tales of Suchita

The truth hit Radha like a freight train. For a moment he reveled in the sweet pleasure of a deserving adversary. But slowly he realized the horror of what had transpired – the scale of it, the attention to detail, the singular focus on destruction. But he couldn’t put a finger on why – what had he done to Chandra that she would do this to him? And to involve his best friend…her brother…it was too fantastical for him to be able wrap his head around it.

“What? Why are you looking like that?”

Radha came back with a jolt. He looked at Mayur’s concerned face and a sense of pity and sorrow engulfed him. It was him..and her, there was no denying it. Everything fit so well that it had to be the truth. And yet he couldn’t deny the euphoria of having solved the mystery finally. But the sadness…his best friend…

“You know who it is, don’t you?”

Radha simply nodded. He didn’t need to tell Mayur who it was. He knew it too. This time, they both knew it.

“Are you absolutely sure?”

“What do you think?”

“I wish it weren’t true,” he whispered. “He’s my friend. He’s your friend too! Maybe he didn’t mean…”

“Mayur don’t be an idiot; you know better than this. There are no grey areas here. It is him…and Chandra.”

Mayur’s shoulder sagged. “His parents…this is their fault.”

“Maybe, we’ll never know.”

Mayur walked closer to where Radha was standing. He looked at Sagar’s bag forlornly. It hadn’t been more than five minutes since Radha had realized the truth but it felt like eternity. He knew things would change once they started to grow up but he had no idea they would change like this. “Why aren’t you more upset?”

Radha shrugged. He honestly didn’t know. Maybe because he was glad that the tantalizing messages, the feeling of utter failure and the constant vigilance he had started to keep on his surroundings could stop now. He could finally stop searching and perhaps Mayur did not understand but it had been a burden on him to know there were adults counting on him to crack the identity of the prankster.

When he realized Mayur was still looking for an answer, he said, “I’m just glad this is over.”

Mayur sat down on one of the chairs. He looked lost – like someone had violently tugged the rug right from under his feet. He was dazed and disbelieving. His life couldn’t change so completely in a matter of five minutes. Things like this just didn’t happen to ordinary people like him. He turned to look at Radha and his expression hardened. “This is your fault! Had you not gotten friendly with Priyanka none of this would have happened. You made him do this.”

“It wasn’t him. It was Chandra. She made me do this,” came a small voice from behind them and they whirled around in shock. There stood Sagar looking appropriately crestfallen.

“Bullshit,” said Radha immediately. He was feeling oddly detached from the situation like he believed Mr. Holmes felt when confronted with a smart adversary.

“What are you saying Radha? You know how persuasive Chandra can be.” Mayur couldn’t believe his friend’s callousness. He was acting as if Sagar had never been his friend!

“She may have started it but he planted the seed. He kept it going. He was the one who made the plans, fed wrong information to her, who told her that if she managed to keep me on my toes that she could win me over.”

“Radha,” said Sagar reproachfully, “real life is not a Sherlock Holmes novel.”

Mayur looked from one friend to the other. He could not understand the exchange. When his eyes went back to Sagar though, he was stunned to see the transformation. No longer was there the docile and unsure Sagar he was so used to seeing. He looked like a different person – hard, off, angry and so very vengeful. He could feel Sagar’s hatred coming off in waves. He could not believe that his friend, his best friend, could be capable of such loathing.

“Sagar…”

Sagar brushed him aside and walked up to Radha. When they were nose to nose, he said, “I know you are going to complain to Ameen miss. I know I will be expelled from school just like Chandra had been. She hadn’t even done anything! She was only trying to tell that girl that the tortoise was hers to take care of. But she didn’t listen. They knew she had anger issues but they did not back off. So what if she killed the beast and tried to feed it to the girl.”

Mayur squeaked in distress. He hadn’t known this was the reason for Chandra’s expulsion. Sagar turned to grin at him. Revulsion and fear seared through Mayur.

Sagar turned back to stare at Radha. “I liked you, you know. Chandra liked you too. But then you forgot about her when she left. You forgot me too, both of you. After a point, you stopped seeing me. You stopped seeing the bruises on my face. You started buying the lie that I fall sick often. You stopped caring.”

“Mayur is right. It is your fault Radha. You said we were your sidekicks. It was your job to protect us. But you forgot to do your job. And because of you, we have suffered.”

Sagar stepped back then bent down and picked up his bag. He swung it across his shoulder and said, “I was just waiting for you to figure out it was us all along. I hope you have suffered as much as us.”

With that he walked out of the classroom, out of the school, and out of Mayur and Radha’s life forever.

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This is the twenty-fourth post in the series. To know more about Radha, click here.