CHAPTER: 13
Vrishti took the stairs to the hotel room she shared with Naaz.
Closing the door on her way back to her bed, she noticed Naaz and Namrita on the bed at the other side of the room watching cartoons, they never get old.
When they noticed her, their faces bloomed into smiles, and greeted her with small hey-s.
"Ssup cutie?", Namrita smiled at Vrishti and leaned on Naaz's shoulder as they rested against the headboard.
"The usual", Vrishti muttered followed by a oomph as she plopped on the bouncy mattress of her bed.
"Whatcha watching?", She tried to lighten up as she asked the couple.
"Our favorite, of course", Namrita answered.
"uh-huh you mean your favorite", Naaz indicated turning towards her girlfriend.
Vrishti smiled as they bickered and turned to open her laptop which lay by the bedside table.
let's get to work
She opened the search engine and typed in the sentence which had been running on her mind for very long and the results were the pages filled with question forums, and conspiracy theories related to the Raya Dynasty.
She went through the titles of the links as they read:
"The lady who cursed the whole city of Alwan" (the capital of Raya)
"The infamous attack of the Vallisaars on Raya which brought the whole kingdom down"
" The mysterious death of Vidhyut Raya"
Vrishti opened the ones which spiked her interest and noted down the points which fed her curiosity but somewhere through it, her head throbbed a little and the last thing she remembered was
Varsha and Vidhyut
.
.
.
steps, hurried steps could be heard, they came from everywhere and it all seemed a blur
she looked up at the sky, the grays and the white monotones of the clouds looked a stark contrast against the towering trees around her and the world seemed to be doused in dusk
she wondered where she was, the uneven ground was soft and damp as she moved around in the wet and heavy clothes that covered her to the toe
she picked up the flowy gown of the dress and ran again. she couldn't get caught
she forced her legs and ran as fast as she could while the pelting droplets felt like arrows sliding across her face and exposed arms.
suddenly a hand shot through the trees and pulled at her when it got hold of her elbow just as lightning struck through the sky somewhere
no no no
the sky burst with a blinding white and she saw him. worried eyes met hers, his lips moved but the deep rumbling in the clouds made it impossible then it all went silent
.
.
.
Vrishti's phone rang beside her as she found herself sprawled on the bed on her stomach. She must have slept on her right hand as it tingled a little after the blood circulation had been cut off due to the body weight.
She picked up the phone with her left hand. Bleary eyes looked at the phone screen where Papa beside which a green heart adorned it.
She swiped on the green icon and brought it to her ear, "Haa Hello Papa", her voice drawled out.
"Hello beta", came her father's voice from the other side, and the conversation continued.
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"This place is so boring ", Lee sulked as he put his head on Namrita's shoulder.
Namrita patted his head as Naaz laid her head on her lap and read the book 'The Chronicles of Meluha'.
Give her a fictional book on religion and history and you wouldn't even know she is there until she finishes the said book then all she had to talk about was the book she read, like the last time when she read the book 'The Origin'.
The book wandered around the question, 'Where did we come from and Where are we heading?' and for the next some days all Naaz had to talk about was how good Dan Brown's books are.
"What's the task for today?", Lee asked raising his head from Namrita's shoulder as he gripped Gurnoor's fist holding a handful of grasses aimed at him.
"Don't know, the teachers gave no instructions for today even though it's written hike day in the itinerary", Namrita answered as she traced the patterns on Naaz's hijab.
"Any guess who will call their dearest father first? Erena or Radha oh I mean Ri-Ri?", Lee smirked certainly not hiding his amusement as he made fun of the relatives of the college's chairman who attended the same college.
Just then Shayon spotted them below the tree and sat beside them followed by Vrishti after a few minutes with her eyes stuck to her phone screen coming from the same direction.
She looked up to meet Lee smirking at him who raised her eyebrows questioningly as she pocketed her phone in her jeans which she wore over her block-printed kurti.
"What?"
Lee just shrugged at looked back at Namrita who has her eyes on a pair talking animatedly to their teacher-in-charge at the back entrance of the resort.
"I guess both", and they all laughed while Vrishti looked around dumbfounded, and the 'what' from her resonated again.
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But somewhere unbeknownst to them, new secrets were unraveling, " Why are you here, I told you not to follow me?", the voice spoke.
"How can I not?", the other voice spoke with an undertone of saccharine syrup.
"Don't you understand?!? You shouldn't meddle in other's business when you are told not to", the former exclaimed.
The latter clicked his tongue and shook his head with a 'nuh-uh'.
"I am warning you or else the consequences wouldn't be good"
"And I am warning you, or else it would be too bad when I find it before you, Father"
"You wish", coldness coating the syllables in its icy exterior as it cut through the others.
The impending storm was nearing.
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Writing 'DISTANCES' had been easier than this and one of the reasons for it being short and fluff-filled. This one is more complex for a newbie like me so feel free to point things out if they don't make sense, I will be happy to give my audience an improved version.
for those who don't follow me, i've put my Instagram and Pinterest acc on my bio, feel free to check it out so that I can create some content for my characters (I would love some suggestions)
and lemme know what is the favorite part of your story so far 🤭🌿💐
good day!