Sophia's Freedom

Chapter 83: Farewell

As mom was getting ready, I was waiting outside perusing the people around and observing their activities. About 5 minutes later, I caught dad and Sanjay dada driving off from the camp in our Silver Esteem. After about 20 minutes, an SUV with a shiny metallic white coating entered the camp. The fancy luxurious vehicle gave the impression that whoever has entered the camp is filthy rich.

Upon a closer look, I could see dad in the driving seat with no one else inside the cabin with him. He came and parked the car next to me. As I was admiring the magnificent vehicle with the letter MD5 embossed on it, Dad got down from the car and said “This car belongs to Vikash. We will be relocating you and Aamaya to a safer place till we are able to get justice for Abhinu and the family.”

“Where will we be going, dad…?”

“Well, sweetie… I don’t know yet… We are going to meet your Master Kaku first, who is gonna reveal all the details about this part of the plan…” replied dad.

As I was distracted by the sight of the car, Dad instructed one of the orderlies to fetch 2 chairs for us.

We sat on the chairs and after a few minutes of peaceful silence dad posed me a question hesitantly, “Honey can I ask you something…”

“Sure dad…Go ahead…”

“So, you knew Abhinu for… what I figure about almost 9 years now… Isn’t that right…?”

“Yes, dad…I guess it has been almost 9 years…”

“Do you love him?”

“I beg your pardon… you mean to love him as in… Love him-love him, or like friends…”

“No... not like friends… romantically… do you love him…?”

Dad’s unwavering questioning gaze embarrassed me, and I failed to garner up the courage to respond to him. However, dad continued in a reassuring tone. “Come on sweetheart it’s just a question… besides you know I proposed your mom when we were in the third standard…”

His words put me at ease, and I opened up about my feelings for Abhinu, “Actually dad…You are right… I do love him… I fail to find the right words to express how much I love him.”

“I KNEW IT…” replied dad with a gloating smile excitedly.

As dad was about to add something to the riveting conversation, we heard Mom calling me from inside the tent. Dad nodded a go-ahead gesture. As I was approaching the tent, Aamaya di and Major Annie entered our tent. Amaya di seemed to be in a much better condition than an hour before. 

On entering the tent, Mom and Major Annie requested me to help them getting Aamaya di ready.

Mom handed her a sleeveless white lace dress which she donned gracefully.

Her pale skin made the somber color of the dress look very appealing. She raised her softly curved arms, and her white and red bracelet sparkled off the sun’s rays.

Every girl has that dress in her closet that always makes her feel perfect. Once you slip it on, however, you may be feeling, it has the strength to perk up your mood and make you feel like a princess. I was amazed by this complete transformation of Amaya di. To match the dress, Mom gave her a pair of white heeled pumps which she put on with a pair of white stockings.

I heard my mom telling her, “You are looking stunningly beautiful in this dress, Amaya. I remember the day I found this dress and how captivated I was by its simple yet elegant quality. Upon the very first glance, my heart was set out to acquire this dress for my Monika so that the day she is old enough to wear it, I would give it to her. I could not help but imagine her looking like an angel in this attire. But I am glad to see you in this dress. I just realized that it perfectly matches your undying spirit and determination.”

Aamaya di stood up and hugged mom and replied “Thank you Aunty… I don’t know how to thank you for being so nice to me after the things I have done… After what happened to my brother… My parents were never nice to me…”

***Seeing her trying to bond with my mother, irked me. I desperately wanted to give her a piece of my mind. I wanted to confront and tell her that it was your fault your brother was killed, and your parents never liked you. I have no sympathy for a person like her who took pleasure in being a 2 faces s******c whacko, who loved hurting her younger brother and somehow justified her behaviour on the painful experience of the boy she loved having suffered a fate similar to Abhinu and at other times she felt bad for Abhinu and protected him from Darika and Garima.

A part of me believed that she was afraid of uncle and hence she tortured Abhinu for her own safety, but then she was also the sister of Amell Dada, and he was the only person Amell dada was afraid of, so even if she resisted uncle couldn't have done a thing, she also had ample opportunity to leave the family and be happy with her birth parents, but she decided to stay back. These are very confusing, did she really cared for Abhinu or she was s******c. I wanted to ask her the truth about what she felt, however, a part of me forbade me from taking such a drastic step. ***

Aamaya di stood up and started walking trying to break in the new pair of shoes. Normally when we girls put on a new pair of heels or pumps, there are high chances of scratching the back of our ankles. I think she was walking to and fro, trying to be comfortable in the shoes.

Mom retreated to the other room, pulled on the drapes and started getting ready. As I and Major Annie relaxed on the bed, Aamaya di continued her to and fro charade which was beginning to annoy me.

About half an hour later, we heard dad calling out from outside the tent, “Aki… Are you ladies done… It’s getting late. We need to leave.”

“GIVE US FIVE MINUTES WE ARE COMING OUT.” Mom shouted from inside the room.

About a minute later mom came out. She caught hold of Aamaya di from the back and pushed her playfully ”Let’s get going dear… we need to leave… Quick…”

While we were exiting the tent Aamaya di asked “Where are we going aunty?”

“Don’t worry dear… we are going somewhere safer. The army guys have work to do… we cannot be staying with them forever…”

I held on to major Annie’s hands while we were leaving. As we came out, Dad opened the door to the rear seats, making way for us to sit. As we made ourselves comfortable in our seats, mom rode shotgun with dad in the driver’s seat.

Before he got onto the MD5, I saw him discuss something with the other officers.

Sagar sir stepped towards dad and said “Sir… you guys leave ahead… we will meet you all in the designated place as planned and don’t worry about anything, I will be tracking you on one of our pilot cars and keep a watch over you throughout the journey…”

“Thank's Captain my family owes you one…” replied dad.

“You are embarrassing me sir… they don’t owe me anything… actually would you believe if I tell you that the sweet smile of Aarohi had brought my humanity back…”

“How is that captain?”

“During my first 4 years in the army I was only deployed in the active militant zone and became a loner, with my own family being annihilated by terrorists I bore a lot of hate in my heart. However, when Lt. Col. Banerjee brought me in to train these 4 special children, the entire experience changed my life. Teaching these children in turn exposed me to the wonderful lesson of how loving others, caring for people without expecting anything in return enriched our lives. My life took a drastic U-turn and all the hatred and despair engulfing and obscuring my life vanished and I took on life with a new sense of purpose and zeal. The expectation might have been from me to train these kids but they in turn coached me on the beauty and significance of life. This experience and the impact of their constant company changed my life. I owe them my life.”

Dad placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and replied, “I hope we get to see the day when Aarohi and Allen will smile at us from heaven and say thank you for finally letting their soul rest in peace.”

What dad just said was true. Everyone starting from Nishi Jethu to Tribeni Dadu wanted Aamaya di’s dad to pay for what he had done. We all know that a man, who can commit the murder of a high-ranking army officer in the guise of a Naxalite attack, is capable of doing much worse.

Interrupting my train of thought, dad took his seat in the car. Sagar sir came and tugged at my soft cheeks and said “Go with God… and don’t worry about anything… I will be right behind you on that jeep.” pointing towards a gipsy with a machine g*n mounted on top of it. We bade farewell to each other and left the camp.

As the vehicle started moving Mom said "You must be wondering where we are going right now… However, for your safety, it’s better that you don’t know anything… Right now, all you need to know is, we are going to meet Tribeni Mazumdar...”

Before I could say something Aamaya di replied "That’s fine Aunty... It’s alright… I trust you..."

                                                TO BE CONTINUED...

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