The Ruined Rainbow

CHAPTER 98

A/N: 7.6k words. Please read at your comfort pace.

There is an Author's note at the end, which may explain why I ended the story this way, which you may or may not read; it is totally up to you. No pressure. And this chapter, and the upcoming two chapters, will focus on Sahil's coping and healing. He deserves that :) I would also request you to stay till the end of the other two chapters. *blinking eyes*

I hope all of you are doing great.

Nature's fury plunged upon Mumbai ruthlessly as if the heavens had unleashed a wrathful storm upon the city. The rain came down in sheets, pounding against rooftops and pavement with an uncompromising, wrathful intensity, whipping the earth as it fell. Winds howled angrily and uprooted several trees and light poles. Thunder rumbled deafeningly in the distance, and the lightning struck menacingly.

And then, the atmosphere changed. Tenaciously.

And Nature heartbreakingly draped a bitter melancholy cloak over its pained soul with a soul-shattering cry.

The wind, which had howled with fury, now wept in pain, its woeful wails echoing through the lonesome streets. The thunder cried in distraught agony, its anguished cries reverberating ruthlessly. Each lightning bolt seemed to pierce the heart of the storm painfully.

And once a torrential downpour, the rain diminished to mere teardrops cascading from the heavens yet remained continuous and endless as Nature wept.

***************

The upcoming week passed in a frantic blur.

After hearing the news, Sahil's parents flew to Mumbai the next day. No idea who intimated them; it must have been Kumar or Kavita. But to their disappointment, even Sahil's parents could not get Sahil to speak a word; their efforts were met with a wall of silence that seemed impenetrable.

Sahil had been quiet after the demise. Very quiet. Hopelessly quiet.

No words passed Sahil's lips; no tears stained his cheeks.

It was as if the shock of the loss had rendered him mute; his emotions buried deep beneath a facade of stoicism. His face remained unchanging; his demeanour had looked normal to any detached person watching from the outside contour of grief, as though he was subdued despite the tumultuous storm in life.

But, the ones who knew him closely could tell that the brown-black eyes, which once held warmth, roared with unspeakable pain and a silent, soul-shattering scream of anguish that echoed in the emptiness of his gaze.

In his eyes was the sight where the last goodbye had died, screaming, ravaging the very essence of anyone who saw such a grievous sight and persisted in adhering to his shattered gaze, unable to leave, unable to cling on, as the vacant flame in his eyes screeched with indefinable ache.

Yet, he did not cry.

He did not cry as a shattered Kavita came running to the hospital, tears sprinting down her cheeks, doused in the rain when she heard the news.

He did not cry as he sat in the lonely corridor, staring a shattered stare at nothingness as the people around him finished the final hospital formalities.

He did not cry as the body, ice-cold to touch, was taken outside, towards the cemetery, where it was supposed to be buried, adjacent to her parents' graves.

He did not cry even as the individuals around him urged him to glimpse her face for one last time to pay his final respects.

He did not cry when he gathered every bit of whatever remained of him, held her freezing, lifeless hand, and nor did he cry when he did not feel the three squeezes, their custom ritual, whenever they held hands, begun by her, always.