18
I really believed that the world would now be a happier place. But the next 3 months changed everything.
My life exploded and imploded. I eventually lost everything. My story of destruction had commenced now.
A few days later, we were going back to our homes.
Me and Charlie lived in Arcvale, the city of the great river Zoln. We went back together.
Luckily, Irena and her father were traveling to Arcvale for a few days and she made plans to come to my house.
Initially, I strongly opposed it. But has there existed a man who can win against girls? I eventually gave in.
It was decided that she and Charlie would come to my home together so that my parents would not get suspicious. She agreed.
She then eventually came to Arcvale and both of them were at my house in the afternoon.
It was a Sunday noon and both mom and dad were there. They came in and greeted my parents.
'Oh god. I never thought our Adam would make a girlfriend,' my mom loudly exclaimed.
'Mom! She is just my friend. Girl Friend. There is a big gap between the words' girl and friend.'
'Come on son. You should be proud of yourself. I never expected you to get such a beautiful girl. Aren't you a lucky guy?' said my dad. Even he was also now teasing.
'No there is nothing like that,' I shouted again.
Then it came back to my mind. Did I shut the door properly when I was talking to her on call? I always believed that my voice did not go out of my room. But was that really the case? For my well-being, I continued to believe that it was the truth.
We all sat in our drawing room. Chatted for some time.
My dad asked her about her family etc. and as expected her business background made my dad's eyes glow. He looked at me with proud eyes. We all continued to chat.
They asked her origins and she mentioned that she belonged to Rille and her parents were also from there only. Then she asked dad about our origins.
Dad said that they lived in a small village far away from here and came to Arcvale more than 15 years ago. They have lived here from then on. She looked convinced.
Then came in my mom's womanly questions. 'Dear, can u cook? Can I meet your mom? How many siblings do you have? Etc etc.'
She answered her calmly.
Like me, she was also the only child.
Mom became quite sentimental knowing that her mother died at the time of her birth. She was happy seeing that the girl in front of her was a strong child.
Charlie being the usual guest at my house was just sitting beside me in a corner. For him, it was all too amusing.
After some time both of them left.
As soon as they left, mom and dad jumped on me.
Their eyes had millions of questions and comments.
But I just dismissed them.
I loudly exclaimed that she is just my friend and ran away to my room.
Things went smoothly. Their first meeting was a success.
19
March 2021:
A few days later in the mid of March, I came back to RIT. Met up with Irena and my gang and the next few days went away in peace.
Then came 21st March 2021: the first day of despair.
A piece of news came in.
I was still in my class when my phone rang. I put it on silent and continued. After the class, I saw missed calls from various relatives of mine. There were 105 missed calls in total.
I felt scared. My heart began to pound loudly.
Why the hell was everybody calling me? I called back. One of my uncles picked up and delivered the news to me.
My dad was dead.
He was murdered and then thrown away on the nearby streets by some van. I dropped the phone. My whole world collapsed in a minute.
* * *
April 2021:
I came back to college at the end of April, a week before the final exams were starting.
Met up with everybody.
I was shattered. My eyes had become dull and I had lost a lot of weight.
The past month was horrendous. Dad died out of nowhere. No, he was coldly murdered.
I reached home. Did all the end rites and my relatives consoled me and mom. They stayed with us for the entire month and my mom went to our maternal home after I came back to college.
In the past month, I experienced emotions that I had never thought would come up.
I had cried till my eyes were swollen and dry. I had lived without sleep for days and each time I used to feel sleepy, I got up instantly otherwise dad's face used to pop up in my dreams and the tears started to flow again.
Mom was inconsolable. My aunts took great care of her. But I had nothing to say to her. No words could bring back dad.
In this tough time, mom became my strength. I swallowed my grief so that at least I can be there for her if she needed my shoulder to cry. I was the only man left in our house. I had to remain strong else our already broken family would just finish.
Days passed by and we accepted it. We accepted that dad was no more.
He was coldly killed by an enemy and left on the streets to rot. The police were looking for the killer but they were knocking the wrong doors. One month of investigation and the result was still nothing.
After coming back to college, I still talked with the inspector every other day and the only thing he was good at saying was "We are still looking but we will shortly find the killer. Please believe in us." With each passing day, my belief in them was fading away.
Irena took great care of me for the remainder of the term. Seth helped me with the last moment studies and the others would keep visiting my room just for some random talks. Their faces told that they don't want me to do something foolish.
I eventually told them that I was not so weak that I would do self-harm. I had a goal. I had to find my dad's killer which the police couldn't.
Another month passed by and exams were over. I got a GPA of 5.4 and barely managed to pass the term.
Usually, 5-pointers were called by the profs for getting a dose of scolding and guidance. But none of them called me. If in the middle of the day we did meet, then the profs would just come to me and console me. But I was in no need of consolation. What I wanted was the killer's head.
After the term finished, I quickly went back home. I bid goodbye to my gang and Irena.
For Irena, I had planned so much for this summer break, but now it all became a distant dream. I felt really sorry for her but she stood strong. She never mentioned any of her desires and just supported me.
She just wished me well and sent me back home with a sad smile on her beautiful face. I loved her but now it felt that my love had grown multiple folds. I loved this mature Irena. Eventually, I returned home.
20
The police investigation yielded nothing.
It's been 2 months now and they still didn't have any clue about the killer. I gave up on them.
I hired an expensive private eye.
His sole task was to solve the mystery of dad's murder and tell me who the killer was. He started working in secret.
June 2021:
Another month passed by.
It was the end of June. Only 10 days or so remained in my summer break.
A week before, even the private detective gave up. He couldn't find anything and in the end, he even returned half of the fees paid to him. It was quite unexpected but seems like he was a good man but as helpless as I was.
My depression had no cure. Me and mom were suffering while the killer roamed free. I constantly felt disgusted by myself for being so weak and useless.
The next day I had one of those late night calls with the boys.
They had developed a habit of calling me often and I felt that I was so blessed to have them in my life.
This time I was talking to Charlie.
Me and Charlie talked for a while. I talked to him about my frustrations and he just listened. He keenly listened. He was great at talking to people but at the same time he was also a good listener and these days, silence was something that I had been in need of.
After a while, he started speaking.
'See Adam, I am your best friend. I'll give you a small piece of advice.'
'What?' I asked.
'Do not sacrifice your present and future for the past that you cannot change.'
'What do you mean?' I asked.
'Take care of Irena. You have been going on and on with these investigations but do you give proper time to your girlfriend?'
I felt ashamed. He was correct. He was always correct.
Irena talked to me daily. She did her best to cheer me up and I felt at peace with her but all my time was spent searching for dad's killer.
Mom stopped me from doing all of this and told me to not waste my life anymore but her words never reached me. Irena on the other hand never said a word to stop me. She gave me space and I loved her for that.
'You are correct Charlie,' I said.
'I know brother. It's only a week before the 4th year begins. Take Irena on a short trip of a day or two. Take her on a trek or to some beach.'
'You will not make much progress in your investigation in a day but for her, this one day of your time will be a lifetime's worth. She deserves this,' he said.
I did not argue with him. He was absolutely correct. I thanked him and immediately called Irena. Told her about the plan for the weekend and she happily agreed. We were going on a short trek to a nearby hill station.
June 23, 2021:
I left my home, took a train and reached the railway platform.
I told mom about the trip and she was very happy.
Tears came from her eyes. 'The living must continue to live my son. Live your life to the fullest. Your dad would have wanted the same for you.'
These were her last words before I left my home.
I waited for an hour at the railway station and Irena's train arrived. As soon as she got down, she rushed to hug me. I felt the same warmth in her hug which always soothed my soul.
For the first time in months, I felt a shred of happiness. Emotions strong enough to make my eyes wet. But now I had gotten quite used to crying as I cried every day for dad, so the tears pretty much were dried up now.
We then went to our hotel and moved to our rooms.
I remember when I was planning this trip back in February, I wanted to have a single room for both of us. Probably then I wanted to get rid of being a virgin and to experience firstly how it felt to share a room with a girl.
But now I had booked 2 rooms.
I was in mine and Irena was in hers. I was too tired and weak to think about all that virgin crap now. I probably didn't come here for my happiness; it was all for hers.
We slept the night and then went up for the trek the very next morning.
As we were going in the bus to our location, I kept gazing at her beautiful face. She always had that charm that you can look at her for hours and not get bored.
She was always talkative and even though now I got used to silence, her chatter kept us busy for the bus's journey.
I thought to myself.
This is the woman I'll eventually get married to. Maybe we will have kids of our own. But during that entire journey, my dad will never be with me. He will never see these milestones of mine. He will never become a happy old grandpa. I wanted to cry but I didn't want to in front of her. I swallowed my tears and just continued to listen to her.
* * *
We reached the foot of the hill in an hour. It was a two-day trek.
On the first day, we were supposed to travel for 6 hours in total and then 8 hours the next day to reach the summit.
In the past, I had been athletic but the previous few months had made me really weak.
On the other hand, I knew the trek was a piece of cake for Irena. She was on the volleyball team. She was known for being one of the most athletic girls on the campus.
Damn. I did not want to look lame in her eyes. I decided that I'll anyhow complete this trek.
We started the trek.
In the beginning, it was easy but eventually, the slope started draining my stamina. We had travelled halfway and I was out of breath. We took an immediate rest.
Both of us sat and started to eat the food that we had packed. She looked at me and continued to do the talking. I just nodded most of the time but seeing her speak the way she was, just put me back in the start of the last term when everything was perfect.
I apologized to dad but in my mind, I decided that for her happiness, I'll not think of him for today. Just for today, I'll do everything to make her happy.
After a brief rest, we continued the trek and maybe that old footballer stamina of mine kicked in. I somehow completed the day's trek and we had reached our interim checkpoint.
She went for a short nap and I stayed out to look at the scenery. But surprisingly she didn't sleep much. Maybe she wasn't tired at all. As expected of a sportsperson.
There was a spot for couples nearby where folks were taking photographs. She came out of the tent and looked at me. I could notice that she wanted to go there but didn't have the courage to ask me for a photograph.
But still, she mustered courage and in a shakenly voice asked 'Would you like to take a pic with me on that spot?'
I owed her this much. I owed her this pic. I took her hand and said let's take a pic there and went in the line. We were the 2nd last in the queue.
Eventually, we stood there and gave a nearby person our phone to click a pic. The guy took a pic and showed us. I was unbothered but Irena did not like it.
'Please can you take one more?' she asked.
He said okay and I also paid no heed.
He said to us please smile and she smiled. I just tried not to look sad.
And suddenly the unthinkable happened.
The rock on which we were standing broke off. Both of us fell off the hill. This was the end.
We were falling and all my emotions went haywire.
I was going to die. Irena was going to die. Within seconds death was upon us.
My life flashed before me. I felt a bit happy that I was going to meet dad now but the thought of leaving mom all alone in this world tore my heart off. But now nothing could be done. I was going to die.
I was holding Irena tightly in my arms and looked at her. She looked at me. I wanted to tell her many things but my voice vanished. The fear of death made me mum and she just held me tight. This was the end for both of us.
My last thought was that I always wanted her to be happy. At this moment too, my mind pleaded that God if she can be saved then please save her. But my heart wanted both of us to die. I didn't want her to make it alive and then be somebody else's in the future. I just cursed my selfish thoughts. I wished this to be not the end. I strongly wished to see her again.
And then my head struck at something. A rock or the ground or something else, I don't remember at all.
My consciousness faded in a split second. I was dead or not I did not know.