Book Read Free

All You Need is a Little Faith

Page 3

by Vaanya Singh


  Their voices seemed to be echoing through the house.

  ‘I had a great time last night,’ Faith said.

  ‘Me, too; I hope we can do this again sometime?’ he asked.

  ‘Sure. I’ll text you. Bye.’

  ‘Bye. Oh, and I’m sorry once again for the dress .’

  ‘It’s okay. It was quite old anyway.’

  ‘Bye.’

  ‘Bye!’

  Sorry for the dress! What did these people do last night?

  As if mirroring my thoughts, Samrat spoke up. ‘What did they both do last night?’

  ‘No idea and I don’t even want to know,’ Alex shuddered as Faith entered the kitchen in a very jolly mood.

  ‘Food!’ she exclaimed before grabbing my plate since it was the only one with any food left on it.

  She took a mouthful and looked up when she realised that all of us were staring at her.

  ‘What?’ she asked. ‘What did you do last night?’ Ron asked. She merely smirked. ‘That’s for you to keep guessing. Oh, and Vaibhav, will you be a dear and dispose of this for me?’ she continued, handing me the disposable bag and walking off. ‘What the hell?’ was the first thing that came out of my mouth when I saw the contents of the bag.

  The black dress she wore last night was in shreds. ‘Now we know what she did last night,’ Samrat muttered before grabbing the bag from me and throwing it in the bin.

  A WEEK LATER ...

  It had been a week since Aditya and I had been living with Faith and Alex. We boys had become a close-knit group— Alex, Ron, Samrat and I. Faith, on the other hand, was quite moody. Each night she would organise dinner, fill a plate for herself and take it up to her room.

  Alex was really worried about her, so was I. I respected Alex’s protective nature and love towards Faith.

  When I asked her whether the reason for her mood swings was her periods, she punched me on my face so hard that it left a bruise.

  Today I was home alone. Faith had left home at 7 AM, Aditya was out with Julie and Alex had gone out to pick up some book. The day wasn’t sunny or pleasant. It was gloomy and the weather report said that there would be thunder and rain. It was already pouring outside and the lightning was fierce. I was certain that some trees were going to fall because of that. Surprisingly, the electricity supply had not been cut off. Making the most of it, I decided to watch TV.

  Halfway through a new episode of Friends, the front door opened and a drenched Faith dashed inside. Without saying a word, she ran up to her room. I had no intention of getting another bruise, so I stayed put. The thunder kept getting louder with each passing minute. About forty minutes later, a very worried Alex came running into the house. ‘Where’s Faith?’ he asked me. Anxiety was written all over his face.

  ‘Dude, what’s wrong? Why do you look so worried?’ ‘Just tell me where’s Faith?’

  ‘She came home about forty minutes ago. She’s in her room, I suppose.’

  ‘Alone?’ ‘Ya, man, alone. Why, what’s wrong?’

  Without answering me, Alex dashed up to the second floor to Faith’s room; it was locked from the inside.

  He started knocking on the door and spoke in a very gentle voice.

  ‘Faith, can you hear me? Please open the door.’ No sound or movement was heard in response.

  ‘Please open the door, Faith. Just open it; I can help you,’ he tried again, but in vain.

  Losing his patience, he banged his fists on the door and screamed.

  ‘Damn it, Faith. Open the bloody door!’

  ‘Alex, what’s wrong?’ I asked him with genuine concern.

  ‘Today is her mother’s death anniversary. She went to the cemetery to visit her but she didn’t know there was going to be thunder and lightning. She has astrophobia, the fear of thunder,’ he snapped.

  How could I forget this day! This explained Faith’s mood swings throughout the week. However, I had never known her to be scared of thunder. In fact, she loved it when it thundered. Or so I thought.

  ‘But she was never scared of thunder,’ I said, confused.

  ‘Well, she got scared after the incident.’

  ‘Incident?’

  ‘Look, Vaibhav, she hasn’t been the same since her mother’s death.’

  He was cut off by the ringing of his phone. He quickly answered the call.

  ‘Hey, mum. Ya, don’t worry. She’s fine. She’s sleeping,’ he smoothly lied.

  ‘I’ll call you back once she’s awake. Promise,’ he ended the call and turned to me.

  ‘Help me break this door.’

  That’s precisely what we did. We broke down the door and moving it aside, we entered the room.

  It was a sad sight to see Faith curled up in a corner of her room with her knees pressed against her body. Tears rolled down her cheeks and her eyes were bloodshot.

  ‘Faith, look at me,’ Alex said in a pleading voice crouching next to her. Not knowing what to do, I simply stood near the broken door.

  Faith turned her head in the opposite direction. ‘You’re not alone; you have mum, James and me.’ Alex pulled Faith onto his lap. She clutched his shirt and cried harder.

  When my eyes met hers, I could see that she was sad, alone and vulnerable. But the emotion that stood out the most was fear.

  ‘No, no, no ... get him out! Now!’ her voice rang throughout the house.

  CHAPTER 6

  I loved her not for the way

  she danced with my angels,

  but for the way the sound

  of her name could silence

  my demons.

  FAITH

  As the thunderstorm outside grew louder, images from the past flooded my mind. Scene after scene flashed before my eyes, each stabbing my heart over and over again.

  ‘Vaibhav! Please be careful,’ I screamed at the eleven-year-old who had climbed on to the tree in our garden. The ladder he’d used was not exactly in the best of conditions.

  ‘Just a second, Faith. I’ve almost reached the kite,’ he yelled back, inching towards the kite stuck on the branch.

  But before he could reach it, the branch snapped and he came down crashing.

  ‘Vaibhav!’

  He was moaning in pain. His hand was twisted at an angle I did not want to see.

  ‘Faith,’ he said.

  ‘Hold on, let me get mummy!’ I yelled before running towards the house.

  Five minutes later, mum had taken Vaibhav in her arms and we were running to the hospital.

  After two hours, I was allowed to go and see Vaibhav. He was lying in the hospital bed with his arm in a plaster. It instantly brought tears to my eyes.

  As if feeling my sadness, he opened his eyes. ‘Hey, don’t cry. I’m perfectly fine.’

  ‘It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t got the kite stuck in that tree, then none of...’

  ‘Don’t ever say that it’s your fault. Had you not been there, my hand could...’

  I didn’t let him finish; I simply threw my hands around him and embraced him.

  As a nine-year-old, my hair was in a braid which my mother had made for me before I left for school that morning.

  ‘Hey, pig!’ A boy in my grade screamed before pulling my hair.

  The force of it was so strong that my head jerked and hit the locker. Before he could do something else, I heard a voice speak in a very threatening manner. ‘Leave her alone.’

  ‘Okay, what?’

  Vaibhav punched the boy’s nose and it started bleeding heavily. ‘Okay, this,’ he answered before turning to me. His eyes softened and he held me in an embrace.

  My father just told me that my mother had passed away. She was driving back home after meeting some friends. It was late in the evening, and the weather was stormy, with thunder, rain and lightning, making it difficult to drive. She lost control of the car, crashed into a tree and the end was sudden. I was only twelve; how was I expected to carry on living without her?!

  This was the time I needed my best friend,
Vaibhav. I needed him to pull me out of this darkness and tell me that things would eventually be alright; that it was going to be okay; that he would be there for me.

  But when I needed him the most, he turned his back on me. I waited for him to come and console me but he never did. I saw my best friend turn into a totally different person—a bully and a person I did not like at all. A person who started making fun of people. A person who would stroll into class, late. A person who had turned into a monster.

  It seemed like my life was going to go down the drain. No mum, no Vaibhav, nothing to look forward to ... dad was dealing with his own grief and despite wanting to be there for me, he wasn’t able to pull himself together. So, he did what he thought was best. He sent me away to a hostel. I agreed to go because there was nothing in Delhi to hold me back.

  It was at the residential school in Shimla where I met Alex. He instantly and instinctively adopted me as his little sister. He had lost his father some years ago to a similar accident. Over the course of the next three years our respective single parents met at the parent-teacher meetings at school, we encouraged them to fall in love, and eventually, we became a family.

  It was Beth’s idea to bring both Alex and me back to Delhi. Once we moved back, she and dad tied the knot and as a fresh start, we moved into a farmhouse at Sainik Farms.

  The sun was shining bright after the rain and thunderstorm of the previous day. I woke up in my bed in last night’s clothes. Alex must have put me to bed. Stifling a yawn, I got into a pair of cycling shorts, a sports bra and my running shoes; I decided to go for a jog.

  As I was running, the previous night’s memories came back to my mind. The broken door, crying on Alex’s lap and, worst of all, those sad eyes. After throwing Vaibhav out of my room, I felt guilty. The extent of confusion and sadness held in those eyes made me want to sit and comfort him.

  No! My inner self snapped. I didn’t need to feel guilty. The tears I had wasted over him, the nights I had cried myself to sleep ... no, he didn’t deserve my empathy.

  Just as I was thinking of the devil, the devil appeared! Vaibhav fell into step with me and started running alongside. We ran together in silence for some time before he decided to open his big mouth.

  ‘So ... about last night. You want to talk about it?’ he asked.

  ‘No. Just forget that the night even existed,’ I snapped before running back to the house.

  When I entered the house, Alex was sitting on the sofa. ‘Hey, Alex, what’s up?’ I asked, taking a big sip from the water bottle I was holding.

  He stopped texting and looked up from his phone.

  ‘There’s a party tonight. The basketball team and a few other people will be there. Do you want to come along?’

  ‘Sure, why not,’ I answered, shrugging.

  Applying my red lipstick, I stepped into my red pumps and I was ready for the party.

  ‘Faith, could you take any more time?’ Alex yelled sarcastically from downstairs.

  Being satisfied with my look, I decided to go down and join the boys.

  I was wearing a strapless white dress which reached my mid thighs. My hair was pulled into a topknot.

  As I reached downstairs, I was greeted with the sight of two of the boys wrestling and the other two cheering them on. Vaibhav and Alex were rolling on the ground while throwing punches at each other. Ron and Samrat were encouraging them.

  ‘What the hell is going on?’ I yelled to grab their attention. They stopped wrestling and looked up. ‘You look beautiful,’ Alex said, trying to change the subject.

  ‘Do I want to know what is going on?’

  ‘Nope,’ he said. ‘Then let’s go to the party,’ I said, walking out of the door.

  CHAPTER 7

  Blessed are the cracked

  because they let in the

  light, Faith.

  FAITH

  I could feel my entire body pulsating because of the music. People were grinding against each other on the dance floor rather than dancing.

  Feeling disgusted, I went to the kitchen to get myself a beer. As soon as I shut the door of the fridge, a drunk guy approached me.

  ‘Hello, pretty lady,’ he slurred.

  ‘Hello, you,’ I said, rolling my eyes, ‘Drunken teenagers these days!’

  ‘Do you dye your hair?’

  ‘Ummm ... no.’

  ‘Do you want a drink?’

  ‘I already have one.’

  From the corner of my eye, I saw Alex walking towards me. He appeared concerned which meant he was sensing trouble and so he was approaching me in his big-brother avatar.

  Vaibhav was nowhere to be seen; not that it bothered me. Ron was playing beer pong and Samrat was dancing with a girl. The party was so dull. Guzzling down my beer along with two shots of vodka, I decided to spice it up.

  ‘Let’s get this party started! Shall we?’ I yelled, climbing on top of a table.

  The crowd cheered on. I started moving my hips along with the music. I wasn’t drunk; it would take a lot more than a beer and a couple of shots to get me drunk.

  ‘Woah! Faith, I didn’t know you had a fun side, too,’ I heard Vaibhav speak.

  ‘Well, if it isn’t Mr Jerk-face,’ I answered back with a smirk. ‘Looks like you are having fun,’ he said, taking a sip of his drink.

  ‘Oh! I’m having so much of fun!’

  ‘Want to get out of here?’ he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

  ‘Dream on, Jerk-face.’

  ‘Fine, at least one dance.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Please.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Pretty please with a cherry on top...’

  I acted as if I was contemplating, before saying ‘no’.

  ‘Come on, Faith. One dance.’

  ‘Fine, one dance.’

  He slipped his hands around my waist, pulled me close till our chests met. I snaked my arms around his neck. We danced for a couple of songs before we got tired and decided to go and sit out in the garden.

  ‘That wasn’t so bad,’ Vaibhav said, sitting next to me.

  ‘Yup, I’m surprised.’

  After talking for sometime we started to play truth-or-dare.

  When it was my turn, I said to him, ‘I dare you to go and get a guy’s number.’

  ‘But that would make him think I’m gay!’

  ‘First of all, there’s nothing wrong with being a gay; and second, that’s the whole point.’

  He was back within ten minutes. ‘So did you get it?’ I asked, raising my eyebrows.

  He extended his arm and I saw a number written on it, signed by a guy named Rishabh. The ‘i’ in the name was dotted with a heart. I burst out laughing.

  ‘Okay, my turn. You have to kiss the first person who comes out of that door. Remember, the gender doesn’t matter,’ he said with a smug look.

  I glanced through the window. The room was filled with girls and a handful of guys. There was a thin chance that I was going to kiss a guy. Vaibhav and I waited near the door. I matched his smirk with my glare.

  As I saw the door opening, I closed my eyes and simply kissed whoever stepped out.

  The body was definitely of a guy. As I pulled away, my mouth dropped open when I came face-to-face with a familiar pair of hazel eyes.

  ‘Damon!’ I whispered before throwing my arms around him for a hug.

  When I entered the kitchen the following morning, I was greeted by the aroma of pancakes.

  ‘Good morning, Alex,’ I kissed his cheek before grabbing the cup of coffee from his hand.

  ‘How’s your head?’ he asked, concerned. ‘It’s fine; don’t worry. It’s not as if it’s my first hangover.’

  ‘I know, but if you need anything, just let me know. Okay?’

  That’s the reason I loved my brother.

  ‘What about me, Alex? Won’t I get the special treatment? I mean, I also have a killer hangover,’ Vaibhav said, entering the kitchen.

  ‘You deserved it, jackass,
for daring my sister to kiss a random guy,’ Alex said with an annoyed look.

  ‘Hello, lovelies! Samrat is here to grace you with his beloved presence,’ he said, entering the kitchen.

  ‘Beloved, my ass,’ Ron retorted, entering as well. ‘Looks like the entire circus troupe has descended on the house today,’ Aditya murmured as he entered the kitchen.

  ‘Can’t I have a day without boys in my life?’ I groaned, hitting my head on the counter.

  ‘Nope,’ they all said in unison.

  ‘So, what I was saying before everyone decided to come and interrupt me was that, Vaibhav, you deserve the hangover,’ Alex said, grabbing a glass of juice.

  Everyone was curious to meet Damon. Vaibhav drove us to his house at breakneck speed. As we arrived, Aditya got out of the car and kneeling and kissing the ground, exclaimed, ‘Oh, Holy Mother of God!’ Ron and Samrat did the same. ‘Oh, stop acting like wussies, the three of you,’ Vaibhav said, rolling his eyes.

  And for once, I agreed with him. ‘We didn’t go that fast,’ Alex said. ‘True that,’ I agreed.

  ‘Not fast? I think I saw us passing China,’ Ron said in an annoying voice.

  ‘You know what?! All of you can stay here and suck at it. I’m going to go meet Damon,’ I snapped.

  ‘We’re coming, too!’ they chimed in together.

  VAIBHAV

  ‘Let’s go, pretty boy,’ Faith said with a smirk.

  I followed her along with everyone else to the front door of the mansion ahead of me. Faith’s family had known Damon’s family since the two of them were kids. They were neighbours in the affluent neighbourhood of Vasant Vihar before Faith’s father married Alex’s mother and they moved to Sainik Farms.

  As we got nearer to the door, we could hear a lot of commotion going on inside.

  ‘What the hell?’ Faith said in a confused tone as she rang the bell.

  The door was opened by a very attractive girl. She had brown hair and big, blue eyes. She was about 5’8 in height. When her eyes landed on Faith, she started jumping up and down.

  ‘Faith!’ she yelled before enveloping her in a hug.

  ‘Cory!’ Faith greeted her with equal excitement.

  ‘Oww! You squished me,’ a little boy standing between their legs said, rubbing his head.

 

‹ Prev