Chapter 4

(My past, my fear 2)

"Ervin!" a faint voice called out "Ervin! Ervin! I'm back Ervin! Did you miss me? Wake up Ervin!" I slowly opened my eyes. I was in some kind of very beautiful place covered with beautiful flowers and trees everywhere. "Olivia!" I looked at the girl who was calling me out, she was wearing mask and glasses, her face couldn't be recognized but I knew it was Olivia. Maybe it was her vibes or something.  "Where were you? I was looking for you all this time" I said. "I just had to go somewhere but don't worry, I'm back now" she said as she slowly help me to sit. "I have a lot to share with you Olivia what happened after you were gone" I said excitedly like a little child waiting to share his things with his best friend. "Well you look very excited, what is it" She said, excited to know. "Remember Susie's sister, your best friend, Ava" "Ya, the girl I introduced to you?" "I'm getting engaged with her next Friday." "What!" she screamed "this is no…hap…in…" the voice started to crack and a soft music started coming in my ears. As the sound came slowly Olivia stood and started walking away "Wait!" I screamed, "Olivia! Where are you going, I cannot afford to let you go away." In response, she just stopped shrugged and said, "You could have saved me if you heard me that day…." And then, she just walked away and disappeared in midst.

"Oli…" I saw myself waking up in the train. "Did you see a bad dream?" Brenda asked me with a smile. "Uh…no…well kind of…" I replied to her and took my phone out. "That thing doesn't work here." Brenda said. I checked switching my phone on and it didn't start. "Yeah, you're right" I kept it aside. "Are you getting bore?" "Uh, kind of. How much do you know about this train?" I asked her. She seemed to know quite about this train. "Quite good. I did good research on this train. We right now are traveling through different worlds, nothing like those electronics from our world works here. The train tests us, the patience we possess and…." the train jiggled which made her stop. "Finally, we are off" she said. "Off? To where?" I asked in curiosity. "The different worlds," she replied. "Now, all we are supposed to do is, wait for our land, here take this." She handed me a bracelet of tiny pearls of colours blue, black, yellow, pink, orange and red arranged randomly but beautifully. "Wear it and count the beads until I ask u to stop" saying this she wore he own bracelet very similar to mine. "Why?" I asked. "Now these worlds will play their part" she said with a grave expression. "The world hypnotizes and calls you, once you are gone, there's no coming back." Things were turning very serious; I saw her close her eyes and start counting the beads. I was not very much convinced to do it but I suddenly heard a sound, maybe a music, hypnotizing… it was beauty, it was melody, it was…. Ava. Yes, it was her, her voice, yes. It was taking my consciousness away; she was singing her favorite song but she was singing it more beautifully than ever. She sounded just next to window, my hands, as if weren't listing to me, head towards the window. I slowly grabbed the handle and tried opening it when I got a sudden slap on my wrist. "You certainly have a great death wish, do you not?" Brenda, with very furious expression said. The slap suddenly as if broke the hypnotism, the song faded, or I say, disappeared. "I don't think you have any chances to survive without me, isn't it?" I was kind of ashamed of how many times I made her volunteer herself to protect me. In reply I just sank my head. "I know it's hard, having your loved ones right in front of you but you being unable to say a word…. I... know…how it feels" her voice cracked, I looked at her, her eyes, teary. Teary enough to make me understand what kind of loss she faced. A shiny drop slipped by her cheeks like a precious gem, I don't know what got to me, I leaned towards her, slowly took my hands towards her face. She wiped her face before i could as she looked at me, speechless. I understood she doesn't want to look vulnerable. I didn't know how to respond. I sat back. We both looking at each other barely blinking, slowly, my eyes filled with tear. A sensation of loss came creeping over my heart but for the first time, it just wasn't Ava. The feeling was as if I lost something much more precious…. maybe, Olivia.

Olivia, my best friend, I knew her as my college friend and later my business partner and she was very skilled. In college, I met Ava, a beautiful, calm, composed, smart girl. She was really kind. We never got a chance to talk irrespective of the fact that we were in same batch. I always admired her, but from a distance. One day I found her notepad after the classes were off, I chased to return it to her but I never found her that day, neither in dorm nor in campus. It was quite common for her to go to parties for whole nights so I had an idea that next time we could meet was directly next day of college. I decided to keep the notepad with me. That night after everyone was asleep, I decided to look in the diary. Though I'm not a sneaky guy but just a sneak inside a diary won't cost much. I read the diary. It was diary of poetry, wonderful poetry. I spent half of the night reading it, it was beautiful. Next day, I didn't have to search her cause I happened to bump into her. I returned her the diary and told her how she left the campus without noticing it. She gave me her number so I could contact her if I had to transfer her any other information but for me, it was the greatest reward. In beginning even olivia shared a great bond with her but I started noticing that Olivia was not being very fond of Ava anymore and asked me to stay away from her, maybe her little insecurity. It had been few years and me and Ava were going very good together. We used to go to cafes restaurants together, but one day during our date, I got to know that Olivia had a terrible accident and she was admitted to the hospital. I left Ava there and ran for the hospital. Olivia lay on the bed in a really bad condition, her hands legs were injured and her face was badly hurt as if she bathe in blood. It was one of the worst sights I ever saw. Her parents died when she was young so I was taking care of the formalities and bills at the reception when I heard a nurse shouting that a patient ran away, a newly admitted female patient just ran away. I ran towards the Olivia's room; I knew she was injured enough to even barely stand up but I saw Ava in tears right in front of her room. I entered the room and saw that Olivia wasn't there. I ran and checked every room until I found that it was actually Olivia who ran away. I was at reception shouting at staff to get the cameras checked and how irresponsible the hospital was. That's when a nurse handed me over a letter which said-

"Ervin,

I had a great time with you, the beauty of our bond was majestic, it was best until Ava entered in our life. When you were going close to her that's when I realized that I like you. In that madness, I even tried to hurt her but instead landed myself in my trap. Ervin, I'm going, I can't face you. I don't know what I was trying to do but now, I'm going away. Hope you and Ava will lead a happy life, and don't worry about me.

I'll always love you

Yours, Olivia"