Chapter 1

Vee

@reflorated

[NOCOPY]

[MEMBERSONLY]

Banner Credit - 18shabbo

F o r t i t u d o

Part One - Him

Tiring was the word of the day, thinks Arnav as he makes his way out of restaurant, chosen to host the Dehradun convention of businessmen. His head aches, and his body shivers. He knows he is running a temperature. He says nothing.

The driver opens the door for him. He slides inside, and checks his watch. Thankfully, the convention ended early, and he'd make it in time for the train. A flight could not be arranged. One hour is too short a notice.

Arnav glances back the driver, who looks at him with concern. He has noticed Arnav's unnaturally warm touch.

Arnav looks irritably at the driver. The driver stepped back slowly. The message has been received - Arnav Singh Raizada would drive the car, just to prove he can. The driver knows had the madam been here, sahab wouldn't have dared. However the madam was back in Delhi, awaiting her husband's arrival.

The SUV kicks up a cloud of dust as it speeds away to the station. It has started to drizzle. The driver is left finding himself an auto, muttering about men becoming lions when their wives aren't present.

The wiper makes uniform semicircles on the windscreen. The rain thrums onto the car, in sync with Arnav's head. Arnav angrily clutches at the steering wheel. His eyes fight to close. The station is nearby. He abandons the SUV near the station, knowing it would be back at Shantivan before he would. He steps into the station, and waits for the train to arrive.

The station is as they show in the occasional movies he is forced to watch - full of noise and life. In this small bubble of noise, nobody notices a tall man in a dark suit standing in the corner, massaging his temple. The train announces her arrival with great pomp and splendour. Coolies miraculously arrive, luggage is lugged in. Children throw their chips into the track, and clamber in. Somewhere a baby cries. Two palms are separated by the thick glass window, thick tears fall. Arnav - his headache increasing - slinks into his compartment and sits down.

He is sharing the compartment with a harried mother and her two boys. The mother glances uncomfortably at the surly man staring out of the window, and the two boys making noise. She shushes them. She misses her husband.

Arnav feels a sudden weight on his lap. He looks down to see one of the boys glancing up at him cheekily. He has the same hazel eyes as Khushi, sparkling and full of life. Arnav looks around to realise his mother is not there, neither is the other twin. "Aap yahan apne mom ke bina ka kar rahe ho?" asks Arnav in a mildly stern voice.

The child looks around as if searching for somebody. "Aapki mom bhi toh nahi hai, aap yahan apni mom ke bina kya kar rahe ho?" asks the boy, his eyes lighting up and twinkling. Arnav freezes.

"Acchha, toh mein jo karunga voh tum bhi karoge?"

The boy, like most children, is intuitive. He smells a trap. "Nahi!" he says, twirling and twisting his fists and giggling. He clambers off Arnav's lap and runs off. Arnav returns to gazing out of the window. His mother is still a sensitive topic.

Arnav gazes out of the window and feels a pair of eyes on him. "Aap kya dekh rahe ho?" (What are you watching?) asks the child, now seated on the berth opposite his. "Bahar ka nazara" (The view outside) he replies. "Par bahar toh andhera hai!" (But it is dark outside!) the child wonders. Arnav stares at the child. Yet again he is reminded of Khushi.

"Mere paas special aankhen hai, andhere mein dekh sakti hai"

(I have special eyes, I can see in the darkness)

The child gazes in wonder at the superhero with the hint of a smile. He is rendered speechless. His mouth opens.

Arnav closes his eyes and leans against the cool window. The silhouette of the trees occasionally flashed against purple sky. The child had resumed playing with his brother. Arnav watches the pair with an odd fondness. He wishes Khushi is with him.

The two hours fly by. He finds out about the child with the hazel eyes. His name is Khush, an odd irony. The child likes chocolates and mishty dohi. He hates bread and eggs. His favourite hero is Salman Khan, and he likes this uncle who has the special eyes.

Night steals into the compartment. Arnav occupies the top berth, and closes his eyes. His headache has, by no means, stopped. If truth be told, he feels the fever burn him with a vengeance. He says nothing.

He is one of the few people awake on the train, two in the morning. The headache refuses to let him sleep. His eyes have begun to water, he wonders if not stopping to buy medicines on the way was a good idea.

It was at this moment that the engine and seven bogies of the train derail. It sounds like a bomb exploding. The bogies in the front capsize into the depression on the side of the track. The fifth and the sixth one roll into the dark fields and burst into flames. The seventh one, where Arnav is seated capsizes and flies, as if kicked in anger, somewhere.

It takes twenty minutes for the guard for collect his wits and run to the nearest station, 2 kilometres away. From there, the first message is transmitted. Help arrives an hour later.

Arnav hears shouts ' asking if anybody was alive. He opens his own mouth, nothing but a rasp emerges. His chest is soaked in blood, his legs have lost all sensation. He cannot see anything. He wonders if he has become blind.

The whispered anguish of the dying people tortures him. He takes a breath, the acrid smell of burning flesh chokes him.

He pushes himself out of the window, an action he cannot explain. He falls onto the hard ground. He gasps for air and drags himself away from the carnage. Just so the rescuers notice him, and save them all.

He drags himself to a tree close by, 1 metre away from the train. Bodies are littered here and there. They have died, just like Arnav's legs. Arnav closes his eyes, the last of his breaths whooshing out. A soft moan tells him he is not alone. His eyes open briefly, just in time to see a child drag its body to him. A child with hazel eyes. A child called Khush. He knows not how many hours he lies on the cold hard ground, against the tree. His hazel eyes child lies next to him. Arnav thinks they are dying.

Eventually, the cold blue morning steals into the sky. The rescuers can be heard shouting. "Nothing is here" they say. Arnav closes his eyes. The blood drips from his chin. He has lost all hope. He knows they are going to die.

"Who's that next to the tree?!" he hears suddenly. His eyes open partially. He raises a hand, the last of his breath has finally escaped. "That guy, I saw him move!" the voice comes again.

Arnav hears them thunder near him. He closes his eyes, and he waits.

A/N: Wrote a three shot after a long time. Part two should be coming soon. Fortitudo means Strength, in Latin.