Chaotic Tangles!

30|| The Voilent Delights

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An eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind.

Ideally, Nandini Murthy was one of those people who treated her sleep like her best friend. She needed an adequate amount of sleep to actually function - or else she would be cranky and annoyed the next day. This particular night though - wasn't going to make it to her favorites' list. She kept tossing and turning for quite some time, thinking and rethinking things through.

For the question in the forefront of her mind had changed from was Manik guilty to if she thought he was guilty - of course that was if she believed he had given her his honest truth. And a huge part of her did believe him, but she also knew it wasn't enough. His truth and the actual truth wasn't aligning and it wasn't rocket science to see that, except for Manik himself. Nandini was beginning to see a clearer picture now - it was hazy in the middle but she could make out certain pieces of that bigger puzzle. The only game was to make Manik see that, because if her gut feeling was right, the key to unlocking this whole puzzle was Manik himself, he just didn't know it.

Exhausted physically and mentally, Nandini finally fell asleep in the dead hours of the night but  woke up to voices outside her room. She turned to her side and reached for her phone - it was seven in the morning. She had been asleep for hardly three hours.

But Someone was yelling outside - a familiar feminine voice Nandini knew she recognized but could not place where. Rubbing her eyes and forcing herself to wake up, Nandini sat up on the bed, trying to make sense of whatever conversation that was happening outside the door.

“NO! You are lying to me”, she heard Manik's voice , but it was so anguished, it made her heart ache.

“I have no reason to lie to you Manik. In fact I should have told you all of this way before. I don't know why I thought you were over it", the other voice yelled back, and Nandini found herself moving closer to the door, still trying to recognize who it was and why it sounded familiar.

“But why would she do that -”, Manik's voice fell lower and Nandini was almost tempted to open the door and walk out when she heard the other voice answer.

“She wasn't lucid Manik, she was a patient like any other. You have to see her beyond being our mother. SHE WAS SICK. And that was the truth”, the answer hit Nandini in her gut as came the rampant awareness about the owner of the voice and how Nandini knew her.

Medha Malhotra Singhaniya, Manik Malhotra's elder sister was here.

And they were talking about their mother.

Nandini felt like she was eavesdropping on a conversation she didn't have any rights to pry on, but couldn't make herself move.

Nothing about this situation had left boundaries anyway - she needed to know everything she could and even if she kept telling herself it was about Aadya, a part of her knew it was also because she cared. She knew pretty well that his mother was an extremely sensitive topic for Manik and it would be a white lie if she said she wasn't concerned.

“No but why would she do that? Aadya was a baby -”, Manik's voice was shaking, Nandini could tell. She opened the door and walked out a few steps, standing by the foyer from where she could see them both standing near the coffee table. They were yet to notice her.

“Manik listen to yourself for God's sake. How does it matter to a schizophrenic if it's a baby or an adult? Out of two of us, you are the psychiatrist here!”, Medha answered back with just as much emphasis before slacking down, her shoulders falling, “You are too hard on yourself Manik. You don't want to believe what your mind knows, because then it takes the blame off yourself to the person you love the most - even if she isn't alive anymore", Medha softened as she held her brother by his shoulders, “It's okay to love her so much, but she isn't alive, you still are”.