White Roses

I kneeled to his cold body that was covered with white sheets and flowers. I looked at his wife, Shivani, who was sitting on another side with their child. Life has been so unjust to them. I patted her shoulder consoling her.

“When I thought everything was on the right track, I lost everything. Why does this have to happen with me only, Ayan?”, she sobbed. 

“Don’t think that you have lost everything, you have your son. Think about him, he needs you”.

“Can you please take care of him for a while? I don’t want him to be around”, she said looking at her crying son.

 I nodded, picking him up in my embrace. I took him to a place with a lighter atmosphere. I saw Ryan seated on a couch.

I sat beside him with the baby.

“This is beyond someone’s imagination”, I mumbled.

He remained silent. 

“Life has been so unjust with Shivani…”

“It would have been better if she had Arohi by her side but it was her who wanted Arohi to die”, he retorted.

I didn’t say anything after that. He hasn’t got over it yet, it’s useless to say anything.

At the cemetery, I spotted someone. They must have invited him too.

“Long time no see, Gaurav,” I approached him.

He didn’t answer and walked away.

Arohi- her finger had a ring- white roses- Gaurav on a hospital bed- a car-

Last time I saw Dev with flowers and a car it ended up here.

“Gaurav wait!”, I called him out.

 He didn’t stop. I chased him and pulled him by his shoulder.

“Please don’t do this, we all missed you,” I said, almost crying.

“Don’t miss me, please don’t follow me,” he screamed.

“Why are you saying that? Aren’t we best friends?”, I peeped into his eyes.

“I am not your best friend, I am the one who killed them”, he pushed me to the ground and left.

I followed him to his car. Before I could stop him he speeded his car. I got into my car and speeded following him. Our cars crushed the dried white roses that were wasted on the thoroughfare. I chased him until he stopped at the seashore. He got out of his car and started running to the diving board. I knew he couldn’t swim. I pursued him. He didn’t stop or turn back. I tried to catch him as we reached the same level but he bolted on board and jumped into the sea. I jumped after him to save him.

I flashed into the water surface. I felt an unusual feeling while looking for him underwater. His eyes were shut and he was fading. I caught his hand pulling him closer. I tried swimming out of the water body but I was freezing. Sudden nausea made me unconscious.

Memories of Ryan’s birthday party that we had two years back flashed before me. It was the last time we were together and happy. After that time just drifted us apart. None of us got our happy ever after, it was only suffering that we saw. Arohi died. In the grief of his sister, Ryan got depressed. Gaurav used to cherish her like a treasure, after her death he left the country and never contacted us. Everyone blamed Shivani for Arohi’s demise whereas it wasn’t wholly her fault. Shivani had Dev by her side but there was still some problem with their relationship and now that has got this unjustified end too.

Car-Dev-Arohi-white roses- ring-Gaurav-

I woke up coughing. Somebody must have saved us. I looked around for Gaurav, he was standing at some distance. I walked to him.

“I thought you were going to save me, but I had to save you”, he said sarcastically. 

“Thank you”, I said looking around searching for someone.

There was no one around us.

“But who saved us? Did they already leave?”, I asked.

“There was no one when I came to my senses. Absurd, isn’t it?”

I nodded in agreement, “They had to at least wait to check on us”.

He hummed, “I wonder if this is what the afterlife looks like, but if it is, why are you with me in hell?”

His words were confusing. I looked around again to see where we were.

“It is our beach, stop talking nonsense”, I blasted.

“Does anything make sense?”, he gave his iconic confused look.

And that reminded me of our teenage years, I grabbed his collar and clenched my fist to punch him.

“What are you both fighting for now?”, we heard the voice everyone longed to hear.

Our eyes widened with shock, I was horrified at the sight while

Gaurav hugged her like a bear.

“I cannot believe this, how can I be in heaven?”, he cried.

 Yes, it was really hard to believe that it was Arohi…

“What- what are you saying? Have you lost your mind?”, she pushed him away.

“We missed you”, I said faintly smiling, “dying was worth it.”

“If you are role-playing, I am not playing along. My mood isn’t positive”, she warned.

“Are you disappointed to see us here? I am sorry it was all Gaurav’s fault”, I said looking down while Gaurav was still shocked by the step he took.

“Stop blaming each other, I know that it was all my fault, and today at the office I will sort it all out with Shivani”, she sounded guilty.

“What- Shivani is here too?”, Gaurav screamed.

“I thought she was strong”, I said in a lowered voice.

“You both have lost your mind”, she turned to Gaurav, “see you in the office”.

She left us there puzzled. That was beyond our understanding.

“She became a witch after dying.”

“What office was she talking about? Do we have to work here too?”, I asked. I hate working. 

He shrugged his shoulders in response.

As we walked around we found this place is same as the place we used to live at. This realization was leading to many conclusions but it would be wrong to jump on conclusions before checking the facts.

“I guess we should check the place you used to work at with Arohi and Shivani, we never know if we found something important there”, I suggested.

“You are right, let’s go”, he set a faster pace.

We ran to the building. We used to be athletes at our college. All the way Gaurav was leading, he took the shortcut avoiding traffic, and directly stopped at the entrance of his office.

“Do you remember me?”, he asked the guard.

“Of course sir, I recognize you, how can I forget?”, the guard laughed off.

“Then please let me go in”, he asked.

“Why would I stop you sir?” the guard laughed.

Gaurav passed through the gate but I was caught by something. He came back to take me but I stopped him too to show him what I just noticed.

The date in the newspaper was 19 February 2019.

“What is today’s date? Is this today’s newspaper?”, Gaurav said, showing the newspaper to the guard.

“Yes sir it is- is anything wrong?”, the guard was now confused.

“No there’s nothing wrong, sorry”, Gaurav pulled me inside the campus.

He dragged me quite far to a place where hardly anyone would spot us.

“So how are you going to explain this to me? What’s your theory?”, he showed that newspaper in my face.

“This must be some kind of hallucination, this cannot be real”, I spat.

“Listen now, even if this is a trance,” she caught me by the shoulder, “we cannot miss the opportunity we have got. We can try saving Arohi…”

For a moment I was confused but when he further said, “do you remember the day she died? It’s the same day we are on, and she talked with us! We can save her, we must save her!”

He shook me.

“Okay -Okay- but do you have any plans? You must be knowing what happened that day?”

“Yes I know”, he said, “let’s start with searching for Arohi and Shivani. We will ask them to take things lightly, and stop them from getting involved in any serious fight. I don’t know what time it is now but we should stop them before eleven, it had happened before that only.”

I nodded in agreement with him. We rushed into the main building as we saw it was only half an hour before eleven we split to find them. I searched for both Shivani and Arohi but they were nowhere to be seen. I looked up at a wall clock, there wasn’t much time left. I made up my plan and rushed to the reception.

“Can I make some calls if it's an emergency?”, I asked the receptionist.

She let me use the telephone. Only if someone had made these calls instead of watching and screaming things would have turned differently.

After making those calls I got back to searching for them. I spotted Gaurav, I chased him. I climbed the stairs following him, he stopped at the door of the terrace. In front of us at some distance, Arohi and Shivani stood arguing. So this was how it happened…

We watched them from far but as they got physical we moved.

“The two on the building please stop right now and descend. We are sending help”, we heard a loud announcement.

I stopped myself and Gaurav. Before someone would spot us I took him away from that place.

Arohi had found at Shivani is pregnant with Dev’s child and she was supporting Dev on abortion. And that had hurt Shivani. When Arohi informed Shivani’s parents about this, things went wrong as they weren’t married then. That was the reason they were fighting.

I had called the police, ambulance, and fire brigade for help. Luckily they arrived in time and were saved.

Gaurav appreciated it as I explained to him what I did.

After that Gaurav took me to Dev’s house. I was scared to visit him as I had just seen his dead body. but it was necessary, We needed to talk about something important and we hadn’t done that then.

We reached Dev’s apartment. I remembered the scene I saw hours ago, we had the hardest time.

The door was opened by Dev’s mother.

Dev was home that day, we remembered it right. I hugged him the moment I saw him. 

“I missed you”, I cried.

“Was I the one to ask you to get busy working? Your company doesn’t give you any free time. What are you doing here during office hours?”, he asked, breaking the hug.

“I thought you needed me”, I punched his chest.

“I just need some alone time”, he said, going back to his bed.

“We aren’t leaving you then”, Gaurav smirked.

“Can you please leave?”

“Can you please listen?”, I said

“What do you want me to listen to?”

“Are you serious about Shivani?”, I asked.

“I am- why don’t you trust me?”

“We trust you but why are you doing this to her?”, Gaurav asked.

“Am I doing something wrong? It is her who isn’t trying to understand”, he snapped.

“Can you understand?”, I asked.

“I understand and respect her feelings but why don’t any of you understand that I am not ready for the baby. I don’t have a proper job, my parents are not ready for this. Raising a family needs money and I don’t have that at present time”, he explained.

“Is the money the only reason that’s stopping you?”, I asked.

He paused thinking before answering, “yes…”

“You don’t need to worry that you have me and if you don’t want to be involved, why are you forgetting Shivani is earning well and she can take care of herself and her baby”, I remarked.

“I don’t want to be dependent on anyone”, he said in a lowered voice. 

“Dev…”, I was going to say something before Gaurav interrupted.

“We are not forcing you for something. Think wisely before making any decision”.

Dev nodded in agreement.

After that, we talked about some general topics and had our meal. Seeing him lively made me feel better and we had Gaurav with us too. I wish this could last forever.

“What are we doing next?”, I asked as Gaurav took me to his house.

He searched his pockets and took out a car key. He unlocked the car in front of us. I recognized it now, it was the same car Gaurav was in before diving.

“Get in”, he ordered.

I avoided asking any more questions. His face was unreadable. 

He drove back to Office where we began our day. We waited in front of the gate for some time. Shivani drove out of her car with Arohi in the passenger seat.

We followed them. 

“Avoiding something for once doesn’t mean getting rid of that event”, Gaurav had quoted it while driving to the office. Was something going to happen?

They stopped at a coffee shop. We watched them from afar. We looked like they were getting along and had everything sorted. We followed them even when they were driving back home. This was the first time I was stalking someone. 

“It looks like we managed to save her. This fantasy doesn’t have the same story”, I grinned.

Gaurav nodded while driving on the dark road. 

“Arohi was the kind of girl who would love being loved even after dying. What do you think, did I do right to her by not moving on?”, he said, taking a ring out of his pocket.

I recognized that ring to be the same one I saw in my visions.

“Why did you say earlier that you killed them?”

“Because I was responsible for it”.

“I don’t see how”

“About Arohi…”, he took a deep breath before starting, “it was me who had sent them to meet at the terrace. Then I had thought they would get to make a healthy conversation but it turned bad. I hadn’t thought this could be a possibility too.”

“And about Dev?”

“You see… this is the same car he got hit by and I was the person who was drunk and speeding that night.”

He speeded up the car. I stared at him absorbing what he just said.

I looked at the path in front. It led to a dead end.

“What are you doing?”, I screamed.

Our car flew off the cliff. The airbags opened and got pressurized by it and the car seat. We crashed into the surface of the water. Water started flowing into the car. Things got out of control and I lost my consciousness.

I don’t remember what happened next. I opened my eyes responding to the bright sunlight that felt like we reached some end. 

I found Dev and Ryan sitting by my side.

“Where is Gaurav? Is he alright?”, I screamed getting up.

“Why do you want to see him? Get some rest, you can see him later too”, Ryan said.

“No I am alright, take me to Gaurav. I need to see him”, I got out of bed standing straight.

We were in the hospital. They took me to an isolation ward where I saw Arohi sitting by a bed. The person she was looking after was Gaurav. Are we still in the alternate realm? It must be-

“Why do I have to survive and he had to meet this fate?”, I fell to my knees.

“Why are you saying that Ayan, there is nothing you can do”, Dev rubbed my back

"But I was with him, we should have met the same fate", I cried.

" What are you blabbering about, you weren't there with him. You should get some rest", Ryan advised.

I was confused. It was hard to predict what was happening. I sat on the stool next to Arohi. I looked at Gaurav who was resting on the hospital bed. On his side table, some white roses were placed in a vase. I looked at Arohi, she was wearing the same ring Gaurav had shown me. I looked around the room and there was a calendar hanging with October 2021 opened up.

"Arohi, what date is it today?", I questioned.

" October twenty-ninth" 

That was the same day as I attended Dev's funeral and chased after Gaurav. Was the life I was living in a trance or is my present life a hallucination? 

At first, it all seemed like some fantasy but as time passed I realized this wasn't any fantasy my brain was building but a new reality that I made up with Gaurav. That day we had traveled back in time. No one would believe this if I got out telling people what I experienced. 

We successfully saved Arohi. By taking that car to the cliff Gaurav destroyed the reason that would be causing Dev's demise in the future. 

After all the problems were resolved Gaurav had proposed to Arohi, he was bringing white roses from the other side of the road when a car dashed him. He has been in a coma for the last two years. It was his dream to ask her out but the Gaurav I know never got a chance for that. It's hard to understand what those white roses mean.

In conclusion, I can say we saved Arohi and Dev at the cost of one life. Gaurav is still there around us, it's just that it feels as if he isn't there anymore. It's Arohi who is the most hopeful with him. I wonder what memories he will wake up with. 

Both of us cherished the friendship we had between us six and it's our good fortune that all odds were in our favor and we are together. Whenever I see white roses it reminds me of Gaurav and the experience we had together.