Stars | completed

39(B). The Nightmare They Lived

"I don't want to leave," Aliya said, her voice emotionless, "If I drown with you, then so it be. But I will not leave you when you need me. I will stay and I will fight, and I'm sure between the three of us, we can come up with something to protect each other and get Navya back."

"I don't think you get it. He's a fucking serial killer. We're not talking about a-villainy-person-we-hate here whom we can talk to and sort this out. He killed a young boy with no harm of his just because he was on the train too... probably because he had seen Harshad's face or heard his name. He will not hesitate to kill you and me or anyone who comes in his path. So you're doing everyone a favour by keeping yourself safe," I almost shouted.

Aliya flinched, looking down, silent tears pooling her eyes. After a brief moment of silence, she looked up at Aryamman, "You're uncharacteristically silent."

"That's because he's already made his decision," I snorted.

Aryamman, who had really been silent for too long, finally looked up, trying to give me a half smile, "You know me too well." It was then when I noticed he was trying to drink away his tears, "Cabir is right, you have to go."

"You're not serious," Aliya argues but Aryamman cut him off.

"I am," he said, "And we're not talking more about this anymore."

"It's my decision to make, not yours," Aliya argued again.

"You're being incredibly selfish–," Aryamman started but she cut him off.

"And you're not?" She shouted, "You're staying here, and asking me to go. How is that any sense?"

"No! No!" I stopped them, "I'm asking both of you to go."

"He won't," Aliya said, anger clear in her voice.

"You're the one he's after first," Aryamman shouted back.

"Doesn't mean he can't harm you too," She reasoned, "What if... if I'm gone, Harshad gets angry and hurts Navya? Or tries to get back by chasing both of you?"

"Then that'll be on me... my responsibility," I said, "Aliya, I know you want to stay darling, and I... I want you to be here too. But it'll only be more troublesome when we'll spend our time in protecting you instead of finding Navya, right? This way, atleast you and Nandini are safe. And we know Mukti isn't with Harshad orelse he'd be rubbing that in our faces too. With three of you safe, we can take care of ourselves and get Navya back. Please."

Aliya sighed in defeat, and then cried for a few minutes while I and Aryamman held her close.

It was five hours later that we were able to book her to Paris, explain her Uncle what was going on, pack a few essentials– everything that we could get our hands on, and stood in front of the airport. We were a minimum time ahead of the flight to prevent her spending much time alone out there.

As we stood in front of Terminal Two, I held Aliya's baggage and Aryamman held her. I wanted to leave them alone for a while but I knew I couldn't. I did that to Navya and I was paying for it, heavily.

Aliya hugged me first. I held her close, trying to keep my tears in.

"Why us, Cabir?" She sobbed.

"I wish I knew," I pulled her closer, "I wish God could let us be happy for once. Just once."

She pulled away, wiping her tears and trying to force a smile. "We will be okay. We've fought through the years, and we will fight this too. We'll be okay," she chanted and I nodded, keeping the tears inside.