BEYOND US

Beginning

Rina could hear them clearly even though they had no idea, she could hear the pity in their voices but Cindy and Conny's pity for her had always been more easier to swallow than most she'd known.

But maybe that was because there was always an undercurrent of concern in it.

Her dad's pity had always been chafing to her because like all the others, there was wariness and caution in them and all the others were mostly mockery for which she treated with indifference.

Only one person had ever been the light to her, her mom, she, that Rina couldn't remember her face as clearly as she wanted to but her voice was as clear as a recorder in her head.

She was sure her mom would never ever treat her with pity, would never run away from her even if she had lost her mind and could only face the darkness.

But she would never know because her insanity had started after her mom's death. She once again turned to her side and repeated the familiar drumming on her bed while looking at the window, to the sunlight, her lips curved up again.

The dinning room in the evening

"Would you like the shrimp instead" her dad asked at dinner in the evening, when he noticed the stare that had been in his plate all the while, and as he expected there was no response.

"I realize the soup is not very tasty but you should eat nonetheless, but if you want another thing to eat I could let you have it behind the doc's back, ehh" he said it in a conspiratorial tone but it fell on hard ground, withered and died.

Her stare still remained the same and he dropped all efforts at conversation just like he did every other time and just concentrated on his own meal.

In a little while, he used the napkins around his neck to clean his mouth and then cleared his throat.

"So we, I and doc, talked about the effectiveness of your drugs and he decided you shouldn't stop the drugs but we could try something else..." he paused to make sure she was following

But she was still the same, looking at a spot on the dining table that didn't seem to hold any special effects in sight "...So I booked you a flight to Paris...." He didn't notice the sudden sharpening of her indifferent stare

"...Its next week on the 18th, two days after the new product launch. You could go shopping or sight seeing, anything you want to do. How does that sound" she still didn't say anything, she knew they had to be a catch. This was pallying before the hard fall

"And then when the new semester starts, you could go to school" her gaze immediately shifted to his face, her eyes resenting what he just said.

He smiled "Knew that would bring some kind of response from you, I applied for you to start school at Seinfeld university there, paid a lot of money for it too, soon you'd be with your own kind of people..." he paused noticing the gravity of his words before coughing lightly "....youngsters your age..." he specified "...Doc says this might also help bring you out of your shell, then you can go to the best....."

But he didn't finish because she already stood up and left. He didn't stop her, instead he took a sip of his drink his face looking defeated but stubborn

Rina went back to her room directly and lay on the bed, her gaze on the middle of the ceiling so she could see the four point stars from the corners and periphery of her eyes

She couldn't leave her mom, she thought for the umpteenth time. Her father got it wrong

He thought that her mom's death was the primary reason for her frequent craziness and now the way to solve it was to push her far away from this place her mom was buried.

That was a big, humongous mistake