Maya (Part 1)

A cold breeze was flowing, and her hair was dancing with the breeze, she looked up in the sky to pray for the beautiful day, in that orange light of setting sun, her dark brown eyes looked even more beautiful. And as the sun went down, the night was out so were all the people and they lit a bonfire near the camp. It was a beautiful time of the year to witness the mesmerizing beauty of Kheerganga, there was no mobile network, no connection, just a bunch of humans and a lot of peace. They all stood around the bonfire to enjoy the heat, but they couldn’t enjoy the heat much as there were a lot of people for a small bonfire.

“Hey, come”, Sourabh called Maya, she was busy enjoying the songs that people were singing, completely offbeat, but soothing. She turned to see Sourabh and asked, “Why?”.

Sourabh rolled his eyes and even in that dark night, Maya could clearly see his eye roll in the light of the fire. “But I am liking it here”, Maya defended the eye roll. “You are standing way too far; you are still cold. Let’s come we will create our own cozy room” Sourabh tried to convince her. Well, she was cold and didn’t know any of the people standing there. She started walking with Sourabh.

“So, what’s the plan?” Ridhima asked. “Means there is no plan?” Maya shouted. “Would you please just move inside the camp” Sourabh forced them and Anirudh could only laugh. It was Sourabh’s idea and everybody had their doubts except for Anirudh, he was enough high to not give a damn about any plan.

** Fifteen mins later**

“Okay, you go now. Truth or Dare?”, Maya was asked, she didn’t dare to choose a dare, Truth it was. “Truth”. “Tell us a secret and not some crush crap, a real secret” Ridhima insisted. Maya hesitated before starting the story, but she wanted it out of her head. So, she started.

** Maya is reciting the story**

Three years ago, I was going through some tough decisions in my life. “Because of Puneet?” Sourabh asked. “Yes, but because something else happened too”. Maya explained. “But, I thought it was because you and Puneet were going through a breakup and that’s why you were devastated” Ridhima demanded an explanation. You guys know Shushmita Patil as an Author, Maya started explaining. She was not just a great author, but also my writing advisor, and more than that, she was a friend to me. The day I saw her at Ridhima’s Parents’ 25th Anniversary party I went to her and forced a conversation.

“I liked your books, the end of an era, and the nightmares. Masterpieces I would say” I praised her, but that was not just for her to like me. I genuinely loved her work.

“Thank you. I am sorry what’s your name?” Sushmita asked

“My bad, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Maya Chabbra” I was a little embarrassed, but anybody could do silly things in front of her. She was so charming I started forgetting things, like my friends and why I was there and what time it was. We went out together for ice cream and stayed in the café till 2:24 am. I started to feel why her books have such charisma, it was all around her. She walked me to my car, and we went our ways. I was glad she asked for my number before leaving, I had hope.

Next day, I was sitting in my office I was trying to write the article, I received a text.

“Hey, care to join me for dinner tonight?” it was her; I knew. I wasn’t sure, but I wanted her to be my writing advisor plus she was a nice company.

“Hi. Where will we get reservations at this hour?” it was 6 pm already on a Friday.

“I already have a reservation. My plans got canceled and I am looking forward to eating outside.” Sushmita explained. Well, this sounded fair to me and not at all inappropriate. “Hell, yeah. I am in”

“Meet me at Risallo’s. 8:30?”

“Make it 9”

“See you 😊”

I was looking forward to this dinner. Because I could turn this into my opportunity. I could tell her about the book I was working on.

I parked my car and crossed the road; I took out my mobile to call her. “Hey” I heard a voice from behind me. I turned to see her, she looked so lovely in that mustard bodycon dress, going well with mustard high heels, her green eyes, pink lips, and loose brown curly hair. She was not looking a day elder than 30. I couldn’t believe her beauty, true goddess. She leaned to hug me, and I was surprised, but at the moment I leaned too. We went inside and then outside again, there was an open sky sitting, with Christmas lights and candles all around. “This looks like a date,” I said a little louder than I planned. “Yes, it was, but my wife canceled, and I thought why I don’t share it with another gorgeous lady”. I knew she had a wife, but I didn’t know she would invite me to a dinner she planned for her wife. That was quite awkward for me, but it felt nothing to her. She was as comfortable as it was planned for us.

We started with a glass of wine and ended up drinking two bottles all by ourselves. It was a conversation I can never forget and to be honest I don’t even remember much about the conversation, but we laughed a lot and drank a lot. It was the best night I ever had with anyone including Puneet. The conversation was so pure, maybe.

From that night onwards, we became the best friends but slowly it’s not a movie, things don’t happen over night. We lived 30 mins apart, so we started taking a yoga class together, then slowly grocery and She ended up becoming my advisor cum my best friend. She was a little elder than me and by little I mean 15 years, but nobody could tell. She was so flawless and younger-looking. “yes, I second that” Ridhima interrupted.

Six months passed infraction of a moment. She helped me with my book, she also helped me get it published. And, helped me in getting the audience too by sharing my book on her social media accounts. She was a true friend to me. But the day came, the dark day as I would say. The day when Deepika went missing, Sushmita’s wife. We went to the police, we searched for her everywhere, but she was nowhere. We thought she died, it was hard for Sushmita to accept the truth, but I was determined to stay by her side. I was not going to leave her alone in these hard times, not because I had to but because I wanted to. I saw her broke into pieces, crying in my arms, and waiting for Deepika to return home. Slowly with time she healed and stopped waiting for her wife, she graved her feelings for Deepika, and we performed all the necessary rituals. “Where were their families?” Anirudh was curious to know.

Deepika had no one and Sushmita’s family was in the USA. She and Deepika were in USA too. They moved to India when she got a job of scriptwriting of an Indian television drama. Sushmita’s parents weren’t happy with her decision of becoming gay and neither they ever accepted Deepika. After Deepika's death, they asked Sushmita to move back to the USA.

“That’s bad”, Anirudh didn’t expect this dramatic history.

I was sad for her, but some really weird stuff started happening as soon as Deepika went missing. “Things like?” Ridhima asked. Things like Sushmita started wearing a heart-shaped pendant with an arrow except the arrow was a key. “It must have been a gift from Deepika,” Sourabh said. “Or maybe it was Deepika’s” Ridhima suggested. I thought the same, until. You know, how we used to go to yoga together, Sushmita sometimes used to stop for juice or ice cream at the same café where we went the first time. And I used to wait in the car, but slowly she started doing that regularly like once in a couple of days. And she started taking longer than usual. I had a bad feeling about that.

“Oh my god, things are about to get excited” Sourabh was way too much excited. Yes, but not for me. I wanted to check what was happening. So, I decided to follow her. We used to park the car near Gate 2 across the cafe. And that day she did the same, She went inside the café and placed the order. I was watching all this sitting inside the car. Then she came out of the café and looked at the car, I started looking down to make it look like I was looking at my mobile. She turned away and moved inside the Bajrang market, which was weird. But I had to follow her, so I locked the car and I started walking inside too. After a lot of turns and buying a lot of fruits and water bottles, I thought to myself that this is the reason she was here, fruits and water. But she started moving further inside and that worried me a little. All I could think of was a gang of bad guys or something. But then she suddenly stopped and I hid behind a car. She opened a lock from the key pendant, but it wasn’t a door, it was a window, a very small window. Just the size of a peach, she started throwing fruits and water bottles inside. And she locked the window and walked away. I was shocked to see that.

“Where were you?” Sushmita asked me as soon as I reached the car.

“I went for a little walk; it took you longer today” I tried to look calm as much as I could. She smiled at me.

“Who was that?” Anirudh asked. I have no idea.

I started ignoring her calls and slowly cut her out of my life. But I couldn’t stop thinking there was somebody.

“Man, we should tell police” Sourabh suggested.

**Three days later**

Maya told the story to the police and they went to that window, there was just a wall. They cracked it open and it was a room, a very dark room. It smelled really bad, But there was somebody else too, Deepika.

“She died a week ago,” police told Maya and Ridhima.

“After Sushmita’s death a month ago, nobody was there to feed her, that’s why she died,” Maya said in a shock. “She was keeping her inside but why?” WHY a question we all want an answer to.

** Two Days Later**

“Listen to me very carefully” Ridhima called Anirudh and Sourabh. They both were surprised and not interested, but they stayed on call. “Maya is lying, Sushmita never wore a pendant with a key, neither did Deepika. I was checking Maya’s Instagram today and here’s what I found” she forwarded the image to both. “WTH, Why Maya is wearing that pendant” Sourabh cried. “And this picture was taken two years ago” Ridhima announced.

To Be Continued………