MIZPAH

27 | blood & secrets

CHAPTER: 27

There was more to the story, Drishyam Raya's one and only brother, saved himself from the fire's merciless fury and was able to flee with his son.

His brother was a wise man and decided to live his life in peace and secrecy, without acknowledging his lineage to save his son and the coming generations.

but blood and secrets had a bond unknown

He never ceased to take pride in his bloodline, he used to recite stories of his young days to his grandchildren and this tradition followed, but the thing about whispered tales is some words die down in the throat while the speaker adds something new and no one gets to know.

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"Father! you don't understand. There is someone else who is as desperate to find Varsha's mortal remains as us, we have to do something fast", they spoke.

"Tell me their name and I will believe you", the father spoke as he eyed his child in a calculated manner, he was aware of their manipulative nature.

"Her daughter, your beloved and loyal partner. You wouldn't want me to speak her name or she might wake up from the dead and haunt you once again", there were the manipulative tendencies.

"Right father?"

"Shut up! You! Ho-How dare you", rage was apparent on the father's features.

"Why? Did I press on an old wound that hasn't healed yet? But how could it heal when it was you who carved it on your rotten conscience when you left her to die in that accident after all it was you who was drunk and yet driving! I know everything Father, everything".

"Stop! You know nothing, it was an accident you dimwit, she was already dead and I was not drunk, I just had two sips of wine because we were happy, we were finally able to trace Varsha's remnants, it was a huge achievement! You know nothing, if only she had told me where it is if only she had written it somewhere...a map. map", he kept mumbling to himself.

"What did you say, a map?", the child asked when something crossed their mind, they took their phone out and opened the picture they had taken the other night.

"Hey, Dad. watch this", they showed it to the father who had a dazed expression on his face, he broke out of his reverie when his child called.

"Wh-", he stopped midsentence and looked at the picture, the ancient texts were very much familiar to him.

"Where did you find this?", his child smirked back in return.

"Let's go! We have to go, move fast", they both hurried outside toward the Ruins as they watched their steps between the protruded roots of the wild trees surrounding them, unaware of the wandering soul that was on its way back to the place where heaven and hell was nothing but a choice to make.

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"Hey, where is Vrsihti?", Naaz asked the group over the sound of the Bollywood movie they had been watching.

"Dunno", Lee answered back as everyone had been immersed in the movie as they lay sprawled on the bed.

"Wait a sec, I don't see Shayon with us too?", Lee rhetorically asked with a knowing smile.

"Shut up Lee", Naaz swatted on his forearm.

"She is in the room, I texted her some time ago", Namrita answered.

"And when was this 'some time ago'?", Lee asked air quoting the words.

"erm...maybe around midnight", Namrita said then she looked at the clock and back at Lee, who smirked back and Namrita rolled her eyes in response.

"W-Wait guys! Did you feel that?", Naaz asked as she eyed the water jug on the table, the liquid inside lapped at the inside of the glass surface.

"Wh-", Lee's voice died down when he followed Naaz's eyes.

Naaz took the remote and switched to some news channel, they all heard the news and painc filled their features.

"Guys! Move. move. move", Naaz ordered and picked up her phone as she got up from the bed.

She dialed Vrishti's contact and pressed on call but got no response, "We have to get Vrishti!", and she took the stairs.

She sprinted down the stairs, but slipped on her feet due to the other students rushing, the resort was in chaos. Orders of the recorded voice for the masses to calm down and take the emergency stairs resonated on the speakers hung on corners.

She reached the floor and somehow opened the door in her panicked state, the others followed behind her, as they pushed wooden door open, they were welcomed with silence, there were no signs of Vrishti.

They all entered the room, and Naaz's eyes fell on opened door of the balcony and then on the diary's pages opened at the bed, the Ruins had been circled in blue ink.

"Vrishti what are you up to?", Naaz mumbled to herself then she turned towards the group, "Guys, she isn't here but we have to find her".

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Somewhere kilometers away from them in the city, Varsha's father worked on his recent case, as he typed on his laptop sitting in the leisure room, his damp eyelashes hidden from the world when he mistakenly switched the t.v. on and the news channel from earlier started playing.

" ...The scale of the earthquake was XX low but it was felt by the villagers as there is quite an upheaval among them and if we pay attention to the winds coming at XX km/hr, there might be chances of continuous downpours and flash floods",

The news reporter spoke as she showed the satellite images of the villages surrounding the Ruins.

Vrshti's father widened his eyes, his ears stopped listening after the word 'upheaval', he felt as if his whole world has been crashing down, he was taken back to the event from years ago when he stood on the same grounds as he received the call of his wife's accident, he couldn't seem to remove the image of her longing eyes as she took her last breath.

As if his body was has a mind of its own, he closed the windows, took his emergency bag filled with clothes and essentials, took his car keys, and took off after he locked the door.

His hands trembled and his heart thumped rapidly behind the ribcage but despite everything he clenched his jaw tight and started the ignition.

his daughter needed him

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ufff I struggled quite a lot while writing this chapter.