The Rose & Her Thorn

Part 1

"No luck today either, Jiji. Not a single company shortlisted me," said Shikha Agarwal, slumping into the merely functional wooden chair, which offered neither comfort nor adequate support for the curve of the lower back. The chair, like her circumstance, offered her no respite from the tension plaguing her.

Sunaina placed her hand over her younger sister's shoulder with her eyebrows knitted together in worry. "Do they ask about the delay?"

Shikha shook her head in the negative with a clenched jaw. "They don't ask, but they start to appear less interested after I reveal my age. I try to explain, Jiji, but they never listen. It's almost like they assume I failed a few times and that's the reason I'm twenty-five and still in my final year."

The resounding whips of remorse left Sunaina's eyes glistening with hints of tears. "If the orphanage hadn't closed down because of those corrupt politicians, it wouldn't have happened. Maybe I should have taken on more students for tuitions. I'm so sorry, Shikha!"

"No, Jiji! You were still in college," said Shikha, intertwining her fingers with those of her elder sister. "You did the best you could. We did the best we could."

Sunaina gave a tight-lipped smile to Shikha and the latter's compassionate words had only added fuel to the raging blaze of remorse consuming the elder sister. Her staggered breaths grew shallow and shorter with every passing second, and a familiar constriction developed in her chest. The rattling breath did not escape Shikha's notice, whose eyelids receded further into her skull as realization gleamed in her eyes.

"No, no. I'll get your inhaler, Jiji. Just give me a second! One second!" she said, jumping to her feet and racing towards the table to retrieve the inhaler. Her shaky fingers grasped the inhaler, and her heart sank when the cannister appeared lighter than usual. With a quivering lower lip, she thrust the cannister into her sister's clammy hands only to see the puffs were feeble. The medication in the cannister was scarce.

Shikha dashed to rummage through the house to find a second one with her heart pounding away at her ribcage with relentless frenzy. But every opened drawer, every cupboard thrown open, and every bed searched had left the heaviness of disappointment over her chest. She pulled her phone out of the pocket of her kurta and dialled the number of her sister's fiancé.

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"Rajeevji, hurry! I am sure we would find a store which is open and would have Jiji's medication. Oh God, how can I be so irresponsible?"

"Happens to the best of us, Shikha. We will find the pharmacy, but my actual concern is about the patrolling personnel who might find us and question. What will we answer them?" said a very concerned Rajeev Malhotra, because he knew lying to them would only worsen the consequences.

"Nothing of that sort will happen, Rajeevji. Trust Bholenath! He will save us from this predicament," assured Shikha, confident about her favorite deity, Lord Shiva, as she tried to ignore the same question buzzing in her mind from the time she had stepped over the threshold of her home.

The nightmare at the back of her mind turned into the stark reality. The patrolling goons had arrived there, walking into the main road from the left alley with golf sticks to beat up anyone who violated the rules laid down by their overlord.

They found two figures walking towards them. The girl holding the apparatus in her hand which was not clear to them because of the distance and the darkness which surrounded them. A smirk pulled the leader's lips to a side as he imagined the reward from their Singhal Sahab for catching the violators, which was a rare occurrence.

"Aye, both of you! Stop!" he yelled, stepping towards them, and realizing that she held an asthma pump. Although he realized they might be out to buy the essentials, he did not dare to let go of them or his reward for presenting them to his boss.