Under the moonlight

• 𝐀 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝?

"Hello?... Are you okay... wake up"

Karishma struggled to open her eyes which were too heavy and drained out. All she could see was pitch blackness. She somehow struggled to regain some strength and push her eyes open wide and she could sense the blur vision of her surroundings.

God! where was I? she thought.

She could hear a distant voice of a man.

Karishma looked in the direction of the speaker and she saw the same man who asked her the direction, making futile attempts to wake her up.

She was slowly loosing consciousness but however with a lot of struggle she held that man's hand and tried to get up and sit straight. But all in vain as every time she tried, a sharp pain jolted down her entire body pushing her more towards unconsciousness.

"Where do you live? Where is your phone. I'll call your parents" She heard his distant and low voice.

"Ca..ntt A..r.ea" Karishma said stammering as words oozed out of her mouth with a lot of efforts.

"My p..phone?" She asked the man infront of her.

"I'll find it, you come here first" Saying this the man wrapped one of his arms around her shoulder while the other one beneath her knees picking her up in his arms. He placed her in the back seat of his car and took out a bottle of water from his own bag.

Raising her head to some height with his palms, he made her drink the water and went back to the previous spot to find her phone with the help of his own phone's flashlight.

Once he found it, he came running back and sat next to her wiping the dirt off the phone with his own shirt. After a failed attempt of unlocking her phone he spoke "What's the password?"

"2136" she said huffing.

He looked at her with pity. "Lord knows how much pain she is in" He thought. He tried contacting the ambulance but it was of no use as the respondent was unable to connect with him. On the other hand he unlocked her phone to inform her parents or friend and ask about her whereabouts.

The first number on the speed dial read "Haseena"

"Hello?" He spoke as soon as the call was connected.

"Hello Karishma singh?" A girl from other side spoke

"Ma'am there is a lady who met with an accident, it's her phone and I am calling you on behalf of her. She is here with me on Lalbagh road.. I cannot connect with the ambulance.. where should I bring her to?"

"What??? Who are you and what happened to her"

"I am Vyom Singh. Your friend happened to be on the same road as I and she met with an accident." He said agitatedly stressing on each word.

"Just hold on, I am coming to pick her up!! Also, do not try to do anything wrong. I am a police officer I might break your nuts into pieces if I find you suspicious of any activity" Saying this Haseena cut the call giving no time to the Vyom to respond.

Vyom glanced back at the girl laying beside him. Her face was slightly covered in dust. Few strands of her hair adhered to her face and were stuck there. She was half unconscious, and was struggling to keep her eyes open. Her breaths were getting shaky and a thin trail of voice trembled out of her mouth minute per minute as she groaned in pain. However, she wasnt badly injured, it was just few bruises that were hurting her.

He felt sympathetic for her. Slowly with trembling fingers Vyom raised his hand and removed the strands of hair from her face. He then took out a clean cloth from his bag and wiped her face.

The thunderstorm was intensifying each passing second and there were frequent lightening with a loud crashing sound too.

'Karishma singh' he remembered what the lady on the phone referred to her as. 'beautiful name' A voice mumbled in his head.

Vyom smiled softly. And immediately a shiver went down his spine as Karishma rested her head on his arm.

She was in pain.

He barely knew her, and it would be highly uncomfortable for them to stay packed inside a car that too in this weather as any stranger would assume there is some relation between them.

But her safety was more important! as she would fall unconscious any time. He held her head with his hands and placed it on the soft car seat making her lay down in a more comfortable position.

One glance at her arm and he saw it was a little bruised. So he took that water bottle and sprinkled it on her arm removing the dirt.

"Ha...hasee.. haseena" She mumbled.

"She's coming" Vyom said softly.

Within a minute Vyom heard the sound of a police jeep's siren. He came out of his car within a second and waved in the direction of the jeep.

"Hey hey" Vyom shouted

"Karishma.... where is she?" The lady came out running from the jeep. She had three stars on her khakhee shirt and a badge that read "Haseena Mallik".

"She's here come with me" Vyom pointed towards his car and Haseena rushed towards it opening the door and picking karishma up in her arms.

"Karishma.. Karishma" she tapped on Karishma's cheeks and the latter showed some movements.

"Ma'am you tell me where should I drop her off?" Vyom asked gently.

"No thankyou, please open the door of my jeep as I lay her inside" Haseena said as she picked up Karishma.

"Sure!" Vyom held the door and helped Haseena placing Karishma comfortably on the back seat.

Vyom at once informed Haseena about the bruise in Karishma's hand and handed back the latter's phone to her.

Haseena looked at Vyom with tear filled eyes and said "bohot bohot shukriya aapka.. Umeed karte hai aapse phir milenge.. Khyal rakhiyega"

She got back into the jeep and drove off to her destination as fast as she could.

Vyom let out a deep sigh. 'First day in this new city and so much drama already' he spoke to himself. He tried to dust off the little bit of dirt on his shirt in disgust!

'Pata nahi kaisi hogi woh' he thought remembering the way Karishma's breath was getting shaky in between.
Well, he apparently shrugged the thought and started driving towards where he was initially heading to.

However that little doubt of 'is she fine' was roaming in his mind.

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