A wet, colorless, transparent aqua pura was burbling from the shiny chrome spout above, onto the milky white porcelain below. Splashing, splattering and bubbling, slithers, gurgling down the dark hole, a journey to somewhere.
Roshni was standing there, stretching her both hands to collect crystal clear fluid into her white-feather palms and then dispersing it over her whole face in order to wash away her guilt.
"I didn't do anything! I didn't do anything!" She was muttering, while rubbing her face with her slender fingers.
Dev! Yes, Dev is the real culprit of Aster, not me. Not me!
"Not me!" She threw the words at the reflection of the girl whose eyes were swollen due to constant crying for one hour and all her makeup was floating on her phiz, demolishing her daz.
Her body, which couldn't stay still, slide down on the white- gazed Vitrified floor making a thumping sound. "I wish! I could stop this."
Wait a minute! A thought splashed into her mind. Why did Dev behave in that way? It should be Nina according to the plan of that person..... Right? Nina should humiliate Aster by seeing her face and then act pathetic in order to gain fake sympathy from her fake fans.
She paused for a minute. Is Dev Raichand also involved in this matter.
She accumulated her energy, straightened up and went outside the girls toilet which was at the top floor of the building where the ceremony was held.
........
" HU.... HU.... " While moaning, a girl whose dreams and self-esteem were all shattered, was leaning under a cherry tree with a soulless body.
Her heart had stopped pumping and accepting blood due to the infinite stings which it had been tolerating for several years, but now, enough is enough. The heart had now become dead as a doornail.
She craned her neck to get a glimpse of the girl who had lost everything, by looking at the bubbling fluid flowing from the Marian waterfall, which is a artificial Cascade, a tourist attraction. But in this season, not many people visit City A because of the hot and humid weather. But that day, the number of people was almost equal to none.
"Ahh.... This face ruined my whole life."She pulled back her neck. "Even if I couldn't glare at my repulsive face, how could I have hope from others?"
She again started crying from her whole power, causing terror among the birds and small animals there.
A river of desperation and throbbing was dipping from her coin-eyes, making its way through both cheeks-one is pretty, clean and clear, and the other one having burnt marks.
She clenched her teeth and "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...." a lifeless sound of grief, anger, suffering uttered from her throat.
She fisted both her hands, rose up and walked near the river.
She was staring at her reflection with her reddened eyes, and she was thinking of a mode which could end her sufferings.
She pressed her lips against each other, clenched her fists, closed her eyes, exhaled, and then she abandoned the control of her body, making it lurch into the cold-rippling watercourse.
Her body was wishing to struggle for life, but her frozen heart was discouraging her mind from doing so.
Her arms were waving, splitting the flow of water again and again, but her heart and mind were pulling her cranium under the water so that the air couldn't find any route to reach her lungs. In around ten to twenty seconds, her body, which had lost its battle of life from her heart, was drowning under the transparent fluid.
Years of suffering were about to vanish in a few minutes, but then two hands of her foe who didn't want Aster's pain to perish, reached out to her and grabbed her left hand and pulled her out of the waterway.
He was none other than Mr. Rohan, who was the security guard of her building, took her to the river bank and leaned her on the green grass.
He pressed on her stomach so that water could come out of her body.
After a few pressing, she coughed out all the water.
"Are you alright, Miss. Aster?" He asked in a soft and concerned voice.
Aster pushed his hand from her shoulder and complained in a high pitched voice "All the pain was about to end. Why did you interfere? Why?"
"Why? Whyyyyyyy....." Her voice became low.
Mr Rohan was watching this dreadful Aster without uttering a single word. Was he astonished or sad?
He closed his eyes, paused for a second and then opened them again.
"You are selfish." He said, while puffing out.
Aster glared at him but couldn't say anything.
Mr. Rohan pulled out the phone from his bag and showed it to Aster. "You wanna end your pain and suffering, you wanna end your life. Am I right? But before doing so, call your parents and inform them.."
"Stop convincing me with these tacky and emotional comments." Aster burst out.
"I am not resisting you from dying. Go kill yourself! This is your life. You can do anything with it. Live it or kill it, your choice. But I just wanna you to get permission from the people who gave birth to you. So that they may get ready in advance to see your corpse."
"I am not in the mood to listen to your speech. Just leave me alone!"She cried out.
"Just leave me alone! Leave me alone!" Aster's heart couldn't bear the loss of such a great chance of vanishing her misery, so the drips of soreness began to fall from her eyes.
"If you can't dial, tell me the number, I will talk to your parents and persuade them to let you die."
"Stop it! Stop it! Just stop it!" Aster was crying and yelling at him. She placed her hands on both her ears so the stinging taunts of Mr. Rohan couldn't reach her eardrums.
Mr. Rohan heaved a sign and put his hand warmly on Aster's head. His eyes became wet and tears were about to exit from his brown eyes but he widened his eyes to pull back the drops of rain of pain.
"Every daughter is her father's princess. And no father in this world could bear the loss of his precious gem. And Mother, if you want to kill your mother without using any weapon, then show her your lifeless body. She will die piece by piece. And you have a little brother. Am I right? What are you teaching him? To run from misery by dying and left, while giving your loved ones a lifelong pain, a lifelong scar which no herb in this world would be able to cure."
After listening to Mr. Rohan's enlightening words, Aster was lost in the contemplation of an instance of her childhood.
At that time, Aster had been a child of 13 or 14 years old and her face was like, it had been freshly burned. Her mother who had been holding a toddler in her arms, was standing with her. Her father had been digging a grave for Aster's pet dog whose name was Kery. Kery had been a pet of Aster from 4 to 5 years but now he died due to some major illness.
"Give me Kery and say goodbye to him." His father insisted.
"Noooooo! Kery could not leave me." Aster had been tightly holding him with her arms near her chest.
Her father stepped towards her. "Aster, Kery had been suffering from pain for 1 year. Now it's time to let him go so he can leave his pain here so that he can start a fresh life without any illnesses. But for that, he have to leave us."
Mrs. Malhotra (Aster's mom) gave the child to a man standing with them. He was Mr. Malhotra (Aster's father) friend. She bent down to Aster's level and hugged her." Don't you want to end Kery's distress."
" Ummmmm." Aster nodded while crying.
"Then give him to Dad and say goodbye to him."
Mrs Malhotra made an eye-gesture to her husband to take Kery from Aster.
Mr. Malhotra pulled Kery from Aster's hands, leaving her devastated.
Then he put Kery with great love and care into the grave, and then splashed mud on him until it covered his whole body.
Aster's mom gave a flower to Aster. "Go! Give him your last gift."
Aster moved towards the grave, sat down and put the flower to Kery's grave.
"Dad! Did death perish all the pain of Kery!"
Mr Malhotra had no idea what to answer. "Ummm, yes. It did."
"Then, Could it end my griefs too!"
All the adults there, had been thunderstruck by hearing such a question from a little child. Did she have any idea about life and death. Had she even lived her life! But the distress and misery of her life had put such a thought in her mind as like all people, she also wanted to get rid of her pain and mental torchers she had been facing at such a young age.
Aster's mother hadn't been able to grasp the thought of losing her daughter. She rushed towards her and hooked her to her chest.
Aster's father walked towards them and placed his hand on his wife's shoulder in order to console her.
He bent down so that he could give her an answer to her question.
"Aster! My baby daughter! As I said Kery had gone but he had left his pain here with us. Do you also want to leave your mom, dad and brother desolated like you are now, because of the departure of your beloved Kery. Do you want us to cry as you are, because your Kery is gone?"
"No Dad! Aster never wants to make Mommy, Daddy and Arnit sob. So Aster will never leave." Aster wiped waterway of throbbing which were flowing from his Dad's eyes.
"Miss Aster! What are you thinking? Give me the number." Mr Rohan again asked her.
Aster came out of her past ponderings. Her heart regained consciousness. The center again began to pump red fluid of life.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh" She blubbered, using her whole vitality.
" Oh! God, what was..... I..... do....doing? What..... was I doing?" Her trembling voice was exposing that she was ashamed of taking such step. She understood that by ending her life, she was about to end the blisses of her family.
She could not imagine the sobbing faces of her parents and brother, Arnit, who loved her so much. Even to the world, she was an ugly and worthless creature but to them, she was everything. She was the heart of her father, the soul of her mother and the smile of her brother. By killing herself, she was killing all of them.
"Aster, my child, we all have scars of some old wounds which could never heal. But we have to live with them as they are a part of us." Mr. Rohan grabbed her bag and asked, "let's go. I will ride you to home. But promise me, you will never try to take such a bold step again."
Aster nodded, while dabbing dry the blobs rippling through her eyes.
She towered up and started walking towards the main road which was only 2 to 3 minutes away from the riverbank in the upwards direction.
"Thank goodness! I was in a rush to get home early, so I took this shortcut and while driving my scooter, I heard your bawling, so I stopped. Otherwise, God forbid, what would have happened?"
Aster was heeding what Mr. Rohan was saying without any interruption.
I wish! That day too, I would have crossed this route . Mr. Rohan eyes became wet but he didn't want to let Aster notice his teardrops so he moved ahead without giving any look to her.
"Umm, Mr Rohan. Your shift ends at 8'O clock. Why are you going so early?"
"My wife has an appointment with Doctor. So I have to be with her."
"Ohh! Mrs Choudary! Is she fine? What happened to her?"
"Oh! She is alright. Just some weather effects."
Mr. Rohan kickstart the scooter and Aster sat on the backseat.
........
Sleeping on a luxurious Queen size bed with an upholstered backrest in off-beige colour, Dev's body was sweating like a pig. He kicked away the satin silk blanket in suffocation which was topping his physique. In a jerk, he opened his eyes like something perilous had happened in his dream.
"Argh! That dream.... Again.... When will all this end...." He signed and rose from his bed, wore his velvet sleepers then plodded his way on the porcelain flooring to the living room which was down the stairs.
His Dad was sitting on the velvet Chesterfield, bent over a newspaper.
Mr. Raichand was tall and charming like his son, with his smooth tanned skin and black hair.
"Hey, buddy!" Mr. Raichand said, while looking up, "Are you in your senses or do I have to look for a monk."
"Ya.... I am in good condition, Dad. Just a headache."
"Come on, sit here, by my side. I will massage your head and all your pain will vanish."
Dev leaned his neck on his Dad's shoulder. "Dad! Why can't I eliminate those piercing memories from my head?"
Mr. Raichand caressed his son's forehead. "Buddy! Good memories are like sand. The more we want to hold them, the more they slip away. So we have to refill our hands time after time, so we may not remain emptyhanded. But in contrast, bad memories are like mud. They gets sticked onto us and it's hard to remove them. But we have to try, try and try hard until the soil is cleared away. So Keep trying and one day, this mud of past tantrum will get cleaned."
Dev straightened his spine and rubbed his palms over his face."But Dad! I am tired of tackling and trying."
"Have faith, buddy! And and one day, you will definitely heal from those wounds.But don't let those memories overpower and control your behaviour."
A beautiful and elegant lady stepped down from the stairs with a black and white furry cat in her hands. "Go Lovely! Play there." She released the cat on the floor.
"Son and father are having a private meeting.... hmmm.... Am I invited or not?"That lady asked in a dulcet tone.
"Babe! You are always welcome." Mr.Raichand responded.
She sat near Dev and touched his forehead. "Your temperature is normal now. You know how much you scared us, you fool!"She slapped on the back of his head.
"Ohh Mom! I am extremely sorry to trouble you all," Dev held his mom's hands and kissed them, "I understand your care and love for me."
"Umm! Your sister called and informed me about what happened there. I mean, in the function. Don't you think you should apologise to someone else too?" Mrs. Raichand said, while flicking her brown hair behind her ear.
"Ohh! I will personally say sorry to Daisy and Krish too."
"Ahha! I am not talking about them." She rolled her eyeballs.
"I don't want any apology from Sam." Dev stood up and sat on the sofa opposite them while crossing his arms.
"She is your sister, Dev, not your enemy." How could you...."
Mr. Raichand placed his hand on his wife's shoulder to stop her.
"You always forbade me from talking about Sam. Isn't she your daughter too?" She muttered in her husband's ear so Dev could not hear her.
"Anyway", she again started speaking to Dev, "I am not talking about Sam. I am talking about that girl, I don't remember her name but the girl you misbehaved with, on the grandstand."
Dev broke eye-contact with his parents and looked away.
"What! Feeling ashamed?" Her mother took a long breath, "Dev, your Dad and I don't want our children to be a cause of someone's heartbreak and misery. I think you should make reparations from that girl."
"But Mom, I am Dev Raichand. I don't think I need to apologise to anyone. People can't hate me, after all." Dev tried to slip away.
"No Dev! Your mom is right. No matter, you are the son of business tycoon, Mr. Vineet Raichand and a successful actress Mrs. Anuradha Raichand, you have to be apologetic for your misdeeds. And being a famous supermodel doesn't mean you can trespass anyone."
"No, I am not gonna shallow my pride, " Dev moved his head to the other side, "I mean, I am a supermodel and star of the college. How can I beg pardon from someone so ordinary?"
"Devvvvvv," His father said in a strong voice, "she was getting Prestige award, and you are saying she is ordinary. And also, being a famous supermodel doesn't mean you can trespass anyone whether the person is ordinary or extraordinary."
I think I don't have any choice now. Dev reached for the glass of water, placed on the table and drank it.
"Alright! I will meet that girl and confess my guilt. But I don't want to look at her repulsive face. Tell her to cover her face before meeting me."He announced.
"OK. I will call and inform Sam. Don't worry about this but make sure to apologise properly."Mrs. Raichand smiled.
Questions for readers:
1. Have you ever encountered such situations when you decided to end you life.
2. If you were Aster, what would you do?
3. Will Dev apologise?
4. Will there be a new conflict between Dev and Aster.