'It was Aarav!'

      He comes out of the bush, smiling sheepishly and scratching through his head with an awkward smile on his face, and says,"hey there! The weather is good, with beautiful moon. Raghav here suggested that we play hide and seek today. Childish, right? Hehehehehe. He just found me and tried to push me out of there and it ended up like this. Let's go man." Saying so, he throws an arm around Raghav's shoulder and they start to walk away. "Stop!", Sumeeth says. They both stop at once as if someone had paused a movie in their screen. It was so funny, the stern look Sumeeth was sporting and monkey like expressions Aarav was giving and 'why did I agree to come here in first place' looks Raghav was giving to sky. 

     Sumeeth walks to that duo and says,"don't you dare to hurt a poor puppy going on a street while you are playing hide and seek. Get it?" What was he talking? Did Aarav or his friend hurt a dog and Sumeeth happened to see it? I shake my head from its thoughts and look at them. Aarav nods his head frantically saying,"yeah bro, why would I hurt them? I'm a kind person. Beautiful both inside and out. Right, Amaira?" Why was he dragging me into that conversation? That too a stupid one. I just say,"bye Sumeeth, I've got lots of things to do." Sumeeth says,"do you want me to drop you off?" I shake my head and say,"Good Night!"

     After I reach my place, I take Freddy out for a walk. I start talking with it,"Oh Freddy, it's been a long day. You know what? I found that I have started to like someone. But the thing is, he likes another girl, I guess. And she is as beautiful and as graceful as a goddess. Do you remember Sumeeth? She is his sister, the one he always talks about." We reach a store at the end of our street and we turn around. The streetlight was shining on us and I observe our shadows. It was so nice, just like a picture you see in movies, where you think 'What would I give to have a photo like that'. Freddy jumps and says,"Woof!", as if ordering me to continue my story. 

      I laugh, continue walking and say,"you seem to be more excited for my love story than me. Okay then, let me continue. So, I guess we had our first kiss. Don't worry, you will definitely like him for sure." We reach the other end of the street. We turn and walk again. This time, we walked silently. Freddy was deep in thought. Seems like he is debating whether to like or not this new person, whom he had never met.

    We reach the other end of the road and suddenly we hear the sound of something smashing to ground. Immediately, Freddy goes protective mode on me and comes and stands in front of me. I call out, "Who's there?" And there comes out a man, wearing some dark clothes and a broken phone in his hands, his face being covered with a cap. Freddy suddenly jumps on to that person, causing the person to move away in haste, his cap falling down in the process.

    It was Rahul! I say,"hey, you alright? Freddy, come back, he's my friend." Freddy looks at me doubtfully as if Rahul was the one I was liking. I just shake my head. Freddy relaxes visibly and goes to Rahul, sniffing him. Rahul gives Freddy a ruffle on his head and I can see that Freddy likes him immediately.

    "What are you doing here?", I ask Rahul. He replies,"just passing by. Actually I wanted to buy some batteries for tv remote. I wandered around here and kinda lost my way", by rubbing his neck. I say,"Ohh. By the way, my home is nearby. Wanna come? We both can complete our English project by the way." He stands there awkwardly without saying anything and shifting from one leg to another.

     Then it strikes me. He might have something urgent to do. I was just stopping him. So, I turn to him and say,"you may go if you have any work. Sorry for keeping you up." He smiles and says,"no Amaira, I just don't have my library book with me right now. And it's kinda late now. So, it may not be good to visit a girl's home", with an awkward chuckle. I reply,"yeah, I totally forgot about the book. And, no worried dude. No one will be at home most probably." 

     He looks at me shocked. I realize the impact of my words and say,"No no no, that's not what I mean. It's just that no one will be at home and my parents wouldn't mind even if I had someone over my place when there's no one. I'll just stop it. I am making the conversation a lot awkward, right?" He laughs loudly, earning a glare from Mrs Malhotra, who's opposite to our house. She never has any things to do and she will be spying on others, always with a disapproving look on her face. I personally think her husband isn't giving her enough attention.

    Finally he stops laughing and says,"you are cute when you ramble." It was my turn to laugh now. No one describes rambling as cute. I laugh and say,"you really are interesting. So, you have to go, right? Bye." And I turn around, calling out for Freddy. Suddenly, Rahul holds my hand and says,"about coming to your home now, can I?" Goosebumps were starting to form on my hand. A sudden wind swooshed by us, making me shiver.  Seeing me shivering, Rahul says,"If you don't want to, I'll not disturb you. It's cold outside. Go inside and have some rest." I turn to him, freeing my hand, and say,"if Freddy trusts someone, they are welcome at my home at any time. Come on, it's really getting cold."

    We reach my home and I tie up Freddy, leaving him with some food and water. I go inside and give some snacks and a glass of cool drink to Rahul. I say to him,"you can switch on the television if you like. I'll be back in a second." He nods and starts eating. I head up and bring my library book and a notebook down.

    I start reading my book. It actually was 'Hansel and Gretel'. I don't know why Ms Chopra has given us children stories. Nevertheless, I took it seriously and read each and every word. Finally, I had finished writing my report. I go to the living room and say,"Am I keeping you up? You should have gone if you wanted to. And it looks like it might rain." He turns to me and says,"I don't care about that stupid assignment. I was actually given 'The Ugly Duckling'. I can't believe that. Even my one-year old cousin doesn't like to hear that." I start laughing. I say,"Mine was at least 'Hansel and Gretel' you know".

     "Ohh that's nice", he says. The clock struck nine. I turn to him and ask,"Do you want to have  dinner? You must have been hungry. Let me make some." He says,"No, I'll go home. Its already very late. I don't want to keep you up." He gets up, dusting his pants, and starts to go. I go behind him. It was looking as if it might rain any time. I say,"Hold up!Lemme get you an umbrella." He nods and I come inside.

     Just as I step inside, the power is gone. I mutter out a 'damn' and search for my mobile. I finally find my mobile on top of my clothes. How it went there, it will be one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the world. To reach it, I had to stand up on a stool. I search around the room and find an old wooden stool lurking at the corner. I carry it to my cupboard and stand on it. I finally reach my mobile, standing on my tiptoes. I take it and switch on the light option in it. Light suddenly blares out and I see my own shadow in front of me. 

    At that moment, all I knew was fear. So I shout loudly, ending up tripping. I fall down on my back. I try to get up but my ankle wasn't letting me. I shine my mobile light and see that my leg was stuck under the cupboard. I try to move out, but my ankle was paining so much that I gave up. I felt so miserable at that moment. I couldn't even do such a simple thing. My mind is immediately taken back to those dark moments where I was lying helpless. 

   "No, don't come near me", I shout out in anguish. "Do you think we'll listen to you bitch?", he says with a gruff voice. "Please, my parents will be worrying about me", I plead them, stopping my tears. A guy comes and slaps me on my face, leaving a stinging pain on my cheek. Tears are threatening to spill out, I try my hardest to keep them at bay. "See how you made your life. You could have just laid there, doing nothing, but had to come and disturb our boss. You are just a fly in his cup of tea. Your death will be an example for others. Feel honored, my dear sister", a guy who looks like their leader says. And he points a gun at me.

    I am taken out of my flashback as Rahul comes in shouting,"Amaira, where are you? Are you alright?" I say in a low voice,"I'm in my room, Rahul." Stupid me, how can he know where my room is? I prepare to say directions, but Rahul comes in. I ask him,"How do you know where my room is." He comes near and says,"sound travels." I slap my forehead and say,"yeah." He asks me,"What happened? Why did you shout? Do you know how worried I was? Don't do that to me again, okay?"

    I smile at him and say,"nothing big, just that my leg has stuck in here. I shouted in fear of falling down. Don't worry." He comes down and sits on his knees near me and observes my position. He says,"you might have sprained your ankle. Let me take you out of here." He then picks me up by my arms and removes my leg carefully from under the cupboard. We start walking towards hallway, me leaning on to his shoulder for support and he was having an arm around me.

   After we came down the stairs without tumbling like 'Jack and Jill' (don't blame me, it's all on Ms Chopra for giving us children stories) , I sit on a chair. I say to Rahul,"Thank you, for not leaving and staying here. Now its raining like hell. How are you going home?" He replies,"you still are worrying about me going home when you have a sprained ankle. I'll call a taxi. First, I'll see if you have any fracture." He sits down near my legs and takes my right ankle into his hand. He turns it in clockwise direction and asks,"do you feel any pain?" I shake my head. He then turns it in anticlockwise direction. I mutter out an 'oww'. He leaves my leg and sits in the chair besides me and says,"Nothing major. Just a sprain. Apply a spray for a week and you'll be good." I nod my head, mouthing 'thanks'.

     He gets out of his seat and starts going to the kitchen. I tell him,"The door's that way", in a small voice. He turns to me and says,"want to kick me out of your house that soon? I'm hurt", with a sad expression on his face. I immediately say,"no no no, nothing like that. Just thought you have forgot your way. By the way, why are you going to kitchen? Do you need something to eat? Let me cook it for you." He comes to me and says,"no I was just kidding. You sit down while I make some toast bread and eggs. That's the only dish I know how to make, so put up with it", with a smile on his face. I say,"Ohh, the kitchen is yours then Mr Ramsay", by laughing. He mock salutes and says,"Yes ma'am", and goes into the kitchen.

    Finally, he brings me a plate of bread omlette. It was smelling amazing and as soon as I kept the first piece in my mouth, I couldn't help but exclaim a 'wow'. The bread was crispy and well burnt, while the egg brought an unknown smoothness to it. "How did you even cook it like this?", I ask him. He replies,"I take it that you like it then." I say,"Are you kidding me? I love it", with a delightful expression. He smiles and says,"My pleasure", bowing to me. I laugh loudly.

   After we complete eating, there was an awkward silence hanging around us. He opens out his phone and searches for taxis. He turns to me after a few minutes and says,"The weather being this bad at a time like now isn't helping me. There are no taxis available." I say,"Lemme search in my phone, I'm a regular customer so they might have a taxi for me." He says,"No no no, I'll just go home by walking. My house isn't far. It just takes around fifteen minutes to go there."

    I say,"What?! You wanna go home by walking in this weather? Even if you want to, I won't allow you. Why don't you just stay at the guest room in our house. That too, if you don't have any problem. I mean, my cousins used to stay all the time at my house. No worries for you, and if you don't want to, what shall we do?" He smiles and turns to me and says,"there you go again, being all cute while rambling." I blush and say," No one looks cute while rambling", in a small voice. He pulls my cheeks and says,"Awwww, is my cute Amaira blushing?" I hit his hand away and say,"nothing like that, just the temperature here is low." He says,"yeah, and I'm feeling sleepy, show me the room please."

   I stand up with the support of chair and start walking by limping. I show him the guest room and give him some clothes my cousins had left back. "Change into them if you want to", I say and come out. This was the first time a guy from outside of my world was staying at my home. I thought I would feel awkward but there was nothing like that. It was normal. Shaking these thoughts away, I go to sleep. 

   Next morning when I wake up, there was Rahul beside me!!!!!!!

       A/N: HELLO PEOPLE! HOW HAVE YOU BEEN? IS THE STORY EXCITING? SHOULD I MOVE AT A FASTER PACE? OR IS THIS GOOD?AND, SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES ABOUT YOU AND POWER CUT. LOL, MINE WOULD BE COMICAL. I AND MY SISTER USED TO PLAY SHADOW GAMES IN THE TORCHLIGHT. OR I WOULD BE PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK ON THE STREETS. BUT THANKS TO GOD, I WAS NEVER ALONE IN MY HOME WHEN THERE WAS A POWER CUT AT NIGHT, UNLIKE OUR AMAIRA. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, DON'T FORGET TO VOTE, COMMENT, SHARE AND FOLLOW :)