Scarred Love - Chapter 106

Rudra strode briskly inside the private elevator and waited as it reached his penthouse on the top floor. 

Just as he entered his penthouse, the events of past hours started to flash in his mind. Suddenly as he pictured her shaken face in his mind's eye, an uncontrollable rage took hold of him.

“Turn on the monitor,” he commanded.

“Hukum, you should take some rest,” Ram said only to be met with a threatening stare and his sudden presence in front of him.

“I said turn the monitor ON,” Rudra bellowed clutching Ram’s collar menacingly.

Ram stepped away from him and picked up the remote from the table and pressed a button on it.

The monitor in front came alive with the images of the room where the debacle had just taken place.

“Leave!” Rudra commanded as he stared at the monitor or rather at the huddled figure on the floor.

Ram and Manna looked at him hesitatingly but then followed his orders.

The moment the room emptied, he picked up the remote and increased the volume. But the speakers reflected nothing other than an eerie silence. He could see her sitting on the floor with her head hanging low but nothing else. It was as if she was not breathing.

Panic started to settle in and he picked up the remote and zoomed in on her. As body softly vibrated with the rhythm of her breathing, he let out a sigh of relief.

He can’t have her dying on him.

That would be too easy and painless.

He wanted to see her tears.

He wanted to see her cry out in anguish.

But there was nothing.

He zoomed in more and focused on her closely. As his eyes registered her slumped shoulders and slacked body posture, fury started to rise in him.

She is not feeling the pain, Rudra, his inner-self whispered in his ears.

She will, he answered.

Come on Ishani Raijdas, get up and fight.

But nothing happened.

His inner-self shrieked with anger and started to compel him to go to her. Rudra was about to turn when he heard her hiccup. His eyes focused on her searching for some reaction. Seconds passed but nothing happened. Losing patience he was about to turn off the monitor and go to her when she audibly swallowed and raised her face.

He stared at her tear-drenched face almost willing her to show some response but none came.

Seconds passed but nothing happened.

Then suddenly she opened her eyes and looked straight at the camera as if she knew he was watching her.

Rudra’s senses went haywire as he looked into her eyes. His inner demons screamed as her gaze steadily penetrated inside. He wanted to stop it but his chains of restraints were nothing compared to the harrowing numbness and silence of her eyes.

As her piercing gaze slowly crawled into him, he felt his demons tearing the chains apart and his mind suddenly getting bombarded with countless ghostly images.

“RAM!” he screamed pressing the button of the intercom.

“THROW HER OUT!” he commanded just as Ram answered.

Rudra watched as Ram approached her and started to talk.

But his patience just gave away and he shouted in the intercom, “THROW HER OUT, NOW!”

As Ram heard him clear in the earpiece, he nodded and clasped her hand and pulled her up. But her gaze didn’t falter even for a second. She kept staring at the camera and Rudra couldn’t tear his eyes off it.

Ram escorted her to the door but as she was about to exit she twisted her body and looked into the camera.

Anticipation started to build inside him as he expected her to hurl a rally of accusations and words at him.

But he just saw her eyes peering into it and again their pervading stillness impaled his every sense and started to settle inside his mind. He wanted to look away but couldn’t just tear his eyes off her arresting gaze.

Suddenly the utter numbness in her eyes vanished. He was about to look away but then the shadows of ruin in them started to dance annihilating each and every sense of his. Yet it roused in him the most primitive emotion known to man.

Guilt!

Rudra staggered just as the door slammed behind her. Clutching the chair, he tried to steady himself but his steps faltered as the haunting emptiness of her eyes gripped him.

Just as he closed his eyes, everything around him changed. He was again back to that forest where there was nothing but the smell of burning flesh and ugly shadows of death.

He watched with gaping eyes as one of the blurred figures picked up the small child and placed her on the grass near the fire. Kicking and shoving against the hands gripping his body, he tried his best to scream and shout but nothing came out of his mouth.

There was no noise in the forest other than the hushed tones of his captors and the sound of crackling fire.

Suddenly his captors let him go and he scrambled towards the rising inferno and tried to pull the child away from the burning mess but it was too late. Her blood-drenched dress was already ablaze.

Ugly sniggers and hushed laughter rang in his ears as he looked at his hands, which were all smeared with blood.

Blood of his loved ones.

He rubbed his hand on the grass to take off the crimson stains but still, they remained.

Suddenly the flames reached him but he did not move. His eyes only stared at the stains on his hand.

He has killed them.

Rudra fell back and collided with the table, and the vase toppled. As his body slumped against the wall and slowly crumbled to the floor, he looked at his hands, which were absolutely clean.

His demons broke the chains away and stormed through the dark caverns of his angered mind looking for blood.

They wanted those stains back.

He picked up a large piece from the broken vase and slashed his palm. But one was not enough, they needed more blood.

He positioned the piece on his throat and looked in the mirror in front.

After 17 years of pain and agony, he needed this to end.

He needed death.

He needed death to silence everything.

He needed death to silence the demon called Rudra.

Copyright © Paromita Majumder. All Rights Reserved.