Chapter 7 link: Chapter 7
**************************
“Bbb.. bl.. lo.. Blood!” Swara’s eyes widened as she stared at her fingers. She was trembling profusely. She breathed in and out to calm herself. She closed her eyes. She walked aimlessly in that dark room- the sight of blood never leaving her mind. She started feeling dizzy and held her head tightly. Soon, she fell unconscious.
After 15-20 minutes, the door creaked as it opened.
“Swaraaaaaa!” Cried a voice. Noises of several feet could be heard. Their eyes were fixed at Swara. Eyes full of horror. Eyes which were worried.
“Swara beta, utho. Ragini beta, kya hua isey?”
“Pata nahi Raghu uncle! I think we should take her to hospital. Or call a doctor!”
“Ragini Didi, ye sab humari wajah se hua hai na?”
“Nahi Chhotu! Swara thik ho jaaegi! Don’t cry. You’re a good boy na?” Ragini consoled the sobbing little boy, though tears were flowing from her eyes as well.
“Ragini beta, doctor ka phone nahi lag raha hai.”
“Oh no! Don’t worry Raghu uncle. We’ll try to make her conscious. After all it’s our fault!” Ragini spoke amidst tears.
She sprinkled water on her face, but Swara didn’t gain consciousness. She patted her face, as she spoke, “Swara! Swara! Open your eyes Swara! I’m sorry! I’m really very sorry! It’s all my mistake! I’m so sorry! Please get up Swara!” She started crying incoherently.
“Swara Didi, please get up. We promise that we all will hold our ears and do sit-ups. Aap jo bologe hum wo karenge! Pinky swear! But please get up. Please open your eyes!”
“Main jo bolungi wo karoge?”
This made everyone startled. Expressions of shock was visible in their faces amidst their tears.
“Shonaaa! You’re okay? Are you fine?” Ragini asked worriedly.
“Yup!”
“But you had fainted right?”
“Yes and no!”
“Matlab?”
Swara tried hard but couldn’t stop herself from laughing. She laughed hard, so hard that she began to choke.
“Ragini, water please!”
“No. Never! You fooled us? Do have an idea how scared we were? Idiot!” Ragini replied angrily.
“Yes Didi. We all got so worried!” The children cried in unison.
“Achhhaaaa! Aur jo tum sab ne kiya?? Wasn’t I frightened? Idiots! I was so worried what happened to you all and where you all had gone! And you all were busy enjoying my state! What if I had died of heart attack or anxiety?”
“Drama queen! You won’t die of heart attack ever! Because it’s you who gives heart attack to others! By the way, how did you discover that we were fooling you?” Ragini questioned.
“Bwahahahahaahaha! You guys think you have sharper brains than me? My lovelies! My grey cells are more active and sharp! You thought that you’ll scare me with this spooky idea?! Well, plan achha tha! Main darr bhi gayi thi. But your spookiness only helped me!” Swara pointed towards the blood scattered on the floor. Everybody looked at that with blank expressions.
“Ab bhi nahi samjhe? Main samjhaati hoon baby! You know, when I felt this ‘blood’ on my fingers, I was terrified. But when I went towards the window to check it in the moonlight, I found out it wasn’t blood! And that was it!” Swara said proudly.
“But how did you know it wasn’t blood! It’s so similar to it!” Ragini exclaimed.
“Ragu baby, did you forget ki khoon dekhte hi I start feeling all dizzy and giddy?! Jab maine ye so-called khoon dekha, it didn’t affect me in any way! I wondered how I’m not feeling sick, that’s when it clicked to me that it’s all your prank!”
Ragini and the kids made faces as Swara spoke. Seeing their faces, Swara started laughing once again.
“Look at your faces! Hahahahaha! Trying to be oversmart with Swara! Maza aaya?!” Swara spoke amidst her laughter and others joined her too. “Okay now. Hold your ears everybody!” Swara said in a serious tone.
“What???” Cried all.
“Yes. Hold your ears and do sit-ups!”
“No way!”
“Yes way! You remember you all promised to me! Pinky swear kiya tha! Now you’ll have to do it! Come on! Punishment hai ye tum sabki for messing with me!” Swara said, grabbing a chair for herself. “Raghu uncle, not you! Only Rageshwari maa and her kids!” Swara munched on some chips as she ordered.
Ragini and the kids had no option left. They knew this was the easiest punishment that Swara could give. They knew, disagreeing will lead to worse punishments. So, all held their ears and started doing sit-ups while Swara recorded everything in Ragini’s phone.
After a while, all sat to eat and played a lot of games, enjoying every moment of their life.
“Bye bachcha party! Take care!” Swaragini waved at them as they took their leave.
“What a tiring day it was!” Swara exclaimed.
“Yeah! Too tiring! But that doesn’t mean you’ll go to bed without having shower!”
“Kya yaaar Ragu!”
Ragini kept her bag and went for shower. Meanwhile Swara put her phone for charging.
“Go Swara! Time for shower!”
Swara protested claiming her tiredness, which Ragini used as a tool in her arguments.
“You’re tired that’s why you must have a bath! You’ll freshen up Shona! Jaaooo!” Ragini held Swara’s hand but Swara jerked it off yelling in pain.
“What happened Swara? What’s this? What happened to your hand? Was it because of us?” Ragini asked worriedly.
” No Ragu. Actually I got hurt way before. I’ll tell you after shower.”
“I’ll do your first aid after you come.”
“Okay!”
After shower, Swara narrated the day’s event to Ragini, while the latter applied medicine to her wound.
“Not a serious wound. This will get fine soon.”
“Yeahh!” Swara rolled her eyes as she spoke.
“Achha, now let’s sleep. It’s too late. Good night!”
“Good night!”
Precap: Two months leap.