Chapter 1
It is the day of Nitin’s birth, that our story starts. Some complications led to the not-yet-born Nitin and his mother being in a very serious condition. The doctors had given up; his father had also thought that neither his wife nor his to-be child would survive. Trauma hit him so hard that he took his own life. But somehow, after continued attempts, the doctors were able to save the baby but the mother died in the process. So Nitin became an orphan on the very day when he should have held his father’s hand with his little fingers. But well, luck did not favour him.
Now arose the question as to who would take responsibility. After many discussions, a wealthy uncle of his stepped up to the job. He put Nitin in the care of a nanny and provided them with a decent home for him as well. He could not live with him, because he had to often make trips to other countries because of work. So he just provided the nanny with the money and left him under her care. She treated him like her own son. So all his childhood he was brought up by her.
It was in 7th standard that a new boy got admitted to his class. He was a bit skinny with a dark complexion. Lean, naturally, and he looked a bit pale and timid. The first time Nitin saw his face, he had this gut feeling that he had faced a big trauma. He always wasn’t very talkative and stayed quiet if possible. Nitin sensed a very mature person behind that silent and serious young 12-year-old. They always gave a nod, each time they would pass by each other or exchange ’good morning’s. His name was Vaibhav. Nitin had made his first friend.
Eventually, after some months passed by, both of them started talking to each other, spending time with each other. As it turns out, Nitin was right about Vaibhav having been through a trauma. He and his parents were out on a trip when they went through an accident, and he was the only one to survive. He had to watch his parents dead with blood all over their bodies and his as well. That was a true nightmare to him and would be for anyone. It took him months to recover from the shock. He teared up even when he was telling Nitin about it. Nitin calmed him down. A relative of his who lived in this town had adopted him but was out most of the time, so practically he was living alone, except just a servant who used to the household chores. Nitin told him about himself, how he was an orphan since his birth and that he was also living with a nanny.
Nitin was surprised at how similar everything was between them. They’d both gone through almost the same thing and were so lonely that they liked each other’s company very much. In a very short time, they had become such good friends.
People say that opposites attract, well that’s not the case sometimes, or rather I should say many times. For most of the part, it’s people with similar experiences, similar backgrounds, and similar what-nots are the ones that become close to each other because they can sympathize with each other, and truly understand what the other person’s going through. It’s because they have similarities that they help each other when they need it, which was also the case with Nitin and Vaibhav. Nitin knew how miserable it felt to not have an actual parent’s love so he could understand what Vaibhav was going through. He could relate. That is why he did everything he could to put Vaibhav out of his misery.
One day Nitin came up to Vaibhav with an idea, he asked him if he would like to move into Nitin’s place, permanently. He thought that since he was living alone anyways and since they were best friends, it would be great to live together. They could get to know each other more and they could have fun as well. Vaibhav too liked the idea of living together. They both agreed on asking their guardians for permission, and they got it too. No one saw a problem with it.
So the very next day, Vaibhav with all his stuff moved in with Nitin. They remained in the same class in school, then also entered the same college. In all these years they had come so close to each other it would be an understatement to call them best friends. They were more like actual brothers now. Both received so much love from each other that eventually they stopped feeling the need for parents. Each one in a way had become the other’s parent.
While in the second year of college, one day a tour was organised by the teachers, to refresh the students and reward them for their excellent performance in the first year. They were all going hiking on a mountain nearby. Nitin and Vaibhav were going too. So everyone reached the spot where the hiking was to begin. Near the mountain was a beautiful waterfall so a group of students decided to go and check that out instead of hiking. The two of them also decided to go with that group.
As they had heard, the waterfall was indeed beautiful. The sparkling water was coming from way up the mountaintop. The place was just magnificent. They swam and played there for hours. It was just about the time when they were leaving when they heard a scream. They turned back quickly and saw a little boy drowning in the swift river flow. If no one hurried the boy would be swept away with the flow quickly. Nitin instantly ran and jumped into the river, a couple of other people jumped too. Vaibhav had stayed on the bank and was looking with concentrated eyes at the boy and Nitin. After a few minutes, the boy was saved and his parents who were in tears already took him home after thanking everyone who had helped in saving him. It was at that moment that Vaibhav realised something.
Nitin did not know how to swim!
Vaibhav started panicking and worriedly started searching for Nitin. He continuously kept running here and there around the bank screaming his name, scrutinizing the whole amount of water in front of him, hoping that a hand would shoot up or he would hear a cry for help, others had started looking for him too. But even after hours of searching, Nitin could not be found. They contacted the police and the police searched too but they found nothing as well. Vaibhav was so angry at Nitin, that even though he could not swim, why did he still jump into the river to save that boy, so many others were doing the same thing? He very well knew he was not going to make it out alive out of the commotion.
Why did he leave him alone?
It was the second time Vaibhav had lost everything in his life. Again he was all alone. His only ‘brother’ was gone too, just like his parents. Again he did not have a shoulder to put his head upon and cry. He cried for days on end and when he wasn’t crying he used to look at the sky with an empty expression on his face. He missed lectures for a week as well. His so-long friendship had come to such a sudden end that he was grieved beyond measure. He talked to nobody and kept to himself. Many people tried to console him but all attempts went in vain.
It was well after a week that he started attending his lectures again. He started talking to people as well. Nobody dared to bring up the subject of Nitin’s death. He tried to put up a front of his normal self but inside he was just as grieved and angry as the day of the unfortunate accident.
He completed college and got a job far away from the town where everything happened. He wanted to get as far away as possible so he could put everything behind him and start a new life, and sadly, a life without Nitin.
They had a habit of going on a stroll every Sunday evening. They would talk, go to a café or a street-side tea shop, and have fun. This was their effective way of ridding themselves of all the mishaps and problems and etcetera etcetera of the past week. Vaibhav continued this tradition. Every Sunday evening, he too would go out for a stroll, visit cafes and tea shops. But nothing in the world could he do to forget the accident, forget the life he lived with Nitin, but that just seemed impossible. A constant struggle between his heart and mind continued, where the mind would tell him to pretend that Nitin never existed but the heart told him to preserve the memories, whether good or bad, to remember him, to live with his smile in his head. In the end, it was always the heart that used to win.
It was one such evening when he was out on a walk that something happened. The sun had already set, and the street lamps had been lit. But it was still quite dark. He was walking on the footpath when suddenly someone walked past him. Since the winter season was starting to roll in, most people had already switched to hoodies and woollen clothes. Vaibhav too was wearing a hoodie, and also the person who just had gone past. 5 seconds passed and both of them had walked a good 10-15 meters but then suddenly Vaibhav’s heart skipped a beat. He stood rooted to the spot and a thought came to his mind.
That person is Nitin.
