Drishti had her eyes shut tightly, waiting for the punch. She felt a weight lifted off her chest but ignored it, still waiting for the hit. Only it never came.

Bang.

She opened her eyes and looked herself over. She was fine and no longer pinned against the white wall.

bang.

She turned her head to where the unpleasant sound came from.

Bang.

Once. Twice. Thrice.

And it continued.

"Jaan, stop it!" she sounded angry. desperate. Far away. Like they weren't even standing in the same room. She didn't stop. "You are going to hurt yourself!"

The wall stood there cold, bloody, covered in flesh. A thousand nerves cry in pain.

Yet her assault continues.

Ragini forcefully tore Divya by the waist away from the now eerie crimson wall. She blew on the knuckles as blood ran freely down her fingertips and fell to the ground making a perfect circle. She dragged her towards the sink to wash off the blood.

Divya couldn't feel the burning in her knuckles as the water mixed with her blood. She stared at the mirror but she couldn't see the reflection of herself or the two people present in the locker room.

She sees a child barely six, crying silently to herself on the dirty rugged floor. Cuts and bruises littered her delicate frame. It was dark almost twilight but sleep was a foreign word to her. She backed into a corner, pulled her knees to her chest and wept. Her eyes were puffy, body tired and mind exhausted. Chanting a single word, Di, over and over again, kept her conscious.

A man, bottle of booze in hand, pupils dilated and cheeks rosy yet a harsh glare and a slightly crooked walk entered the little cabin. He paces back and forth hurling incoherent curses at the little kids who were present with her.

Amidst this, his eyes fall on the little ball in the corner. He gave a sinister smile and crouched before her. He reeks of alcohol, sweat and cologne and it takes all she has in her not to throw up. she pushes herself further into the corner. He lifts her chin and forces her to look into those sore eyes.

"What's your name little girl?" he asks too sweetly.

Jaan. someone calls in the distance.

"Divya," it came out like an accident, spilling out of her inward drawn lips.

"Are you scared?"

Her lips quivered and she gave a little nod.

"Good," he released her chin and took a slurp from the bottle in hand. "Do you know what's going to happen? You are going to be shipped away. Far far away. Away from here."

Her blood boiled.

Divi. she can't hear her. She is too far gone.

"From your mommy and daddy." he laughed.

It churned inside her. She was going to be sent away from her bunny, buddy and di? "No!" she screamed.

"Shut up!"

She felt the sting of the slap that was aimed at her face but didn't let it bother her. She was not about to let anyone send her away from her parents and sister. She was going to fight. She did it once and she can do it again. This time, for them.

With whatever strength she had left, she leapt forward giving the evil man a head butt. He fell back with a thump on the floor. She took this opportunity to get up and attempt to run off to the door.

She didn't get far before the bottle shattered and a piece ripped apart her flesh and jabbed her ankle. She whimpered, crashing face-first onto the floor. She laid on the ground momentarily giving in to her injuries.

Divi. The voice is soft yet desperate and determined. Ragini. The voice is Ragini. Ragini is safety. Ragini is home.

The man walked up to her. "When I put on down you stay down!" he slurred, plucking out the piece of glass embedded in the ankle.

She screamed like her body was rebelling against its existence.

The cabin begins to fade and a fuzzy version of her best friend is in front of her, shaking her.

Divi!

She flinches. Ragini has come fully into focus, her outline sharp, presence real and tangible.

Divya looked around. She didn't know when they had moved but were no longer in the locker room. Her friends surrounded her in the jam room and her hand had been bandaged.

"Are you okay?" Shikar asked, concerned. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She had come out of the locker room with Ragini with a bleeding knuckle and was dazed the whole time.

"Yeah. I-I m fine." she gave an unconvincing smile. A familiar numbness crept up inside. It gnawed at her.

"don't lie," lakshya growled. He had been watching silently as Ragini cleaned the wound and explained what went down in the locker room. Divya didn't even make a sound since she got here. "Why the hell were you punching the wall?"

She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Would it have been better if I punched her face instead?"

"it would be better if you tell us what was or is going through your head." shikar interrupted lakshya. They didn't need an argument right now.

Divya sighed and lowered her gaze. "she said something and I just lost it."

They didn't need to ask what she said, they needed to know what happened after that.

"and?" lakshya promoted.

"and I remembered that day." The words were void of any emotion.

Shikar removed his hand and took over Ragini's place. He gently held her good hand running his thumb across it.

"What happened that day?"

Her head snapped up at him. No one had asked that question in a really long time and when they did she never told them. "I'm fine and that's all you guys need to know." she took her hand out of his grip attempting to walk out of the room.

Laskhya threw his hands up in frustration. As she walked past him, he grabbed her wrist and hauled her back with enough force for her to turn to face him.

Divya looked up at him. His eyes that were usually gentle and kind twinkling with mischief were blankest of canvases.

"That wasn't the answer to our question," He increased the firm hold on her arm. Not hard enough to be painful but enough to hold her back. "Today you are not leaving until we get our answer."

Ragini was about to intervene but shikar held her back with a hand on her lower back. She flinched but didn't recoil. Shikar was too wrapped up in the scene unfolding in front of them to register the reaction. "maybe today she will finally open up." he whispered to her. She wasn't fully convinced but decided to wait and watch.

Divya tried wiggling out but he wasn't letting her off today. "lucky, let go!"

"not until you tell us."

"tell you what?" she narrowed her eyes at the ceiling. All the events of the day were catching up to her. She didn't want to lose in front of them or worse, end up hurting them. "There isn't anything..."

"tell us what happened that day. Tell us why you get upset on your birthday and never celebrate it. Tell us why you get pissed anytime someone asks about your biological parents. Tell us why you hate alcohol so much that just the name it makes you want to punch someone. Tell us why you hate chocolate so much. Tell us why you punched the wall until your knuckles were fucking bleeding and you didn't even realise it!"

"Because I got kidnapped by a drunk and separated from my family that I can't even remember now!" she screamed, jerking him away and running out of the room, slamming it shut after her.

The three of them stood there stunned, unable to digest what she just said. From his position on the ground, lakshya almost felt guilty for what he had just done.

---broken promises---

"Penny for a thought?"

Drishti lifted her gaze from the sandwich to rakshit as they sat in the canteen. She had a free period after her morning classes and he didn't have a student to attend. She would have been annoyed at his insistence to join her but there were other things on her mind. "Sorry what?"

Rakshit set his lunch on the table in order to give her his full attention. "What's going on in your head?"

"What makes you think something is going on?"

"The truth or a lie?" he tested, slightly amused at her attempts to dissuade the topic.

Drshit tapped her chin thoughtfully. "A lie."

"Lucky guess," he said simply.

Drishti nodded. "And the truth."

"I am trained in human behaviour," when she continued looking at him expectantly he elaborated. "You've barely touched that sandwich since we got here," he said, taking a bite of his own sandwich again.

"I don't like it." she attempted to lie, pushing the egg mayo sandwich away.

"You wouldn't have bought it if you didn't. So now spill."

Drishti sighed. She couldn't tell him what actually happened. "It's just..." she paused as an idea struck her. "Hypothetically, if I said something that I probably shouldn't have to someone, what should I do?"

"Hypothetically, what did you say? Kind of depends how out of line it was."

Drishti stiffened but continued. "Something...really inappropriate. Something i probably shouldn't have because I am not even in a position to say it. On top of that, the person was hurt. Like super hurt."

"Sounds bad," he said dryly. "why did you say it?"

"I don't know. I was irritated and it just came out."

"Then just apologise. Simple," he suggested. "You acted on emotion and hurt that person. hypothetically, if they get that you genuinely didn't mean it and are actually guilty, they will forgive you. It may take a while but eventually, that person will understand."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

She sighed and pushed the plate further away. "It's complicated. Imagine calling someone a disappointment and then suggesting that they should get adopted by someone else."

"Oh." he let out a sigh. "Low blow. I hope you didn't say that to a kid and this is actually hypothetically."

"I said it to one of the students and no it's not hypothetical. I actually screwed up," she finally revealed. "I've been doing that a lot recently."

"Telling students they are disappointments?" he gawked at her.

"No you genius. I've been screwing up a lot recently." she clarified.

"Well, you better hope for an easy life with that student's class. In space, internal rivalries are put aside for a bigger common goal. Which might be you."

"I know and I do feel bad. It wasn't my place to say that but they locked..." she stopped herself before she could reveal what had actually happened. In the little time she had gotten to know rakshit, she was sure he would report and her video would be out before she could even reach the office. "I mean, she did something and I just retaliated although it was probably uncalled for."

"Well, how did the person react?"

She winced slightly as the event from this morning came to find. The sight of the wall was disturbing, red and bloody.

Divya's face, those eyes, the hurt and fear in them. It was a completely different person in her place from the second she was slammed into the wall. "Let's just say, the locker room's wall is covered in blood."

He stopped munching on his sandwich giving her a weird look.

"Don't look at me like that." she rolled her eyes. "She punched the wall. It was a scary site though. She was so pissed, she just kept going. blow after blow. It was like she didn't even feel it. It was a different person at that moment."

"What do you mean."

"I mean...you could see it in her eyes. It just wasn't the same person I have known for the past couple of days. After that, she just wasn't there. Like completely dazed and lost."

"Sometimes when you are blinded by rage, you don't feel the physical pain. Or maybe there was a pain just not physical," he shrugged. "Who is this student?"

"That I can't tell you."

He nodded understanding teacher-student confidentiality.

"I won't say what you did makes you a bad person but it was probably not nice. You should probably apologise if it makes you feel better. And what did this mystery student do that made you say such a thing?"

"It's not important."

It was but he wouldn't push it. "Then just apologise and make sure it's sincere. But I will warn you that you may get an even more explosive reaction."

"Thanks for the advice. And, I'm done. I have a class," she said, gathering her things. "You can have the sandwich." she waved him a bye and walked to her next class.

The guilt she had previously increased. What they did in the storeroom was unsettling, yes but what she said was out of line. Ragini was right. They did not physically harm her. At the moment it was scary but after that, she felt better. In fact, they just helped her face her fear. There was no permanent damage. It's not that she is not afraid of the dark or rats anymore. But it's a step closer to being less paranoid about them. It isn't forgiven but not strong enough to hate them.

After all, hate is a strong word.

She didn't understand why she had spoken all those things to Divya. It was insensitive and hurtful. She would never want anyone to say that her parents didn't want her.

She was going to apologise and this time she knows exactly why.

"Good afternoon 3B2." She greeted the class. As usual, the response was minimal murmurings of greetings. She scanned the class. The students were engrossed in their own conversations except for three students.

She furrowed as she realised Divya wasn't in class but the other three were sitting there lost in their own world.

"Where is Miss Singhania?"

"She is not coming to class," Ragini answered through clenched teeth although her eyes were a little puffier than when she saw her in the locker room.

"And why is that?"

Ragini glared at her. It was taking all her restraint not to lash out. "You would know."

Drishti cleared her throat after an awkward beat and looked back at the class. "Alright then. I had assigned questions for lesson package 3 last week. Hand it up for me to mark by the end of the lesson."

Her voice fell on deaf ears as the class continued doing their own things. She sighed and turned back to the board picking up the chalk and scribbling down notes for the chapter. No sooner did the chalk touch the board that the class erupted into chaos.

Paper balls were being thrown around, loud talking, paper planes, standing on desks.

"Get off the table!" She tried controlling the wild monkeys but all in vain. That didn't shock her as much now but what did was that the midnight spirits were sitting silently. She walked back to her desk to use the microphone but she didn't need to.

Shikar was angry and irritated. How could something like that have happened and he didn't know. How was one supposed to believe that happened to their best friend?

"How?"

"At least now we know what happened. We can help her." Lakshya said more to convince himself than shikar.

The noise was increasing and so was his irritation. He abruptly stood up and marched to the table in front of theirs.

"Get off the table, you moron!" Shikar roughly pulled Sahil off the table almost dislocating his shoulder in the process. "All of you, shut up! One more sound from any of you and..." he didn't need to continue his threat as all the students settled back at their desk and looked at Drishti like lost puppies.

Drishti had to roll her tongue in the mouth to stop the smirk that was breaking her face. For the first time in weeks, it felt like she could actually have a normal lesson. Although she was still curious to know why shikar did that, it was best left as it is.

"Well then, chapter 4 starts on page 34."

---broken promises---

Divya ran as fast as her legs could take her. She didn't know where she was going but she kept moving. Seeing an empty classroom she went in and slammed the door locking it from inside.

She slid to the floor just like the tears that were sliding down her cheeks.

Admitting what happened was the hardest thing she had to do. The words don't sound as painful in her head then out loud. She had been kidnapped and tortured by a drunk, there was more but she dare not even think about it. She couldn't think about any of that. But the images were still haunting her.

All because of stupid chocolates that she wanted. She went out to get them but never came back. They were the reason all this happened. She hates them.

The things that once made all her anger vanish and bring a smile to her face were now the very thing she hated the most. If only, she had waited for her mom and dad to come back.

Mom and dad.Her bunny and buddy. Bunny would scold her and buddy would protect her. That's how it works- worked.

"Divi what is this? How can you fail math? It's the easiest class!" her mother or bunny, as she calls her scolded reading her report book.

"Math is hard. You won't get it bunny." she laughed.

Vidya kept the book down and pulled her ear. "This is funny?"

"Ow! Let go. Buddy!" she screamed, calling her dad. Within a second she was out of the demon's grip and on the neck of her buddy with a chocolate bar in hand.

"cut her some slack, my lady. She's just five. Right buddy?"

"Yes, buddy. Bunny you should listen to him more."

"This is all because of you. You are spoiling her." Vidya groaned dropping onto the chair.

"Of course I will spoil her. I'm her partner in crime." he laughed, giving his daughter a hi-fi.

Vidya slapped her forehead wishing Drishti would come back from school faster. She couldn't handle these two alone.

"When will your di be back? I can't handle you numbskull alone."

The father-daughter gasped loudly covering their mouths.

"Did you just call us numbskulls?!" they yelled together.

The response was an irritated glare that shut them up right away.

"Buddy let's go to the park! And then get snacks! I'm hungry."

"Bhukkad."

"As you wish. Bye angry bird," he said walking out the door with little Divya sitting on his neck.

Where is that park?

"I don't know."

She didn't realise the reddish fog sipping in from outside the room.

What she does know is that later that day her sister joined her and her buddy at the park. She remembers hiding in one of the playground structures while playing hide and seek.

She looked ahead waiting for her sister to find her. She giggled seeing her nowhere in sight thinking she won.

"BO!" someone shouted in her ear.

She turned around swiftly delivering a punch to the nose.

"Divi! It's me!" the person said nursing her nose.

"Oops. sorry di!" she apologised blowing on her nose.

"It's fine. Should have known better than to do that."

"It's okay, I can fix your nose."

"How?" Drishti asked, fearing the answer.

"Like this," she said, pulling her down giving a peck on the nose.

"I'll be right back di. Before you know it. Bullshit." she taunted herself. She broke her promise. She never saw her di after that. Who was she? What does she look like now?

"I don't know. I never saw her after that, did I?" she didn't. She doesn't remember her face or her parents for that matter.

"Hell I don't even remember their names!" she slapped herself, trying hard once again to remember but in vain. The only thing that came to mind was di, bunny and buddy.

It was the oddest feeling, like suddenly remembering a glimpse of a dream she'd forgotten and then seeing or hearing something that jogged her memory the next day. Or like piecing together memories after a drunken night after drinking too much. Satisfying and frustrating at the same time, because the little glimpses are never enough, and she needed more, more, more, but it kept slipping away, staying just out of reach, taunting her.

Struggling to remember felt exactly like that, like ghosts of memories, feelings that were fleeting and unsatisfying, just at the edge of her consciousness, slipping away as soon as she reached for them

"There is no point trying to remember them now. They are long gone. I have a new home and family. They are all I need." she said, wiping the tears but she was still crying.

No matter how much she willed them to, the tears didn't stop.

she got another pair of parents that loved and cared for her like she has their own. It was hard in the beginning but they had never given up on her. They tried every day to get her to talk and open up. Maybe not the latter but the former did happen.

Then she met Ragini. Her jaan as one would say. The one who held in her weakest point and celebrated her happiest moments. The one who stood up for her when she couldn't do it herself. Sometimes she was the mother, sometimes the kid. Truth to be told, she owed it to Ragini who got her to start living again. She brought music into her life. If she was here right now, she would be giving a hug and whispering little nothings. She missed her.

Then they met lakshya and shikar. Well, they met Shikhar first. She was so thankful to her most disliked teacher for sending her out of class that day. Shikar wouldn't have been alive if he didn't. She still teased him about what he was about to do from time to time but she prayed hard that he won't even think about it ever again.

Shikar was the one who brought them to lakshya who was about to walk away from all their lives. Or shikar's life at that point in time. That boy had a thick skull. What they had gone through was shitty but they were supposed to be there for each other not leave each other alone and suffer. That's not how brothers work. She chuckled remembering the argument they had the day. The reason they called him lucky.

Someone once said that you can't choose your family.

"That's horsecrap."

Family is not who you were born into. Family is who you chose to run back to. Family is what you call home. Her home was her mom and dad and the midnight spirits. That's all she needed.

Somewhere deep down she still wished she could meet her di once to say sorry for breaking their promise.

"Di. you didn't let go but I did. I'm sorry."

She hit the wall and tried to scream, but her voice was melted by the sound of the place. The muffled sobs wracked against her chest. The world turned into a blur, and so did all the sounds. The taste. The smell. Everything was gone. The last painful emotion slammed against her before she lost the feeling of feeling.

She needed to get out before she went back to what she was when she initially met Ragini.

As soon as her feet had to support her weight she fell backwards but caught herself using the desk. Everything was spinning and she finally noticed the red gas around the room. She shook her head to clear it but it only got worse.

"Shit." she stumbled to the door and tried opening it only to find it locked from the outside. The room spun and she coughed painfully. Most classes were going on and no one was going to get her out.

"That means someone did this in person." she blinked through watery eyes and took out her phone to try calling someone.

"Divya?" the receiver answered.

The mind was too cloudy to make out who it was. "B3-03. Smoke red...help," she said trying to hold in the cough that was itching her throat.

"Divi, Where are you?"

"Door locked. B3-03..." She couldn't finish before hitting the ground and passing out.

A/N: don't forget to R&R!