Mamma removed the bed curtain with trembling hands. And as soon as her gaze went inside, her breath hitched in her throat.
The bed was empty. Ansole was not there, instead, there was a pillow under the sheet.
"Where... where did he go?" The color completely drained from Mamma's face. A terrifying fear began to float in her eyes. She immediately looked back and her voice trembled, "Did those people...?"
The atmosphere of the room suddenly became as terrifying and heavy as a graveyard. Mamma looked at the maids screaming, "He was under your watch, right! So where did he go?"
All four maids were scared out of their wits. The color had also flown from their faces.
That atmosphere of terror in the room was at its peak when suddenly... 'Click.'
The bathroom door slowly opened. Ansole came out from there. He looked at Mamma with his big innocent eyes and said in his sweetest, childish voice, "Mamma... you're here?"
Mamma froze right there. The next moment she ran to Ansole and hugged him so tightly to her chest like someone embracing their lost life after getting it back.
Keeping up my innocent acting, I asked, "What happened, Mamma?"
Mamma pushed me slightly away from herself, kissed my face, and said with a choked voice, "Nothing... nothing my child, just that you are safe." Then she very lovingly picked me up and made me sit on the bed.
After putting me to sleep, Mamma walked out of the room with hurried steps. The door was half-open and I could hear everything. The anger in Mamma's voice actually hid a mother's terror.
"If Ansole was in the bathroom, then why didn't you people tell me? Do you even have an idea how deep of a shock I went into? Just yesterday my child faced such a big attack, just yesterday he disappeared in the house... and on top of that, that Group is after us! My soul had almost left my body!"
The Head Maids said, "Please forgive us, My Lady. We are taking very good care of him, and we knew he was in the bathroom, but you didn't even give us a chance to speak." Mamma took a deep breath and trusted their words.
Then she walks out, and the Head Maid says, "Why didn't you tell me, you knew he was in his bathroom, right?"
The other 4 maids thought in their minds— 'We ourselves didn't know that the Little Lord was in the bathroom, we thought he was sleeping... after all, when did he even go in there?'
Ansole: Survived by a hair's breadth today, otherwise the game was over. If I hadn't come inside through the window in the room's bathroom, then I wouldn't have been able to escape them. Now I have to tread very carefully. I think for a few days I'll have to stay right here and sense the mana, going there is not free of danger. I'll go when the situation calms down a bit. And who is this group that is after us? Could it be the ones Mamma was talking about today?
Scene Shift— (Dinner Time)
The rest of the household was eating at the dinner table. A plate of food arrived in front of me too. But as soon as my eyes fell on that food, the terrifying recipe books I saw on the kitchen shelf suddenly started spinning in my mind. 'Wild boar bone soup', 'Giant swamp bug stew'...
My stomach started churning from the inside. I started feeling nauseous and I completely lost my appetite for the food.
Seeing my plate untouched, Mamma asked lovingly, "What happened Ansole? Don't you feel like eating?"
I immediately composed myself and blurted out, "No-no Mamma! I mean... yes, I want to eat."
Reluctantly, I broke off a bite of food and put it in my mouth. While chewing, I reassured myself— 'Hey Aryan, don't be afraid! Your food is made according to you. This is just egg and veg food... there are no boars or bugs in this.' This logic gave me a little peace.
Scene Shift— (Sleeping Time)
Mamma laid me on the bed and was putting me to sleep. She was telling me a story as always, there was that same old magic in Mamma's voice. Listening to that unknown story, my eyelids started getting heavy as always. I knew what was going to happen now. I slowly started getting lost in those deep valleys of sleep... and my eyes closed.
I woke up and the morning sunlight was falling on my face. Stretching, I said, "Today's morning is looking quite good." Then, closing my eyes, I just started counting— 1... 2... 3... when suddenly my room's door opened very loudly. Mummy was standing inside, and that too with her cooking spatula!
"Don't you have to go to school?" Mummy asked, glaring at me.
"Yes Mummy, I'm going!" I bounced off the bed in a panic.
Then, just like every day, today too everything happened at a superfast speed. I quickly entered the bathroom and, stuffing the brush in my mouth, started looking at myself in the mirror while making foam. That's when my eyes went to the wall. It had come back again! The same lizard with whom I had a daily rivalry.
With the brush stuck in my mouth, I glared at it and said in a weird voice, "Oo aee odegi era eecha?" (Won't you leave me alone?)
I looked a little carefully... Hey! "Your tail came back? It was cut off for three months, did you get a new one fitted overnight from the lizard realm?"
Hearing my words, it did two or three weird push-ups on the wall and suddenly started sliding towards me.
I was scared out of my wits. "Hey! Hey! Stay there... yeah, it's fine, don't show off your new tail to me! Shoo... shoo!" I shooed it away, waving my toothbrush in the air like a sword. It too turned and ran away as if saying, 'Take a bath bro, you stink.'
I quickly took a bath somehow and came out. Then shoved breakfast down my throat, got ready immediately, and ran out of the house for school while saying bye to Mummy.
I was walking on the way when suddenly a voice came from behind, "And Manoj, how are you?"
Without turning, I said, "I'm not Manoj, I'm Aryan."
Just then Anurag passed by me, smacked my back hard, and moved ahead. I ran after him to catch him. After a while, we both were walking together, talking boys' nonsense.
Just then my eyes went forward. Anaaya was walking with her friend. We made eye contact, but we immediately averted our gazes from each other.
Seeing this, Anurag nudged me with his elbow and asked, "What happened between you two? Ever since you went on a date that day, why do you stay so far apart now? Why don't you talk to each other, did you two break up?!"
Dodging him, I said, "You don't even need to know."
But he wasn't one to listen, he started insisting.
I said, "What will you do by knowing?"
He thought for a while and then shrugged, "Don't know."
Hearing his answer, I first laughed a little, then I said, "If you don't know what you'll do, then what will you do by knowing?"
Anurag raised his voice a bit in annoyance, "Hey, I told you, I don't know!"
Matching his tone, I raised my voice even louder, "So yes! If you don't know, then what will you do knowing?"
"I said right... I don't know!" Anurag was almost shouting now.
"Then shut your mouth and walk quietly!" I too shouted with all my might in the middle of the road and shut him up.
Anurag went completely quiet. We kept walking ahead. Just then Anurag's eyes fell on my hand. He suddenly stopped and said, "This ring... you've had it since you came from the fair. I never asked until today, but today it looks a bit different."
Hearing his words, I looked at my hand. I too noticed that the ring was indeed looking quite different today. It wasn't how it always looked. Don't know what was weird, but there was something different about it.
I immediately tried to suppress the matter right there and put my hand in my pocket. Getting a little serious, I said, "You know right, there's a problem going on?"
Looking at my face, he also got serious. "Yeah, I know."
We kept moving forward. I asked, "Hmm... so what should we do regarding that?"
Anurag glared at me and said, "What should we do? Hey, you have to do it! You were the idiot who went like a madman and made a bet of 1 lakh... sorry, not you, the sir made the 1 lakh bet with you. And you're the one who has to study, not me! So what should I do in this?"
I started looking at him with weird eyes.
Feeling awkward, Anurag said, "Why are you staring at me like that?"
I took a deep breath and said, "You are hopeless. Seriously. I'm not talking about the 1 lakh bet... I'm talking about our 'Secondary Leader' who is in the hospital right now."
"Oh..." Anurag's face fell completely, "Well, he is quite better than before now. But he got a very deep injury on his head and his shoulder was also broken... and that too just because of us."
There was a strange helplessness in Anurag's voice, "Don't know man... why aren't we strong?"
His words placed a hand on some raw nerve inside me. I too started feeling a deep weakness and guilt inside me. He was our leader, and he had to suffer all that because of our failure. It kept coming to my mind again and again that I wish I was strong enough to save my people from breaking like this. There is no greater punishment in this world than being weak. I clenched my fists, gripped my bag straps tightly, and just started walking silently looking downwards. And thought, don't know when all this will end here, and those cowards had attacked our leader from behind, they didn't even have the guts to fight from the front.
Then we reach the school and we both sit in our class. Anaaya was talking to everyone in the same way as always, except me. Just then the teacher enters the class. All the kids, matching their tune in a sing-song way as always, say— "Goooood moooorning siiiirrrr!"
Then the teacher says, "Sit down."
Silence was just about to settle in the class when suddenly his voice echoed, "Aryan beta... stand up."
The End