The Owl Tattoo

Chapter 9

His words were slurring but he made a fair point, "Why the hell did you not tell me?"

"Bhai, I would have. I never thought they'd accept me."

"You didn't think they'd accept you?"

She shook her head and Slok turned towards me,"Priyanka, you're a smart girl. Would you apply somewhere you thought would never accept you?"

I probably would but it was nice having the brother on my side. Also I was very distraught. So I shook my head.

Slok continued, "So, Afraa, I'll ask you once again. Why didn't you tell me?"

I interjected, "Me either."

We looked at her beseechingly as she opens the envelope and pulls out the letter. It is a bit crooked on one side in lieu of having spent a day in Slok's bag. The way her face lit up made me feel a slight twinge of remorse for fighting. We were supposed to be celebrating this news together, not fighting because of it. Immediately, I remembered that she was going to leave in a few months and I curse myself for ever wanting a tattoo.

Having the courtesy of looking blameworthy, Afraa says, "We three will have to talk but you have to understand this is a huge opportunity for me and I am going. I have to. I owe that to myself. I know you two are angry with me right now but I hope you realize what it means for me and try to be happy. I have to make a few calls.

"Pri, baby, I know you should have been the first one to know but I can't feel guilty right now. I am too happy to.

"Bhai, please, I have to go. It's the best thing to have ever happen to me. You know that."

Saying her piece she left the room, leaving behind a really awkward atmosphere. Slok and I looked uncomfortably at each other and to relieve the tension, I quip, "So, when do I get my owl, mister?"

Eyes closed, body turned away from me, he replies in a grave voice, "When I stop feeling bad for myself and start pitying you. Remember, Pri? I told you we would have time to decide who the damsel in distress would be."

Well, there went my attempt to lighten up the situation. Just my luck! Before getting up to leave for his bedroom Slok said, "Who do you think she's running from? You or me?" and without letting me formulate a reply, he leaves me all alone in their living room.

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I refused, absolutely truly madly refused with every fiber of my being to be the damsel in distress in any story, let alone mine. Afraa was going to leave in seven months' time and I'll be damned if I had a single stupid mood swing to ruin her time. She was going to be the one who missed the other when she was gone to this stupidly good university at a stupidly good country for two years. I'd be so good she would pine for me every day that she would be away and when she came back, we'd joke about how mad I was when she left.

Every day in college I kept on planning on making the evenings special for her. All day long I talked about her so much so that my girl friends started getting jealous of her. Slok stopped complaining at my impromptu visits and even started pitching in many of my plans. Much later in life would I realize that I was being too clingy with someone who only wanted to be free of everybody else.

And before this realization hit me, I continued to become more and more attached to Afraa. I'd cry buckets if she cancelled plans to hang out with friends or spend a lazy day at home. She'd go shopping alone and I'd spend the entire day worrying about what would happen when she actually moved away.

Fourteen days later, for the first time after we both learnt that Afraa was moving away, Slok called me to invite me over at his shop. Happy that he was acknowledging my presence again, I went to see him. No sooner had I set foot in his shop, he harangued, "Why is she doing this? I have taken care of her since she was eight and this is how she treats me now that she's all grown up? Did I really raise such a bad human being? I am so proud of her, I am. But shouldn't she at least consider me in some of her equations?"

I smile at him, placing my purse by the sofa I sit and reply, "Did it just hit you that she's leaving?"

"No, I mean, why did she have to call and talk to them again about this new thing? You were the one who would mope around her, why are you suddenly so okay with this?"

Pressing down the rising panic, I manage, "What new thing?"

He pauses to look at me shell-shocked, "When do you think Afraa's leaving, Priyanka?"

"A bit before my mid-sem..."

"What's the date, Pri?"

"The twenty-eighth of August."

"Oh my God! Didn't she tell you? When was the last time you talked to her?"

Avoiding the larger question, I say, "This morning. A little before you called me." Then I just have to ask, "Slok, when is Afraa leaving?"

He looks at me pityingly, "Seventeenth of next month."

Ever since my dog died when I was seven, I cried for days at end, my father would look at me with disgust and once he went on to say the words 'It was just a dog'. I vowed then I would never cry in public, not let anyone else witness my pain. But in this scary tattoo place with a guy who had treated me like shit for the past few weeks I couldn't help the water from my eyes.

When I could hardly breathe and I was sniffling so much that there was snot on my face, Slok came by my side and grabbed me in a bear hug. I cried on him, hugging him, spoiling his t-shirt but didn't let go of him. He cooed soothing words to me and I kept on pouring my heart out. I asked him what I had done wrong. He reassured me that whatever was happening had nothing to do with him or me. I blamed him for making good tattoos. I blamed his goddamned family and their good genes. He laughed when I said his parents should never have mated.

I shot him a glare and he had the sense to sober up. While we were quiet, Slok repeated that this didn't have anything to do with him or me. It was just their parents' genes working in her bloodstream. They had run away from home to get married and had been on the run ever since. Nomads by nature. Slok had been the black sheep of the family; always wanting to settle down in one city for more than a year; always wanting a home.

Afraa had been in this city for a long time. Dying for college to get over. Now that it was, it wasn't surprising that she had been planning to get out of here.

"If you are so sure of all of this, if you know all this, why are you upset? You wanted to settle down, you did. What got you so worked up about Afraa leaving?"

"Our parents died when I was barely eighteen. Afraa was eight. We have been everything for each other all our lives. I couldn't believe when she made plans to leave, it'd also mean leaving me behind."

And in that moment, for a fraction, I felt worse for him than I did for me. I almost got to hug him when my phone rang: Afraa was calling. Looking at my face, Slok said, "That seems to be my sister. I'll be right outside. Call me when you're done talking." I nodded at him.

Soooo...listen up guys, after this there are only two more chapters left and I am kind of  happy with the way the chapters have turned out. The last one is the type I had planned on when I first thought of writing this story. So, thanks for sticking with it and I hope you find it good enough to share with people you think would like it. Please don't forget to Vote, Comment and Share.