Arshi

ASHI'S POV Where am I?  The throbbing pain in my head is too extreme. The strong smell of antiseptic liquid hit my nose. Seems like I am in a hospital. As I tried to sit,  ahhh... a pain shot up from my waist. The door opened, a nurse rushed inside the room. She spoke " Ma'am please lay down. A bullet grazed through your waist, it would take some time to heal." I registered her words  in my head. The memories started to unfold one by one. College....grocery shopping... Nisha !! Tears started pooling in my eyes.  TWO DAYS AGO "I did not find you people concentrating on what I taught today. Anyway your exams are approaching, and  Solow Model is an important topic this time. Study hard!." said our Economics professor,  Arunima Mehta Ma'am. "It was one torturous class! " exclaimed Nisha. She is the first friend I made after I joined the college. A cheerful, talkative girl she was! Nisha and me went to Spencers after that. It was 9pm when we came out of the store. Nisha asked me to wait for her on the pavement. Before I could say something, she was already gone. I was feeling a bit uneasy. She seemed a bit cold nowadays. Suddenly I heard a screeching sound.  Before I could understand what was happening, two bulky masked men pulled me towards them and started dragging me to a black van. I tried to scream and thrash my arms but they were very strong. Suddenly one of them put a handkerchief over my mouth. I tried not to inhale that.....but I desperately needed to breathe. Alas! the chloroform hit my nose, and started invading my senses. I felt dizzy, they laid me down on the seat and heard them shut the door. I became unconscious. I fluttered my eyes open. I heard some faint voices at a distant... "Are you nuts? How could you make such a mistake? do you know what would be the consequence if Sarkar gets to know about it?"  Another person spoke up " Sir we were given the deadline. We had to find her. May be we can know something useful from her!". By now I was fully awake. I have to leave this place at any cost. I made no noise. Its better if they think I am asleep.  I started observing the room I was kept in. A fragile wooden door with rusted hinges. A small window with dirty panes. The sound of water drop was echoing from one side of the room.   Its been sometime and I have not heard any other voice. Yes! This is the right time to make an escape. I felt a surge of adrenaline inside me. I stealthily moved towards the window and peeked outside. It was raining and thundering now and then. I was on the first floor. I can jump from here, it would not be dangerous. I slowly opened the window and thought of jumping along with the next thunder, to cover up the noise.  As soon as the lightning struck, I got ready to jump. I heard the sounds of heavy footsteps approaching near the room. As the clouds thundered I JUMPED... An immense pain shot up from feet. Before I could make a run, I heard a gunshot and within seconds a scream escaped from my mouth and I fell back on the wet grass.