𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐢 𝐓𝐞𝐚? (𝟏) || 𝑷𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒓 𝑷𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒉𝒂𝒌𝒂𝒓

𝟎𝟒

𝟎𝟒 - 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉'𝒔 𝑴𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔

It had been a few days since Parvati had been discharged from the hospital with a shiny new defibrillator implanted in her heart. She felt much better now that she didn't have wires and stiff needles implanted in her wrists, as well as having to listen to the continuous, insufferable beep of the heart rate machine which kept on going, even during the night. 

She sat in her room, completing school homework with a pair of headphones atop her head playing soothing violin covers. Outside it rained. The people of Mumbhattan didn't like it when it rained, as it seemed to wash away all the brightness and colour of their city. But Parvati liked it for some reason, it brought out another side of Mumbhattan: its tranquil and quiet one.

Her pen swivelled against the paper as she wrote an essay for English, the blue ink taking the form of the words she had envisioned in her head. The rain blurred the outlines of the buildings outside her window, and there weren't many cars on the road. The violin sweeping through her ears helped her write.

Parvati didn't hear her younger brother Manish enter the room, closing the door behind him with a quiet click. He tapped her shoulder, and mimed for her to take her headphones off. She did.

'What happened?' she asked, opening Spotify on her phone and pausing the music.

'I wanted to talk to you,' muttered Manish.

'Yeah sure. About what?'

'Well...' he wringed his hands, 'It's about... y'know... when I nearly, er, jumped...'

'Oh,' Parvati felt a pang reach her stomach as she remembered that detrimental moment when she had thought he would hit the ground and she would never see him smile again. Never hear him talk again.

'So, I wanted to tell you the truth,' he admitted meekly, 'About why I chose to do that.'

Parvati now gave him her full attention, completely forgetting about her essay and the violin music, 'Yeah... go ahead.'

Manish pulled out his phone and opened the photos app. He clicked on a series of text message screenshots, and handed the phone to her, before he started to speak.

'So I remember you guys adopted me exactly two years ago, and I honestly have always been thankful for that. I think you already know about how abusive my parents were, physically, verbally, and mentally.'

'Yeah I know...'

'Something I didn't tell you guys was I was in fact still on contact with them. They kept text messaging me all the time after I had completed the therapy. They told me I wasn't worth in the world, and I should die. I never told you, or mummy or papa, because because my emotional arse thought I should keep them in contact as they were my biological parents.'

Parvati scrolled through the messages, 'Even though everyone had told you to block their numbers...'

'Yes... and now I feel really guilty that I did that,' Poor Manish teared up, 'I'm so sorry Parvati... I'm so sorry I scared you, and mummy and papa. I'm so sorry that I kept their numbers. I just didn't know what was right.'