Warm sunlight filtered inside the room through the open windows. Rayana was sitting in her usual place, on the windowsill, while humming a song and sketching in her notebook. She looks carefree and calm. Danielle is sitting on her bed- Anushka's bed- while trying to read a book. But no matter how much she tried, she couldn't read a single line. The burnt picture of Arianna and that boy, which she had hidden inside the pocket of one of her jackets in her wardrobe, occupied her mind.
Last night, after returning from her late-night rendezvous, Danielle was able to slip undetected into her new room. Rayana had already fallen asleep, much to her relief. The first thing she did was pull out the picture and stuff it inside the pocket of one of her jackets that lay at the very bottom of her wardrobe. As much as she didn't want to, the thought of Rayana being a suspect in Arianna's murder had crossed her mind multiple times but she had always pushed it at the very back of her mind. Today, sitting here, looking at Rayana, the thought came back with a fierce force and this time, Danielle couldn't shake it away. Rayana looked abnormally sane after the gruesome incident. People who weren't well-acquainted with Arianna, too, seemed to have been swayed by the horrific incident.
The walls which once reverberated with joyous shrieks and heartfelt laughter, now echoed the fearful whispers and shivered insinuations.
"I am so glad that you're, now, my roommate." Rayana's voice broke Danielle's train of thought and pulled her to reality. Rayana looked at her with a soft, genuine smile on her face. All of a sudden, Danielle's throat felt parched.
The girl who was smiling at her with deep satisfaction was the same girl she had been suspecting of murder. Danielle felt ashamed. How could she ever doubt Rayana? After all, Rayana was her best friend. She could never do something like this. Never.
Danielle put down the book on the bed and looked down at her lap, fiddling with her fingers. The atmosphere of the room shifted- from calm and serene to tensed and suffocating. Danielle was unsure as to what to say.
Cold fingers grasped her chin and tilted them up. Shocked, Danielle swatted the hand away. Rayana moved back. Her hands hovered a few centimetres away from Danielle.
"It's okay," Rayana soothed. "It's just me." Her voice sounded like the one a person would use when approaching a wounded, feral animal.
Danielle exhaled. "I am sorry. Just got scared."
Rayana smiled. She sat down on the bed, beside her. "It's going to be fine. I don't think they are really going to arrest you."
"You don't know that." Danielle let out a rueful laugh.
Rayana looked at her, eyes full of pity. Before she had the chance to reply, there was a sharp knock on the door. Both the girls' eyes jumped onto it. Rayana's eyebrows furrowed. Getting up from the bed, she asked, "Who is it?"
A male voice replied. "It's me, Ryan."
This time it was Danielle whose eyebrows furrowed. She couldn't decipher what he wanted and why was he there. Had Xavier sent him?
Rayana had already opened the door and Ryan stepped inside. Without addressing Rayana at all, he spoke to Danielle. "Mrs. Kashyap is calling you. Now."
"Again?" Danielle groaned. "Why?"
"I don't know." Ryan shrugged. "But she wants to meet you, right now, so, better hurry up."
And like that, he was out of the room.
"Well, you better not keep Mrs. Kashyap waiting." Rayana opened the door wider as an invitation for Danielle to walk out of it. Reluctantly, Danielle did.
°°°°°
Knocking on the heavy mahogany door of the room that served as Mrs. Kashyap's office beside the green room, Danielle waited patiently outside. She could hear muffled shuffling of feet inside and moments later, the door swung open. Mrs. Kashyap, looking as whimsical as ever, stood there with a kind smile on her face. Her greying hair was put in a bun, her glasses perched meticulously on the bridge of her nose. She was wearing a vibrant sage kaftan. With a wave of her hand, she ushered Danielle inside.
Once inside, Danielle smelt the familiar smell of this place. It felt like ages since she came here. Her office room was small and quaint. A wooden bookshelf covered one of the walls which was stacked with books and plays from the top to bottom. Another was full of paintings, most of which were old and covered with cobwebs. A lone intricately designed stool stood at one corner, on which stood a vase with a bouquet of dry flowers. Pushed against the other wall was the chair in which Mrs. Kashyap was sitting. In front of her, her desk was overflowing with unorganised papers. She pointed at the chair opposite her and asked Danielle to sit on it.
Danielle sat down. Mrs. Kashyap handed her some papers. Danielle looked at the front page. In bold and large font, the words 'Romeo and Juliet' were printed. She looked up at Mrs. Kashyap, questioningly.
"The play was supposed to get cancelled after the... uh- incident," Mrs. Kashyap said. "But Ophelia said that the play mustn't be cancelled. "She wanted to maintain a sense of normalcy within the school environment. Since Arianna has passed away, the role of Juliet is now available. I want you to play the role, Danielle."
Danielle protested, immediately. "I told you, already. I don't want to."
"This isn't a question, Danielle," Mrs. Kashyap said, sharply. "I am telling you, not asking you."
Danielle fell silent. After mulling over Mrs. Kashyap's words for a few moments, she asked, "Why me?"
Mrs. Kashyap sighed. "As much as I hate to say this, but people are avoiding you like the plague. This can be your chance to get some semblance of the normalcy you once had. You can't live like an outcast."
Danielle knew that Mrs. Kashyap's every word was true. Avoiding her was an understatement; everyone was repulsed by her. Every time she went somewhere, the people there would start heading the other way- away from her. Even if some decided to stay in the same place as her, they would stay as far away from her, careful enough to not even let her shadow fall on them.
Danielle nodded, silently. "Okay, I will play Juliet."
Mrs. Kashyap smiled at Danielle so affectionately that it warmed something inside of her.
°°°°°
Walking out of the theatre room, Danielle's head swarmed with thousands of thoughts- Arianna's death, the burnt picture and now, the school play. Anxious about what the other students would think about her playing the role of Juliet, she didn't notice the person standing before her. Before she could run straight into the person, the said person grabbed her by the shoulder.
"Danielle." Danielle jumped in surprise but immediately relaxed once, she saw it was Sameera. "Come with me."
Sameera led Danielle up the stairs, all the way to Vijay's office. Stopping before the door of Vijay's office, Sameera hesitated. Then, holding the door open, she let Danielle enter first and then, followed her inside. The door closed behind them softly.
Vijay, who was looking outside the window with a strange look on his face, whirled around at the soft sound of the closing door. There was fear and anticipation painted all over his face but once, his eyes fell on Danielle, those vanished rapidly and were instead, replaced by tender love and something unfamiliar but melancholic.
Danielle's heart squeezed looking at him. He looked so fragile and tender; if handled without proper care, he would shatter. Rushing towards him, she embraced him. Vijay grew stiff, his hands hovered around her. The gravity of her action settled on her. She was about to pull away when she felt Vijay's hands holding her against him, fiercely but with an undertone of affection.
This mere action triggered the walls inside her to crumble down, letting free all the emotions she had put behind it. Salty, hot tears cascaded down her cheeks as sobs wrecked her body. He held her against him, tightly, afraid that if he let her go, she would crumple down, which she would. The thought of her being deemed as the murderer seemed unbearable to her; a permanent red stain on her life.
Danielle didn't know how long she cried or when Sameera started caressing her hair with her loving, caring hand. Finally, she pulled away from him. Vijay and Sameera led her to the setee and sat her down, with them sitting on either side of her. None of them spoke. The silence in the room was welcoming and comforting, wrapping up Danielle in a protective cocoon. The warm sunrays, which are quite rare in Cherapunjee, brighten up the office room.
Danielle observed the grey sibia sitting on the pine tree outside Vijay's window. The golden rays falling on the bird from the gaps of the leaves painted it in a new vibrant colour that looked so ethereal and enthralling to her. At that moment, she wished to be a bird; to be able to take flight freely, to be able to soar high up in the cerulean sky. She wanted to be free.
"The autopsy report came." Vijay's low voice shattered the quiet sanctity that was created and pulled Danielle back into the harsh reality. "Arianna died because of phenol in her blood. Someone had injected that in her. The syringe used to inject phenol was found under your window."
"I know," Danielle replied, quietly. She studied Vijay under the golden rays that had fallen on his face. The dark bags under his eyes had gotten only darker and his hair looked even messier than before. His stature seemed to have sagged under some unknown weight that only he could carry. Vijay looked like a fallen angel.
"How?" Sameera's voice startled her. She had completely forgotten about Sameera's presence.
Sameera didn't look any better. The bags under her eyes had gotten heavier and the familiar spark in her eyes had subdued. The strong Sameera Danielle knew had vanished and a broken Sameera had taken her place.
"Xavier told me," Danielle answered, truthfully.
"I see." Sameera nodded. "It's needless to say that you're the prime suspect in Arianna's murder."
A mirthless laughter escaped from her lips. "I beg to differ. Everyone in this school is sure that I am, in fact, the murderer of Arianna."
"We don't think so," reasoned Vijay, hastily. Then, as an afterthought, he added, "Neither do Xavier."
"I know." Danielle smiled. "You people are the only ones I have left."
Then, another thought struck her mind. "How did you manage to convince Inspector Rabha to not arrest me? I am sure it wasn't my two-week time that made her back down."
"Well, Xavier did most of the convincing." Vijay smiled, softly.
"I didn't think his influence would work outside this school," Danielle confessed. "But then, again, it's Xavier, we are talking about. I think he was born with that particular aura to him."
"True." Sameera nodded. "Every Alvarez is born with that aura."
"Not trying to disappoint you," Vijay started. Danielle frowned. "But this time, Xavier's convincing was more at a personal level. Inspector Andrea Rabha is Xavier's sister."
Danielle gasped. She didn't know how to feel about this- the inspector who was trying to arrest her was the sister of the boy who was trying to help her prove her innocence. This to her seemed like a twisted satire of fate. A new doubt crept up, what if he was only helping his sister to prove her guilty? But that thought seemed so outrageous to her; Xavier would never do something like that to her."
"This makes so much more sense," Danielle said. Failing to drive away, the small seed of doubt, she ended up asking, "But why?"
Vijay shrugged. "I don't know."
Sameera spoke up from beside her. "Danielle, listen, neither Vijay nor me, we don't expect you to prove your innocence in these two weeks. So, I want you to know that we are here for you. We would protect you. We promise that nothing will happen to you. We will not let anything happen to you."
Sameera reached forward to squeeze her hand and Vijay put a loving, reassuring hand on her shoulder.
For the first time in a long while, she felt at home.
SANNAYA!
oh, finally done. please please do let me know what you all are thinking about this story because I desperately need to know if it's getting boring or not.