Sameera

When I opened my eyes I felt like the rare animal in a zoo. 4 males and one female were staring at me and my head felt like being hit by a thousand hammers.

Where am I? What happened?

"Where is this place? Who are you people? Why am I here? Why was I unconscious? Most importantly, why does my head hurts like Thor's hammer hit me with full force?" These were the questions I needed answers to.

"Hi Sameera, I am Ansh. You are in my house and you ask a lot of questions for someone who just suffered an accident."

The man sitting in the sofa beside me spoke. His shiny black orbs seemed unusually familiar to me.

"Well I am a journalist. I get paid to ask questions. And I take my job very seriously." Cheers to my smart remark.

"Wait! What accident?"

I don't remember being in any accidents. I remember I was walking to office this morning. Other than that, I can't remember a thing.

"Actually, my sister Trishna and I went to shopping this morning. On our way, a careless driver thought the road was his private race track. He was about to crush Trishna, when you appeared and moved her from the car's path. But you tripped and hit your head on the roadside and immediately fell unconscious. I brought you here and our family doctor treated you. There were no serious wounds. But you hit your head pretty bad. Which explains the ache."

He explained pointing to the female standing beside him with a man. The way they are hugging each other clarifies that they are a married couple as the female has a nuptial chain around her neck.

"But then why can't I remember anything?" Explain that 'Mr. I know it all'.

"You hit your head. The doctor said you may suffer from amnesia temporarily. Hence the reason you don't remember your heroic act." Oh, he is buttering me up. It's working though.

"You are welcome. Now I need to leave. My friends will be worried if I don't contact them within 24 hours." I said.

But why 24 hours? Strange. I wonder if I had any important appointments within 24 hours.

I woke up and picked up my bag that was lying on a table in front of me. Then the man in black leather jacket called my name in an overly friendly manner. Amazingly, he seems very unusually familiar too.

What's wrong with me? They are strangers. Especially this other man in the same black leather jacket with a 'wolverine' haircut seems oddly strange to me.

"I'll drop you home, if you don't mind."

The one who called my name earlier asked and my mouth uttered a "Yes" without my permission like it already made the decision. But I just can't get a free ride from a pure stranger.

"And who are you Mr. Generous?" I asked.

He took out something out of his shirt pocket. A card. He showed me the card which turned out to be his ID card. And I wasn't expecting what I read. He was a CBI officer.

"I am Arav Sharma, an undercover CBI officer. That one is my partner Joseph, with the 'wolverine hairstyle." His last statement was more of a whisper meant for my ears only.

"We were spying on the person who caused the accident and came for an eyewitness testimony with Mr. Ansh and his sister. We got the information we needed. We saw how you risked your life for a stranger. So, as a gratitude for your heroic act, I can at least offer you a ride home."

He spoke so convincingly and politely that I couldn't deny his offer. For a moment I felt like he was speaking on behalf of me. I wanted to say yes the moment he proposed to drop me home.

So I accepted a free ride from an undercover CBI officer. That doesn't happen every day. I wished every one goodbye and everyone returned the gesture like well mannered citizens except for Mr. Wolverine.

I told him my address and the quite ride began which also ended on a silent note. My headache was so frustrating that I only managed to get his name and occupation memorized. Though conversing with him felt oddly familiar and good. Out of politeness I invited him for a coffee in my apartment and to my surprise he accepted. Seems he's got a lot of spare time.

"Meer, do you have any idea how worried you make us. At this rate my face will be wrinkled and my hairs will turn gray in no time. It's 11 pm. Where were you? Anwar said you left office earlier on a case. I gotta inform him of your arrival before he files your missing report. I'll make sure you get lectured tomorrow." Said my so caring roommate Raina. Note the sarcasm.

Raina and caring don't really mix well, like oil and water. Though she has her own version of 'I care for you'. The version she just showed was 'you will pay for making me worried after a tiring day at work.'

Smiling I looked at Akshita who seemed level headed enough to at least not shout at me.

"What were you doing Meer? We were worried for you. Your phone was unreachable. Where did you come from? And who is this guest?" Aki asked looking at Arav.

"Aki, this is Arav, an undercover CBI officer who was really generous to give me a ride home, and Arav this is Akshita, my roommate and, that was Raina, my other roommate. She gets cranky after a busy day at her 5 star hotel. Afterall it's not easy being a hotel manager."

"Pleasure to meet you Akshita." Arav extended his right hand.

Aki did the same and shook hands with him.

"Nice to meet you too Officer. Thanks for bringing her home." She replied.

"Well it's nice to meet you too, Officer Arav. It's so kind of you to help our friend who tends to forget that time doesn't walk according to her schedule. Sorry for the trouble. But I can repay you with a tasty dinner treat, if you accept." Raina said inviting him for dinner and he accepted without hesitation. He really has a lot of spare time.

The dinner went well with Raina boasting about her achievements as a hotel manager and as our best friend. The second one was mostly lies I tell you. She gave him her number. I never thought she was into police officers. But maybe she is into anyone who's handsome and has a good career.

After dinner, we bid our goodbyes and Raina was trying hard to hide her enragement cause I called her Rai in front of Arav.

So what? She kept calling me Meer all the time in front of him. Akshita was wise enough to call it an early night.

I went to see off Arav to his Jeep. "Why did she get angry when you called her Rai? " So he did notice.

Well of course he would. He is a CBI officer. Well, here goes nothing.

"Actually Raina started calling me Meer, short for Sameera and her Aki, short for Akshita in the initial days of our co-inhabitance, reasoning that our names were a mouthful. Hence, we started calling her Rai, short for Raina, which in turn annoyed her. Since then we call each other by our given nicknames when we want to annoy each other, but sometimes it just slips out of our tongues. But Raina minds a lot when we call her Rai in front of someone else." I explained.

"Oh, and who's Anwar? Is he someone you know?" He asked with a hint of sadness.

Why the long face?

"He is my colleague. But he treats me like his younger sister and I treat him like the protective and supportive elder brother I never had. Though sometimes he gets overprotective." I said a bit embarrassed that I disclosed such personal information to a mere stranger.

"That's a blessing. You are really lucky to have such caring friends. I wish I was that lucky." He said sighing.

"You can be." I said and extended my right hand forward for a handshake as a gesture for initiation of our friendship.

He shook my hands with a goofy grin and we went on our separate ways. Ignoring Raina's burning accusatory glare, I went to sleep.

I can't feel my legs. I am trying to move them but I feel like my legs are numb. My body feels sore all over. There's a nasty smell in the air. Vampires. They are coming in. Someone flipped the lights on. Two vampires came and placed a tray of  roasted meat on my lap. Both were laughing hard. One of them spoke," Finish this meal. Feel lucky that you are being given such delicious meal 3 times a day. You aren't even tortured much. If not for order of keeping your  skin intact, you would be a mess of wounds and scars. Ha, ha, ha..." They kept laughing but stopped when someone entered into the room.

"Shut up you fools. Your urge to torture her will spoil our plans. Now get going before I turn you into frogs who will never turn into princes even when kissed by all the princesses in the world. Get out." She shouted and the two hooligans left obediently with a finger on there mouth.

"Now, dear princess, let's look at your pretty face carefully." She looked at me with her ghostly green eyes, lifting up my chin with her left hand very harshly, rising the already sore pain on my chin. After a while of staring at me, she threw my face to the right side and left like an evil vamp, clicking her high as mountain heels.

Looking at her retreating figure, my eyes met with my reflection on the window seal. Sapna's reflection.

I woke up from my sleep sweating heavily. My whole body ached.

This has to stop.

I took my phone from the nightstand and dialed someone I needed to talk right now.

After two rings, he picked up the call, but before he could say a 'hello' or 'hi', I spoke, "Meet me for lunch at "Today's Dish" restaurant sharp at noon. It's an emergency."

I cut the call as he responded with a confused "Yeah".

_______________________________________

Winding up my today's work for the day as fast as possible, I convinced my boss to grant me a field day. I have been taking solo field day's to search for news these days a lot.

Not that I am getting any productive news recently. Hence, the reason I had to convince my boss for one field day. I left office, succeeding in avoiding Anwar. I bet I would be lectured as soon as he sees me.

I reached the restaurant to find Arav already seated, waiting for my grand entry. Just kidding. I walked as fast as I could and to my grand entry, I tripped over the leg of a chair that was safely seated at its place.

But before I could hit the floor, Officer Arav caught me and helped me get back on my own two feet like a gentleman. He looks so cute when he acts all handsome gentleman. Not that he ever behaves like anything but a gentleman.

"What's the hurry, Meer?"

He just didn't call me Meer, did he? But that can be dealt with later.

"As I told you it's an emergency. I hope you already ordered for us. I am very hungry." I said in one breath, sitting on the table.

"Take a breath Sameera. What happened? Is Raina still mad at you?" Is he serious.

"Why would that be an emergency? Listen, I gotta tell you something." I said and his playful expression changed to a confused one.

"I had a dream last night. I saw myself tied to a chair, in that empty room. This time, two vampires came to deliver a plate of roasted meat on my lap and left when an evil vamp entered the room scolding them not to harm me. Ironic you know. Then she looked into my eyes for a quite sometimes with her ghostly green eyes and then left. When I saw in the window seal near the door, I saw Sapna's reflection where my reflection should have been." I said and his eyes widened.

"How do you..." I knew what he meant to say.

"Yes, Arav, I do remember everything. Freaky forest, lost little girl, Alpha Ansh, Beta Paras, Sapna, supernatural world, super cops, and that bossy duplicate wolverine partner of yours. And don't ask how, I don't know myself. Ansh tried twice, actually thrice but each time after having a flashback dream, I would remember everything again. When I decided for the memory wipe, I was half expecting this to happen. But not so soon. I think something is wrong with Sapna. I think she is in danger." I finished.

"But how? We met her yesterday." That's what I thought.

"Correction, I met her yesterday, she never met you or your partner. She stayed in her room all the while you were there, didn't she? She didn't even come to bid me farewell." His face said I was right.

"Look the only explanation you are getting right now is that my dreams aren't normal. They have been weird in a weird way since I was a child. I have experienced night terrors for a very long time. I was treated by a very skilled psychiatrist, but nothing changed. Since the past 5 years, the night terrors haven't occurred, but the current situation is a little different. I think my dreams are somehow related to this supernatural stuff. I can't explain right now, but you have to trust me."

"Then what do you say?" He asked.

"I have an awesome idea to unfold the truth if you would help me." I announced.

Without a second thought he said, "I am with you. Just tell me what to do?"

That's like a good super cop.