Him
As soon as consciousness starts kicking in, the memories of being the biggest asshole of the century to the one girl that means the world to me rush in too. I clutch breathlessly at the sheets, heart racing as I open my eyes into the reality of not having her beside me.
Is this what being dead feels like? Because I feel dead... dead – for the first time in my life.
I’m hearing voices inside my head.
“It’s been three days. When will he fully wake up?” Divit’s impatient voice fills the cramped-up space of my head.
Mira sighs, “I don’t think he’s improving much. He needs therapy. This isn’t physical. He’s messed up in the head, or he wouldn’t be collapsing every time we try to wake him up.”
“God! I never knew he could be so weak.” Divit says before his attention shifts to me as I try to get up, barely balancing my weight on my forearms. “Hey...” he holds me up by the arm and pushes a pillow behind me.
Leaning back, I try to breathe, even though it’s been the toughest three days of my life. “Did you hear from her? What are we doing here? We should be on our...”
“Okay, first...calm the fuck down.” Divit retorts, “Second, she’s gone. And the more we waste our time on getting you into shape, the farther she’ll go. Have some fucking sense of responsibility Nakul. Be the man you promised her to be. You’ll find her. You just need to start working your butt up.”
“Is that any way to talk to someone who has just had a massive trauma Divit? Stop being a dick!” Mira’s words earn her an eye roll from him.
She turns towards me, “And you... he’s right. You need to buckle up. Cause we haven’t heard from her even once. Her phone is dead. I think they must’ve gotten rid of it, because the last traced spot was far off the coast.”
Sighing in dismay, she continues, “Naksh, I know how it must feel if I were in your place. I know how tough it must be... But they have her and we have no clue how to find her. And we’ll need you, especially you – for that part.”
I want to nod, but all I manage is straightening up my spine. She’s right... I can’t show weakness, not now.
“What about the vehicle? You had a tracer on it, right?” My speech comes out with great difficulty.
Rayan’s voice startles us all as he enters the space with plates of food in his hands. “We found it parked in front of Leather Pearls. The security footage from the handbag store showed her going behind one of the outlet buildings. Naksh, she looked frightened.”
Divit interrupts, eyebrows furrowed in worry, “We also found the footage from behind the stores, and from where she got abducted. Do you really want to hear all of it? I mean you just woke up? We could talk later.”
“No. Tell me everything. All of it.”
“Naksh. You don’t want to hear it.” Mira shakes her head slowly.
The fury in me has been building only to be replaced by trauma and pain. Years old trauma... recollections... only I’m not weak anymore.
Now, I need to act. The more I waste time on it, the farther she’ll descend.
Rayan reaches out to me to handle me his phone, “Read it!”
Mira tries to intervene but he glares in her direction muttering, “He needs to know.”
“This was received from her phone probably an hour ago. The location was off the coast where it could be traced last. They probably must’ve thrown it in the sea after that.”
The message is on our group chat, which means they have accessed our previous chats, which thankfully isn’t much since Disha joined in just days ago.
It also means that she was nearby for three days. Three fucking days that I slept off.
With trembling hands, I take the phone and breathe deeply before taking a look at the message.
Disha: I took her. Now I am going to break her. I’ll summon you soon, because you’ll be expected to watch.
With a loud crash, sharp shards fly across the room as the glass of medicine meets its demise on the floor. My throat hurts from the scream that’s escaped after years of being trapped there.
I know who this demon is... the same who killed me years ago.
Only this time I’ll be the one killing him.
Once and for all.