The Greatest Villain of All Time

Chapter 7: Onkar

Appa's room is a mess. Wooden boxes and chests are stacked on top of each other in a way that will definitely fall if there is a creak on the floor. Old books are dumped on my right and various files lie on the corner. I opened Appa's bed so that I could get my old drawing books which were on the bottom of all this stuff. Maybe when I was 5-6, I developed the hobby of drawing. You know, stick figures.

When I flip the yellow pages, I come across a drawing I had done when I was five. I, Biju, and Kartik have known each other since we were infants and we had decided that one day we'll climb the Nagsura Peaks and reach the very top. A small chuckle escapes my lips seeing the three stick figures on the mountain.

We could never do it though.

And when realizing that we can never do this together in the future as well, it hurts even more.

I close it and keep it all back inside the box. I don't want to see it. It only brings all the memories back and makes me regret all the actions I didn't do. Makes me regret all the times that I have not told him how important he is in my life.

I keep the box inside the bed. Rubbing my runny nose, I arrange all the boxes back again in the bed. The last thing I want is to get a scolding from Amma for dirtying the room.

But I don't know why fate has a grudge against me because a brown chest of letters slips out of my hands. I groan. "Just why?"

Some letters seem new while others are a decade old. I don't have any curiosity to open and check what they are about as I would have usually done. I collect them all back but an odd stamp catches my eye. The letters slip back on the floor from my hands as I pick up the letter having that stamp. My brows hike as I recognize it as the royal stamp.

"Why do we have this?" I open the letter and on reading it, I realize it is the invitation to today's party at the palace.

There are many other letters which I think belong to Appa and now I want to open them all. But before I can, Deepti walks into the room. Shrugging, I keep the letter away and take the bowl that Deepti gives me.

"I've heated some payasam for you." Deepti sits beside me.

Mindlessly, I move around the spoon in the payasam that Amma had made for prasad–an offering for Swami Bhautika– a few days ago. Due to heating, the milk has all evaporated and maybe Deepti heated it a little too much because it seems burnt.

"Why did you heat it?" I scrunch my nose, my appetite lost.

"Because you like payasam hot."

"But you burnt it."

Deepti purses her lips. "Sorry."

I sigh. Although Deepti can sometimes be a snarky nemesis of mine, she's still my sister. And when she's my sister, she actually tries to make me happy. Like now, she wants me to cheer up but her cooking skills are really bad. Even if it means heating up something.

"Anyways, I'm not craving anything sweet right now." I close the bed and put the mattress back to lie on it.

The only way I can feel better is by sleeping. Sleeping helps me to forget my problems for some time.

But that lingering pain never goes away as I face the wall. Sleeping will never erase Biju from my life or help me move on. I can only gulp down the grief and close my eyes for sleep to hit me.

Suddenly, I feel the bed dip beside me as small arms hug me from behind. Deepti then whispers, "It'll be alright." And maybe her words did assure my heart for me to go into a deep slumber.

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