Drugged.

Drugged. 

 

"Done. I am done with this fucking good guy shit now. Being a dog to you for what? So you can reciprocate my feelings one day, huh? But guess what? My fucking patience seems to already be running out real quick. Now, stop being a crybaby and get up this instant, or you will regret it!" 

 

I could only stare at him in bewilderment. When I didn't move a muscle to get up, he took one last long step towards me. Bending down, he yanked me to him by my upper arm, forcefully.

 

"A-awdhesh!" I shrieked in pain, flinching. “What has happened to you?” I tried to wriggle in his hold, but it was of no use. He was a lot taller and larger than my small, petite form. I cried out in pain because of his brutal grip. The first time, I regretted being this small and defenceless.

 

"Please let go; you are hurting me," I exclaimed, my tear-stained face looking up at him.

"Why are you doing this?”

 

“It is because of you!”

 

My eyes widened. “Me?”

 

“Yes, you! Can't you see the reasons? My reaction is reflected in your actions.”

 

“I- I don't understand whatever you're saying.” I stood my ground. 

 

He breathed hard, rubbing his hair roughly. 

 

“Can't you fucking see the hurt behind my anger?”

 

“Are you h-hurt? But why?”

 

His eyes turned softer. “Oh, my naive little Radhika,” he chuckled suddenly. “You will never understand. Will you?”

 

“Understand w-what?” I was afraid of his reaction. 

 

“Goddammit, that I—” A flashy sound of tyres screeching to a sudden halt sounded behind me, cutting him off.

 

It happened all too suddenly for a normal human mind to comprehend. 

 

The sole sound of so many car doors opening, all at the same time, could only be heard in the entire, silent street, and then footsteps, from all directions behind me. 

 

Awdhesh hawked behind me, terrified all of a sudden. Then he screamed—that horrifying ear-piercing scream that could make your ears bleed. His blood-curdling scream made me jump. Then, in the very next second, he was on the floor when he fell with a loud thud. I looked down at him in a stuck and frozen state to see what happened so abruptly, but I saw him clutching his left thigh rather tightly and hollering in pain.

 

It all happened so quickly and seemed blurry. It all happened with inhuman speed. I was stunned and, in shock, unable to decipher what just happened. 

 

My mind seemed too stuck to respond to any logical explanation. The crimson-red liquid was oozing out from Awdhesh’s grasping leg. I stared at the crimson-coloured liquid with wide eyes.

 

How could it be possible? I didn't even hear anything, though.

 

Could it be? I wondered.

 

No, it can't be. I was horrified.

 

"I used the silencer to avoid the unwanted scream of a wild dog roaming around like they owned the fucking street,” someone answered my unspoken question.

 

Startled, I spun around to come in front of all the giant men standing before me. I stared at them with a horror-stricken face. They must be twenty or so, and they were all extremely tall, well built, and seemed young in their mid-twenties and thirties. Men in black tuxedos with Ray-Bans over their faces, hiding their eyes. With shining black cars behind them.

 

My breath hitched. Who were they?

 

A loud cry from my baby brother in the stroller brought me back to awareness. Immediately, I ran to him, scooping up his slightly shaking, tiny form. I cradled him to my chest, rubbing his back gently and whispering soothing words in his ear. Effectively, after a minute or two, he stopped shaking and snuggled in my neck while sucking his thumb. I looked back at the men to see and found them all already gazing at me intently.

 

My cheeks heated up. Out of dread or embarrassment, I did not know exactly. I looked away immediately from them. Yet, I heard a faint groaning. I turned to look behind the giants of men, but—met with the darkest colour of piercing black eyes, which were shining in the moonlight and seemed to look back at me very intensely. They were just not looking at me but at my soul as well and beyond. His visage was brighter in the street light.

 

Abruptly, I looked down at my red sleepers. In that very movement, I felt a sudden stinging sensation somewhere on the back of my neck, making me feel slightly dizzy, abruptly. What was it?

 

Tightening my hold over Shaurya, I tried to stand straight, frantically peering at my surroundings with nervousness and doubts. What was happening? 

 

However, there was a small amount of fear in me too regarding the vicinity I was in. My hold got even tighter on Shaur, so I couldn't knock him down. But instantly, after a while, everything started spinning around me, and before I could understand the gravity of my situation, my eyes closed themselves in an oblivious slumber.

 

I was in the midst of confusion about what was exactly happening to me. Still, there were answers in my psyche to the questions, indeed. The answers were quite simple and right in front of me. I just did not want to admit it. I was in denial. 

 

Yet, I already know that: 

 

I was being drugged.

 

Merely, I felt someone getting hold of Shaurya from me. And then, I collapsed on someone, and everything blacked out: black dots were pooling in front of my barely opened eyes as I felt as if I were being lifted. And, in reality, I was. I knew I wasn't dreaming. Still, hoping against the odds, I prayed, even in my barely conscious state, that this would all be a dream. A dream. The drug seemed to be starting to numb my body. And, unbeknownst to all of it, I let myself into the relief that had been offered to me gingerly.

 

“Ssh. Finally, you'll be home. Now, sleep, little one. I promise to take care of you and Shaur,” I found myself hearing. “You will be protected from anything and everything from now on.”

 I was too consumed in my sleep to notice anything else. 

“Take the other car. Go,” in my barely conscious state, I heard him say. “Take us back. The little birds are finally back to their nests.” Not a second later, I found myself lying somewhere soft. “It's been so long since I saw you. You haven't changed a bit.” There was a contact I felt in one of my cheeks. “I am terribly sorry for your loss. But I promise to keep you both safe and under my protection. It took long enough, but now I am here by your side. I promise not to leave this time. No more hard lives. Not anymore. Not on my watch.”