Part1
INTRO
It was pitch dark in the corridor leading up to the sinister room, which they once called their English lecture hall. All the knowledge and common-sense talks that transpired within those walls could never have prepared them for what unravelled that night. Friendships were shattered,promises broken and a lifetime of guilt awaited its birth. There was a nagging buzz in the air surrounding him overpowering the faint music which faded into the distance the closer he got to the door.
As he turned the doorknob, he heard her shriek, “Ram help me please!”
The click of the handle was an indication that it would take more than a turn of the knob to save her. “Open the door dammit,” he shouted, shoving his shoulder into the frame in a futile attempt to push the door in.
“Ram help me please, Ram help me,” her pleas echoing in his helpless ears.
Shoving at the door, he yelled back “Priya,I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise,” hoping his words can reach God as a prayer.
“Rammm,” she cried one last time before going completely silent.
“PRIYA!” he shouted at the top of his lungs,sitting up in his bed drenched in sweat. “F**k” he gasped, trying to catch his breath, “it was just a nightmare.” There was only partial truth to that statement,and he knew that as well as anyone. Sure, in the moment it was simply a nightmare and he was safe in his bedroom. However, this “nightmare” was a mirror of events from his past, which robbed him of years of sanity- six to be exact.
Grabbing the glass of water from his nightstand table, he gulped the cool liquid in its entirety as though he had been parched for days. “Fresh air” that’s what he needed next. Throwing the covers to the side he made his way to the balcony, feeling the cool morning breeze soak into his skin. Ram sighed, closing his eyes, taking it all in. Ram was a fortunate man, born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He was always sheltered by the wealth of his family, never lacking in his demands. But all the wealth in the world could not erase what happened that dreadful night.
They were friends; best friends at one point.He had vowed to protect her, come what may, they were supposed to stand together. It was an honest to god pinky promise that they made when they were innocent kids growing up, playing in Ram’s father’s factory where her father also worked. As per family tradition, Ram had studied abroad while Priya stayed in Mumbai. Despite the distance, every school break when Ram would come home, it was as though they were never apart, they had never skipped a beat to the melody, which was their friendship.
Running his hands through his hair he massaged his scalp gently with the pads of his finger hoping for the throbbing in his head to cease.
“You had that nightmare again, didn’t you?”
Having been lost in his own thoughts, Ram turned around startled by the sound of her voice.
“Relax, it’s just me.” She reassured,noticing the slight jerk in his movement. Offering him a cigarette, she joined him on the balcony, taking in a puff and exhaling slowly against the wind.
Ram wasn’t much of a smoker; he preferred to have a few drinks on the rocks to numb his pain and soothe his anxiety. But tonight, “f**k it,” he thought lighting the cigarette stick.
“She trusted me,” he started, “and I let her down.”
“You need to get over it,” she replied bluntly, “It wasn’t your fault what happened to her that night.”
Ram gripped the handrail to channel his rage, “Shut up,” he retorted, “you weren’t there, I lured her into that room, she came because she trusted me.”
“Alright dude,” she began calmly, not phased by his anger. Putting out her cigarette she continued, “stay out here and keep feeling sorry for yourself like you always do. I’m going to bed. Our flight back to Mumbai leaves in 12 hours and you know I can’t rest while in flight.” With that, she went back into the bedroom. He turned his head slightly sideways,watching her retreating figure.
“Mumbai in 12 hours. Sh!t!” Ram thought out loud. He had purposely tried to forget but the day had finally arrived. How was he going to face her? This would be the first time he would see her in six years since that night. He had made multiple attempts to contact her in the six years but to no avail. She refused to talk to him. And he couldn’t blame her. But the guilt had been eating him inside slowly to the point where now he was an empty vessel simply on a path to self-destruction. Ram had made peace with the fact that this guilt would eventually consume him, perhaps that was his punishment. However, he needed to know that she was okay, he had to make amends for the sake of their once sacred friendship.
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