"I beg you to please take me to her. I want to see her." Ridhi was literally in a begging position in the middle of the road. And the nearby people were looking at us like we're playing at skit. Without further delay, I took Ridhi to my house.
"She stays with you?" she was back with her never ending questions. I just nodded and continued walking. I took her to a dim lighted room with very little furniture. I pointed her to a shadow that could be seen inside the room.
Ridhi went inside as soon as I showed her the direction. I stepped back outside the room. I wanted them to be together for some time to have their own personal space.
There were no voices from that room. I guess no one talked. Ridhi maybe was too shocked to speak anything.
After twenty minutes or so, she came back weeping her tears. I gave her a chair to seat and pated on her back. She looked at me and cried some more.
"She didn't recognize me…she looked at me like a stranger..." and she cried again.
I tried to console her, "She stayed here with me for two years and doesn't even remember me… our past… our love... our memories.."
She spoke with a chocked voice, "What happened to her?"
"She is suffering from a psychotic disorder. She imagines things that are not real and harms herself for no reason. Doctors said that she will forget everything with time. Treatment is going on…but no improvement can be traced till now."
"She was fit and fine earlier. We knew her from her childhood and there was no such illness."
"I don't exactly know. According to the doctors, this was in her genes and with passage of time it emerged."
"Where did you find her? ", she enquired.
"One day while I was on my way to work, I saw a group of people gathering near the footpath. A stranger called me and asked to call the people of mental asylum.
He said that there was a mad girl who was throwing stones at the people. They thought she escaped from the asylum. I went near the gathering to see what the mess was. The people were shouting at the girl as they thought that she has escaped the asylum and now roaming on the road and hurting people near her. And to my surprise it was Avika. It was such a bad scene to see her the way she was behaving. She was screaming at the top of her voice to the people nearby. I couldn't think anything. My brain was paralyzed. Before the crowd could do anything, I grabbed her hand and put her inside my car. Then I took her to the hospital without much delay. It was so painful to see her in such a pitiable condition. In the car she was behaving normal but as soon as I tried to speak, she opened the door and was about to escape from the moving car. She was lucky that I grabbed her at the right time and fastened her seatbelt. When I took her to the hospital, I was shocked to know about her condition."
"But she was well and good earlier. Was it because of the farewell party after which you two broke up?"
"I never broke up with her."
"Then who told her to stay away from you and Shagun?"Ridhi asked.
"I said that."
"What?", she asked.
"This is something I always wanted to avoid. That night was a horrible night. And I don't want to talk or even think about that."
"But I want to listen." spoke Ridhi.
I took a deep breath and sat on a chair next to her. I closed my eyes and suddenly the picture of the farewell party appeared fresh in front of my eyes even after these five long years. I guess it's because I never tried to forget about it. Somewhere I feel that it's all because of me and this guilt is killing me slowly. I spoke looking at Ridhi who was gazing at me and waited for my explanation.