And I Found Love

18. Who is He?

Where is she?

"I'm scared of darkness"

Why the hell did I leave her alone?

"I'm scared of darkness"

She must be scared.....she must be panicked. Where can she possibly go?

The terrifying thoughts, mixed with the sound of her voice from back then, echoed in Abhimanyu's head.

It was the only thing he could hear in that moment irrespective of the loud blaring music or the constant buzzing of his phone due to Manjiri's unstoppable calls.

Only a minute had passed since his  discovery about her absence from the place where he had left her and yet he felt a heavy weight on his chest, suffocating him further and further with each passing second.

His eyes continuously scanned the hall while he searched around restlessly, checking the washrooms, the bar counters and every corner of the hall.....she wasn't there.

He called Akshara, ignoring his mother's calls in return and heard the ringing from the other side that cleared the fact of her not picking up her phone, even though it wasn't switched off.

Negative thoughts regarding the possibility of something going wrong entered his mind, binding him with extreme fear as he rushed outside after re-assuring that she wasn't in the club.

Trying to brush off the constant pessimist thoughts, he went on to check the multiple corridors linked with the club when a loud scream startled him.

"Stay away from me.....please leave!!!"

His panting breaths immediately came to an abrupt pause as soon as he recognised the voice- It was Akshara's.

"Just go away"- she cried on top of her voice which was loud enough to lead him at the spot where she was.

He reached there, only to find her petite figure leaning against the wall of a dimly lit corridor as she sat with her head buried in her knees- that were closely sticking to her chest. Her eyes were shut and tears streamed down her face as she continued to scream and shout without looking around.

A small crowd of passersby stood around her, staring at her with confusion and horror as if she was a mad person while she kept on shouting at them to leave her alone.

"Akshara!!!", Abhimanyu released a heavy sigh, striding towards her, pushing and shoving past the crowd. "What happened? Are you fine?", he sat on his knees beside her, placing his hand on her shoulder to make her focus on him.

Sensing his familiar touch and voice, Akshara immediately wrapped herself around him, hiding her face in the crook of his neck. "Please make them leave....make them go away Abhi please", she shivered in his hold while gripping onto his jacket tightly.

"I know her, she is with me....I'll manage it please you all can leave", he told the onlookers as he rubbed her back slowly. Akshara's eyes remained shut- refusing the idea to look at anyone around her while she continued requesting him to send them away.

"They are leaving okay.....it's just me. Calm down now", he whispered softly, still rubbing the small of her back in circles to comfort her while the crowd dispersed. Even though he was somewhat relieved to see her and hold her safely in his embrace, the fact that she was still sobbing and trembling constantly, made him anxious.

"You are scaring me Akshara..... please stop crying", he said, tilting his head to look at while she still kept on clinging and crying to his side without opening her eyes.

They stayed still in that state for sometime till her heavy breathing started coming back to normal and her sobs lost the intensity. "Why did you bring me here?", she finally spoke after a long silence in between her snifles and hiccups.