A Heart of Gold

Chapter 11: Dawn

He and Shon were seated on an unfamiliar bank of the Ganga, the cool waters lapping their feet. Shon was laughing about something, young and carefree. Gradually, the water levels started rising, shifting into a foamy, white fog. Radheya watched, horrified, as pale, thin hands with long fingers and a Rudraksh bracelet on their wrists emerged out of the water, groping Shon's legs. Radheya tried to pull him back but Shon only gave him a calm sad smile.

"Run," he said. It sounded like an echo.

Within seconds, he was underwater. Where he had gone down, small blobs of red blood floated. Radheya tried to speak but he had no voice and no tears. His silent, unheard scream of agony moved not a leaf. He turned and then, astonishingly enough, behind him was an old, dilapidated temple, it's walls crumbling down, and the stairs chipped at places. Moss and vines clung onto it, the remnants of centuries of decay. Drawn by an invisible force, Radheya went in. For a while, it was pitch black as his eyes struggled to adjust. Then he finally saw the outline of a figure almost shining in the darkness, of a young man riding a chariot with seven horses and an intricately carved wheel-like structure at the back, radiating its spokes outward. Radheya stared and stared and stared, drinking in the handsome figure, and was not even shocked when the lips moved, forming silent words. He stepped forward to hear better, but the stone floor beneath him crumbled, emitting a low skittering sound and then he was falling and falling and falling and --

Radheya banged his head against the iron ring of the trapdoor and jerked awake, feverishly patting the space around him in search of his brother, a habit long inculcated and ingrained in his very being. Pointy, scratchy strips of hay pricked his fingers. Radheya mindlessly tossed around in a vain attempt to get up and pulled open the trapdoor from underneath him. Unfortunately, his very position and the imperishable laws of gravity ensured he flew down a good five feet and landed on a heap on the mud floor, immediately curling into a fetal position as he suddenly started feeling the stabbing pain behind his eyes.

There was a pattering of soft footsteps and moments later, Vaishali's tear-streaked face presented itself above him. Radheya groaned, turned around and froze, memories of last day flooding his senses; his father asking Shon to come, him going, Shon at the palace, the priest speaking, Shon dying, the Emperor, Shon's lifeless body, the funeral, Satyasena bhaiyya's words, Shon... Shon... Shon... gone.

There was a cool palm pressing against his forehead, low voices, and the twins' faces swimming before his eyes. Still on the floor, Radheya heaved, nearly losing consciousness, having a panic attack. He felt Vrishali lift his hand to her chest, felt her taking deep, unnecessarily elaborate breaths, and tried his best to synchronize his own with hers. Vaishali got a banana leaf from somewhere ('the kitchen,'  his mind supplied) and began vigorously fanning him. With difficulty, Radheya brought his breathing under control. Silently, Vrishali shifted and helped him sit up, and her sister handed him a pitcher of water. Radheya drank voraciously.

"Sorry... I'm sorry," he choked out, hating his hoarse voice, wet with unshed tears.

"What for?" Vaishali asked, surprised.

"For everything, this trouble, what you had to see, everything."

Vrishali stood up, placing the pitcher carefully in the corner of the room and said bluntly, "Don't flatter yourself, he might've been your brother but he was our friend. We would have been there anyway. You are our friend too, we'll be here even if you don't want us. You have nothing to do with it, so don't fish for any credits."

"Vrishali! Sister, what are you saying?" Vaishali looked shocked.

"What? He doesn't need mollycoddling, believe me. Radheya look at me, we're here okay? I'm here, so if you need anything, just spill it. I'll be there for you till the end. "