Abhaya Bhairavi #Wattys2020

Chapter Thirteen

Next morning, Bhairavi decided that she could no longer delay convincing Namma about going to Samanya's house for a few days. Namma was a very very cool grandmother, but she was also a guardian and would never let her stay at a man's house for a few days, especially when she considered the man to be romantically involved with her.

Bhairavi knew that what she had in mind might fail, but there was no other way to find out. She had spent the night packing a small bag with a few clothes, her Aadhar Card, some basic makeup, a notebook, a pen, and some money.

Hefting the bag up from her bed, she left it near the sofa and went looking for Namma in the kitchen.

"Good morning, baccha. You are a little late, so I got your coffee and lunchbox ready. You can rush to college..." Namma looked up with a smile before faltering, "Is everything alright? You look tensed….and  where is your college bag? Do you not want to go? It is fine, you can take a day off..." Bhairavi stopped her by raising her palm.

She decided that speaking in her mind would be faster than signing or writing, 'Namma...'

Namma jumped and looked at Bhairavi with frantic eyes, "Did you hear that...I...I heard your voice again, but your lips were not moving...I.."

'Yes, Namma, it's me. I can talk now, but without moving my lips.'

Namma stared at her, shocked. She blinked in confusion and Bhairavi could easily sense her thoughts without reading them. 'Namma, I can speak in minds. But that is not what I wanted to talk to you about.'

"That is not what you wanted to talk...but Bhairavi you can talk now! This is...this is great. But...how...and mentally? No, I must have heard it wrong...is this some kind of ventriloquism?"

Bhairavi saw that Namma found it hard to believe and she felt terrible that she was springing it at her first thing in the morning. But she had to do it for the next step.

Closing her eyes, Bhairavi focused her mind and tried to believe what she was about to say with all her heart, 'Namma, I am going to Mayuri's house for a few days. We have four assignments to submit before the Puja vacations and she promised yesterday that she would help me. I will be staying at her place. You do not have to worry. I will video call you by you by using her phone everyday. You just have to trust me on this.'

Bhairavi swallowed the lump of regret in her throat, and waited to see if it worked. She had tried to influence Namma's mind, very delicately, to believe her and let go of all worries.

She knew that an overdose of influence might create an imbalance of thoughts and had spent the rest of the night making a spider climb up and down the wall, even jump to the beats of  'London Thumakda'.

But a human being is far more complicated to influence, due to their complex brain structure and functions. All she could do was cross her fingers and hope it worked without any side effects.

Namma had an oddly unfocused look about her, and Bhairavi was half scared to death that she had scrambled her brains when she spoke, "Okay, since I have had a talk with Mayuri's mother and she has vouched for being there to look after you two, you can go. But video call me every night, okay? If you miss, I will go to their house to see if you are alright."

Bhairavi realized that Namma's brain had processed her influence in its own way to make it acceptable to her. Sighing in relief, she hugged her. She was about to thank her when Namma said with an indulging smile, "It's okay, you don't have to sign thank you and tell me how awesome a grandma I am, you can leave now. Here, take some money for an Uber, no, I insist."

With a sinking heart Bhairavi understood that Namma's brain had already made her forget that she could speak mentally. Nodding, she forced a small smile on her face. After kissing her cheek and scratching Summer's ears as the cat purred and licked her fingers before turning to another side and falling asleep, Bhairavi picked up her bag and left, without looking back.