Silence.

They had their instruments in their hands but it was silent. They wanted to play but couldn't bring themselves to do it. There was only one question that ran through their minds. "What if we don't get there on time?" they shuddered at the thought. Involuntarily, the answer came to mind.

Then, it started, the electric guitar was being played. They didn't look to know who it was instead they started playing along, subconsciously coordinating their notes. It was loud. It was calming. It was better than the silence that made the air thick.

As they got softer, the eerie silence filled the room once again. They were seated in a circle but doing everything possible to avoid eye contact.

"I was wrong." Ragini sneered, her gravely voice slicing the tension-filled air.

After Divya came out of the principal's office they went straight to the jam room. She was the first who dared to say anything in the past hour.

"About what?" Lakshya asked softly, reaching out to place a hand on the small of her back.

She shifted her gaze from the floor to Divya, locking eyes with her. "I do need saving."

They fell silent once again with them pondering what she just said. They know what she meant. It was like they were right back where they started.

"Says who?" Shikar asked, breaking the ice.

"No one needs to say anything. My actions speak louder."

"That's not true."

"Is it not? Harshad would have gotten what he wanted if you guys had not shown up!" she stood up kicking the chair from under herself to vent out some of her anger.

"And we wouldn't have shown up if you hadn't shouted for help."

"So?"

Divya walked up to her and hugged her around the waist from the back. "So you saved yourself. You shouted for help so we came here."

"It doesn't matter. You were the one who punched him."

"And you were the one who didn't stand here and allow him to do what he was about to do," lakshya added.

"I'm pretty sure you burst his eardrums too. I know mine did." Shikar teased trying to get a smile from the musician.

There wasn't so much as a change in nerve tension on her face."I want to go home. Divya, I will be waiting in the car.'' with that, she picked up her bag and left the room.

"I'll go wait with her." Lakshya excused himself from the room. Divya needed a pep talk before dealing with her and the pianist could not be left alone.

"This is bad," Divya mumbled, pacing back and forth.

"Relax Divi. She will be fine."

She ran her hand through her hair. "How can I relax, shikar? Did you hear what she said? She said Divya. Not jaan or Divi."

He grabbed her shoulder to stop her pacing. "Hey hey hey. Calm down. You got this. We have done this before." he gently pushed her towards her chair.

"Then why did it have to happen again?" she dropped on the chair covering her head with her hands.

"I don't know," he kneeled before her, taking her hands in his. "But what I do know is that, if anyone can help her, it's you. Right now she needs you."

"She won't tell us what she is really feeling. I know she is hurting but she won't admit it. It's like we are back to square one."

"You don't either. That's why she will tell you. You are both stubborn and more alike than you think. " he looked her in the eye. "You can do it."

"Are you sure?" She was still sceptical although what he said was true.

He nodded his head with determination. He looked to the ground as he spoke. "When my da- he left. All I had was the three of you. You guys helped me find myself after the whole thing. Made me understand that I was enough. I was not to blame for any of that. It was tough especially with the meltdowns."

"Clementi town still hates you for breaking the windows." Divya smiled through the watery eyes.

"Yeah, they do. and the reason there wasn't more damage cause you figured out how to help me through my episodes. Lucky tried but it didn't always work. Yet, you and Ragini were the ones that figured it out."

"What's that got to do with what is happening now?"

"My point is, if you guys get it when someone else is in need, then this is your own best friend. Of course, you know what to do," when she still seemed sceptical, he hit the main spot. "Do you remember what happened the last time?" he asked sadly.

Divya closed her eyes and wore a rueful smile that looked more like a grimace than anything else. "I wish I didn't."

"But you do." He didn't want to ask but he needed to.

She sighed deeply recalling the incident. "She didn't want to talk and we gave her too much space. She stopped hanging out, started to skip meals, she flinched every time someone came too close to her and landed herself in the hospital. Why are we even talking about this?"

"Because this time none of that will happen. You are going to make sure of that. You figured it out. Remember? The teddies, the late-night talks, never letting her go around school alone. But eventually, you left her hand and let her fight her own battles. She was the one who chased him out of here. you figured it out then, you can do it now." he gave her a comforting smile.

She remembered all of that clearly. It broke her heart to see her friend suffering like that. She was still guilty of Ragini's deteriorating health. She didn't step in time to stop it and that was her mistake. Giving too much space and time. But now, she was going to make sure none of that happened.

"Thank you. I needed this," she said, giving him a hug.

"Anytime."

---broken promises----

Since Drishti had come home, she had not left the Terrace. She sat and watched the blue sky turn black with the moon and stars being the only source of light. Her parents didn't bother to disturb her. if she needed them she would ask. It was just her and the voice in her head.

She was guilty, she has misjudged the situation so badly. She had made the midnight spirits to be cold calculating heartless humans who would do anything to torture others just for the fun of it. She was criminally wrong. They weren't over-possessive friends that won't let Ragini date anyone. They were protecting her from the bad guy.

Ragini was more open and trusting than the others which put her at risk of getting hurt. They made that mistake and it almost destroyed her. They refused to let it happen again. While she still didn't agree with what they did, it made sense. Even then, they did get suspension and detention as punishment.

She did it again, she messed up big time. Not only did she criticize her students without knowing the full story, but she had also embarrassed herself in front of her principal. She questioned her methods and fairness. In reality, she wasn't biased, she was logical. Harshad tried to advance on Ragini, Divya saved her, he deserved what he got.

She closed her eyes soaking in the presence of the stars as the conversation replayed in her mind. The guilt she felt intensified and sadness occupied the remainder of her heart as she was reminded of something her boss mentioned.

Her sister.

And she was right. If it was her in Ragini's place, Harshad would've been six feet under the ground by then. Nobody messed with her sister and got away with it. Although she doubted that the need would arise. If someone did that to Divya, she would have beaten him into a pulp without breaking a sweat.

She let out a chuckle at the irony of the situation. Their names and behaviours are the same but the person is different. She stopped smiling, as the memories of the fateful day that took away her sibling and almost her mother too, invaded her mind.

She watched in horror as her mother ran across the street. She screwed her eyes tight as she as the car screeched by. She stayed like that hoping and praying that this was just a nightmare that she will wake up from any second now. Unfortunately, it wasn't because she heard her father calling her.

She looked up at him then to her mother before letting her tears travel down her cheeks. She ran to them and hugged them as if her life depended on it and in some ways it did.

Vidya gently pulled away and bent down until she was at the same level as her terrified child. She used her thumb to wipe away the stray tears that were falling.

"We will find her. This is not your fault."

Little Drishti looked up at her father and he gave a nod telling her he agreed with her mom. They meant it but she didn't believe it. Nonetheless, she gave a firm nod.

"We will find her." She promised to herself more than to her parents.

"Let's inform the cops." her father said as he guided them towards the station.

They lodged a complaint to the officer in charge. She barely remembers the hassle that went on after that. The search party that was organised, the exchange of information over the radio, the wailing sirens of the cars as they went in search of the missing child was too much.

She remembers being questioned by the female officer. She was sweet and kind. She knelt before a scared Drishti taking her hands. "Hey sweetie, are you okay?"

"Yes." she sniffled.

"Good that's good. Can you tell me what happened?"

"We-" she hiccuped."We were at home waiting for mom and dad. Divi was being stubborn about wanting chocolates. While waiting for them to come back, she fell asleep."

"What about you? You weren't sleeping?"

"At first no but then I fell asleep too. And when I woke up... she was gone." Drishti cried hiding her face on her mother's shoulder. Amidst the chaos, she was the noise-cancelling earpiece.

"it's okay. Your brave girl alright?"

The officer rubbed her back assuring the pair that they would find her sister before leaving the mother and daughter. Shortly after, she returned home with her mother while her father went with her cops. It was easily the most agonizing night of her life. She never let the door out of her sight

In the morning, her father came home.

Alone.

She pulled her blanket closer and looked up at the sky again. In reality, the stars were twinkling but for her, they were mocking her. Up there in the sky, they had each other. down here she was alone because her shining star was absent.

"Di, look the stars are shining." little Divya said admiring them as they sat on the terrace couch.

"Yeah, but there is one particular star that is shining brighter than all of them."

Divya stared at her curiously. "Which one?" she asked, pointing to a few trying to guess.

Drishti laughed and pulled her little sister in her arms. "The one in front of me. Her name is divi. She is my little shining star!"

"I m?" she turned around in her sister's arms with an innocent smile on her face.

"Yes, my star!" Drishti said nuzzling into her hair, emitting a giggle from Divya.

"where are you my shining star?"

---broken promises---

He assaulted her. Divya punched him.

Those were the two thoughts that ran through her mind as she sat on the sand facing the horizon where the sun had long since drowned. It was well into the night but she wasn't ready to go.

Divya had her engulfed in a secure embrace with her chin resting on her head. She was exhausted but couldn't stop hearing those two lines in her head.

"It's okay," Divya whispered as she hugged her. Truth to be told she didn't really know what to say. But she was going to try. "You're okay." Ragini didn't react. He assaulted her.

It was so quiet that they could hear the crickets. But Divya didn't like this silence. She wanted to hear her best friend's voice, she wanted to hear what she was thinking and what she was feeling. She does not want to hear this silence that was eating her up inside.

"No one got hurt. Everything is fine, you are fine. It's not the best thing but it could have been worse right."

Ragini still had no reaction. He assaulted her.

"Please don't do this jaan." Divya grabbed her hands and whirled her around to look her straight in the eyes. "You once said talking about it helps. So let me help you. Please." she begged. She doesn't care about the tough as nails image. She needs to help her friend.

Finally, she reacted. She shook her head. She had been in this kind of danger before. She knew what to do, she would have been the one to punch him. She could have defended herself but she didn't because she was paralyzed in fear. The only thing that stopped him from doing what he wanted was her friends. Divya punched him and saved her. She got saved because Divya punched her.

"I'm weak," Ragini muttered. "I'm weak and stupid. I'm a useless piece of..."

"Ragini! Listen to yourself. You are not some damsel in distress. You just fought for your dignity and won."

"Yeah right. All I did was..."

"You struggled, squirmed and shouted. You didn't let him win," she said, her voice steely and commanding.

Ragini was about to stand up but her best friend pulled her back down and held on tight to her hands.

"You know what you are saying is not true."

Ragini laughed bitterly, "it's not true? You saw what happened. Shahid walked into my house and I didn't even realise it until...and Harshad, he...I couldn't even get him off me. It's funny. Just a couple of days ago I told you I don't need saving."

"And you were right. You may not have done it physically but you saved yourself. If you didn't scream, we would not have known. Even if it wasn't us, someone else would have been there."

"Does it..."

"Yes, it does matter. what doesn't matter is who delivered the punch. What matters is you took the first step. What matters is you didn't stand in silence. If you did then you should be sorry." she took one of Ragini's hands guiding it to her heart. "Touch your heart and ask yourself if what I'm saying is true."

Ragini lowered her hand from her heart opting to hold her best friend's hands instead. Maybe there is some truth to what she said. If she didn't shout no one would have known what was happening. In one way or another, she had thrown the first punch.

"I guess you are right. God, I'm so dumb." she mentally kicked herself.

"Hey. don't you dare call my Jaan names. Only I get to do that. Nobody gets to make fun of my best friend. She is smart, talented and I'm damn sure she can play the piano better than you. She has saved us way more times than I bother to count."

Ragini laughed. Happily this time. "You are so dramatic. Thanks."

Divya glared playfully at her. "How many times do I have to say this?"

"Fine, no thank you."

"Better." they returned to their original position with Ragini leaning the back of her head on Divya's shoulder and mindlessly drawing patterns on the guitarist's palm.

"Ragini. We are going to meet assholes like Harshad a lot in our life but don't let them dictate your life. They are just some people that you'll probably never see again. You'll be upset for a while but then you will realise that it is a waste of time. They are not worth it."

"I know. It's just...it caught me off guard. For a second there I saw Shahid instead of Harshad and I just froze. I wanted to move but I couldn't. I don't want to keep depending on you guys. I can take care of myself and I want to fight my own battles."

"No one said you can't. You do fight your own battles but it's okay to ask for help sometimes. After all, what are friends for? It is not just a title. It's a responsibility and as a friend, it is my legal right to help you."

"I know and I'm thankful every day for the midnight spirits. You guys are my family." Ragini leaned up and kissed her cheek.

"Do you remember how it happened?" she smiled at the fond memory.

"Of course, I will never forget that damned rat." Ragini shivered.

"None of us can. Someone was shouting and pleading with it to spare her..."

"Shut up!" Ragini squeezed the hand she was playing with but immediately loosened her grip hearing a hiss from Divya. "What happened?" She turned around to look at Divya to see what had elected the pained sound.

She saw her blowing on her knuckle. It was pretty dark so she couldn't see properly. She stood up and pulled Divya up with her. They carefully walked to where the car was parked making sure not to trip over the little rocks. It was well illuminated with lampposts.

Divya was trying to hide her knuckle that she was previously blowing on. She had seen the swelling earlier on but decided to ignore it for the time being as there were more pressing matters on hand. She had even forgotten about it until Ragini pressed on the sore spot.

To her bad luck, Ragini caught hold of it before she could get it into her shorts pocket. She widened her eyes seeing the swelling and smacked her arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" Divya cried.

"What the hell is this? Why didn't you tell me earlier?!" Ragini almost shouts. Her knuckles were red with a light hue of purple. She was sure there was going to be a bruise by tomorrow morning.

"It's just a little bump." she shrugged before receiving another slap, this time on the other arm. "Ow! what?"

"Just a bump?! Look at the swelling! We have to take care of it or else you won't be playing your guitar anytime soon."

"Correction. Electric guitar. And I will play it regardless of the state of my hand." she stomped her feet defiantly.

"If your thinking jaadu will come and magically take away the pain while strumming, you are highly mistaken. Jaddu does not exist in the first place."

"Jaadu is an alien and he does exist. I saw his ufo when we were kids. Nothing you say will change my mind. He will come and help me if needed."

"U probably saw a plane." Ragini tried reasoning.

"You weren't there, you didn't see it. It was jaadu and that was the final. Fight me."

"I'd rather not," Ragini sighed, rubbing her temples. "Just... don't aggravate it on the way home. Keep it still and try not to punch anything else."

"I don't plan on it." Divya shrugged.

Ragini shook her head at the rockstar and held out her hand.

"What?"

"keys."

Divya whacked her hand away. "No way! I just replaced the headlight. I don't want to do it again."

"I'm not going to crash the car. I'm a great driver."

"Tell that to the poor rabbit that almost came under your car."

"That rabbit wasn't following traffic rules. That's not my fault."

"We almost died not once, but twice when we went to goa!"

"you weren't wearing your seat belt."

"you were the one who crashed into the pole. How can you not tell the left paddle from the right? No way. My car is too precious."

Ragini rolled her eyes. "You don't have a choice right now.'' She took out the keys from Divya's pocket heading to the driver's seat before she could protest.

Divya grumbled, got into the passenger seat and fastened her seatbelt securely. Ragini was good at a lot of things like singing, dancing, playing certain instruments. But driving just wasn't one of her strong suits. "Jaadu, my buddy, please save me from this horrendous driver. I will give you candy floss."

"That's a first," Ragini said, impressed that she had her seatbelt on. "You wouldn't have done that even if you were the driver."

"Of course. You are driving. I don't want to die so early."

"Then sit tight," Ragini said, pulling out of the parking space.

Divya grabbed on to the handle above her seat, squeezing the life out of the poor plastic moulded piece. "If we make it out alive, You better be getting me some food. And candy floss for jaadu."

Ragini sighed. "Is there ever a time that you don't think about food?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"When I'm asleep," she grinned proudly, giving herself a pat on the back.

"bhukkad."

---broken promises---

Drishti was rushing past the classroom corridors to get to the last one around the corner. Although she was still new in school and not so familiar with the campus area, she was well aware that this was one of the most deserted corridors in the school. No one went there unless there was a shortage of rooms for school activities.

Given all that, she was confused as to why she had received a message early in the morning asking her to come to school for an emergency meeting that had been called upon for camp viva. It wasn't from someone in her contacts but assumed it to be one of the other teachers in charge of the camp. She didn't ask or question the dubiousness behind it and really regretted that now.

The classroom was empty and the lights were switched off, with little cobwebs hanging from the corners of the ceiling and dust coating the top of the desk. She tried to switch on the lights but they didn't turn on. She highly doubted that a meeting would be held here.

She glanced at her watch. She was only fifteen minutes late, sure the meeting would not have ended so early if it was so urgent that it couldn't wait till after school. She groaned in frustration and mumbled harmless curses while making her way to the door.

"Ow!" she yelps as the door shut on her finger. She immediately placed it in her mouth and sucked on it. "What the hell?"

She looked at the door in confusion. She tried opening it once more only to find that it had been locked from the outside. She knocked on the door hoping someone would hear her calls and rescue her.

When it was clear no one was going to answer she stopped rattling the door and the room for another way out.

It was a small room with a little window at the top. She can escape through there but it was too small for her to fit. She thought for a moment before a faint beeping sound reached her ears. She stopped looking around and went towards the teacher's table where the sound was coming from.

She grabbed the phone to shut off the alarm and kept it on the table again. She moved to the other side of the room but stopped turning back to the phone.

"Why didn't I think of that earlier?" She slapped her forehead and took out her own phone. She frowned when there wasn't any service. She checked the phone on the desk but it was the same.

"Whoever you are, this isn't funny! You will be very sorry for messing with me once I get out."

She opened the gallery on the phone thinking that there will be photos of whom this mobile belonged to but all she found was a video. Her jaw touched the floor seeing the people in the video and was even more shocked to find it was addressed to her.

"Hello miss Sharma. How are you? Don't be too surprised. You had this coming." Divya started. "And in case you haven't realised, this whole thing was by us. That message was sent by me. I have to admit it's a shame, I expected you to be smarter."

"Really divi? She messed with us. I don't think she is that smart, to begin with." shikar taunted giving lakshya a high five.

"Anyway, don't bother shouting or screaming 'cause no one is going to hear you, sweetheart. No one is going to help you. There are signal jammers in the area so there isn't any service and the school doesn't start for at least another hour so have fun."

"We are not that bad so don't worry. We have sent some friends to keep you company," lakshya smirked.

"Have fun and don't miss us too much.'' Divya ended the video with a flying kiss.

Drishti launched the phone across the room where it broke into smaller pieces by the impact of the wall. How can they be so tyrannical?

"You guys won't be getting away with this that easily. Do you hear me? You don't scare me!" she screamed into the empty classrooms with her voice echoing off the walls. 

A/N: Don't forget to R&R