1 Her Return

The flickering night bulbs on the roadside painted the road in a color of their own. The crickets stridulating a melody of the night awaiting a dawn. The city continued roaring deep in the dim light of the stars. However, in the backyard of a villa, deep in the mountain, the horses were restless and so were the dogs, cats and many other pets. Their thumping grew louder as time went by. The caretakers awoke in the dead of the night, cursing at the creatures that never ceased to make the sounds. But even though they checked again and again, they didn't find anything out of ordinary that could make the animals restless. One last look and the caretakers went back to their rooms to say hello to their dreams.

The same moment in a room in the villa, a girl draped in pale night clothes was mumbling in her slumber. Her nightmares came rushing in her head.

******

Blood oozing out of the bodies, chopped heads, hands and legs with all the muscles and fat and intestines out in the air. Gore everywhere, increasing with the unceasing war. Hundreds of thousands of warriors screaming and yelping in pain. Everyone around fighting for reasons unknown.

******

Panting heavily the girl abruptly got up to her feet from her bed only to find her hands perspiring and legs shivering. Beads of sweat forming on her forehead, streaming down her soft cheeks. Her horrified eyes forgot to blink. Her whole body went cold. Quivering lips trying to speak something but her throat feeling a lump inside leaving her unable to do so. The people surrounding her looked at her as if she was some alien-planet-return. Then a sudden burst of happiness covered the whole room. Everyone was hugging each other and thanking God. Before the girl could register what had happened, several strangers clutched her tightly. She felt as if her small body would fall apart but surprisingly it didn't.

A loud thump of wooden stick by the door, calmed the qualm in the room and everyone looked respectfully towards the door where stood a trained bodied old man. He looked ferocious in his being but also very calm and composed as he strolled in the spacious chamber. As the elder reached the foot of the bed, he worryingly looked upon the girl. She also felt his gaze and looked at him, unfazed, un-blinking. Her eyes were still stiff and looked lifeless but upon seeing the genuinely worried eyes of the elder, she reflected a touch of softness.

"Is she really the one?" The elder asked one of the man following him behind.

"Yes" the man replied. "Do you have a doubt?" He continued.

"Definitely not. Only her mother dares to look at me with such an expression. She's my granddaughter for sure." The elder affirmed. "Little girl, I am so saddened by the news of your mother's sudden departure. But don't you worry. Your Grandfather is still here. I'll take care of everything."

"Leave her a breath, will you? You'll scare the child away." Came a voice from behind the elder. It was a lady in dark maroon night suit making her way through the crowd. Her wrinkles and broad spectacles couldn't hide the fact that she must have been a beauty in her younger days. She was around the same age as the Elder.

"Yes. Yes, my Lady. I was not thoughtful enough." The elder said in the softest tone contrasting his ferocious bearing he showed earlier.

"Everyone leave the Young Miss and let her rest. Everything else can wait till tomorrow." The Old Lady commanded and with that the girl watched everyone leave. The old couple stayed for a few extra minutes as they looked at the girl with so much love in their eyes that they turned teary eyed. But other than breath there came no sound from any of them. Then they too left the girl alone in the vast room.

Only now the girl got some space. She scanned the chamber. The silvery tableware, soft velvet bed sheets, pillows and carpets spreading underneath her feet, glazed wooden furniture and walk-in cupboard and overly spacious bathroom, screamed just one word "Luxury". This showed that the old couple who supposedly were her Grandparents had been well off.

The girl reached out to a jug on the side table and as she poured herself some water she looked at a portrait over her bed. "It looks like a family portrait of the Old Couple. Is this supposed to be 'my' mother? Then who is this man next to her?" She said looking at the portrait from which four people seemingly smiled at her. The Old Couple was sitting side by side in the portrait while two youngsters, a girl and a boy, stood behind them all smiling.

"I should better figure out what's happening? What is this place? How did I reach here? Wasn't I in the battle...?" The girl kept thinking and stayed awake all night. But all she could decipher after so long was that she wasn't in her own world. Maybe it was a parallel universe or she traveled trough time and space. However, by the sunlight reached the earth the upcoming day, the girl had decided to kiss hello to this new world and embrace the moments to come. She decided that she will be the master of her fate and deliver kindness, love and hatred to the deserving.

The old couple sent a maid to call their granddaughter but before the maid could do her task everyone witnessed a casually breathtaking event unfolding in front of their eyes. As the girl descended the spiral stairs of the living room, her long sleeved floral printed gown hugging her well-shaped body, trailed down to her white soft feet. Her waist length hair curled a little on her beautiful face with her almond eyes drooping low and her naturally pink lips curving in a small smile, her left hand holding the hem of her gown for comfortable moving; made her look like a heavenly maiden descending the mortal realm.

"Good morning, Child." Her Grandma was the first to break away from her enchantment.

"Good Morning." The girl bowed to everyone present which earned some amused expressions from all of them.

"Well... you don't need to bow to everyone..." Her grandfather murmured under his breath.

"What are you murmuring about? This shows our child has well raised our granddaughter. Here, continue your breakfast." Her grandma stuffed salad in her grandfather's plate which he ate quietly like a meek child after a scolding. This brought a little smile on the girl's face but she coughed not to show her expression. Nothing about her behavior went unnoticed by the old couple and they gave each other a meaningful look.

"Come. Sit next to me, Shunya. Ignore this old hog." Her grandma lovingly said.

"Thank you, Grandma." She sat down to eat.

"Don't think about your unpleasant past in Mehra family and your unreliable father. Now on, you'll live here and lead a wonderful life." Her Grandma continued.

"Yes. And also, now that your father has disowned you, you also don't need to keep his surname. From now, assume your mother's last name, Singh." Her Grandpa said determined.

*So this girl whose body I have taken over is called Shunya Mehra and her father threw her out after her mother's death and her mother's family is Singh family; so from now on I'll be called Shunya Singh.* Just as the girl deduced, she felt her heart heavy with something she couldn't tell. She felt heartbroken. But she had no reason to... Maybe it was the body owner's feelings that were hurt by the blunt words of her Grandfather.

"How can you talk so bluntly to a young girl of 18? See? She looks so pale." Her grandma scolded him again.

"It's okay, Grandma. I'm okay." The girl replied more like she was assuring the body owner that everything was fine.

"Your Grandpa has settled everything about your education. You can join your college from the next week. It's a very prestigious college where all the big shots send their kids. Just do well and enjoy your time okay?" Her grandma told her.

.................

4 years later,

Shunya got ready for her college while her maid prepared her breakfast, sprouts and salad.

"Young Miss, the breakfast is ready. Please come and have some." The maid called out for her.

"Coming, Aunt Jenny." The girl replied from her room on the second floor. She strolled downstairs with no hint of the sleepless night she had spent previously.

"What would you like for lunch? I'll prepare it." The maid asked as she sat by the dining table in front of the girl, because her Young Miss had asked her to eat together so they had this arrangement everyday.

"Have you forgotten Aunt I'm shifting back to my hostel today. How would I be here for lunch?", the girl replied laughingly.

"Oh, I really forgot, Young Miss. Maybe you can ask Old Master and fly by his private chopper everyday while staying here?" Aunt Jenny said dotingly. "I know it's your fourth year in University Dorms and you're accustomed to it but take care of yourself, okay?"

"Okay, Aunt. Don't worry. I'll take care of myself and we aren't in Bronze age, what's all this crying and all, we can talk over phone and video chat. I'm only going to City N that's just a few hours ride from here. Now lemme get my luggage."

Not long later, the girl left for City N in her Bugatti Chiron. Before the car left the compound, she looked out of the window, waved back at Aunt Jenny and signaled the chauffeur to drive.

City N,

The girl asked her driver to drop her near the college building and she stood there until he drove away. The next, she went to a corner clothes store and took off her clothes in the changing room unveiling another set of clothes she was wearing inside. Though the ones she was wearing now were also of good quality but were nothing compared to what she had worn the time she left the villa.

"Okay... Now I'm all set to go back to college. My new and also the last year in college.... here I come." The girl excitedly said and left after stuffing her garment in her backpack.

"I'm back!" The door to the dorm room was threw open as a cheerful voice rung through the corridor. The girl was so loud that the next few rooms' girls checked her arrival as well.

"Oh, it's Birdy!" One of her roommate, Vriddhi, said.

"Shunya, you're here. We've waited for long. How was your vacation?" Another roommate, Mridu asked.

"Leave vacations, just grab a chair and let's play "Ferocious Triumph". We haven't played that in ages." The second youngest in their room, Khyati excitedly brought her in, holding her left hand and pushed her to sit in the chair facing a rectangular big table with four laptops placed on it.

"Wait a minute. Lemme get my laptop out of my bag too." Shunya got up again to go to the dorm door and got her bags inside. She reached out to close the door but a few girls were already standing there, blocking it.

"Oh the same old drama. How many years has it been? Aren't they tired of blocking you the moment you get here? Bullies, bullies everywhere." The fifth sister of theirs, Dhara lazily spoke getting out of the bathroom.

"Shunya, just like your name suggests, you're 'zero'. No family background, no class or character, just why aren't you leaving Kshitij? He's too good for you. He's the only heir to the Elegance Essence, the number one brand of fragrances and perfumes in the world, while you're a nobody. Humph! You should better leave him while I, Shambhavi the heiress to Pure Fashion, the fashion brand of riches, am still being nice, got it?"

An overbearing bimbo looking girl showed her authority. Shambhavi was wearing a baby pink short dress with matching accessories from head to toe, even her handbag and shoes had the same color. Shunya didn't react as if she was a fly or mosquito in the air and just lifted her hand with ever calm expression on her face and shut the door close without paying any attention to the knocks and kicks that the people outside had landed on their dorm door.

"Why aren't you leaving Kshitij? He's too good for you." As soon as the door closed, Mridu made faces and copied Shambhavi's tone of voice.

"Humph! You should better leave him while I, Shambhavi, the heiress to Pure Fashion, am still being nice, got it?" Khyati continued in a childish voice making fun of the scene that just happened before their eyes.

"Just imagine Shambhavi's face when she gets to know that this person she just called "nobody", is the only heiress to the RB Group, the top company in Arms and Artillery, IT industry, Telecom industry, Fashion, and one of the best in Entertainment and Mass media with a tones of subsidiaries working in Research and Development and other industries, how amazing expression she would be giving." Dhara made faces and showed different expressions jokingly.

Everyone in the room laughed like that was the joke of the century they had heard. However, Shunya spaced out while still standing by the shut door.