Sophia's Freedom

Chapter 24 : End of a Dream

After what I just heard from Miss Sengupta, I was really not sure how I should be reacting. Everything I heard just now was scaring the s**t out of me. I was really not sure whom should I be trusting. Master Daa whom I trusted the most, has also hidden these facts from me. 

Something in me believed that maybe Monika knew about all these too and perhaps it was a plan by these 2 girls so that I end up reading the journals. I guess telling my mom or dad about all these events might help. However, I decided to take a couple of days to complete reading the journals and then talk to mom about all of these.

The journal was almost coming to an end and I still had no clue who Sophia is. Even though Aarohi's name was Sophia but I really doubt that this is the same girl. According to the journals, Aarohi was fearless, but the Sophia that I met the other day was a shy and timid girl.

I continued reading the journal.

                                                       4th March 1993

Today is the day, we have been waiting eagerly for almost one year. Our dream to prove, that we are ready for the Youth Olympics, has arrived. It is also an opportunity to prove that the 10 players from the West Bengal team are enough to represent country's basketball might in Florida. We played our first match with the team of Jharkhand; it was the same team with whom we had a draw during the warmup matches. We were taken by bus to Birsa Munda Stadium in Ranchi where the match was scheduled to take place. Yadav sir came and told us to give our best since the last match was a draw. He asked us to use a Box-and-One strategy. In this defence, four players play zone (in a box shape) and one player plays man-to-man usually on the offensive team's best player, and since we knew who the best player from the Jharkhand's team was, it was not difficult for us to anticipate their moves. Coach sir's plan worked well and we won the match against Jharkhand without losing a sweat.

*** Box-and-One strategy is a good one, never knew Yadav sir would let the young kids try this strategy. It's a good thing that he has taught them one of the most difficult strategies and this is usually utilized by the NBA players. I continued with the journal and found that the next match was supposed to be against the team of Meghalaya. Abhinu writes that they had to go all the way to Shillong, and they played the match in Don Bosco Stadium Shillong. They were told that this would be the first time they will be playing in a fiberglass pitch. Uncle and Aunty came to see them, a few days before they depart for Shillong. They brought for them some warm clothes. Uncle told them that during the month of March, Shillong is cold and windy, and they would need to stay warm ***

                                                                    15th March 1993

I have read in books that Shillong is known as the Scotland of the East. As we entered the beautiful city, I understood why it is called so. I have never seen any other place as beautiful as this. I have been to a few places, like Ladakh and Dehradun but this place was different. We were taken directly to the Don Bosco stadium. The match was to take place around 3:30 p.m. We were told that this stadium is among the 4 stadiums in India with fiberglass basketball pitch. 

Before the start of the match, a man came and wished us good luck. He was wearing a long white robe with a black blazer and clean shaved. Sandy, our local SAI representative introduced us with the guest and informed that he is the assistant headmaster of St. Anthony's School Shillong. Children like to address him as Father John out of respect. He is very brilliant and really very good with children. As a matter of fact, Sandy was lucky to receive education under his guidance. Before the start of the match we were told that Taposh Dada will be our captain for the day. Taposh Dada assembled the team and reminded us the cautionary words of our earlier coach.

He warned us that these guys from the hills are very tough and playing against them is difficult because their strong point is their stamina and speed. We will be able to cope up with their speed but it will be difficult to match their stamina. Therefore we should concentrate on short passes and try to score from the Charity Stripe. He directed Aarohi and me to be near the charity stripe and try to score as much as possible. We followed what Taposh Dada said and ended up drawing the match. Both the teams were awarded 2 points each.

*** It was good that Taposh remembered their coach's teaching, devised a strategy and played according to it, else it would have been goodbye for the West Bengal team. Abhinu wrote that they didn't have any matches for the next 2 weeks and most of their time spend on practice. ***

                                                          18th March 1993.

Today something happened which made me very sad. Aarohi got hurt. She wanted to try on roller skates and ended up banging her head against a pillar. She was bleeding profusely and had to be taken to our Medical Examiner Dr. Prakash. Later we came to know that she has been administered 6 stitches. I called up uncle and within 30 minutes he was there. He looked worried and wanted to take Aarohi home but she didn't want to go. She kept insisting that state team needs her, and she cannot let her team down. Aunty reached an hour later and she had a surprise with her. It was none other than Monika and her elder brother Joe, whom we met in Purulia last year. Brother Joe shook our hands and wished us luck for all forthcoming matches and went to meet our coach sir. We came to know that brother Joe is a very good basketball player and represents the under 15 national basketball team. He is really a nice man, much better than what Monika keeps describing about him. We hugged one another as we met after such a long gap and spent the whole day together. Later in the afternoon, the 6 of us had lunch together and they left for home. Aarohi and I stayed back in the Training Centre. 

*** Oh my God!!! I am such a stupid boy... I don't believe it... this is the second time I met the kids and totally failed to recognize the two of them. I felt like the universe is conspiring against me or it's my foolishness.

One thing I must admire about Aarohi, her team spirit at this young age is extraordinary. Her indomitable character to do something for the state is commendable. It is hard to find such attitude in a kid.***

I continued reading, Aarohi’s stitches were removed in another 5 days. One of the senior player found one day that Aarohi was taking some sort of medicines named Estradiol.

Dr. Prakash, when informed, enquired with her why she is taking those medicine and she replied that aunty took her to a doctor who advised her to take those medicine, and showed him the prescription for it. He looked at the prescription and instructed her to stop taking them until he discuss her medical condition with her guardian. A child of her age should not use those medicines because it is used for a different purpose.

I continued with the journal and I found that the next match was against the state of Tripura. Some entries are missing after the 9th of April 1993. Where are the entries, now? This is the second time in 2 days that a large part of the entries has gone missing from the Journal.

It was 6:30 in the morning now, the sun was up. I scanned the room and found Mrs. Banerjee and Miss Sengupta were discussing something quietly. Sophia had gone off the sleep again.

I decided to wait until Sophia wakes up. For some reason, my mind kept telling me to keep a close eye on Sophia today and more than that, my 6th sense kept telling me to stay safe, coz something big is going to happen soon and there is a high possibility that Monika and I are going to be trapped in a huge conspiracy. I went out, sat on the bench again and continued with the journal ignoring the missing entries. 

The next entry is 3 months later. That's quite a long duration. What happened during these 3 months?

                                                           14th July 1993

It has been 3 months now since I am writing this journal. I don't know how to start this, but I have started to feel like I am a cursed child. The people whom I had loved dearly have abandoned or left me alone. On the 9th of April, we had our match against the state of Tripura. This was the first match we played on the home ground.

Before the match started, a man approached me and Aarohi, and introduce himself as Vikash Subedhi. He told us that he had seen the match against the team from Meghalaya and he felt like the Indian National Sub-junior team could benefit a lot from the inclusion of agile and quick-thinking players like us.

We couldn't believe what we just heard. We introduced him to Uncle and Aunty who had come to watch us play. As the match started, we decided to introduce the move Sagar sir taught us.

We raised our hands and ran towards the center of the field. At the center line, we stood on our knees and touched the ground with our forehead to pay respect to Sagar Sir and Mother earth.

The match started and we played a good match. We had our advantage against the team since we knew their strengths and weakness very well. We ended up winning the match and Justin was declared the best player for the day. As we were returning to our training center our Bus met with an accident.

I don't remember much what happened after the accident, but I vaguely remember Aarohi pulling me out of the van, giving me some water to drink, and then both of us trying to pull out all of our friends from the van. I remember Sunaina and Taposh dada thanking us before they lost consciousness. At that time both of them were bleeding profusely. Aarav, Justin, Joy, Sam, and Tony's body appeared lifeless but at that moment all we could think was they are our friends. Dad used to say, never leave your man behind when you are on a battlefield and at that point, the situation resembles a battlefield.

Finally, as we went to pull out Anju from the wreck, there was a blast and Aarohi and I were thrown away from the van. I tried to push myself to reach Aarohi and help her even though I was hurt.  As I reached her and saw blood in her chest, I fainted. Aamaya didi told me that I regained consciousness after 92 days. She also told me that all my friends whom we tried to rescue were no more. Taposh Dada died on the way to the hospital and Sunaina struggled for 2 days before she gave up. Aamaya didi started crying and told me that Aarohi came out of a coma after 3 days, however, due to an injury to her head and a splinter piercing her heart during the accident, her heart gave up. Doctors tried to use a pacemaker to keep her alive. When she regained consciousness her body couldn't take the load of the pacemaker and finally gave up. The doctors said that since Aarohi was too young, the pacemaker didn't work on her.

The only person, my Athos, is no more, I didn't believe it. I hugged Aamaya didi tightly and cried, the doctors came and gave me some medicines and I drowsed off to sleep.

Even though I was sad, a part of me was happy that Aarohi was gone. At least now she doesn't have to suffer what she has been suffering for the past 3 years. If anyone would read this diary, they might think I am a mean boy but after knowing Aarohi's secret, and the way the family treated her, everyone would wish she was dead instead of enduring what they did to her. Aarohi, please forgive me for hoping that you are dead, but I cannot bear to see you suffer every-day.

After I regained my senses, I saw Aamaya didi was still standing next to me. I requested her if she can take me to where Aarohi was cremated. I came to know from Aamaya didi that Aarohi was buried and not cremated. She told me that a child younger than 10-years-old is buried according to the Hindu tradition. We got the permission of the doctor and Aunty took me to St John's Churchyard where Aarohi was buried. They gave her the most beautiful farewell ever. Uncle had erected a tombstone at the place where she was buried.

In the tombstone, it was written "IF YOU'RE BRAVE ENOUGH TO SAY GOODBYE, LIFE WILL REWARD YOU WITH A NEW HELLO" AAROHI. S. BANERJEE, 3rd DECEMBER 1986 - 11TH JULY 1993. WONDERFUL DAUGHTER AND BEAUTIFUL FRIEND."

I was happy that they had erected a tombstone to honor the bravest person I ever knew, but deep down I was also angry that even after her death they dishonored her memory. I planted a rose plant next to her Grave and left the crematorium.

***This was really a sad day. Bengal team lost some of the future players for the team. To tell the truth, I really don't know how Abhinu might be feeling, first, he lost his dad, and now one of his best friends... Life is really getting tough for that poor child. I hope he stays strong. The only thing I don't understand is this secret. Why is it so important that it is hurting a 7-year-old so deeply? I wish I could meet this Abhinu and uncover the truth and lighten his burden. ***

For some reason, it felt strange that this sequence of events with Abhinu was a part of a bigger conspiracy. I was still not able to get over the fact that Aarohi is also dead. My doubts were finally cleared. Aarohi and Sophia are not the same person. Then who the hell is Sophia now.

Gosh, I am going to go mad trying while to figure out who is Sophia.

                                                            TO BE CONTINUED…

                                                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~