Dear diary,
My handwriting right now sucks Because I am on a moving bus. Its nearly 8 pm. I slept at noon. There's a lot that happened today. I nearly fought Madhav but he got scared of me and backed away.
There's something weird going on with Aarav and Nagma. Its like he wants to tell me something and then decides not to. Why wouldn't he? I'm trustworthy! Right?
Also!!! I wanted to tell you this... We will be stopping in Gadag. Its a small town. There's a small show like thing there. But we're singing for the school there. They offered us a guest house in return
I just realized I've never told you the bands name right? Its sapth raga. Seven songs or some shit.
Its a nice name. Apparently they kept seven coz they're seven. Lol.
What else... Oh I got a text from mama. She just told me to take care. I miss them I agree. But we do not talk about it.
I don't feel very good diary. My back is starting to hurt. Maybe I'll get it checked up in Pune? For now I'll take a tablet. We almost have reached! Bye diary!
---------------------------------------
"Aarav, go talk to the manager, Jayapriya go with him" Rudra instructed rather commandingly.
Nodding, the girl walked off with Aditya as the others pulled the luggage out. Situated almost in the middle of nowhere, the guesthouse was in an empty ground. Wild bushes lined the ground while a forest seemed to be its background.
The road - if one could call it that- was over run by tall grass. The sound of crickets chirping was loud - almost to the point of being noisy in the dark still night. Crinkling of dried grass in the dark surrounding areas by small rodents and animals. The wind was picking up, Even the stars seemed to have hidden behind a thick curtain of purple-blue clouds, a sign of incoming rain.
After everyone had settled in, Rudra asked Madhav to wait back as he wanted to talk to him. He grudgingly nodded and sulked by the bus.
Rudra leaned His back on the bus, the heat of the metal contrasting the chill night.
"What's happening Madhav?" Rudra asked solemnly, watching the lithe man in front of him carefully. Madhav wasn't a very likeable person but it was unlike him to be so abrasive. He had changed in the past few days...
"Look" he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Its just personal issues with Aarav and Jayapriya"
"What Issues?" He asked
"I don't like them ...they're annoying"
He shrugged with an animated hand gesture.
"The situation is annoying" Rudra shook his head, crossing his arms "either stop. Or sort it out."
With that he walked past him, patting him on the shoulder before walking up to the house. Kicking a rock away Madhav chose to stay out for a while longer.
The house was almost bare. A few mattresses on the ground in individual rooms was all it had too offer. The cement floor did nothing in terms of insulation and Jp would have wept if not for Nagma who made her bed a little more bearable.
Popping a couple pills, Jp decided to skip dinner and go to bed instead. Her back and legs hurt which she assumed was due to the cramped travel.
Aarav and Aditya bought over food and they all quickly ate on the floor. It was meager but better than the bus.
As they all tucked themselves into bed, the rains lashed onto the earth, harsh cold winds seeping in through the rickety windows.
Curling farther into her blanket, Jp began to shiver. Not completely in the throes of sleep, her eyes kept fluttering open in futile attempts to get warm and comfortable.
Do I have a fever..? She questioned herself, trying to touch her neck, she felt hot but couldn't discern whether it was abnormal or not. Gently lifting herself up, she realized the pain had multiplied.
BANG!- The sound of the window startled her, making her wince. Pushing herself to stand she nearly groaned- in pain- out loud.
shivering without the blanket she slowly limped her way to the window and shut it. exhaling shakily, she looked around the small empty room.
Slowly walking out, she tried making her way to Nagma, her left knee felt locked making it hard to even lift her leg.
The chill of the concrete floor seemed to seep into her feet. Flexing her knuckles, she tried to relieve her soreness.
Swallowing spit to ease speech from her dry throat she called out for Nagma, the roaring thunder overtaking her feeble voice by far.
Pushing the door open, she walked onto the corridor, the flash of lightning making the shut doors visible.Shadows of madly waving trees making it hard to differentiate door from wall- the only exception being a small table which she bumped into rather painfully before moving on- the patchy paint on the wall crumbled as she touched it , leaving white marks on her palms.
Feeling the edges of a door under her trembling fingers, she mustered up the strength to strike the door twice- no response.
Another hard strike amplified by the roar of thunder- her knee gave way to her weight and she fell to the floor.
The door creaked open slightly , unbeknownst to her, a tall lithe figure watched her groan in pain.
a flash of lightning alerted her to his presence and she looked at him with a flicker of hope.
"Madhav?" she asked through parched lips. Calculating eyes followed her movements, before turning away and disappearing from her field of view.
Eyes widening in disbelief, she tried standing once more, using the creaking table as a crutch. With a shiver her knees gave away, shifting her weight completely onto the rickety table -which came crashing down loudly.
Sound alerting the sleepers- the doors swung open as people peered out.
The lightning flashed onto a slumped figure as a small trickle of blood running down a clammy forehead. Her eyes flickered open in the slightest as A figure ran toward her, she felt herself being lifted up. the sound of weeping filled her ears... She wondered who it was for a second before realizing the voice was hers.
Bring cradled in strong arms, her eyes looked up for a second, finding a familiar face.
"Aarav" she whispered before her eyes fluttered shut