I slowly tilted my head to look at the girl my friend pointed out….
…. the booming sound of the speakers playing every possible Salman Khan song, blocked her voice out. it was as i was deaf and she was mute. however, I managed to look towards the direction she was pointing at, and saw an elegant girl, her radiant yellow saree made her stand out from the rest of the crowd in either red or black. nonetheless, she seemed to have an elderly countenance, for a young girl…
It was the eve of our best friend’s wedding. the ceremonies were carried out in the most charming manner, and now it was time for everyone to come together and celebrate the newly wedded couple. no sooner did I fix my dress to join our friends to dance till our legs hurt, than my friend, Saphris seized me by the hand and forced me in the direction of the unfamiliar young face that caught her attention in the first place.
The wedding was quite a grand one. Relatives had come down from all across the globe to attend their beloved nephew’s matrimony. It took us a six hour long bus ride to get there from the city of Udaipur, it was our first time there. Which is the exact reason why I hesitated to follow the girl who had just now caught my friend’s eye. I would be lying if I were to say she wasn’t an exquisite piece of art.
They say great minds think alike which is why we mutually decided to approach the girl and strike a conversation. Before we could reach her, she had started walking away from the hustle and bustle of the crowd.
Hand in hand, Saphris and I decided to keep following her. But she didn’t seem to slow down…
The unusual young girl was walking away from the venue. she had almost left the wedding premises. Adventure driven that we were, we decided that we wouldn’t stop until we got to know her. The sun had set now. We were a good ten minute walk away from our friends and family. The girl had now picked up pace. Saphris at this point, was dragging me as if she were possessed by a ghost.
At this point, her grip on my wrist had become tighter than normal. It made me a tad bit paranoid. I shrugged off the feeling, I was worrying for no reason. I looked back for a moment to see how far we had come, and trust me when I say… it was nothing but open fields behind us. but as soon as i turned my head back ahead, I saw a tall structure. A building.
Wait. Not just a building. An abandoned building. Yes. The exact one with it’s cement peeling off, iron rods protruding out of the sides and water sprinkling from the side.
Before I could process the ghostly sight in front of me, saphris had started sprinting into the building. She left me no choice. I was now scared. It was getting darker by the second and this maniac chose such a time to enter this creepy structure.
Nonetheless, I ran behind her, howling her name. As I was climbing onto the next unfurnished floor, trying to catch my breath, the architecture seemed really
familiar to me. It felt strange. As if I had been there before. Somehow, I pushed these thoughts to the rear of my mind. Saphris was nowhere to be seen. My heart began racing faster than it already was.
It was only after a solid minute that I could see an open floor, cement work that had been left unattended, bricks half broken and the flooring shattered into pieces. She abruptly stopped there and so did I. The girl we were trailing was no where to be seen. I was trying hard to recollect if I had been here before, mom was right, schizophrenia got the best of me.
My memory seemed to turn a blind eye, but before I could yell my friend’s name out loud, she had disappeared. I was all alone. Nothing but a dimly lit candle, the flame about to die. it was as if I was stranded alone on an island and my screams were a useless attempt to find help.
Oh my god. Oh my god.
This… this was the exact replica of… of.. the .. the abandoned building where I took my best friend, as a dare. She had no clue about what my intentions were.
I remember now. ITS ALL CLEAR. Oh no. This was karma. This was all a trap. A trap to lure me in. This was the exact place, the exact time.
I murdered my best friend.
I turned around in a jiffy, and there she was… Wait. No. She wasn’t. Mom? MOM?????
Why. What. What was happening??
Why was ma here…?????
THIS IS WHY I WAS confused if I had seen this place before. At this point, I was panicking, tears rolled down my cheeks. Guilt. Nothing, just guilt.
Now, it all came back to me. She told me to take my medicines, she reminded me to take a strip of Saphris, my schizophrenia medicine wherever I went. but instead of taking the medicine, instead of the medicine, I took my friend, my unreal, hallucination of a friend, everywhere I went. THIS IS WHY no one else could see her. This is why everytime I talked to her, people would mock me as they passed by.
The entire situation was clear now.. all I wanted to do was run and throw my arms around ma’s tender skin , but before J could even let that thought sink in, a sharp, piercing sound. blood. A river, an ocean of blood. An outline of a crooked body had jabbed a long dagger into her body. Ma dropped dead, to the floor. I couldn’t breathe.
The crooked body stepped ahead…. it was saphris. With the dagger in her hand, the crooked smirk on her face, the one I had on the night I brutally killed her, without hesitation. With the same clothes, the same satin white summer dress, with blood smeared all over it.
And that’s when the wind blew the light out.
Sia Shete 