Anidita: one soul, two bodies.

12: The flood 🌊

I entered in scofflish without letting anyone know. when I got to the dorm, I opened the door only to step into a big puddle of water. The entire first floor was flooded. I ran upstairs where everyone looked irritated. finally I saw some of my friends.

" what's going on?" I asked

" There is no running water " Riya said

" What happened ? I saw the entire first floor is flooded"

" We don't know " said Meera " Mrs.Geeta will tell us, I think"

" Have you seen Alina?"

" We thought she was with you"

" Maybe she is in the room" I said, not wanting to let anyone know that I wasn't in the room last night.

Mrs Geeta entered in the floor. " Girls" she shouted.

" It seems there's one of the pipes froze overnight and burst. maintenance should be here within the hour to fix it and drain the water from first floor. In the meantime, you all can use bathroom in the boys dormitory. So get ready with your dresses, we are heading over in 15 minutes"

After I showered and got changed, I went back to the girls dorm, where I saw Mrs Geeta was talking with the maintenance workers. I tried to listen that what she's talking about but I couldn't , not wanting to get into any more trouble. I waited for Alina but she didn't come. Infact , she didn't go to any classes at all. I thought, maybe she is in library and at night when she will come I will tell her about yesterday.

It was the fifth period, I went to the geography class, Anirudh was already sitting at our bench. I was just behind him, he was writing notes. I thought to take his notes but he grabbed my hand without seeing me. he turned to me with the smile , he brought my palm to his lips and almost kiss it.

Professor was lecturing about the " celestial nebulas".

" What did you want to tell me?" I whispered to Anirudh

" I can't tell you here" he replied " its too important".

I tried to imagine what he wanted to say to me, he would confess his love? "Bondita" he would say " I love you". Maybe that's not what he planned at all.

when the professor was writing something on the board Anirudh inched closer to me and held his hand into mine. Neither of us dared to look at the other. To the class we were like a boy and girl sitting next to each other but beneath the surface, we were growing something for eachother.

By curfew, Alina still wasn't back. It was unusual but I was too excited to meet with Anirudh, I thought she's probably in the library I would see her when I got back tonight.

when the watch reached 10:45 P.M. I pulled myself into chimney and begin to climb down to the basement. I was so anxious to see Anirudh. I reached the bottom, something wasn't right. I climbed down a rung and then another until I was almost completely out of the chimney but as I lowered my foot to the last rung, my leg became submerged in water, the entire basement was flooded with water which had risen to just feet below the ceiling. I scanned the basement , searching for some way to get outside, but it was useless so I climbed back to the chimney. when I got back to my room I called his landline, but the phone rang and rang and rang.

It took six days to drain all of the water from the basement. In meantime we used the boys bathroom every morning at 8 a.m. and every evening at 8 p.m. but the problem was basement it meant that I could only see him in class. The basement was the only way out of the dorms at night, But let me just start from the beginning on the night that I discovered the flood. I had trouble getting to sleep, I was waiting for Alina to come back but she never did but the flood was just the beginning of a strange chain of events that was taking place at scofflish.

Alina didn't come back the next morning. I immediately went next door to meera and Riya's room. Meera opened the door. she hasn't seen Alina since "out day", which was already 2 days ago. Nobody hadn't seen her either.

I went to Mrs Geeta who was our dorm mother.

" Yes" she said.

In a low murmur, I informed her about Alina's disappearance.

" What do you mean she's missing?" she said

" She wasn't here last night or this morning"

" why didn't you report it sooner?"

" I thought she was at the library" which was the truth.

she slammed the door " come" she said.

Our destination was the principal's office.

" Principal mam" Mrs Geeta called out " this young lady has something to tell you."

After I finished, The principal ordered Mrs Geeta,

" Inform her parents immediately, and make a call to the rangers office. In the meantime I will dispatch a search party"

" I can help you" I said, verging and pleading.
I felt this disappearance was somehow my fault. if I hadn't stayed with Anirudh, I had gone home that night or reported her missing earlier, Maybe it would have been different"

" I want to join the search"

" No, you go to your class and focus on your studies"

" But she is my roomma.." she cut me off, " You are dismissed"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

" Where were you?" said Anirudh, Appearing out of nowhere in the hallway. " I waited "

" I tried calling you but you didn't pick up" I said softly.
" The basement in the girls dorm is flooded, there is no way out after curfew "

He frowned. " I was worried that something had happened when you didn't come, I waited outside the dorm, trying to find your window but they were all dark. when I got back to my room it was too late that I didn't want to call "

I wanted to tell him that I tried so much to meet him but " Alina is gone" I blurted out .

" What do you mean?" he asked.

" She never came back last night. I don't think she was there the night before either. I don't know if she ran away or she was kidnapped, I don't know. where could she go?"

" You'd be surprised. There are alot places to go in this school if you don't want to be found"

" But what if she does want to be found?"

" Then she'll be found" he said, " when was the last time you saw her?"

" Just before 'out day'. She said she was going to skip it and go to the library to study"

He raised his eyes to mine, " I have to go" he said.

" What? where? do you know something? do you know where she is?"

He shook his head " if I did, I would find her for you"

" I know", I said.

" When can I see you again?" He asked

" We have classes together" I said

" Alone"

I bit my lip. " Meeting after curfew is impossible maybe during study hall ? I can meet you outside the dinner hall after dinner "

The bell rang , signalling the start of class.

" I'll be waiting " he said and smiled.

Hey guys, I hope y'all are doing fine. I'm sorry that I didn't post . Actually I had some issues that's why I didn't post. I hope you all will like this part too. Thanks for your immense love ♥️ . Especially Thank you to my supports , you guys are awesome. Ily all♥️♥️