Nisha - The Finale Episode

Click here to read Part I, Part II, Part III

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Still Priya was holding her hands and tightened her grip, after realizing Divya was frightened.

"Relax yaar. It's just a bell. You are shivering badly." Priya was concerned.

"Just a bell? Are you out of your mind?" shouted Divya.

"May be or maybe not, I am upset at this."

"Priya, this is more than just a bell. Could you…"

"Enough, I got it." Priya intervened. "This is about darkness. You are afraid of darkness. Nothing else! I know already that you were left alone after a terrible earthquake, which swallowed your family over the night. You must get away with it now, at least for their sake!"

Tears rolled down the cheeks of Divya. 

Priya continued, "Do you think your parents will feel happy watching you like this?"

"No, but..."

"Divya, you can never stay in panicky state for the rest of your life. Persevere, and the fear will dissolve. Otherwise it will engulf your capabilities. You know that. Don't you?"

"Yeah, kind of..."

"Kind of? Seriously Divya? Look at yourself. How vulnerable you are?"

"Alright it's all fine. I got you. Could you please listen to me once?

 "I am all ears."

"Yes, I am afraid of darkness but now there is something else. The ringing noise from the door bell is bothering me.

"Yes rang. So what?"

"Idiot! There is no power."

"So that's your problem. By the way Divya, you really think there is no power?"

"What do you mean?" Priya's statement raised her eyebrows.

Priya stood up to leave after loosening Divya’s grip and slowly disappeared into the darkness. 

A soft voice resounded around the hall,

Darkness is your ally

Stop indulging it with folly

Embrace it tight

For its offering might!

“Could you just open the door, drama queen?” Divya screamed.

The power came back. It engulfed the darkness in a glimpse of an eye. Her face lit up in happiness watching the sudden turn-around in the living area. Before she could react, she heard the bell ring again.

DING DONG!

“What the hell are you doing there Priya?”

DING DONG!

“Oh my..! Alright, I am done” She lost it and hurried up to open the door.

Opening the door, she was taken aback to see a person standing outside the door. And this time it was intense. Her eyes were wide open. Her heart was pumping hard and fast; hard enough to explode in a minute as she could sense the pain. One of her hands was holding the door firmly and the other went trembling to the torso and started caressing it, in a way to raise her spirits.

“PRIYA…!?” She gave her a baffling look.

“What’s it? Why you took so long to open the door?” Priya slammed her. “Could you just let me in at least NOW?”

Divya let her in and remained silent. She was lost in her thoughts. Exhausted, Priya fell on the mattress, which held her like a soft cloud.

But in the meantime, Divya appeared fully perturbed.

Was I really talking with someone?

Was there a power-cut?

Or were all these things were my hallucination?

Oh God! What am I into?

She was busy pondering over these scaring and unanswerable questions.

“Aren’t you online?” Priya tried to interrupt but went in vain as there was no reply from Divya.

 “I pinged you in whatsapp. Didn’t you receive?”

“You what?” Divya caught her this time. “Whatsapp!” 

“Just check your phone.”

Divya dashed to her phone, which showed a popped up notification against the name Priya.

“What the hell! There was nothing before.” She was furious.

“What nothing before?” Priya probed.

“Just shut up and sleep!” Divya yelled back.

Divya sat across the corner of the living area, trying to focus on what she had just experienced. Suddenly a shuffling-noise of papers caught her eye. The Diary!

She grabbed the diary and checked the script once again which was exactly the same as she narrated, except for the ending …they cuddled over the bed showing their passionate love.  But Priya had supplemented a word in the last sentence, which was not there earlier.

 ..…all of a sudden, Nisha screamed!!

“So it was just to scare me off?” Divya paused for a moment. “But I am not actually scared.”

“Whoever you are, I’d say I don’t give a damn.” She sighed valiantly like never before and went to bed, switching off all the lamps for the first time.

Eventually, Divya realized that darkness is the absence of light and absences do not exist.

As she lay down next to Priya, the pages of the diary again shuffled up for a while before halting at the page, where the story continued …..

The final lines then showed,

Pencil sketch done by Artist Chinnas

…all of a sudden, Nisha smiled. J

---The End---