BROKEN THINGS

25

Sleep had begun receding and Sourav on an instinct turned over, his arms reaching for the comforting warmth of his brother. He didn't want to wake up just yet. His hands meet the bedsheet, no Rahul beneath them. He opened his eyes blearily, feeling around the bed, only to see the bed empty.

He frowned and sat up. Rahul usually slept for long, the amount of medication he took, took care of it. He must have slept too long if his brother was up already. Sighing he swung his legs to the ground, tiredly stretching. He felt physically and emotionally exhausted still but today was the big day. In two days time, they were going to be back with their parents and that was going to be the end of all problems. Because there was no way his parents were going to sit by and not put an end to whatever Rahul had going on. He was relying on that infact, reminding himself to not start fighting his brother everytime he did something infuriating, to not dig up all their issues. Because very soon they were going to all be together as a family and everything was going to be fixed together.

He knocked on the bathroom door, to hurry his brother up, before rummaging through his bag with one hand; the other reaching for the reciever to order breakfast. After getting his things in order, he lay back down in bed with a sigh as he waited for Rahul to come out.

There was only one thought in his head and that was they were going home. They were going home and he could stop being the one in control. His own heart was going through a storm each day since that horrible day but for his brother's sake and his unstable condition, Sourav kept reigning himself in. But he could soon stop that and let the exhaustion take over. Maybe he would sleep for a weekend or so, that was how tired he felt.

"Rahul come out!" he yelled, still lazing around on the bed.

There was no answer, not even a delayed, faint one. Sourav frowned and sat up, a little worried. Had he fallen asleep in there? Or worse, fainted?

"Rahul?" he got up and knocked the door. There was no answer, so he knocked harder, now panicking, "Jam answer man. I am getting worried out here,".

There still was no answer. Sourav breathed in harshly. There was something wrong. Something very wrong. He banged on the door.

"Jammy open the door," he yelled, a light tremble in his voice, "I will break it down I swear to god, open it this instant,".

Jammy did not open the door. Growling he rattled the door knob hard, threatening to follow through his promise.

And to his absolute horror. The door swung open.

Sourav's heart dropped to his knees.

"Jammy?"

Only the echo of his voice greeted him back.

The bathroom was empty.