DOMINANT BLUE

CHAPTER 7

My mom came out of the kitchen with a tray in her hands. She placed a glass of juice and a plate of cookies in front of Aira. Then she turned and saw me standing near the bathroom not yet noticeable to Aira.

"What are you doing there? Look who has come. Your friend Aira ". My mom loves all my best friends Sanvi, Suchita, and Anikesh and she is always very welcoming. I never had any issues with that until now. How can she allow someone like her to even enter the house? And my sister was showing her the drawings she made. WOW! they both became friends really fast.

I didn't want my mom to get suspicious so I tried to act natural. "Hello," I said with a bit of excitement. " So how are you here?" trying to hold the smile fixed on my face. "Aira told me you guys have some history project to do and she won't be free next weak so she came over." my mom spoke for her. Okay, I had to react fast and act like I am not shocked at all. " oh...Great then let's start now Aira. Why don't you come to my room, I have some ideas about the project to show you. ". I said hoping sincerely she would say yes. What other option does she have anyway?

She got up from her chair smiling with her blue eyes shining like this was what she was desperately waiting for. "Sure, let's go." She followed me to my room and as soon as we entered I closed the door shut. "SO why are u really here?" I said trying to keep the voice as low as possible but I couldn't help the irritation I was feeling. "What do u mean?".

"Oh come on you can drop the act now, we don't have any history project and we sure as hell don't have to do anything together Aira."

"I supposed You would be interested in knowing about the necklace "

I had totally forgotten about the necklace. I was just so freaked out that she showed up at my house suddenly after disappearing from school. "Right, so tell me about it. What new theory you have come up with thinking I am going to fall for it."

"It's no theory Radhika, it's the only reality you should be concerned about. Where have you kept the necklace? It is safe, right? "

I was not going to throw away something so precious looking but I was not going to give her the satisfaction that I held on to it cause she asked me to.

"I don't care about the stupid necklace. It must be in my bag."

"And where is your bag? I hope it's safe. It's the only thing that can...

"That can what? You need to stop creating any more riddles for me to solve and be very clear about why you are here and you want from me"

"First I need to make sure the key ... I mean that necklace is safe. Can you bring it?" Bringing the necklace to safety was the most frivolous thing she could have said but there was a kind of urgency in her voice that got me to follow what she said.

First, she disappears from school then from nowhere she appears in my living room and now in my bedroom and she wants me to follow her orders in place of answering my questions. Nevertheless, I nodded and went to fetch the necklace from my bag. I wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible. Get rid of that strange vibe that was surely emerging from the necklace earlier.

I had kept my bag at the table in the living room but it was not there anymore. I wasn't surprised because mom always shifts it to the table of one of the inner rooms and so that the living room doesn't look too messy. I found my bag in my sister's room. I unzipped the first zip but the box wasn't there. I tried second and third and same, no blue box with a weird symbol on it. I had a quick panic attack before I realized my mom must have found it before me and kept it somewhere to question me later when Aira was gone. My lunch box was also missing so she must have found the box of the pendant while she was searching for it.

I went to the kitchen calling out for mom but she didn't answer. I found her lying on the floor of the kitchen unconscious. All alarms in my body went off. I had a full-blown panic attack. I tried to shake her. I called out for papa but I realized he had gone out to buy groceries. She did not move. I was not able to think anything straight. I took some water in my hand from the tap and splashed it on her face. No response. "mom, mom...mom get up!.....mom? mom?"