Hearts And Puzzles

CHAPTER 24

3rd Person's POV:

The following content can be sexually traumatic and inappropriate for some readers.

Ridhi was astonished. She was speechless for a second as her eyes remained wide. She felt so angry and sad for Avani. "Where? How? When?" Ridhi shouted as she held Avani's hands. Avani looked up to Ridhi, her face held many different emotions. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears.

"It was on the day Hiral died." She continued as she started to sob. "While coming back at night....I was kidnapped into a van." Ridhi kept looking at her, in a way of giving her strength. Avani wiped her tears from her palm and she continued.

"I was unconscious for some time afterwards...but when I gained my conciousness....." Avani sobbed harder. She started to hiccup and pant a little.

"Someone was rummaging through my body. Not someone but some people. There were many people, I couldn't see them. My eyes were tied with a cloth." She started to pant heavily. Ridhi was patting and rubbing Avani's back. But nothing helped. She started to sob more.

Ridhi got scared, remembering that she mentioned some pills, she immediately took Avani's purse and searched for it. She took it out and gave it to her and fetched her a glass of water from the bedside. Avani drank it and calmed down slowly, yet weeping and sobbing softly.

"They were touching me very inappropriately, I could feel them tear off my clothes, I felt their hands on my bare skin." She started to sob badly as she held her head low. Ridhi consoled her, patting her head. She was so offended as a feminist herself and felt so angry and bad that it was her bestfriend.

"The next I knew was that it pained, I don't know what but it pained in my vagina. It felt as if someone had stabbed a huge metal rod inside me. That's it. I went completely unconscious. At around 1 or 2 in the morning, I found myself in some old garage, left alone naked in a pool of blood. I didn't know where I was... My body was completely bruised. It had huge hand imprints and belt marks which had turned into a ugly shade of black and blue." she started to cry loudly. "I covered myself with a torn trench coat that was lying around in there. I wasn't able to stand up. Somehow I managed to drag myself to the nearby shop and called myself an ambulance; I couldn't walk."

"The ambulance soon reached me and I came to the hospital. The doctor identified that I was raped and insisted on calling the police. But...."

"But? But what? Where was I all that time?" Ridhi continued she was angry and confused about her disappearance.

"I was ashamed. I was embarrassed about my identity as well as yours. I didn't want attention as a rape victim, and imagine what could happen if my family got to know. Even your image, I couldn't think of it to be as a friend or the raped....that's why I left you on the graduation day....and came to Udupi and changed my name and also tattooed a blur jay feather below my left shoulder to cover up the scar which they had left. The doctor gave me some clothes and I wore them and returned to the hostel in early morning. You weren't in the room....where were you at 5 in morning?"

" I was at the terrace... thinking about Hiral. I am soo sorry! I never knew. Although I had a doubt about you behaving oddly and you completely stopped talking and looking at every guy. I should have known something was wrong. I never questioned. I was- no I am a complete douchebag to not care about you. I'm so sorry Avani" Ridhi told as she felt really guilty, her eyes teared up for not being with her. "I shouldn't have left you alone..." she told as she started to cry.
"I had no right to get angry over your...I am soo guilty" she told as she cried harder.

Avani looked at Ridhi as she held her shoulders, "No, not at all. Don't blame yourself, anymore. None of it is your fault Avani told as she slowly stopped crying. But Ridhi started crying, she thought of herself as the cause of pain. "Prajwal too and you too....I AM, I should have been the one to never have met you both. I only cause pain for the ones I love."