"I'm home," Ankita announced skipping inside the house.
"How was your first day at school, Anu?" Ankita's father, Mr Subhashish Chakraborty said, walking out of the kitchen with a spatula in hand.
"It was great Baba. And I even have a celebrity as my deskmate! It's Koushik Roy! The lyricist of Antariksha." Ankita said jumping up and down gleefully.
"Wash up first Anu, you can chat about it afterwards."
The stern voice of Miss Trina Dey was heard from the stairs as she descended from the second floor.
"Go and clean yourself quickly. Your father's already finished cooking. We'll listen to your stories at the dining table."
"Yes, Maa. I'll be back in a few minutes." Ankita saluted and dashed to her room.
"Tsk. This girl," Ms Dey clicked her tongue.
"Be careful! Don't you know that you shouldn't run while climbing stairs!" Trina shouted behind Ankita with a worried look on her face.
"HAHAHA," Mr Chakraborty laughed from the kitchen.
"You! Don't you dare laugh! She learnt that recklessness from you." Ms Dey whipped her head towards the kitchen door only to be speechless at the sight.
Her dear husband who was trying to balance five big dishes in his hands was trembling to the point where the dishes threatened to topple over.
"Whew," Carefully placing them on the table he wiped his sweaty forehead on his wife's blouse.
Trina gave a disgusted look but still fixed the hair that was stuck to his temple.
"You're the one worrying all day." Mr Chakraborty bumped their noses.
"She's just a little excited to be attending classes with celebrities. Our Ankita is very careful otherwise."
After freshening up, Ankita took out her phone and sent a text to an unsaved contact.
[ Hello.]
Bzz. You're received a message.
[Thumbs up emoji ]
The next moment her phone turned off on it's own and a second later it restarted itself showing a violet screen. The sunflower wallpaper and all other apps on the homepage had disappeared. Ankita's fingers appeared to move aimlessly over the plain violet screen but actually they deftly tapped on the invisible keyboard. The instant her thumb touched the send button, which looked like a random spot on the screen, everything reverted back to the original state. Ankita put her phone aside and went downstairs.
After dinner, Ankita was in her room studying when someone knocked on the door.
"It's open," Ankita cried.
"Hey kiddo, how are you doing? And how's your new school?"
A man in his early-twenties came up to her and said rubbing her head. He was Tanmoy Chakraborty, Ankita's elder brother. A famous and successful advocate just at the age of twenty-four.
Ankita smiled at him brightly "Don't worry Dada. I am doing well. And I already made a couple of friends."
"Haha, of course. Who can resist my sister's charm and not be her friend?" Tanmoy pulled her cheeks.
"Ow, ow, ow. Wait! Let me tell you the most exciting part!" She tugged at his hands.
"What are you keeping it in for? Out with it!" Tanmoy settled down on the bed and looked at her intently.
"Can you guess who my deskmate is?! Hm? Hm? I am sitting beside Koushik Roy!!" Ankita leapt in joy.
"You know who he is right?" she asked him with a judgmental gaze.
Tanmoy chuckled and patted her head.
"Yes. I know. Now go to bed. No need to pull all-nighters from day one. Study bit by bit every day and you'll be good to go."
He helped her tidy the books and tucked her in before returning to his room. He had arrived there just before dinner and the two hours long journey from his place left him drained of energy. So he fell fast asleep right after hitting the pillow and did not hear Ankita moving about in the next room.
Ankita slowly got off her bed and carefully closed the noisy door. Then she touched the watch on her right hand and clicked something on it. A blue light shot out from the watch and a soft music started playing. Ankita swayed her body listening to it.
The light also flashed according to the beat and moved all over the room like in a club. As the music came to a stop a green tick mark appeared on the watch's screen. Ankita stopped dancing and looked at it with a satisfied expression.
Leaning against the headrest, she texted Hello to that contact once more. And like the previous time, a violet screen appeared. Just as Ankita brought her watch near it, her phone buzzed and the reply to her previous text appeared. But it also disappeared as quickly as it came. Ankita typed a second message. And this time the reply came instantly.
[ Done. ]
Ankita dialled a number "How long are you gonna take?"
"Not more than 10 days." Came the answer.
"Okay, see you soon." Ankita disconnected the call.
During this whole time, something was different about Ankita. Apart from her appearance, nothing was similar to the Ankita everyone met at school. Be it her voice, her gaze or her aura. But that feeling vanished completely after the call was disconnected.
The next morning Tanmoy decided to drop his sister at school to make use of his short vacation and spend more time with her.
On their way, Ankita asked, "Dada?"
"Hm?" Tanmoy raised his eyebrows.
"When will Didi come? It's been so long since she last visited. I miss going out with you two. I called her a few days ago. She said she was working overtime dealing with a difficult case. We couldn't talk much." she said sighing softly.
"Don't be sad Anu. You know the hospital is too far to go back and forth from home so she can't help but live in the doctors' quarters. I had told her about my little vacation and asked if she would be able to manage a few days off too. She said she'll try. So let's hope for the best, okay?" Tanmoy patted Ankita's head.
Didi referred to Bibhabori Dey, Tanmoy's Twin sister who was but a few minutes older than him.
"Really?" Ankita asked unable to believe her ears.
"Yes. Really." Tanmoy smiled.
"Oh look at that Rishav is also here. Hey, Rishav wait!"
Rishav, who was walking along the footpath, stopped short hearing Tanmoy's voice.
"Get in, I'll drop both of you off." Tanmoy said opening the car's door.