CHAPTER 4
FALLEN WARRIOR

Time passes, pains inflicted does not. The seconds tick down, converting to minutes and then to hours, hours turn into days, days into months, months to years and the wounds? Wounds stay intact, healed and now a scar, a memoire of past. And it's pain? Pain keeps growing. As if on a race with time, who will out do each other? Will time be able to run fast or the pain will grow faster. In this race of time and pain, the humane suffers from immeasurable ache in heart, no medicine or lotion applied can rescue the man.

The pain, the castrate of life, a defination attached to it for a long time, has a new meaning in today's time. This pain is now a source of life for people who are habituated of it. Being infested with pain continuously it becomes the drug of life for them, a drug to which they are addicted and cannot function without it. Then it is like the more pain given, the more energy is sucked from it, he becomes such an addict of pain that he becomes immune to its effects. No physical pain can then outdo the pain of heart.

Having being punched in face, stabbed in guts from life, Arohi is now immune to pain. She is not a sadist but she seeks pain to fill herself with new energy. The great force you push her down, the greater force will she make a comeback. She knew she has responsibilities, and she won't bow down infront of pressure no matter what stress she has to face. She knew as a captain, that too first female one, she had a lot to prove, a lot of road-blocks to cross, and she was a racer ready to beat her challenges.

Training for the future was not easy, not after everything she earned had toppled down, but with guidance and care of Vidyut and Kashish, support from her friends, she had overcome a lot. There were many times she had doubted herself, thought if backing down, but the staunch belief that her team displayed in her made her to force down and lock away those insecure feelings and broken history.
If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
    And never breathe a word about your loss;

The lines from Rudyard Kipling's poem were etched on the mind of Arohi, forever. She had earned alot, lost everything, and was broken beyond repair, and it was then that Vidyut came in as an angel, her mentor, who taught her to again stand after falling down. To build a future from base instead of crying over the broken past. She owed a lot to him, her life and everything, was given by the Chauhans. She was indebted to them, but they saw her as a family instead of as a creditor, and she was gratefulbof the blessings she received. No her only aim was to reach the top, earn alot, not in terms of money but in terms of love and respect, because she knew money cannot buy everything. No happiness atleast.

"Arohi" came a voice from behind her. Turning around she saw Abhimanyu, her best friend and support from past two years.

When Arohi had met Vidyut, Abhimanyu was the captain of his so-called future team. Abhimanyu Singh, a cocky boy who had earned his place as the captain. Their relation did not had the best start, beginning from the fact that Arohi was seen as an intruder by Abhimanyu. In his favour Abhimanyu thought that while others had secured a place in the team after competing and toiling their sweats for months, and then there was Arohi, a year younger to everyone, and coming in middle to join the team. For him she was a charity show of Vidyut and he considered it as an insult for the team, that Vidyut would considered his team a vale for charity cases. Hence a competition was bound to happen. Arohi, who was freshly wounded, was always craving for an identity, a place to find herself back, and this challenge from Abhimanyu was like a question mark on her existence. She wanted to show Abhimanyu that she was not a case of charity, a box to dispose off sympathy, she was a girl, a person living and breathing. A soul looking for an identity. Vidyut managed to dodge the potential clash for a while before Arohi was ready for it. And then it happened, like a blast, the bomb ticking long finally blasted, the task was a difficult one, but not more difficult than life, finally will-power won over physical strength. The fair game in which Arohi won, did not only made the others to understand that she is more than just a charity case, but also laid down the foundation for the strong friendship of Arohi and Abhimanyu. On seeing Arohi's raw capability Vidyut was sure that she was an unpolished stone, which on being polished properly could turn out to be the most valuable diamond. Thus, began a new chapter of Arohi's life.

"So you ready to go back?" Abhimanyu questioned her.

"Hmm.... Everything is arranged here now its time to go back. No point in stalling it any longer." Arohi whispered slowly.

Abhimanyu followed her line of sight, looking at the open heaven of flowers, he could feel how her brain was functioning.

"It's good to see the flowers breathing freely, right? That sense of freedom that touches you down." He said initiating a conversation.

"Freely! Now nothing is free in this world Abhi. Not even these flowers. They are carrying the load of expectations, to charm everyone with their beauty. If you can't do it, you have no place in this garden." Arohi said with a sadistic smile playing on her lips.

"What?" Abhimanyu asked confused with her words.

"See these flowers are taken care of by the gardener, cut in shapes and sizes, once withered they don't have a place in this garden. You are wanted until you can charm. No one wants you after you are a withered flower. That is the world for you. These flowers also know that they are wanted until they can keep it's beauty intact." Arohi said looking at the bunch growing in the garden.

"Wow, I don't know what to say. I can't say you are wrong but I also cannot say that you are right." Abhimanyu said.

"Don't worry. There are some weeds too flowers in these gardens, no matter how hard you try to get rid of it, they will come back again, claiming their rights. We both fall in this category of stubborn weeds" she said winking at him and laughing.

"Sometimes I don't understand whether you are a student of Literature or Philosophy? Jai Mata Arohi !" He joked and Arohi slapped him on his shoulder playfully.

"Shut up and let's go and report to Sir before Sir decided to punish us because of lack of our punctuality." She said getting up from her place.

This is the beauty of their relation, they could kick each other, joke and goof around, talk all deep and shit , but they will never judge each other for what they have said or done.

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Happy Rakshabandhan to everyone celebrating!

Lucky are the those who get to celebrate it.

Well, I don't have a brother, so I don't get to celebrate it😪