Gagan was driving at a steady pace. They had been at it for good amount of time now. Dwija was feeling sick from all the crying, thinking and all. They had passed a lot many unknown landscapes. Their journey did not seem to end at any point soon. She questioned, "Gagan kaka, how long will it take before we get to college?"
"It will be late beta. We had come long way to the outskirts for you. It will take time before we are in the city and then to the college."
Dwija looked at her watch, her classes for the day will anyway be missed, what was the point of going to college at such late hour for no reason. "Kaka, please take me home. I can't attend classes today I think even if I reach college."
"Okay beta. You take rest then. I will wake you up once we are at your home."
Dwija was tired as it is. She thought taking a nap was not a bad idea.
"But you had some work with Mohan, if I am not wrong.", Gagan asked all of a sudden.
"How do you know that?"
"Sashi had told me when we were waiting outside your house. You got in trouble with your mother because of that, isn't it? Poor fellow, your mother. Now that she has lost all the people she actually depended on, she feels lost. She has nobody but only you. You should at least be on her side. I understand she can be unreasonable at some point but trusting her and doing what she wants you to do, is the least you can do for her, as her daughter."
"I understand", Dwija mumbled looking out again.
The road they took had tall trees interspersed with bushes on either side of it. White, yellow and red wildflowers laced in bushes. Once in a while, she spotted a Gulmohar tree. The vibrant red flowers here and there, scattered amidst the green tapestry looked ethereal. The air smelled sweet. Was it gur? Like there was some place nearby where gur was being prepped. The surrounding kept being familiar. Same pattern, same fragrance for quite a while. Like they were moving through a maze following the same route again and again, unable to spot their destination. Dwija felt weird but she did not voice her thoughts. The surrounding was quite, not a living being within view, maybe that's why everything felt same, redundant, not much happening. Maybe her mind was playing around with her own myriad set of emotions, not ready to register or not willing to register the less significant matters at hand. She had a lot to process, lot to be prepared for.
As Dwija was busy in her own thoughts, she failed to notice when the car stopped. Gagan turned his body halfway from his seat to look Dwija in the eye.
"We are there."
"Where is it? I wanted to go home." Dwija's voice was laced with concern. The place was a lonesome setting. There was a standalone bungalow at the end of the road that twisted sharply at the edge of the cliff at whose base Gagan had stopped the car. The top of the bungalow peeked above the greenery. It was a bit too much green to Dwija's liking, varying from the lightest of greens to the darkest shades that could easily make its place in a pallet containing shades of black. The molded brown shade of the tree stems, parasitic creepers overhanging the trees, damp smell and gloom in the air with the constant chirping of the crickets freaked her out.
She remembered Sashi's words from earlier. That people will stand against her now on. She looked at Gagan's face carefully. The small eyes with bags under them, the high cheekbones flaunting a big black mole. His thin lips turned up into a reassuring smile exposing his tobacco-stained teeth. In a long time, she was looking at his face. When had he gotten so old! The roots of his hair showed signs of old age. She was desperately searching for signs of pretention, signs that would confirm betrayal but in return they screamed back a confirmation of all her memories of Gagan from childhood. He had always been like this. Nothing malicious fell off the eyes or face. There could nothing be wrong, not now, not with him.
"We are at Mohan's place."
"How do you know him, kaka?"
Gagan laughed playfully before answering back, "We are all cousins, Dwija. Of course, I know him. Even if you can't go to college, do this task for your mother beta. She will have some peace. Surely you don't want troubles back at home again."
Dwija opened her bag and looked inside it. She then turned out her bag on the backseat spilling all its contents outside. "Kaka, I don't know what happened, but I am not finding the paper."
"Did you put it in your bag before leaving the house?", Gagan's smile faltered, and he looked concerned as well.
"Yes kaka. I said maa that I won't do, just to piss her off. But actually, I had put the paper in my bag already. Anyway, I was going to meet someone to sort out our property matters. But it's not there." She continued to check twice, thrice but no. It was not there. She tried to recollect her thoughts, but nothing.
"Maybe it slipped from my bag during my argument with maa. Kaka let's go home and come back tomorrow. Can you please apologize to Mohan kaka on my behalf? I will make up for it tomorrow." Dwija tried to convince Gagan.
"Dwija go inside and meet Mohan. Talk to him about what you need and what are your troubles. Get advice from him. You will feel good. We are near the village anyway; I will get the paper in no time. We need to hurry; you remember that I believe."
"Maa won't give the paper to anyone but me. At this point she does not trust anyone, and neither should I." Dwija felt embarrassed while saying so, her eyes did not meet Gagan's, and she fiddled with her bag. Gagan laughed out loud while taking her small hands in his, "You don't need to, just believe what your heart says. Anyways, I will continue to be on your side, always." She wanted to look at him and question, "where is the proof for that, how can I know that you won't betray me!" but she refrained. If she started questioning everyone, if she started being doubtful about every person's intention, she would be a maniac in no time. Although the timing was bad, although the person before her seemed questionable, although she did not want to give the person a chance, she wanted to give trust a chance- "I trust you, so please don't let me down." she wanted to say. Whatever be the outcome of her choice, regret surely did not top her list of concerns, first one being to identify friends and enemies and she had to take the risk.
Dwija nodded, she shrugged off all the uneasy feeling and decided to do it anyway. She gathered her backpack and opened the backdoor to climb out. Once outside, the chilly air gave her goosebumps. The short mesh sleeves of her blouse did nothing to shield her against the chill. She started moving along the cliff overhanging the road to the huge bungalow. She could hear the car engine as Gagan reversed the car slowly. She ignored the urge to look behind for she might run away. She continued walking along the road at a steady pace, her eyes focused on the road.
"This is how it felt to be alone.", she thoufght. Her father had always been her guiding light. She never went alone, wherever it be. If it was not her father, it used to be Sashi by her side. Now with both of them gone for good, she felt lost. But she was determined to find her way on her own, for her mother, for her own.
She had missed out the deadly silence that settled in the air around her. Gagan had left already. She was busy with her own thoughts. It was too late before she realized a low animal grunt close behind her. She stopped in her tracks and took a deep breath before turning back to check what it was. But before she could do so, something heavy pounced on her back. She lost her footing on the ground and hold on her bag. Her hands flailing helplessly in the air, she fell face first on the rough tar covered path. She shouted out loud- "Help!" but the chances were bare given the sparsity of human beings in the vicinity.
She did not get a chance to react or see what had attacked her for she got dragged by her hair at lightening speed across the road, down into the greenery, that she had feared the moment they had reached the landing. She was in trouble.