast as I could through corridors of our hostel. Everyone in the hostel came running to the ground floor. Kaira looked down through the wall. But lot of girls were standing down. When we reached downstairs my eyes couldn’t believe me I saw her my friend Asha she is standing facing backwards. Kaira fell on the stairs looking at the scenario.
“Kaira kaira”,Is she our Asha? I shook her.
She can’t even utter a word. Tears started to flow down her cheeks.
I gained some courage and walked up to her and touched her shoulder.
“Hey Anjana it’s me Ishani I am not Asha”,Ishani said wearing the dress and hair style exactly like Asha.
I wanted to slap her. But my courage didn’t reach up my hand.
“Aren’t you ashamed?”,Kaira asked Ishani.
“Excuse me why should I ?”,Ishani asked Kaira.
“Stop playing with others feelings Ishani it is not your father’s mansion. It is a college hostel. Behave properly. You don’t respect lecturers at least respect dead people”,Kaira fierced in anger.
I got hold of kaira’s hand.
“Let’s go kaira”,I dragged kaira from there.
It is not new to us it is third time Ishani disguised as Asha and making fun of Asha.
Every time she gets dressed as Asha and imitate her how she used to do everything. It had become fun show for most of the girls. But some of our feelings get hurt. Especially me and Kaira.
May be I should say Asha’s death brought us together. Every time Ishani does something we expect more and get hurt more than that day.
Ishani, a millionaire’s daughter. She doesn’t even stay in hostel. She gets in hostel when needed gets out when needed. A short word to describe her ‘ a spoiled brat’. She never leave any chance to make others feel low.

But one thing from Ishani’s acts is clearly visible we miss Asha too much.
It was time 2:00 pm. When our classes got over.
Kaira asked me to accompany her to library to study.
Our studying be like Asha will take the notes, I will search books, Kaira will checkout boys.
But now a days Kaira has become serious on her studies she lost the charm she had in her when Asha was there. Any problem happens we run to Asha for solution now a days we started to run to escape from problems.
I remember it was our fresher’s party as coming from poor family I have nothing good to wear Asha helped me with her beautiful dress which is actually her favourite dress. She never regretted for helping me out.
She used to help me financially for my father’s health sacrificing her needs. She was generous to me more than needed.
I am shattered when I heard the death news of Asha. While I am trying to join me again my father’s health problems break me everyday.
I was sitting in the library reading books but actually I am just turning the pages all in my mind I am thinking is how I lost her.
Once I lost her I lost everything.
People say that she committed suicide but people doesn’t know how brave she was. She was a warrior. I won’t believe that she can commit suicide.
Tears dwelled from my eyes I know sitting in library trying to study not going to help me. I woke up from the chair.

“What happen?”,Kaira asked me.
“It is not working Kaira. I am leaving to hostel”,I said and grabbed my books.
I know Kaira is also got hurt the same way I am hurt. I know she is also having her inner fight. She is getting worst nightmares. She holds herself responsible for Asha’s death what worse can happen to a person in the world?
How harder I try to stay away from Asha’s memories I still go into there. We changed our room but she lives in our hearts.
I went to our room and tried to get some sleep.
It was 6:00 pm when Kaira woke me up.
“Are you okay”,Kaira asked checking my pulse.
“I am fine I am just tired. Have you heard about suicide note?”,I said wearing my spectacles.
“Yes”,Kaira said sat in front of me.
“Even reports says that she injected cyanide and even above it they confirmed her fingerprints in that injection which confirms she committed suicide”,I said looking down.
“She is not coward to inject cyanide and kill her”,I added.
“Every evidences points in the same direction that she committed suicide but not in my dreams I am ready to accept it”,I said looking at Asha’s photo.
May be our love towards her hides the truth from us “,Kaira said taking her bag.
“Here have it”, She gave me money.
“No I don’t need”, I said smiling at her.
“I know about you Anjana. You need this I already lost one friend I can’t lose another one too”,she said looking into my eyes.
She meant it. I got it from her.
“When you are going to pay the fees say me I can accompanying you”,she said holding my hands.
Kaira and Asha are not such silly friends who just gossip on college girls they are true gems of my life they have helped me when I am financially low to pay fee.
May be Kaira is right my love for her stopping me from accepting the truth.
Asha helped me to overcome all the hesitation I had. She taught me to be with self confident and self respect.
Now I became the person she wanted to be but she is not around me to watch it.
I cried looking at Asha’s photo in my phone. Kaira hugged me and tried to console me.
At the end of the day only one thing we understood We miss her a lot.

RECURRING NIGHTMARE

It was a fine winter night. I was preparing the project report on Anatomy. We had to submit it the next day. If Anjana had been here,she would have helped me. As she has gone to her native, myself and Asha had to complete it. But Asha was not feeling well since morning. She had headache and fever. So,there was nobody to share my work . Above all,this project was not only mine,it was ours,the three of us. But I am not going to blame my friends for not helping me now. Because, they are not only my friends but my family. Yes! I love them a lot. Doing something for someone you love does not make you tired,isn’t it??
It was 2.30 a.m when I completed the report. I climbed on the bed and laid down next to Asha who was sleeping peacefully. I touched her forehead and now the fever has reduced. I quickly fell asleep as I was tired.
I got up in the morning and did not wake Asha up as I thought she would be tired. I bathed and dressed up and came towards her. I caressed her hair gently. She opened her eyes slowly.
“Asha! How are u feeling now? Are you coming to lab today?”,I asked her.
“I am very tired Kaira. Let me take rest please”,said Asha.
I nodded and actually I wanted to be with her and take care of her. But going to lab is very important as it was the last day to submit our project. I had to go and submit on behalf of the three of us.
“Take care,Asha. I will come as soon as possible. I will ask Meena di to get you breakfast. Have it and take rest”,I held her hand which was warm due to fever and kissed it.
Asha nodded with drooping eyelids.
I took my notebooks and my coat and went off through the corridor of our hostel.

I was very happy as Professor.Mishra appreciated me in front of our batch for our project work. Though,the three of us had worked for it,the final compilation was done by me and I was proud of it.
I returned to the hostel only to see multitudes of students standing here and there. This was unusual at that time. It was only 11 a.m and most of the students would have been in the classes. I had no idea about what had happened. I slowly entered the corridor and everyone’s gaze fell over me. Their lips murmured something.
I ignored everyone and walked towards our room. I could not find my way as I saw so many men standing outside our room. Men in women’s hostel? Sounds weird.
My heart started to beat fast. My hands started trembling. I held my books tight so that no one would see me trembling. When I went near my room,those men moved and gave way to me. I saw three policemen standing inside our room. My head started spinning. Would somebody tell me what the hell was happening?
As I stepped in,I saw a body lying on the stretcher. It was covered by white cloth. A chill ran down my spine. I slowly removed the cloth to see the face.
My God! I wish what I am seeing right now is a dream!! She.. my Asha.. my best friend.. is lying next to me lifeless. I can’t even believe my eyes. I choked and could not even breathe. I fainted.
When I woke up,I saw some of the girls in the nearby rooms standing next to me. They gave me water. I saw Asha’s dead body again. “O God! Why did this happen? It is all because of me. I should have been here and taken care of her. I killed her. I killed my beloved friend Asha”,I started crying hitting my own head.
Everyone around me tried to console me. But tears started flooding like a river. Time passed and my tears run dry. I was staring at Asha’s dead body when the body was examined by the police. Suddenly,she got up and strangled my neck. “Kaira.. You killed me. You should have been here. Is our project more important to you than my life? I hate you Kaira! I hate you! And I will never forgive you”,I began coughing and could not breathe.
“ Please forgive me Asha.. Please”,I shouted and got up from my sleep. I opened my eyes. I was sweating heavily. Yes! It was a nightmare. Anjana who was sleeping next to me got up and looked at me with terrified face.
“Kaira! Are you okay? “,she asked me rubbing my back.
I nodded.
“The same nightmare?”,asked Anjana.
I nodded. She gave me water.
“Nothing dear. Sleep. I am with u”,she said and hugged me and made me lay down. She caressed my hair.

*******************
I am Kaira, a fourth year medical student in the reputed St.Mary’s medical College in Mumbai. My family resides in Pune and hence I had to stay in hostel. I belong to a middle class family and studying medicine is not only my dream but also my parents’.

When I came here,I got two lovely people as my roommates,Asha and Anjana. They have the same craziness as me and we became close friends in a short span of time. Asha comes from a middle class family from Surat. She is really sweet,easy going,loving and strong willed. She never gives up on anything. Anjana,she has told me that she comes from a village in Odisha,whose name I forget everytime. She is an introvert and never shares so much information about her personal life. She is really kind and caring. She never lets us to be sad. She lights up our mood everytime and she is our sunshine.
So,these two girls have become my world for the past three years. We avoid going to our natives during holidays only to spend time together in the malls of Mumbai City and our own Taj Mahal,our hostel room. There are hardly been days in which we never laughed. In my hard times,Asha and Anjana have been my pillar of support and they had wiped my tears. I love them both beyond limits.
A fateful day came only to shatter all our happiness. Asha left both of us in the midway and reached the heaven. Even in my weirdest dreams did I imagine that this would happen. I was mentally affected as I had to face the situation all alone. Anjana came to see Asha’s body only after she was taken to her native. I finished all the formalities being all alone. I fainted a lot of times in between.
After that incident,I was sent to my home where I have been given treatments to come out of the mishap. The psychiatrist who treated me believes that I am cured. He asked my parents to take me to the hostel and said that I am completely alright.But I am not. I was at home for the past six months and it has been only a week since I shifted to the hostel. The nightmare in which Asha accuses me for her death have now become a recurring one. Everyday,I get up shouting Asha’s name and Anjana would console me. I don’t know when I am going to be normal. I know that Asha could not be brought back to life. But my guilt kills me everyday. I have to find a solution for this as soon as possible.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton