A LITTLE SLIP_ PART5 THE END

All is well that ends well. I woke up a happy man. Honestly I hadn’t slept all night. I kept thinking about Sameera. I had never thought of her as someone I could be with. But her sudden proposal last night had left me stunned. I kept thinking about it. The entire night. I wanted to try it out. I wanted to know how it felt and most importantly I didn’t want to wake up 40 years later regretting not taking a chance. I was prepared to say yes to her. And since Sanjay hadn’t returned the entire night I got this feeling that something must have worked out. I was smiling. I was happy.  Gunjan was already awake by the time I was up. He seemed excited about something.

“Come on get ready. Everyone else is almost ready. I texted everyone to reach the car in 15 minutes. I found out about this awesome place. Some waterfall. And it looks like its going to rain soon. So get ready. Dude we have to go to this place!”

In half an hour we all were seated in my red Indica. Gunjan was driving. He had found some secluded water fall located on a hill close by. It was a twenty  minute ride. And it was the most awkward ride ever. Sameera looked beautiful that day. We kept giving one another smiles. And I felt weird. I mean she had been a friend till last night and now she was something more. Roshini and Sanjay hadn’t worked everything out. Roshini was mad at him for something. I had heard their bickering. Apparently roshini wanted to know something but Sanjay chose not to tell her. She told him to come clean and he didn’t want too.

No one talked except Gunjan. He kept talking about how he had found out about this place from a local. This was supposed to be a great spot. A place rarely visited by anyone. It was a rocky road but the ride was worth it. Once there I knew this would be the place where I’d take my chance. It was beautiful. It was a little higher than all the other waterfall’s we had been too. Rocky with pure clean water. We got out and went into the water. And it was beautiful. Sameera went near the edge of the water fall to have a view of what lay beneath. She called us all. Roshini and Sanjay chose to bicker more. Gunjan pretended to be busy with the camera and nudged me to go. I was nervous, excited and I knew what I had to say. I went up to her. And for a moment we stood there in silence staring at what lay ahead. From the edge you could see this beautiful waterfall curving and twisting through dense forests. It almost seemed like the water disappeared somewhere. Cold wind kept blowing in our faces and I could feel Sameera’s breath close to me. I turned to her and she turned to me. We stood face to face. Her eyes were staring straight into mine. I held her hand and told her what I had practiced in front of the mirror before coming here.

I said, “ Last night when you told me you loved me I was scared. I mean you are beautiful and I had no clue that your species could fall for a low life like me. I am not ready to commit yet. I don’t know if I love you. But I sure do know that I want to love you. I will do all that I can to keep you happy. But I am scared. I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to loose this friendship. And I don’t want you to ever suffer because of me. I am not really good at being a boyfriend. And I don’t think I can keep you happy!” before I could continue she stopped me.

She drew closer and looked straight into my eyes and said, “I don’t care. I know I love you. I am also taking a chance. Just trust yourself and give this a try. We will find a way to be happy together. I really mean it.”
Suddenly she was closer than she had ever been and I had seen enough movies to know that a kiss was coming my way. She was just an inch away when I heard a scream. We both turned in the direction where

Roshini and Sanjay stood. The scream was growing louder and louder. It was Roshini.

Roshini screamed, “ WHAT? And you blame yourself. How?”

And then she turned towards us. She was angry. I could see it in her eyes. She started walking towards us. Sanjay came after her pleading, “ Please Roshini don’t. Its all in the past now. Things are different. Forget it. Don’t do this.”

I was confused. I couldn’t understand what was going on. All this was getting too weird.

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The officers were gone and Sanjay was gone. Roshini kept staring at Gunjan disapprovingly.
She said, “ You traitor! Couldn’t you keep your mouth shut! Because of you Sanjay is in trouble. How could you?”

Gunjan retorted, “ HOW COULD I? You have no right to ask me that. He died Roshini. He died and we sit here letting him die just like that. You have no conscience in you. I couldn’t take the guilt. And if Sanjay is behind bars then you very well no who is at fault here.”

 “Stop it. We all made a mistake. The murder was a mistake. But hiding it is a crime. Hiding the truth is a crime. I mean how can you sit there. When you know you did it. Your going to let another one of your friends take the blame for you and destroy their life too. And you have got some nerve. Your friends are protecting you. We did all this for you. Sanjay sacrificed himself for you. And you sit here like nothing is wrong. What are you? How can you have no guilt!” said the one who had made the anonymous call to the one who had actually committed the murder.

What these kids hadn’t noticed was that the man behind the glass was still observing them. And his eyes went wide when he saw what had just happened before him. His initial reluctance had been right. The murderer had still not confessed rather a friend had taken the blame. He ordered his men back in. It was time to do justice

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A fired up roshini came charging towards me. I was perplexed. She pushed me back and stood facing Sameera.

She was angry and shouted, “ YOU BITCH. HOW COULD YOU? You have got some nerve.”

Sameera was taken aback and she  retorted, “What the hell is wrong with you Roshini. Whats wrong?”

Sanjay and I stood between the two women. Roshini was angry, Sameera was confused and Sanjay was shaking with fear. Gunjan who was away from all the drama left his video camera on a rock and came rushing towards us.

Roshini screamed, “ I thought you were a nice girl. But all you do is use people. You knew from the start how I felt about Sanjay. You were my best friend. You were the one who told me that you saw love for him in my eyes and then you do this. You backstabbing bitch. I hate you. People like you deserve to die.”

Something dawned on Sameera. She shot a dirty look to Sanjay and looked back at Roshini. She spoke in a terrified voice, “ Roshini, that was a mistake. It happened long back. I am sorry. You know I never felt anything for him. I have been in love with Veer ever since I knew him. What happened with Sanjay was a mistake.

And then it hit me. The girl that sanjay had hooked up with was Sameera. And suddenly I could understand why he had hidden it from all of us especially Roshini. But it hit me worse than ever. This girl that I had started to like had a secret that changed a lot of things.

I interjected, “Sameera, you were that girl! You slept with Sanjay?”

Sameera was crestfallen. She didn’t know that I knew and she glared at Sanjay.

She wailed, “Haven’t you done enough. You took advantage of me and then I asked you to not let anyone know and what do you do? You go ahead and you tell my best friend and the boy I am in love with. If you want to destroy me Sanjay take a knife and stab me and let me die. How could you! You claimed you love me and then you do this! How could you?”

“Oh just shut up!”, said Roshini, “ you have got some nerve. You destroyed everything Sameera. What kind of a girl does such a thing. You deserve to be punished. You broke his heart. You used him. I know why you were so drunk that day. You had seen Veer flirting with some girl. You vented it all out to me. But I never thought you’d exploit sanjay. How could you. And worse of all you blame him. You knew he liked you. You knew he’d never say no to you. And still you went ahead and did it with him. And left him like a tissue paper. YOU used and threw him. You know what you are right you do deserve to be stabbed and killed. You are a filthy worthless piece of crap. He still blames himself. He cant say yes to me because he thinks he is a horrible guy. All because of you. You bitch!”

“Stop it!” said Sanjay.

And I was too shocked to understand anything. I couldn’t believe all that was going on. The sound of the waterfall was loud. Too many people were screaming and shouting around me. I just couldn’t hear anything. Sameera’s hands were on my face. She was crying. And she kept saying something. But it just didn’t matter. And then out of nowhere I heard Gunjan scream, “NO. Sanjay stop her. Are you crazy!” I didn’t understand what was happening. And out of nowhere I felt a horrible pain in my stomach. When I looked down my own blood was in my hands. And so blinding was the pain that I lost my balance and the last thing I remember were seeing the faces of my friends. Terror, pain, panic, fear and tears were what I remember. I was falling down that very water fall I had admired not long back. As I fell the only thing I could remember was my old man. He’d be disappointed. He had lost mom and I was all he had. He’d miss me. I’d miss him too.  I wish I hadn’t fallen. But I was and death was near.

I died that day. Murdered by my own friends. The one’s I wanted to be happy. I had brought them to resolve their own issues and had died a painful death in the process.
I saw my own body. I saw everything. I looked awesome when dead but I was dead and my spirit just lingered. I was with them when they planned to make my murder sound like an accident. I was with them when Sameera sneaked in to call the police. I saw my friends in the interrogation room. And I knew exactly what had happened that morning. And I stood their watching my own friends lie about everything.

As I stood behind the senior office looking at my friends through the glass window I could see that they had made mistakes. But I had paid for their mistakes. And I wanted justice.
That morning Roshini was enraged beyond her control. She had grabbed one of Gunjan’s beer bottles and smashed it across the rock. She took the broken glass in her hand and was charging for Sameera who stood right in front of me. Sanjay had managed to pull Sameera away but not me. And sweet little roshini, that one girl for whom I had done all of this stabbed me with that broken piece of glass. I could have survived had I not fallen. But I did fall. Before I could hope for a ray of life it just slipped out of my hand. I remember crying as I fell. It was a helpless feeling. A horrible feeling of being absolutely useless. You keep thinking of how you could have done things differently and survived but where I was all I could do was look at my death and wait for it to take me away.

Roshini sat in front of me. She was guilty but she was a coward. Sanjay had saved her because he thought he was responsible. And she sat there like a coward. Sameera unknowingly had given up her secret. Gunjan told her to come clean but she sat there silent and still.

And then the door to the room opened. Apte escorted a couple off women inspectors in who arrested Roshini. Apte sniggered and said, “ Roshini Bajaj, your under arrest for the murder of Veer Singh Chauhan.”
Sanjay was brought in as well and he kept pleading them to take him instead of her. And in front of my own eyes I saw my own friends struggle with their mistakes that had led to my murder. It was as if God was playing a joke on me. I had died due to a mistake two people I loved had made and I had died as a result of the biggest mistake my sweet little friend had made. My death was a big mistake that I hadn’t made.

Rage and envy are a dangerous combination that bring out the darkest of shades inside a human being. I died. And as I saw my murderer being taken away I felt a freedom. I knew it was time to go. Before I left I left with two memories that would always stay with me. The love I had seen in my old man’s eyes as I had left for college and the tears I saw in the eyes of all my friends as they had seen me die. My death had ruined their lives. Who knew a little slip could destroy your entire existence. Had I survived I would have told my children to always keep track of the little slips they ignore. It might just come back and haunt you. And that was how I was murdered.

THE END

By
Shweta A. Kulshreshtha

so the story is over....if you read it and enjoyed it please comment...your comments is appreciation for my work and i get encouraged reading them...and if u didnt like it let me know...i will work harder next time..
thanks for reading it till now... :)