It was nightfall by the time Monica reached the hotel. When she walked in the hotel, she half expected the people there to wonder where she had disappeared to. She seemed to have forgotten that this really wasn’t her home. The day’s events coupled with the injury had drained Monica of all her energy. Making her way into the room, she flopped onto the bed, face down, without even turning the light on and immediately slipped into deep sleep.

By the time Monica woke up again, she had lost track of where she was or what time it was. The room was pitch dark and it took Monica good few minutes to remember what happened. She grabbed onto the phone that was lying on the bed with her and quickly checked for time. She breathed a sigh of relief to learn that she was only asleep for five hours and not five days.

A sharp pain cut into the side of her abdomen once again, making her squeal. She should have known better than to sleep right on her injury. She quickly got up on her feet and began looking for the light switch. While it was pitch dark, Monica never had a problem seeing in the dark after her powers manifested.

With the lights on, she walked before the dressing room mirror where she slowly pulled off her Chudidar top. She observed the Chudidar to see that the knife had torn it a little, but someone had stitched it close. Monica smiled involuntarily before putting the top aside and beginning the inspection of her wound. It was covered by a bandage which Malini had instructed not to remove at least for a day, but Monica didn’t listen. She slowly peeled the tape off the bandage before removing the gauze that covered it. Underneath the gauze, the skin had turned red. A scar ran down from just beneath her liver. It was stitched neatly, and the wound was clean and dry. But the skin around the wound quickly began to burn. “Damn it!” she cursed loudly.

Monica had to wait for five minutes for the bell boy to arrive with a pack of ice. She was easily able to withstand the burning, it was something Monica had trained herself to do. She took the pack of ice from him and tried to tip the bell boy a small amount, but he rejected it saying he wasn’t allowed to take tips, before disappearing down the hallway. Monica was a little surprised for she knew tipping wasn’t common but never knew that companies had policies against it.

She quickly retreated to her bed where she was finally able to place the ice pack on the wound. The effect of it was immediate. The burning had subsided quite a bit and she was finally able to relax for the moment. She was still drowsy, felt as though she could fall asleep any moment. But her mind kept wandering, distracting her from sleep. She had been on calls since evening, everyone was trying to make sure she was okay. She expected at least a few to ask some questions but it appeared as though Malini had cleared all their doubts. She had made up her mind to visit the office tomorrow and informed them about it. They had tried to persuade her to take more bed rest, but she politely turned down the offer.

She couldn’t help but contrast her life with that of the others she had stayed with for past few days. Her life felt so easy and luxurious, compared to theirs. Anything she wanted, it felt like it was just an arm’s reach away. Everyone around her seemed so nice to her and seeing all the venom being spewed at the others for no good reason enraged her. But she knew there wasn’t really anything she could do about it. There was no way she could change people’s mind so easily; she simply lacked the capability to bring about change in such large state.

 Monica always had a bad habit of keeping herself distracted with such thoughts. But today the medicine kicked into high gear and sleep won the ultimate battle.

***

Gurunath’s little cabin was filled with little oddities. It was clear as daylight that this man was religious. He seemed to have everything, from mini-idols of various gods to sacred objects lining his shelves and table. Despite the busy nature of the room with all the pieces of interest and filling cabinets overflowing with folders, it was neat and well maintained.

Monica who had been waiting for him in his cabin, was constantly distracted by the items. She recognized many of the gods and sacred objects around his room. She was no stranger to the world of religion even though she was somewhat disconnected from it.

Gurunath pushed his way through the door and said, “sorry to keep you waiting”. He quickly hopped over to his seat. He was a short man with thick arms and legs which were accompanied by a pot belly. His skin was deep brown and patchy while his receding hairline and wrinkled skin showed his old age.

“It’s alright. I arrived only five minutes ago,” Monica replied.

“Great, would you like tea or coffee?”

“No please. I had some just a while ago,” she replied putting her right hand up. She proceeded to put the files she was holding onto the table and the two quickly began discussing details of her analysis. The conversation concluded very quickly as Monica didn’t see any problems with the records and was satisfied with the answers Gurunath gave to her questions.

“That was some pretty fast work,” Gurunath complimented. “My boys would have taken two days to get through those.”

“Thank you,” Monica replied with a smile, “I have a knack for numbers.”

“That is good. Pretty important skill for your future.”

She began packing her items when she asked, “what was the thing with rats? Got an infested delivery?”

“Indeed. We got cargo from one of the suppliers, it was teeming with rats. One of the boys accidentally dropped it just four feet above ground and it broke, unleashing those bloody rodents into the warehouse. Took two entire days to clean up.”

“What was in the cargo?”

“Tires. Suppliers had cheated the buyers by selling them old stock. I do not know how they thought they would get away with it. Well, it is a problem for the buyer and seller to deal with. Buyers are thankful we caught it beforehand. Usually, we do not open the cargo, just deliver them.”

“Well, they could have been more thankful by paying for the damages.”

“Don’t expect such generosity in this business,” Gurunath replied with a smile, “they asked us to sue the sellers. Company doesn’t want that headache at the moment.”

Monica finished packing and was about take her leave when she noticed Gurunath’s anxious face. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

“Well… Malini told us everything about the incident, so we didn’t bother you with questions. But we still don’t know what happened after you left the hospital. Did you pursue the attackers or find out who he was?” Gurunath asked.

Monica already had the conversation with Dinesh about the events that followed, but she felt she had to keep these people informed as well. “I did find out who was. It was a local shopkeeper. He had problem with the people of that community.”

“So, you just let him go?”

“Not really. I wanted to file a case against him but dropped it at the last second.”

“Why?”

“Thought it was too much of a hassle and also felt like I was lighting a fuse to a bomb.”

“You are right about that,” he said. He fell quiet for a moment as he gathered his words and continued, “listen. I, in no way am saying you don’t deserve justice. But it is a good thing you dropped the case. There is a lot of hate going around here and I do not wish to see a girl like you get tangled in their ugly business.”

Monica remained expressionless. She nodded her head and replied, “yeah. I understand that.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi all,

New chapter every other day!

If you like what you read and want to see more, do support me on Patreon! You can also access chapters early on Patreon.

https://www.patreon.com/StoryTopia07