20. Ma

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I woke up to a startlingly loud sob. Groggily, I untangled myself from the sheets, the white dress from last night clinging to my body. The rattle of the newspaper guy's old cycle echoed up through the window as he cycled past us. Trying to rub the sleep from my eyes, I followed the feminine sobs down the stairs.

Khammi appeared distraught. Dressed in a simple cotton kameez, she sat on a tool near the base of the stairs, trying to muffle her sobs with her pink dupatta. The moment she spotted me with her bulging watery eyes, making me yelp, she launched up from her seat and pulled me into a crushing hug, her wailing jumping a pitch.

Mortified, I scrambled away from her, wondering what the hell was happening. The clock hanging on the wall above the couch said that it was 7 in the morning and it had brightened outside, but nobody had remembered to turn off the glaring light.

Considering Khammi's state, I turned to the other occupants of the room for an explanation. Dr. Amir, Mr. Fuller and Bapi were hunched over on the couch.

"What's going on?" I asked loudly, stumbling into the view. The men looked up at me, various degrees of pity glinting in their eyes. "Bapi? What's going on?"

That was the first and only time in my life I saw Bapi cry. Pulling off his tie, he lowered his head into his palms. He didn't utter a single cry, but when he looked up, his eyes were red and misty.

Mr. Fuller spoke to me first. "Honey, your mother is missing. Don't you worry, we'll find her in no time," he took several steps, slightly rickety courtesy of his age, towards me, placing a trembling hand on my shoulder.

"But, how?" I asked, refusing to believe it.

"We don't know that yet, honey," Doc said, rubbing his forehead tiredly. "She was seen going into the Chemistry lab last night, but she never came out."

The next few days were hard and repetitive. Khammi packed a large, expensive suitcase and took up residence in the guest room. I passed the sleepless nights wondering where Ma was, how she was, and if she was even alive. Funnily enough, even though the nights seemed everlasting, the thoughts wouldn't end when the sun came out.

Mr. Fuller would come over whenever anything police-related happened. "No worries, sweetie," he would reassure me. "It'll be fine, we'll find her in no time. Have faith."

Principal Nilima Russo visited us once every day, not uttering a word about how I was missing school. The guys came over every day after school and stayed with me well into the night. West never accompanied them, but I had other things to worry about.

MA! MAA! Delirious with worry, I wanted to scream, shout, punch, but Bapi was home all the time and I couldn't do this to him. I'll do anything for you, Ma, come back! COME BACK!

But she didn't.

-

"Hey, Doc." I muttered, taking a seat on an upside down wooden barrel. Bapi had shoved me out of the house and ordered me to cycle to Doc's as a solution to my depressed attitude. As I traced the ring of rusty iron circling the barrel, Doc's eyes shot up.

"Hi, sweetheart. What's up?" he smiled worriedly, wiping his hands on a towel and making his way over to me from the kitchen/lab. He grabbed another barrel, turned it upside down with some difficulty and sat down beside me.

"Nothing much," I said. I wanted to tell him more, but I wasn't sure of what to say.

"Tea?" he asked absentmindedly, staring outside through the window. Following his gaze, I saw that the gate was still mid-air, and a complicated device that looked suspiciously like a car engine rested on top of it.

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