Into The Shadows by Aayush Borulkar (smart ebook reader txt) 📗

Chapter 3

The first bell went unanswered. An embarrassed Richa tried ringing the bell again, this time hoping that someone would definitely hear and open the door. And fortunately, this time, someone did open the door, and there stood a girl with long dark brown hair and fair skin, round spectacles resting on her nose, which were indeed doing injustice to those beautiful green eyes. And with an exciting squeaky voice, she said, “Finally here you are, my little princess! But you are pretty late, and half the party is already over. And who is this handsome you brought along with you?”

“He is a friend. He had nothing to do, for the night, so he asked me if he could tag along, and I agreed,” said Richa while Vivek was looking at her in disbelief.

“Uh-huh, a friend, no issues, glad that you brought him along, though. By the way, I am Vibha. Welcome to the party,” she said, blushing.

Deafening rock music welcomed the couple as they entered the house. Dimmed lights with people dancing, some to the beat, and some offbeat. The drawing-room was filled with people eating, drinking, and some were drunk to the extent that even a simple act like walking seemed an ordeal task. Near the fireplace sat a group of people, warming themselves up. The atmosphere was pretty chill in Goa that night.

Vivek wondered where Richa had brought him, as all of this was unprecedented for him.

“Come, I will introduce you to all of my friends,” said Richa pulling Vivek by the arm.

As the couple entered the room, a group of three stood at the other end of the room, talking about something that seemed intriguing as they were murmuring about it.

“Hey guys!!” said Richa screaming at the top of her voice.

“There you are Richa!!” said everyone in different pitches.

“We have been waiting for you for so long, that now I need one more drink,” said one of the girls and she excused herself out of the room.

“Let me introduce you to my guest for tonight. This is Vivek,” said Richa with a wide smile.

Two of her friends came forward and introduced themselves to Vivek. But there sat a woman with a wine glass in her hand and reading a brochure, least caring about what was happening around her and was engrossed to such an extent that a few strands of her red coloured hair discreetly dipped into the wine glass.

“Kaajal! Could you please at least say ‘hello’ to our guest?” asked a short skinny guy with sharp eyes and a wheatish complexion. But the most peculiar thing about him was his hairstyle. It looked like a well-kneaded dough of hair was placed on his head. It seemed weird, but according to him, it was indeed futuristic.

“Oh yeah, sure, Nishant,” said Kaajal keeping her wine glass on the side table and getting up. She went up to Vivek and said with a surprisingly deep voice for a female, “Hello there, I am Kaajal. Glad to meet you,” extending her long right arm, which showed the tattoo on her forearm.

Vivek shook her hand nimbly. “What does that tattoo mean, if I may ask,” he asked uncomfortably.

“Oh, this! This is just a mistake I committed when I turned 18. It says “bliss” in mandarin,” she answered, looking at the tattoo. “It’s just a stupid mistake at a naïve age,” she added, looking at the tattoo as if it was bringing back some bad old memories.

And as the pleasantries went on, there entered a guy, steering away the awkwardness in the air. He came running into the room, dropping a few chips from the packet held in his right hand as if he was making a trail for his way back. He stood there panting. He had a thick beard, square glasses, and he looked way beyond his biological age. All he was wearing were shorts and a graphically printed t-shirt which glittered in the spotlight and was barely covering his tummy.

“Abhimanyu is nowhere to be found!! I searched the whole place, but no sign of him,” he exclaimed.

Nishant held him by the shoulders and asked him to calm down first, then added, “Ish, did you check his bedroom?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Then the veranda?” asked Nishant.

“Surely I did. Is that even a question”.

“Then what about Mrs. Shekhawat’s bedroom. Did you check there?” asked Kaajal, interrupting Nishant. And it felt as if that question had all the hysteria in the air. It felt as if the air was cleaner again.

“Oh, shoot. Yeah missed that room completely. I will go and check it at once. And hey there new guy! I am Ishaan. See you around,” said Ishan as he hurriedly left the room.

Richa stopped Ishaan abruptly, nearly making him fall, and said, “We should all go and check up on him. After what had happened with Mrs. Shekhawat, he is shaken. And it might be a very emotional moment for him. Hence, we should all go there”.

Everyone concurred on what Richa had suggested, and then everyone hurried towards Mrs. Shekhawat’s bedroom.

“It is none of my business, but what happened to that guy’s mother?” asked Vivek walking closely behind Richa.

“She committed suicide,” whispered Richa. “This happened three years back when Abhimanyu had just turned 18. It shook Abhimanyu to the core. We usually don’t talk about it.”

“Oh, damn. It’s crushing to see your mother die like that,” said Vivek, to which he did get a side look from Richa, implying that he was just stating the obvious.

And finally, they entered a room which was illuminated by only a few candles. A king-size sofa adjacent to the entrance was covered with cobwebs, indicating that it had not been cleaned in ages. There was only one window in the room which was closed, due to which the air in the room had turned misty. And there stood a tall boy, with a well-built body wearing a tuxedo. He was staring at a life-sized painting of a middle-aged woman, barely illuminated by