The Haunted Bhangarh Fort- Rajasthan, India

CHAPTER 43

[ Author's Note: Okay, so my dear lovely humans, bear with me this time... 'cause my note is gonna be a bit lengthy... I'm sorry in advance for that :)
Let's start with the special dedications, there are two this time...
Firstly to CatQuill25732... this girl is so freaking sweet that she gave me diabetes :P She mentioned my name in one of her most favourite authors in her bio and trust me, she pushed me on the ninth cloud.... I mean, I was on cloud nine :P so thanks alot for that! :D
Another special dedication is to wabbit_cherry14.... it is her birthday today... So, happy birthday Marshmallow! :D

Apart from that, this is something exciting.... would you like to see how does Nikhil look? ;) If I get at least 30 comments with a positive reply, I'll post his picture :D
Finally, there we goooooooo...]

As soon as Nandini came to know that the statue was haunted, she dug her fingernails into my wrist with fear.
I yelped out in pain, but I could understand her situation so I didn't react much.

She looked into my eyes and spoke up, "I'm so sorry Nikhil, I shouldn't have blurted everything out like a fool at that moment. I didn't -"

"Hey! That's absolutely alright Nands.... I know you didn't do it intentionally in any way! In fact I too forgot about this. So don't be sorry at all okay?"

I gave her a sympathetic smile and she nodded.

"I guess we should move now?" She seemed a bit unsure of her decision.

"Yes we should, but I'll have to warn you with a few things...."

"Huh?" She was clearly confused.

"You look at this statue? It isn't ordinary, of course we know that.... but it is really cunning! Before I met you I had lost track with all our companions...."

I didn't really care if I was being watched by it, because it was important to tell this to her. So, I simply continued.....

"Whenever I used to run somewhere and get some hope that I have almost found my path, I would be dragged back on this same path, just next to the statue! I really don't know how this happened, but yes, it did!"

She was startled by now.....

But I continued ignoring her expressions... I just tightened my grip on her wrist, "It's not going to be easy to reach Madho Mahal.... but, we cannot lose hope. We should stay together and follow our path."

She looked into my eyes, oh how I loved them!
"Nikhil, when you are along, nothing can defeat me..... nothing can defeat us! We will conquer this together."
She gave me a faint smile and I smiled back.

I pulled her along as we started making our way towards our unknown destination....

We seemed to roam for about an hour which seemed to be like forever!
But it wasn't until I felt a rope tighten it's way round my leg dragging me down and making the ground slap my chin!

I felt the grip of that beautiful hand loosen around mine, and that was when I actually panicked.

"Nandini?" I shrieked.

The rope wasn't leaving my leg as I struggled to get up. As soon as I got up, I tried to mess up, with what seemed to be the shoot of a creeper plant.

It was really uncomfortable for me to bend and untangle it. As much as I wanted to hurry, I had to get rid of that thing first.
So I sat down punching out all the impatience and juggled my fingers with the shoot and there..... it came out.

I threw it out of my way hoping that it wouldn't capture my leg again. Not paying much attention to the pain, I got up and shouted out loud, "Nandini!!"

I looked around in every direction, but she was nowhere to be seen.
I cupped my hands on my mouth and gave out another loud call....
But it was in vain.

The soul of my body was about to jump it's way out when I heard someone scream at the top of its lungs!
It was a female! That voice was familiar. It belonged to............

"Mom?"
I gasped as I heard her scream grow all the more shriller and I decided to run towards the direction of that sound.

To say what I saw made me feel uneasy, was an understatement.....
It looked like all hell had broken loose!
I wanted to throw up but at the same time I had to react. I just couldn't believe my eyes. I really wished that they would've left all their capacity to see at that moment!

"Mom! What on earth are you doing?! Have you lost all your senses? Just leave her.... throw it away!"
For a second I went numb at what I saw.

I could see that my mother was holding a knife in her hand. She was slicing Nandini's skin off of her wrist.
Nandini couldn't shout because her mouth was stuffed with a cloth so all her screams were muffled and faint.

Tears were streaming down her cheeks continuously and unstoppably. I couldn't even describe the pain that she was suffering from!

All I could observe was that even though she was trying to pull her hands away, she couldn't..... there was something stopping her from doing that!

But what made me baffled out of my wits was that I heard my mother scream initially! It was her! Apart from that, she seemed to be shedding tears as well.... somewhat like she knew that she was doing wrong, but she couldn't help herself.....

Before having any further glimpse of the situation, I ran up to them.

"Leave that piece of metal Mom! What the hell are you up to?!" I was furious than ever!

That was when she finally spoke up. Her voice didn't seem to come out of the throat, she was shedding tears and trying her best to pull her hand behind.
"Nikhil! Nikhil please help me! Look I don't really know how is this happening! But trust me.... I'm not doing this intentionally. Please help me out.... this poor girl is grimacing in pain. I cannot do this, I don't want to, I am not...... Please!"

She looked like she would faint any moment.

There laid a pool of blood under Nandini's freshly exposed flesh. It was disgusting!

I quickly did what my mind could at that moment..... I plucked the knife out of her palms and shoved it right inside my pocket. I didn't want anyone else to lay it's hands on it.

I pulled my mother's dupatta (veil) and wrapped it around Nandini's wrist. That girl fell unconscious on my shoulder and a felt something warm appear in my eyes... they were tears.

I hope she was alive!