MISSING (PART 7)

This post is a part of BlogAdda Activity Game of Blogs.

Group Name : Tete-a-Ten

Please find the previous parts here :-

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

PART 5

PART 6

Tara felt as though she was hallucinating. She saw her, she saw her daughter! She had imagined the worst to happen, and here she was standing in front of her, in her uniform slightly creased. Her hair neatly parted in a ponytail, with a few strays, that was tucked neatly behind her ear. That beautiful smile, which lit up the otherwise dim warehouse, called out to Tara.  Was it really Roohi, or was her mind playing tricks .If it was a trick, it was a wonderful one. Tears trickled down her otherwise blank face. She told her mind to move her legs and walk over to Roohi, but they somehow, stood rooted on the very spot, staring at her beloved daughter.

She felt a gust of wind as Shekhar ran past Tara, and scooped Roohi in his arms.

“Roohi, roohi, oh my God, Roohi”. He hugged her “Are you alright?”

The illusion broke. Tara bellowed and her legs gave away. She fell onto the floor, crying in relief. She could make a faint outline of silhouettes in front of her. Her eyes misted with relief.  All Tara could hear were faint mumblings.

She felt a familiar touch on her shoulder. She angled her face to her shoulder. Shekhar tightened his grip on her shoulder reassuring her, that it’s all ok.

 “Mummy”, Roohi whispered.  Tara gathered herself and pulled Roohi close to her, hugging her tight and kissing her all over her face.

“My Baby, I’m so sorry….” She howled. “If anything….” She did not finish her sentence; Shekhar hugged them both and pulled them to a warm embrace, for the first time. When the feeling of loss overshadowed them, they found each other. Life was definitely ironic. Today they had become a family, an actual family. His warm embrace enabled them to be lost in their own world of happiness and solace.

Their Friends comforted each other, and heaved a uniform sigh. They all smiled at each other, happy that they found her. Some engaged in informing others via texts and calls, while others gave away to exhaustion and sat on the floor.

“We found her”, Shekhar’s friend piped into the phone smiling. The question from the other end, wiped away his smile. He looked towards the trio in embrace. “We don’t know”, he said running his fingers through his hair “hmmmm, yea… alright. I’ll hmmm…let me call you back... Ya, bye”. He hung up and looked at Shekhar, not knowing how to ask. He rested his hands on his hips.

 “Shekhar” his friend called out, “She is alright, right?” his friend asked hesitantly.

Shekhar released Tara and Roohi from his embrace, mindful of what exactly his friend meant. He held Tara around her waist and cupped Roohi’s face, “Did the stranger touch you badly?” He asked. Though he seemed calm on the exterior, his voice gave away the pain and fear of what he might hear.

Tara looked anxiously at Roohi, and then at Shekhar, and exhaled deeply. Their friends stood behind them, looking down at the family waiting to support them, if they needed it.

“Papa, which Stranger?” she asked innocently. Her eyes were wide and questioning. Shekhar looked at her and looked away, palming the sweat of his forehead. He was unsure as to how he was to proceed. How could he ask her if she was, if the stranger had … The very thought chilled his spine. He gritted his teeth, imagining the worst. Silence fell like a dagger in the warehouse. He looked at Tara and he knew he just had to put them out of misery. He cleared he throat and toyed with the sides of his spectacle.

“Roohi”  he exhaled, “after you left from school, you went out to eat ice- cream with a stranger, right?, Did he do anything to you dear?” he asked , hoping against all odds, that she was alright, that nothing untoward had happened to their daughter. His thoughts raced from guilt to anger.

“Papa”, she chirped, shaking her head, “No Papa, Cyrus is not a stranger”, she emphasized on stranger. She looked at Tara, and everyone around, and smiled “Cyrus is my friend”. She smiled exuberantly

“Cyrus!!” Tara mumbled looking helplessly at Shekhar.

She ran her hand through the strays behind Roohi’s ear, “Who... Who is Cyrus, baby? What were you doing with him?” She quizzed ”Haven’t we told you to stay away from people whom you don’t know, You were supposed to wait for either me or Papa, weren’t you dear” , She whimpered, anger mixed with hope and love.

“Mummy, but I know Cyrus. Infact I was helping him”, Roohi puffed her chest with pride, and looked around at her audience hoping to be applauded. She pouted and dropped her shoulder, when she realized that no one was going to appreciate her.

“Baby, tell us what happened after you left from school”, Tara asked her. “How did you reach here?”

“Well after school”, she crinkled her forehead, recollecting “After school, I walked with Cyrus. We went out and had Orange Juice , from that place mummy, where we had gone once to drink juice” … “mmmhmmm, then” Tara asked “ Ya , then we were walking again, Cyrus was talking about Delhi, Papa, I want to go to Delhi ok”, she pouted at Shekhar, unaware of the seriousness of the situation.

“Sure” He said “What happened after that baby. “ We had ice-cream after that, and then we went on the merry-go round too, Cyrus was scared “, and she laughed.

“Then we got into the bus, and came to a place, I don’t know where” she added candidly. One could hear everyone’s heart beating away wildly “Even Cyrus did not know where. Oh oh, we bought chips and soda too. Then we both were tired too, so we came here”

“We”, Shekhar exclaimed, looking around.

“Yes Papa, Cyrus was so tired, he went off to sleep” She pointed towards the end.

“Did you sleep too” Tara asked nervously

“No mummy, I did my homework”, she smiled at Tara

Shekhar got up and walked over to the direction Roohi had pointed, along with his friends.

“Papa, don’t go there”, she stood up “Cyrus will get scared, Wait, I’ll go and get him”. She started walking towards Cyrus.

“No” they all exclaimed, “you are not going there alone” Shekhar and Tara echoed in unison.

“But Papa! He will get scared if he sees all of you together” she said nodding her head.

“Call him from here then” Tara said.

“Uff mummy, don’t worry. I’ll go and get him ok”.

They were not letting go of her, no way was she going in there alone.

“I’ll go with Roohi”, Tara said and walked towards Roohi, and held her hand.

“You be right behind me” She whispered at shekhar.

Tara and Roohi walked towards the end. Tara, Shekhar and the rest were alert and ready for the slightest movement or noise.

“Cyrus” Roohi called out. Tara tightened her grip on Roohi’s hand.

They all heard a whimper and an effort to get up, they heard rustling of paper , some of it tearing as well. A Shadow appeared at Roohi’s feet, growing bigger and bigger, as Cyrus approached her.

“Yea Roohi” Cyrus called out, rubbing his groggy eyes .

His voice chilled and scared Tara beyond measure. She didn’t realize when Roohi slipped away from her grasp.

Roohi walked towards Cyrus, held his hand and exclaimed “ Papa see, I found Cyrus, he got lost”.




Do find PART 8 here

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