7 Years & Waiting

Chapter - 27

"So the boy caused the fire by lighting the cigarette near your kitchen door? This was not at all mentioned in the case files!" Rakesh uncle exclaimed in his advocating voice, not at all concerned with the heaviness I had just created around us. On the other hand, Ashok uncle was reacting the complete opposite with his pitiful, tear-filled eyes directed towards me.

However, I was concerned only about one person's reaction in this room. I turned my own tear-strained eyes towards my friend to find him looking at the ground. There was no pity or concern in his face, just mere sadness. In that moment, I realized that he doesn't lie whenever he exclaimed in the past that he truly gets me.

"And what about Vivaan? I thought you said that he was still in the house when it exploded.." I returned my attention to Rakesh uncle to quench his lawyer curiosity.

"I thought so too...In that one moment, I felt my world collapsing around me...or rather I should say burning around me" I spoke motionlessly. I had visualized that moment of my life so many times in the past few years that now I didn't feel anything remembering it. "I lost my Mom when I was a baby. I lost Vivaan's mom when I was not even old enough to understand the loss. But at that moment....I lost the only two people of my life...two people I could not survive without. For one moment, I thought of running inside the scorching house...I thought of ending my life along with my loved ones" I heard Sarthak take a sharp intake of breath at my words.

"But as I was about to...two hands enclosed me from behind, restraining me from running towards the house. I was jumping and fighting the person, desperate to join my loved ones until it was too late, but the person's hold was too strong on me. Finally, the person said 'There is nothing we can do now Am!' I turned shockingly towards the voice to find Vivaan...scratched and burned at places...but alive..standing in front of me".

"The last shred of my mental balance gave away and I broke down. I held on to him as if I would fall down if I let go and I cried...I cried with all might" I sobbed lightly and suddenly felt a hand enclosing my joined palms, a hand which I can recognize even in my sleep. I raised my head to my friend who I knew could definitely feel my pain.

"But I don't understand! How did he get out?" Rakesh uncle asked but this time with a little compassion in his voice.

"Later he told me that when I left the house to call someone for help, he moved out to make a call. We have always had a network issue in the vicinity of our house. So he went to his own porch to make the call" I explained and could feel the wheels of Rakesh uncle's mind turning.

"A call? His father was dead, your father was dying...What call was more important to him at that moment?" it was Ashok uncle who spoke this time, his words sounded as if he was offended by Vivaan. I guess his reaction was totally due to his biasness towards me.

"The police...He moved out to call the police" I looked towards Ashok uncle while I spoke and witnessed his expression changing from angry to knowing.

"He confessed!" he whispered more as a statement rather a question but I still nodded my head in agreement.

"When Vivaan's mother died, everyone thought that it was an accident. One moment she and Ravi uncle were fighting near the staircases, the next moment she was down the stairs with her head bleeding. But we were there....we saw what happened. We saw Ravi uncle mishandling and jerking his wife that made her lose her balance and fall down the stairs" I disclosed Vivaan's secret with a heavy heart. I had known this forever....this is the reason Vivaan hated his father so much.

"He didn't want to be like his father. He didn't want to hide the fact from the world that he had killed someone. I knew the minute that metal rod hit that monster's head that Vivaan was going to make himself pay for that. And that is what happened....it must have been minutes or hours, I don't know...but the ambulance arrived along with the police. The ambulance got my father out of the house and took him away, just like the police handcuffed Vivaan and took him away. I was an orphan and alone in a matter of minutes".