ARU
Aru felt somebody had ripped her heart out of her chest and was stomping on it, while she watched, bleeding out.
"No, no, no, no..." she whispered, rapidly, her fists clenched, her eyes wide as she stared at the screen.
"This is fake. Doctored," she said, softly.
Yes. This was an acceptable narrative.
This isn't real.
She felt like somebody was watching her.
This. Isn't. Real.
It all made sense now, how Supermundus was a step ahead of them.
THIS. ISN'T. FUCKING. REAL.
She screamed it in her head, over and over, trying to drown out her mother's words: Your father is the Dormitator.
Anger replaced the denial, as she picked up the framed photograph, her eyes blazing, her gaze zeroing in on her father's face.
Liar.
She threw it against the wall, and watched the glass shatter, fly into the air, form tiny cuts on her face.
The photograph was free. She crumpled it up, anger fueling her, muddling her thoughts.
He's the reason Mom's dead. HE'S THE REASON MOM. IS. DEAD.
She picked up a shard of glass, and watched a trail of blood run down her palm.
All that sympathy. All that sadness. Fake.
How could he just kill people like that, and then turn and grieve for them, like it was a shadow who was the cause of this carnage, and not him?
How?
She glared at the bracelet clasped around her wrist, and threw it against the wall. The charm broke into two, and Aru caught sight of a tiny device, blinking red.
Well. Another mystery solved. She thought bitterly, crushing it under heel.
He'd corroded her last keepsake of her mother's.
Well... not the last keepsake.
The silver gun lay there, innocent, not knowing about what its owner was going to do.
Aru's hand hesitated over it, as a tear-drop fell on it.
When you know about everything, you'll know what to do.
What to do? With a gun? She didn't know.
A terror ripped through her, as a thought snuck into her mind: There's one thing you can do...
She fell to her knees, her entire body racked with sobs.
"I've been living with a murderer," she cried, hugging her knees.
"I've been raised by a murderer," she whispered to herself, her rage now numbed to something else. She didn't know what, and that scared her.
"My father's a murderer," she said, quietly, the syllables foreign on her tongue, sounding wrong, like they didn't belong strung together in this manner.
Murderer. Murderer.
"What do I do?" she cried, again, unable to take her eyes of the gun, the same thought ripping through her head.
"I can't do it, Mom. I can't. You wanted me to kill him, didn't you? Wasn't that what the gun was for?"
Murderer.
She couldn't imagine him as a father anymore. She couldn't imagine his loving smile, or his exasperated glares when she did something silly.
All that had been warped, corrupted, like shadows blocking the light.
Murderer. He's a murderer.
The voice of the unknown narrator in her head morphed, turning familiar, into her mother's.
"He's a murderer, Aru. There's nothing else you can do,"
"You're not here. You're dead. Your ashes were scattered. I was there. He was there too, crying. Was he sad because you were dead? Or was he lying?"
"Think about your friends. That poor girl, Leslie, who only wanted the truth. Your friend, Mini, who was shot, trying to help you. Your other friend, Rudy, who was threatened, repeatedly, trying to help. Think of them. Kara, in jail, who saved your life."
"I can't kill him. I can't."
"Then the carnage will continue. He will come for you. For your friends. He didn't refrain from killing me, his wife, what about his daughters?"
"You're not real." She repeated, to the echoing voice in her head, to the recording on her laptop. Maybe to herself.
"I may not be real, but I am what you are thinking." Not-Krithika said, as Aru imagined her laying a phantom hand on her shoulder.
"End this cycle. Stop this madness."
"You loved him," Aru said.
"I loved Suyodhana. This man is the Dormitator."
End this cycle. Stop this madness.
"Get your answers," her hallucination whispered, as she picked up the gun, her rage rekindled in her stomach, making her stomach churn.
————
She found Aiden's contact, and with stiff, frozen fingers, typed out: My father's responsible for all of this. I should be speaking to you face-to-face, but I'm going to get answers from him. I'm sorry.
She paused, and typed again: Call the police to Otherworld Enterprises. All the evidence is on my laptop, already opened, in my room. If I don't come out alive, then I want you to know, and to tell the others that you all were great friends.
————
The ride was silent, Aru alone with her thoughts, her 'mother' silent, yet the gun grew heavier and heavier.
She stopped her car at the foot of the building that had been built from ground-up, that was 'her father's pride and joy'.
She stuffed the gun in her jacket, her jaw clenched.
Striding in, she avoided the metal detectors, the receptionist's cheerful "Hello!" and all the noise around her, and went straight up to the CEO's office, her heart beating a tattoo against her ribcage.
She pushed the door open, and he looked up, smiling.
The Dormitator said, cheerfully, "Aru, beta, what are you doing here?"
She ignored the question, as she scrutinized him, his face the same face of the person who had raised her, yet so alien.
Murderer.
"Are you okay? You don't look—"
"Stop," she hissed, through gritted teeth, her eyes burning.
"What are you talking—"
"I know, okay? I know who you are. I know you killed my mother. I know you're the Dormitator."
His face shifted from confusion to recognition in a matter of seconds.
"You don't know what you're talking about," he said, with a nervous laugh.
"I don't know what I'm talking about? You killed my mother. You trapped my sister. You hurt my best friends. You're the reason I nearly died, and you have the audacity to say that I don't know what I'm talking about?"
Her breathing was heavy, as her fingers crept to her jacket, and closed in around her gun.
She pulled it out, with shaky hands, and through a blur of tears, she saw his eyes widen in surprise.
"You don't want to do this, Aru. You're not a killer. You won't do this, beta."
"You forfeited the right to call me your child long ago. And I may not be a killer, but you certainly are. I was your daughter. Kara was too. You loved my mother. Why would you kill her, why would you try to kill us?"
Her voice was surprisingly steady.
"You don't understand."
"Then make me." she hissed, through gritted teeth. "I want to hear your side of the story, to hear how pathetic your excuse will be."
"Back then, I needed the money. And I took over and I— I couldn't stop."
Aru's finger on the trigger quivered.
She slid the gun back in her jacket.
"You... you understand?" He asked, hopefully.
"No. That was a more stupid reason than I expected. You're still a liar, and I hate you. I. Hate. You."
She took a deep breath. "Mom knew. In the days before she died, she knew. That's why you killed her."
"I loved her... but she knew too much."
Liar. LIAR.
In the distance, she heard sirens. Or was that another hallucination?
"I know you'll kill me if you get the chance. But you won't escape. My friends— and I'm not telling you who— already know who you really are. So you can run, but you won't run far."
She forced herself to look at him, straight in the eyes.
"You have two choices: Come quietly, and avoid a hassle and getting shot. You'll rot in jail, but you'll be alive. Or, if you escape, be hunted down, and I'll make sure you die."
Silence. "I can kill you." He whispered.
"I loved you, I raised you, but I have the power to do it."
"So do I," she whispered, a cool, quiet rage taking over her. "If I go down, I'll take you with me, Father."
Even though it hurt her to call him that, she felt some satisfaction knowing it hurt him more.
She heard the sirens grow closer, louder, and he heard it too.
It's finally over. She didn't know who said that in her head: her mother, or her.
————