𝟎𝟒 - 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉'𝒔 𝑴𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔
It had been a few days since Parvati had been discharged from the hospital with a shiny new defibrillator implanted in her heart. She felt much better now that she didn't have wires and stiff needles implanted in her wrists, as well as having to listen to the continuous, insufferable beep of the heart rate machine which kept on going, even during the night.
She sat in her room, completing school homework with a pair of headphones atop her head playing soothing violin covers. Outside it rained. The people of Mumbhattan didn't like it when it rained, as it seemed to wash away all the brightness and colour of their city. But Parvati liked it for some reason, it brought out another side of Mumbhattan: its tranquil and quiet one.
Her pen swivelled against the paper as she wrote an essay for English, the blue ink taking the form of the words she had envisioned in her head. The rain blurred the outlines of the buildings outside her window, and there weren't many cars on the road. The violin sweeping through her ears helped her write.
Parvati didn't hear her younger brother Manish enter the room, closing the door behind him with a quiet click. He tapped her shoulder, and mimed for her to take her headphones off. She did.
'What happened?' she asked, opening Spotify on her phone and pausing the music.
'I wanted to talk to you,' muttered Manish.
'Yeah sure. About what?'
'Well...' he wringed his hands, 'It's about... y'know... when I nearly, er, jumped...'
'Oh,' Parvati felt a pang reach her stomach as she remembered that detrimental moment when she had thought he would hit the ground and she would never see him smile again. Never hear him talk again.
'So, I wanted to tell you the truth,' he admitted meekly, 'About why I chose to do that.'
Parvati now gave him her full attention, completely forgetting about her essay and the violin music, 'Yeah... go ahead.'
Manish pulled out his phone and opened the photos app. He clicked on a series of text message screenshots, and handed the phone to her, before he started to speak.
'So I remember you guys adopted me exactly two years ago, and I honestly have always been thankful for that. I think you already know about how abusive my parents were, physically, verbally, and mentally.'
'Yeah I know...'
'Something I didn't tell you guys was I was in fact still on contact with them. They kept text messaging me all the time after I had completed the therapy. They told me I wasn't worth in the world, and I should die. I never told you, or mummy or papa, because because my emotional arse thought I should keep them in contact as they were my biological parents.'
Parvati scrolled through the messages, 'Even though everyone had told you to block their numbers...'
'Yes... and now I feel really guilty that I did that,' Poor Manish teared up, 'I'm so sorry Parvati... I'm so sorry I scared you, and mummy and papa. I'm so sorry that I kept their numbers. I just didn't know what was right.'
Parvati was moved by the young boy's words. His life had been so hard for him while he was at his prime age of having fun. She was glad that her family had taken him away from those abhorrent people.
She wrapped her arms around his skinny frame, letting him cry into her chest. There was something so painful about seeing him so lost and helpless in that moment as she ran her hand through his hair, whispering condolences into his ear. Soon, the only sounds in the room were the brisk pitter-pattering of the rain outside and the boy's occasional sniffles.
'I deleted their numbers and took screenshots of the conversation in case I ever have to report them again. I'll make sure to never contact them again,' promised Manish, wiping his eyes with the back of his jumper sleeve, 'I really mean it. If they ever try to contact me again, I'll make sure to tell you instead of trying to handle them myself.'
'I trust you will do that in the future, Manish,' said Parvati, hugging him, 'It's okay. Just don't scare us like that ever again.'
'I won't.'
***
It had been a good few hours since Parvati had talked to Manish, and now the sky had grown a few shades grayer. She'd already looped through her violin Spotify playlist three times, and two essays of five pages each lay on the side. As she inspected her work, she congratulated herself on being so productive-
Thump, 'Let me in!'
Parvati's face shot up, her neck nearly cracking. Outside her window, hanging from the sill above, was a very wet Indian Spiderman. His hair lay flopped on his head.
'What the f-' she opened the window, and he jumped in, spraying droplets onto her desk and the carpet, 'What are you doing here?!'
'I thought I would pay you a visit because why not?'
She stared at him, sopping wet and dripping rainwater onto her floor, 'Seriously?'
'Yeah,' he swung his arms, 'I wanted to see you. By the way, you have a towel or something to could dry myself off with?'
Parvati absent-mindedly walked towards a bathroom and pulled out a fresh towel and handed it to him. He took it, thanking her, before wiping his suit down and shaking his hair.
'Tch' she grinned, taking the towel from him, 'This is how you do it.'
She bunched up his long hair in the towel and started vigorously rubbing it. Spiderman laughed loudly, clutching his stomach. Once she was done, Parvati inspected her handiwork: his hair looked a little crazy as it dried.
'So,' she chucked the towel onto her bed, looking at him with her hands on her hips, 'Why may I be granted the pleasure of being visited by Spiderman?'
'Not calling me that nickname you set me, "Pavitr" or something?' he asked, 'But that's fine, you don't have to. I know, it'll be a bit weird, calling someone you don't know someone who you actually know...'
Parvati slowly nodded, 'Right...'
He giggled slightly, 'Yeah, I know. That didn't make sense.'
'No, it didn't exactly,' she smiled, 'But I got the general gist of it.'
'Alright.'
'So... reveal to me why you're here!' she encouraged.
'Sheesh, someone's happy to see me,' he took a step forward, towering over her and tilting his head slightly, 'I wonder why.'
Parvati's voice died in her throat as she realised how close he was. He was actually quite tall, and it intimidated her more than a little than she would admit. He had his palms gently clasped behind his back as he waited for an answer.
'Cat got your tongue?' Parvati could hear the grin in his voice, even though she could not see it.
'I... no,' she shook her head, stepping back and regaining her composure, 'Why are you here?'
'Because I have something I need to tell you...' he then lowers his voice to a whisper, barely speaking above his breath, 'There is a voice recorder and an active bomb under your desk.'
***