The Vile.

Chapter : 55

The hidden truth.

The door to THE cabin is ajar, standing infront of the door are two boys, whose eyes are fixed inside the cabin. Both of them seem to be in their mid twenties and both display a pale face, that mirrors Zoya's, as all of their eyes display an otherworldly kind of horror, as if they have just seen a ghost. Nihal remembers these two guys from Ashray, they are also Vasudha's friends. But the realization that all of them are seeing inside with the same horror just increases Nihal's heartbeat. He immediately turns behind him out of instinct and finds Vasudha slowly walking towards them with a face filled with guilt. She feels guilty for making her friends go through so much pain. Nihal, however, doesn't waste a millisecond.

"Vasudha, I want you to go and wait inside my chamber, please?" He urges, feeling desperate all of a sudden.

"I will. I just need ten minutes. I just need a closure. All of them are here Nihal. They were my everything for such a long time. If I made them go through this situation, they should atleast see that I am safe and unharmed. They are worried. I am begging you to give me this ten minutes, please." Vasudha pleads.

"I would have loved to give you that chance, but trust me this is not the right time Vasudha. Danuj isn't here. If he ever finds out what took place today, you have no idea what can happen. I told you back then, I can show the good side of him but even I find it frightening to confront the evil inside of him. He loses his mind. He has seen so much that his emotions split into two halves, giving birth to this monster that everyone is scared of. Just listen to me for this once, I...." Nihal fails to complete his words as another male voice interrupts him from behind.

" And you.. you will be able to keep it a secret for another decade or even more than that." Abhirup's voice booms from behind.  Turning around Nihal comes face to face with one of the guys. He is tall like him, has short dark hair. His hazel eyes look directly into his. He is brave, that much Nihal understands.

"What secret are you talking about?" Nihal asks, having this unnecessary gut feeling that after today things are gonna change drastically.

"The secret that you and your precious friend did that horrible thing to Abhay da." Abhirup answers through gritted teeth.

"Abhay who? Who are you talking about? The patient inside isn't...." Nihal fails to complete his sentence once again as he hears her utter a word that kicks him right into his stomach.

"Dada....?!" Vasudha's trembling voice utters. Abhirup finally meets her eyes and his heart breaks to tell her what he just saw inside that cabin but he knows that he has to.

"Sudha.. You need to see this." Abhirup urges her to follow him but not before glaring at Nihal, who stands at his spot for another one minute. Frozen.

"Who is Abhay? The guy inside the cabin is Amit, Amit Nandy. That's what the data says, that's what Dan calls him. What's happening?"
He thinks to himself.

Vasudha's legs slowly move towards the cabin Abhirup is taking her. The closer she gets to the cabin the more her mind drifts off to the old and treasured memories of her family, of her brother.

How he would fight for the bigger piece of fish at the beginning but end up feeding her the same happily. How she would need to wake him by splashing water on his face most of the days but still he would braid her hair before she left for her school. How, even in his most grumpy mood, he would manage to give her that one strained but genuine smile or how whenever she felt sad about anything he would stand infront of her patting her head, silently assuring her that they will fight against everything together. He has been the strongest pillar of her life after their mother passed away. He is the one person who stood against anything and everything that's wrong without thinking twice, she learnt it from him. He always taught her,