ANECDOTES- A collection of short stories

The day we met again 💞 (Devakshi)

Her words send a chill through her spine. The lady observes her blanched face.

"Are you new here? You didn't know anything?"

In reply Sonakshi only can wobble her head in denial. Tears prick her eyes.

"Come...come inside..we will drop you in some safer place. This is not at all safe to stand here like this....come....quick, get in."

Without thinking any further Sonakshi gets inside. She observes that there are only two people in the car. An elderly couple is perhaps forced to come out in the road even in this condition.

"Where were you going darling...by the way?"

The lady asks. Sonakshi tries to look out from the tinted glass. This area is totally unknown to her. She thought to tell the address to some auto driver and he would have got her straight to her Aunt's house.

"I am new here Aunty...this is the address."

She fishes out a paper and passes it to her.

"Hmmm...this is quite far from here...though it is on our way we won't go to that extent...let's see...don't worry...we will do something for you."

The lady assures her and the car comes to the motion again but not for a long. Suddenly a rabble comes in front of the car and before any one of the car can sense something the windscreen breaks into zillion pieces. The elderly couple screams in panic while Sonakshi crosses her hands trying to cover her face. Before that, she only can see a mob of at least 15 to 20 people encircle the car and the car is lurching like a haystack due to their relentless hammering on its body. Sonakshi can only hear the yell and commotion as she is shutting her eyes tightly and closing her ears with hands. All of a sudden one of the back doors gets opened and a hostile man pulls out Sonakshi making all her resistant null. He puts a black cap over her head and all of a sudden her entire surrounding becomes pitch-dark. He even ties her hands and is about to throw her on his shoulder when she hears multiple gunshot sounds. Suddenly she is dashed on the ground mercilessly making her yowl in pain. But it seems that there is more suffering waiting for her. Before she can quell herself she hears more footsteps around her and within a second two strong arms picks her up like a doll and settles her on his shoulder. Till now tears of helplessness is overflowing on her cheeks. She is feebly swaying on that person's shoulder.

"Send them to hospital..."

A hoarse voice commands. Sonakshi could hear before a blackout strikes her.

............................................

Sonakshi scrunches her eyes as the bright light pricks them. She can feel that now her face is devoid of that black cap. She slowly opens her eyes. It's a small storeroom as there are packing boxes and jute sacks everywhere. She roams her eyes all around and finally, they fix on a face. A familiar face. A face that once was considered to be the brightest face for her.

"Dev..."

She whispers in surprise.

"Dr Sonakshi Bose..."

He utters in mock.

"Thank that guy who covered your face, or else I would have abandoned you then and there. SHIT..."

Dev spurts out in pique and kicks a packing box kept aside. Sonakshi is still dazed trying to gather the whole thing in her mind. Some flashes of memories are again coming in front of her eyes.

"Dev I can't live without you......Sona, you are my present and will be my forever.....Dev you have to choose between your love for her and your career....I can't be with you anymore Dev.....I will never forgive you for that Sona.... From now you don't exist for me anymore."

Suddenly a sound of gunshot breaks the reverie of Sonakshi. Both Dev and Sonakshi look at each other. Dev heads the closed door and tries to open it but has to halt as Sonakshi storms at him and pulls his hand.

"What are you doing? Firing is going on everywhere. Do you want to be shot?"

Dev clenches his jaws and glances at her hand which is tightly holding his forearm. He yanks his hand with a jerk and looks through her eyes.

"Miss Sonakshi Bose. I think you are showing too much concern to a stranger. Because I don't know you and unknowingly I saved your life. So let it be in this limit only."

For a moment Sonakshi gazes at his glacial eyes.

"Thank you so much, Mr Dev Dixit, for saving my life. You are right..we are strangers but still, as a sensible person it's my duty to stop you from doing any blunder because a bullet doesn't discriminate between a riotous and a normal civilian."

Sonakshi says in a composed tone and closes the door bolt again. Dev's penetrating eyes are observing her every move while Sonakshi walks towards a wooden box. She needs to sit for a while. However, her leg gets stuck in a bamboo lying on the floor and she stumbled. Losing her balance she is about to fall flat on her face but before that, two strong protective hands hold her tightly. Concurrently, she hears the name after so long...from the person who recently has professed that she is merely a stranger to him.

"SONA..."

Dev pitches his voice. Sonakshi is in his protected grip. She looks at his eyes....those eyes which once used to be the mirror of her soul. Both are looking at each other's eyes...adrift...oblivious to the truth that a long time has passed...many things have been changed. Suddenly another deafening gunshot startles them making Sonakshi nestle to Dev's chest with more demand for assurance. In reflex Dev also embosoms her. It seems like the entire world dwindles in this small stuffy room. Sonakshi is listening to his heartbeat with closed eyes. For her, the time stops at that moment.

To be continued....

Author's note: This story has 2 shots. The next and last shot will be updated soon. Plz do inline comments. Share your views about the cover picture (The day we met again)🙏🙏🙏❤❤❤