Norah & Daniel

Chapter-2

This chapter is dedicated to my sister, Lavi. Thank you for all your motivation and encouragement :)

Also, thanks a lot @elmothing @DimaEatsApples and @ALIFEYA for your positive comments :)

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I switched off the T.V., setting the remote on the side table.

Nothing good came on it anyway.

Lying on my back, I retraced the pattern on the ceiling with my eyes.

It had been two days since the incident on the bridge and for these past two days I hadn't been able to think of anything else but that. Every time I closed my eyes, I got flashes of his face, distraught and distressed. Thinking about it made my heart break itself into millions of pieces. My complete weekend was spent on thinking of various scenarios and reasons that could have prompted him to take his own life.

I need a break from this, I thought

I gathered my hair in a pony tail and left my bed. I needed something to distract my mind.

I padded through the corridor, my bare feet sagging slightly in the plush carpeting. My footsteps made the only noise in the otherwise silent house. The hallway was dimly lit while all the other rooms remained in pitch darkness. I hurried down the staircase and into the kitchen.

I switched on the lights and the darkness evaded from the area. Everything in the kitchen was in silver and shiny. My mother used to renovate it every 2-3 years to keep up with the modern trends. Infact, she had an unhealthy obsession of changing and replacing every single object of the house, from the door mat to the complete exterior of the house. If you were revisiting my house after a couple of years, I could guarantee you that you would not have been able to find anything familiar from your last visit.

But everything changed 3 years ago. Now, it seemed as if time had stopped for the house, keeping it frozen in the past. The curtains remained same, the furniture and the decorations remained same. Everything except my family remained the same.

Sighing, I opened the door of the refrigerator and reaching for the ice cabinet, I took one of the ice trays. I twisted the tray making all the ice cubes in it to pop out. Munching the ice cubes one at a time, I let my mind to wander back to the events of Friday night.

I didn't know what to do.

Should I tell someone about it or talk to Daniel about this first? But even if I choose to tell someone then who would it be? I kept asking myself.

I decided that I wasn't going to mention any of this to Seb until I had talked to Daniel.

I felt my guilt wash over me when I thought of our short conversation at the party. He clearly looked sad when he asked that why I never talked to him. But instead of being nice to him, I told him that I didn't care about him.

Can anyone please do the task of smacking me in the head?

Another wave of guilt knocked me over as I realized how I had never tried to know about Daniel even though he had been in my class for years. The only thing I knew about him was that he was Liam's step brother.

My mind filled up with possible emotions his family members would have felt if he had jumped in the river. Flashbacks from my own past made my chest ache and tears to dwell up in my eyes but I flicked them away.

No, I couldn't let that to happen to another family. I had to do something. I had to save Daniel from whatever demons that were tormenting him. I had to save him.