ArShi FF: Homebound

Prologue

HOMEBOUND

I'll find my way to you . . .

***

Picks up from episode 178

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Pushing on the accelerator, Arnav sighs in annoyance. NK and Khushi had been gone for a while and he did not like it at all. He had driven around the streets, checked all of Laxminagar and Buaji's house, but there was still no sign of them.

"Where have they gone?" He grits out, his jaw clenching slightly.

Driving through a curve in the road, Arnav's eyebrows raise in confusion at the slight commotion ahead. Some people are standing on the road, while a few police officers are signalling other cars and bikes.

"Barricades? They weren't there before... then now?" He wonders to himself.

Lowering the window of his car, he calls out to a stranger nearby.

"Excuse me," The man looks at him in acknowledgement, "What's going on here?"

"There's been an accident of a girl, just ten minutes ago. That's why the police has arrived," Comes the reply, sending Arnav into a spiral of thought.

"A girl?" He repeats.

"Yes," The stranger affirms.

Arnav closes the window halfway up, fooling himself for overthinking when something suddenly catches his eye.

There, a few feet away on the ground, lay familiar red bangles, shattered to pieces.

He immediately unfastens his seatbelt, rushing to the area where the pieces lay. Picking up one broken fragment of red glass, he examines it as lump forms in the back of his throat. His anxious gaze shifts to the rest of the accident scene, looking at the blood splattered on the ground, the splintered wedges of metal. Frightened adrenaline pumps furiously fast throughout his body as he walks hurriedly to the stranger from before.

"Excuse me, whose- accident was this?"

"Arre, I told you, it was a girl,"

Arnav looks away momentarily before the man's next words still him completely.

"There was also a boy with her. Their car got towed, now they're taking the girl away in an ambulance." He says, pointing to a parked ambulance in the distance.

Everything around him reduces to nothing except for the mad beating of his terrified heart.

No... It can't be.

The ambulance doors shut close. The blue siren lights up and its blare fills the surroundings. Before he knows it, sanity is slipping away.

His legs start to move on their own accord and he runs, runs before he trips and rolls over to the ground. Right when he hoists himself with his arms he sees a single golden shoe, remembering just who it belongs to. One name leaves his lips in a whisper.

"Khushi,"

Arnav stands up and turns around, stricken with denial as he watches the ambulance drive away amidst the fog of the evening.

"KHUSHI!" He yells out in desperation, now entirely certain of the dreaded reality of the situation.

Without another thought he runs like a madman, trying with all his might to meet the speeding ambulance, to somehow stop them, to hold her close and protect her at all costs. He can slowly feel his calves burning as he keeps running faster and faster, his lips contracting with struggle.

"STOP! KHUSHI!"

Arnav shouts her name one last time, watching as the ambulance disappears around the bend of the road. He stands there in the middle of the road, paralyzed by the magnitude of the situation. The fragment of the bangle stays broken within his grip. His throat chokes as he tries to articulate words, helplessly vulnerable to the growing pain in his heart and the maddening frustration in his mind.

Logic finally kicks in and he takes a few steps back before sprinting back to the site of the accident.

"Excuse me, wh-which hospital is this ambulance going to?" He pants, the question coming out with quivering need.

"Fortis Hospital," Says the same stranger, his features now showing sympathy at the evident worry written across Arnav's face.

He quickly thanks the man and gets into his car, securing his seatbelt before driving off towards the direction of the ambulance.

Please let her be okay, please...

Arnav parks the white SUV and rushes inside, dodging people in the hallway in order to get to the reception desk.

"Welcome to Fortis, how may I help you?"

"There's a girl named Khushi Kumari Gupta who's been admitted here? An ambulance brought her," His hand fists in impatience.

"May I please get your name sir,"

"Arnav Singh Raizada,"

The receptionist types away on the computer before facing him in a moment.

"Yes, Mr. Raizada, a Ms. Gupta has just been admitted to urgent care, right after a Mr. Nandakishore. I believe they have been in an accident,"

"Are they okay? Is everything alright?" He leans in, his tone raising in panic.

She looks at the computer screen again, reading the details on the case.

"Mr. Nandakishore has fractured his leg, sir, but... I'm afraid Ms. Gupta's condition is critical. She has suffered multiple broken bones as well as a head injury,"

A shiver runs down his spine. His hands leave the desk and hang loose by his sides, the world around him coming to a blur.

"Dr. Patel is handling this case, you may speak to him for further details-"

No answer.

"Sir? Sir?!"

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A/N: What if Khushi really was in that ambulance Arnav was running after? How would everything play out? 

This is my take :) Would love to know your thoughts dear readers!

- Rain