Chapter 7

21st December 2019

Noel's POV:

I sat on my bed with the diary on my lap. I was reading it since Renita had left my office. Cathy's words and the description of how she felt about me moved me to tears. It made me feel so special.

It's like she had added colors to my monotonous life. What left me speechless was that there were multiple pages where she had drawn me doing something and it was accurate, very accurate.

I held the diary close to my heart. "Did you like me that much?" I wondered where and how she was now. Is she fine? Is she being tortured and abused? The very thought made me shudder. No! This can't be happening to her. I won't let this happen to her. I wiped a stray tear that lingered on my lower lash. I have to do something about it.

A part in the diary said she was almost caught by her staff for causing faults in the system but somehow she had managed to escape. When her friends asked her not to take risks and if she gets caught their staffs would definitely inform her overprotective parents, she had told them she didn't mind getting into trouble if that can make her meet me. 

If I was that important to you, you are a hundred times more important to me. I kissed the diary and made a silent promise. I will find you and keep you safe in my arms till my very last breathe Cathy, let it cost anything in the world.

*

RENITA'S POV:

I woke up as the sunlight poured into the room through the window. I rubbed my eyes and realized that I had slept on the floor. Wow. I got to my feet and walked to the window and gazed at the world that ran casually like always, it seemed like no one minded Cathy's disappearance as I did. Maybe Noel? Did he really like her? Did he read her diary?

I wondered as I sighed and thought of her parents who visited me yesterday. Her mom cried her eyes out. It only made things harder for me. It's four days today since she went missing. I heard the door creaking as it opened behind me.

"Ren? When did you wake up?", Neha asked as she shambled towards me and stood beside.

"Just now", I said rubbing my damp cheeks and wiping it off on my shirt.

"Did you brush yet?", she asked tucking the strands of hair that had escaped my poorly done bun behind my ear as she examined me for a brief second. "You are not eating properly. Look at you. You turned into a zombie in four days. You being like this won't help to find Cathy, Ren", she rubbed my back up and down moving closer.

I stayed silent watching outside the window and tried to ignore her.

"Mithra has invited us over to her house. It was Shahid's idea. He thought it would be a little relieving to meet up. All of us need this now. We got to leave in a few minutes. Go brush and take bath"

"I don't want to come, Neha", I said turning my head further away from her and staring at nothing.

"No no! Don't tell me that", she pulled my elbow as I shook her hands off me slowly.

"No Neha seriously, I don't want to"

She again tugged at my shoulder and forced me to look at her. "It's not only difficult for you. It's difficult for us too. She is also our friend remember?", she said as her eyes welled up with tears.

I nodded as uncontrollable tears started spilling from my eyes too. She swallowed hard and kept staring at me as I wept before wiping away my tears. "I know how it feels Ren. You were closer to her than us. But you must be strong enough to face all these. We must be, Shouldn't we? Now go brush and take a bath. Even Vicky is coming"

I nodded and trudged to the washroom as I felt her eyes still on my back.

*



We were sitting in Mithra's living room. She was the only one living in her house and her parents were abroad. Opposite to me seated were Shahid and Vicky. Shahid came quite late and he was the last one to arrive after Vicky.

An awkward silence prevailed in the room before Mithra brought a tray of cookies and french fries followed by Neha who had a bottle of Fanta and few paper cups.

"I don't really have any proper food right now. Have these", she placed them on the teapoy in front of us and dropped to the couch.

Vicky who had been silently watching me all this time opened his mouth now, "You look terrible Ren"

I ignored his understatement and leaned forward to take some french fries.

"You don't have to starve yourself like this, it is definitely not going to help you in any way", he said shrugging and waiting for a response.

But I didn't respond instead I sat eating quietly as Mithra broke the silence, "What happened to your medical check-ups, Shahid?"

It was very evident that she noticed me getting pissed and wanted to do me a favor by changing the topic.

"Yeah I am regular and are we here to talk about that?", he asked turning to me as everyone followed him. Great!

"What's your problem guys? Why is everyone getting on my nerves?", I spat and rolled my eyes.

"Listen, Ren, we are just worried about you", Mithra said making a sad face.

"You don't have to. We should actually be worried about Cathy right now", I galled.

"I know bu--", Mithra was cut off by Shahid.

"Doesn't mean that you have to starve. Cathy means so much to us also. She is not only your friend but our's too... Remember that. Stop behaving like you are the only one worried about her"

I glared at him in disbelief for a whole minute as anger boiled in my blood.

"I never said that she is only my friend. Is it a problem that I am more worried than you people? I was there with her when she went missing. I feel sick every second that I couldn't do anything to save her. We have no idea what happened to her now. I feel like a loser. We couldn't do anything about it", I spoke without even a gap in between, in one stretch, my voice raising word by word. Tears poured down my eyes as Neha pulled me into a hug.

Mithra glared at the guys who only shook their heads. A thick tension hung in the air before I decided to cut into it. "Guys I need to leave", I stood up from the couch collecting my phone and bag.

"No Ren. You need to relax. Now stop", Mithra stood up along with me and tried to stop me but I pushed her away and marched out of the house. None of the others tried to stop me but sat staring at me as I left.

It was raining heavily outside and I didn't have an umbrella with me. Drenched in the rain I got into an auto to go back to the hostel. I cried all the way back helplessly as the driver kept stealing glances at me from the rearview mirror.

After giving him the fare I ran into the hostel building before climbing up the stairs to my room hastily. Bright blinding lightenings struck across the sky followed by the loud rumbling thunders. I barged into my room and slumped over the wall after slamming the door shut.

I slid down the wall and buried my face into my knees wrapping my hands around my legs. Nowadays everyone spoke like Cathy is not going to return and I had to move on. Though they tried their best to console me I felt like they are trying to convince me that this is it, I have to learn to manage without her here on. But deep in my heart, I know that she is fine and she will come back soon just like how she left.

I sniffled and rubbed my face against my bottoms and leaned my head back on the wall letting out a heavy breath. That's when I noticed that my room looked bigger. Sensing that something was wrong, I looked around the room searching for the reason and found that the four cartons of decorative items that laid on the floor were missing.

HAPPY READING!