RED

Dreams may come true.

"Vinny!! Sushma is not in the room. She is not even lifting the call. I don't know what's wrong with her." Sushma's mother Hema aunty was crying holding me.

"Please don't cry aunty. She was with us till now. I'll check outside." I rushed out of the room and searched everywhere. But Sushma was nowhere to be found. I could hear her mother sobbing in the room.

Then I saw her. She was lying in a pool of blood unconsciously. Everyone gathered around and started crying considering her body as a lifeless one.

"No Sushi you aren't dead!" I collapsed to the ground.

"You aren't dead Sushi, you aren't....get up..get up...get up..."

..............................

"Get up Vinny. Get up." Sushma was almost shouting when I opened my eyes. She was shaking me vigorously to wake me up. Even though I'd know by now that it was just a bad dream, my heart was still beating fast and I felt nausea hit my gut.

Sushma was a cancer patient. Her parents made her undergo so many therapies, treatments and medications that she was assured to live for some more years. As a part of side effects she'd lost her weight and cut short her hair to disguise hair fall. I was with her since my school days and it was a painful truth to know that I was going to lose my best friend soon. Despite her weak appearance, Sushma was bold enough to smile even after knowing her condition. The trip was also made for her, to give her some good memories and hope.

"Sushi, it was horrible." I hugged her and controlled my tears.

She hugged me back. Before she could ask any questions about my strange behaviour, I freed myself and headed towards bathroom.

"What's wrong with you?" She scowled, "Anyway, we have three new girls with us."

"Ohh eaally? Vuu aar dey?" I asked brushing my teeth.

"Did you see him before? Our guide? He is so handsome. But his name is Unni Krishna or something like that." She said disappointed.

"You don laak it?" I raised an eyebrow.

"It's good. He said that he want to add those three girls with us, as both, ours and their group asked the tour for same number of days. This is the reason why he postponed yesterday. So that he can make them join with us." She sighed. After completing her bread, she put another two pieces in plate for me.

I washed my face, "Ohh okay. We are supposed to be out at 7:30 right? I'll finish it fast." I hurried to the bathroom without giving her a chance to reply.

After half an hour, we all were out with mini luggages which held cameras, sunglasses, some food and water bottles.

The three girls were not with our guide when I saw him in the hall. He was tall, muscular and attractive and surprisingly young. I haven't missed Sushma staring at him like a child looks at her favourite cookie though. He said that the new girls were going to join with our group when we enter the main city. It was five to six kilometers away from the tiger hills.

They gathered with us when we reached the city where most of the gardens, parks were located. They introduced themselves as Vrindha, Ayesha and Ishwarya.

The handsome guide, Krishna, took us to the rose garden first.

Red, pink, violet, white, green and even black roses surrounded us in beautiful different decorations. Morning sunlight made the flowers to glow, giving an exquisite look to the garden.

"You may go wander the whole place for an hour or two. This rose garden has more than 3000 varieties of rose species. Have a walk through them and enjoy. Also I will make some breakfast for you all in our van. Later we can go to botanical garden." Krishna concluded.