Sea Mist

Chapter 12

KHUSHI couldn't believe she had landed herself into this mess. It began when she had started looking for a washroom so she could change into dry clothes. She had left the pond before the men, and had slipped away without letting Anjali and Rashmi know, hoping to be back before they could realize she was gone. She had overheard one of the college girls talking about the ladies' washroom that was located a little interior to the left, just before the waterfall.

She did not realize how far she had walked to find the washroom but the need use the toilet had increased her desperation with each minute. After she had locked herself in the toilet to change her clothes, she had realized that it was a men's washroom when a group of men entered the washroom and used the urinal. The men had started making lewd comments about the college girls at the waterfall and she was quite sure they were talking about her as well. She had kept quiet waiting for them to leave, but then one man had tried to open the door to the toilet, and began to knock on it when the door wouldn't open.

She had frozen. As the man tried to turn the knob over, and over again, she heard the clang of the knob as it fell on the floor with a deafening sound and rolled off until it came to a stop. She heard the man swear loudly before stomping off in frustration when he heard his friends call out to him, warning him they would miss their ride back.

It was only then it hit her that she would miss her ride as well. She had frantically tried to search for her phone only to realize that she had left it with Anjali earlier. What if no one else came? Not many knew about this washroom and it was almost closing time. She shouted for help, screaming at the top of her voice. All she could hear was the cawing of crows.

An hour later, Khushi was convinced that she was stuck. What would she do when darkness set in? Heart pounding wildly, she shouted again to no avail.

Khushi

Was someone calling out to her or was it her imagination? From the past one hour, she had imagined this a few times and now it was starting to scare her.

"Khushi!"

It was Arnav! "Arnav – I am in the washroom." Khushi shouted, relief washing over her.

In less than a minute, Arnav was at the toilet door. After hearing from her about what had happened, he made a futile attempt to fix the knob to turn the lock.

"I will have to break the door Khushi," he told her finally, "step back as far as possible so I don't hurt you."

As Khushi stepped back, Arnav managed to kick the door open in his third attempt.

"What the f@#$ happened?" Arnav asked her his face filled with disbelief.

Khushi ran straight into his arms and hugged him tight.

"Come on!" Arnav said roughly, "we have no time to lose. We will have to get back to the entrance ASAP." He called Manav.

Arnav explained to her that when they had realized she was missing Manav and he had started looking for her while Aarav had taken Anjali and Rashmi back to the entrance so they could meet the driver and explain the situation. The driver had fussed about the wait and had told them he had to return to Hebri for another appointment. He had told them that the other vehicle waiting there for another party could bring back the others.

Then, Rashmi had received a call from her mother who had informed her that Sanvi was running a slight temperature. On hearing that Anjali had urged Aarav to take Rashmi to Hebri in case of an emergency, convincing them she would take the next ride back to Hebri. When Arnav had found out, he had sent Manav back to take care of Anjali.

After reaching Hebri, Aarav had taken Rashmi back to Udupi in a taxi as Sanvi's fever had increased considerably. Arnav had then told Manav to leave on the last ride back to Hebri, in casae a search party had to be organized.