Odds & Us ✔️

Chapter 39: A Valley!

#399

Nature can heal all kinds of wounds but does it?

" I think it's best for her to take a break. Go somewhere to unwind. She needs it." 

" Ansh, she needs to face this. You can make it all go away by telling her to run and hide." 

" That is exactly what I'm trying not to do, Ahana. Before she runs away and hides we need her to get better. Be herself again. She needs to go someplace which is not this." 

I never mean to eavesdrop but I always end up doing precisely what I don't mean to do. That's just my nature.  That night I overheard Mumma and Papa having a heated discussion about where I would fit in. It was just a couple of days after I was cleared from that accident. It was traumatic and perhaps the only way to make it better would've been some time away. That's what they thought. What I thought didn't matter. 

So, we all went for a family retreat and slash my therapy to some natural haven on some island whose name I don't even know or wish to. It was a blur experience for me. All I truly remember is that it didn't make me feel one percent better. It was too much pain. 

~ Aavya, remembering her ordeal escaping to nature. 

❋❋❋

Valleys!

Rose had always loved them. Aman had quit counting the number of times she must have expressed her love for them, her want to be living between them, and her desire to always run away there. 
Aman had to laugh thinking how much he dreaded that she would actually do that, leaving him at that point in time. Perhaps, his fear was not so unwarranted after all because she might have not run away but there was just one place she might resort to find solace.

Now that he was standing here, midst the pure air and serene ambiance with a small brook meandering its way through the grey-black white stones, going someplace so far away that his eyes weren't capable of gauging the destination, he understood what Rose meant when she wistfully sighed 'Valleys!".
He pulled his haversack closer to his back as he took a 360° turn to let the tranquil feeling seep in. The misty muddy smell, so fresh and so refreshing, the purest air he'd ever breathe, the gushing sound of the tiny streamlets lashing against the curves of the mountains around them, and the most important of all, that calming feeling had no bounds.
It was amazingly wonderful that being present just then could make his life worth all of it. That is the power of nature and Aman had to appreciate Rose's choice. It was the best place to be.

His heart skipped a beat when he thought that maybe there was a chance that being in the lap of such a daring beauty Rose might as well forget him. He'd cease to exist for her. On the brink of the moment, he realized that he was jealous of mother nature itself for she was a threat to his being.
It was for the best to chuck that thought then and go on that hike to reach his destination before night falls. He might not know the destination of that mischievous brook but he sure as hell did know his. 

It took him only three days to reach here and there's just an hour's hike ahead of him to finally get to the place where he knows Rose is, supposedly. He is not 100% sure but his gut says so and he believes it. Rose can be furtive but she can't hide anything from him at least. It wasn't long back when she had casually mentioned this art school in the laps of the northern stretches of India in the Himachals.

If I ever wish to run away, that's where I'll be gone.

And she loved children so it was just the place to go when you wish to close those doors haunting your very existence. Aman understood why she would choose to come here, it was perfect in every aspect. Tranquil, serene, sterling, and peaceful.