Where Secrets Lie – Chapter 1 – Her Fears

“What the hell! You can’t change the music like that. It’s my jeep after all!” screamed Jeh. With his one hand still on the steering wheel, he tried to fidget with the music system with the other hand. But before he could do that, he felt a sharp smack on his hand.

“Ouch!” he groaned in pain, angrily looking at the woman sitting in the passenger seat beside him.

“Serves you right!” Neeti snarled at him. “Don’t you dare put those loud funky songs and make our heads spin around. We are driving through such a serene place and all we need is some peaceful and slow music to go with it.”

“That was the reason you were geting so desperate to sit in the front seat beside me, huh?” asked Jeh, scrunching his nose.

Neeti ignored his question and instead taunted, “Seher, where did you find this loser from? I’m sure that you could have done much better in terms of a boyfriend!”

“You!” Jeh pointed a finger at her.

“You!” Neeti did the same.

“Guys, guys, can you just shut the heck up? What is wrong with you both?” Seher scolded them from behind.

“Yes, man. Jeh, just concentrate on the driving. The road is going to get bumpy ahead,” said Yash with the google map opened up on his screen.

Riddhima, who was tucked between Seher and Yash in the backseat, couldn’t help but smile at this banter. It was no big secret that Neeti and Jeh did not get along with each other very well. But nonetheless, their fights were cute to watch.

Riddhima, Seher, Neeti and Yash had been the best of friends since high school. Even though all of them had opted for different careers thereafter, they had always managed to stay in touch with each other.

But things had changed a bit when Seher had left for US for a period of two years to complete her Masters. It was only a few months back that she had returned to India, albeit with her new boyfriend, Jeh. And as soon as he was introduced to the rest of the group, Neeti had taken an immediate dislike towards him.

Riddhima looked outside the window. It felt so relieving to be out in the countryside, away from the bustling of the city. Life tended to get so busy working as a psychiatrist and seeing so many patients day after day. She really needed this much awaited break along with her friends.

She suddenly sat up straight when she saw the surroundings around her change. Now, they were no longer driving around small villages. They were venturing straight into a thick jungle.

The jeep bumped a little as it landed on a rough path covered by gravels and surrounded by thick trees on either side. The chirpings of the never-heard and never-seen before birds and insects seemed to creep the hell out of Riddhima. She hated jungles….no, the correct word would be that she had an incoherent fear of jungles. She had no idea what they were doing there and all she wanted was to get out of that place real quick.

Jeh braked the car abruptly. “This is where we are going to camp,” he announced.

“What?” Riddhima blurted out, her lips quivering. “We are going to camp in a jungle? But you never told us….”

“Because that was a surprise from my side, baby girl,” said Jeh feeling proud of himself. “So, how do you like it?”

“C-can we go back? I don’t want to stay here any longer,” said Riddhima meekly.

At this, Jeh let out a short laugh. “Don’t be such a scaredy cat, Riddhima!”

Neeti started berating him, “How can you be so insensitive to mock her like that? You might not know but Riddhima suffers from hylophobia – fear of forests.” She turned towards Riddhima, and tried to comfort her. “Don’t worry, sweetie. We’ll leave from here ASAP.”

Seher felt really embarrassed. She had no idea that her boyfriend would bring them for camping at a jungle without consulting her even once. Had he done that, she’d have told him about Riddhima’s phobia. Maybe, Neeti was right after all. Maybe Jeh wasn’t that good of a boyfriend.

Jeh on the other hand began to feel guilty. He had no idea about Riddhima’s problem.

“I’m really sorry. I had no intention of hurting or making fun of your feelings like that,” he said.

He slid his hands around her shoulders. “But this isn’t such a bad idea actually. You are a psychiatrist yourself and you must be knowing that one of the treatments for any phobia is to get repeatedly get exposed to it. Who knows that at the end of the day, your fear of jungles might even get lessened in the process?”

Riddhima looked at her other friends’ faces. She knew that they really cared for her and would even be ready to forsake their share of fun and enjoyment for her. And she did not want that to happen. She did not want to spoil their day like that.

“Look, if you want we can leave,” Seher tried to help. “But you should know that there’s nothing to really feel scared of. We all are there right beside you.”

“Exactly! Why do jungles even frighten you? Are you afraid of the animals hiding within or….” Jeh brought his face closer to Riddhima and whispered. “Or is it the ghosts that make you paranoid?”

Riddhima’s face became pale. To be honest, she never knew why she had this phobia. She tried hard to find out if there was any specific reason or any past incident that had triggered this fear in her heart, but to no avail. In fact whenever she tried to think about that, a faint image of an unknown jungle  would flash before her eyes. At this, she’d feel scared and then in order to distract her mind, she’d start thinking about something else.

“Seher, will you hit this man or should I do that instead?” said Neeti charging towards Jeh. Luckily, Yash held her back. Yash was that one friend who stayed calm in all situations, and who’d resolve everyone else’s fights in such situations.

Riddhima did not like that her friends were fighting amongst themselves because of her.

“Jungles frighten me because it is difficult to make out what deep secrets they are hiding within them,” she said slowly. “You never know what thing you’d encounter next. They are so damn unpredictable…..” She took a deep breath. “But I think you’re right, Jeh. It is high time that I face my fears, because this is what I tell all my patients as well.”

“Are you sure that you want to do this?” asked Yash getting a bit worried.

“Yes,” she said determinatedly.

Jeh hooted for her and gave a see-what-I-told-you look to Neeti. The other three were happy that Riddhima was taking such a brave step to overcome her fear, but they were also quite skeptical. They just hoped that things did not go out of hands any point of time.

Soon, they all got down to work. They pitched out the tent at a suitable place, close to their jeep. After bringing in some wood, they made a fire out of them, roasting some corn, nuts and marshmallows over it.

Even though everyone else was enjoying themselves, but Riddhima wasn’t. Every now and then, she peered over both her shoulders to make sure that no one or nothing creepy or dangerous was there around.

After getting bored with the nonchalant talk and a long game of antakshari, Jeh came up with a plan to do something different yet daring.

“Listen guys, I’ve an interesting game for us.” He stood up and clapped his hands to garner everybody’s attention. “When I went into the forest to collect some wood, I came up with a splendid idea. I took some playing cards with me and placed them near a large banyan tree. Now each one of us goes one by one to that tree, picks up one card and brings it back. The one who takes the least time would be the winner.”

“That sounds like a really good idea,” Neeti agreed with him causing Seher to relax a little bit. To be honest, this whole tension between her boyfriend and bestfriend was making things worse for her.

“I’ll go first,” said Yash getting up.

Everyone hooted for him, except Riddhima of course. She couldn’t imagine how they could like the idea of venturing into the forest all alone.

Seher kept count of the time and soon enough saw Yash returning all smiles with a card in his hand.

“The stopwatch shows 3 minutes 40 seconds. So the next persons have to make it quicker in order to win,” remarked Seher.

With everybody else consecutively completing their respective turns in the game, it was clear that Jeh was leading the way with a time of 2 minutes 50 seconds.

He turned towards Riddhima expectantly, “Now, it’s your turn.”

Riddhima’s eyes widened in astonishment. Walking alone into the jungle was too much for her, and she couldn’t possibly do that.

“Don’t be stupid, Jeh!” Neeti admonished him yet again. “Now you know about her phobia, yet you foolishly suggest something as atrocious as this.”

“But this is part of the therapy,” Jeh tried to explain his view. “Part of the therapy to make Riddhima face her fears and overcome them.”

Yash who was calm until now was  also beginning to lose his temper too.
“She is already trying so hard, sitting with us in this dense jungle. Don’t you think that’s quite a lot in itself?”

Jeh however wasn’t comvinced. “But she can try some more. Plus, the sun is still high up in the sky. What wrong can possibly happen in broad daylight?”

He patted Riddhima’s back. “I think that I’m your only true friend over here who wants you to become so fearless, that nothing can frighten you anymore. C’mon girl! I know that you have it in you to do it! Besides, isn’t what systematic desensitization is supposed to be all about?”

Systematic desensitization was an effective therapy deemed for phobias and anxiety problems where the patient was gradually exposed to the fear. Being a psychiatrist, Riddhima was well versed with this treatment. But she was surprised about how Jeh knew about this.

Reading her mind, he said, “I studied a little bit of psychology too.”

Riddhima right now felt like a complete hypocrite. She herself went around using such therapies for her patients and encouraging them to face their own fears. But when it came to herself, all she wanted to do was to wrap herself in a blanket closing her eyes, shutting all the fears away from her. Who knows that maybe at the end of this, she’d be able to understand the psychology of her patients in a much better manner and help them in an even more effective way?

Even though her heart was racing and her breathing had become rapid, she tried to maintain a calm and confident face.

“Fine. I’m ready to do this.”

“No! You don’t need to!” Neeti and Yash protested together.

“No, I’ve already made up my mind,” replied Riddhima. “Nobody wants to live his entire life with a phobia, neither do I. And this might be one of my only chances to get rid of this. And I don’t want to miss it.”

In spite of the rest of the group’s pleas, Riddhima renained adamant and stepped deeper and deeper into the woods.

As her friends’ voices became more and more distant, Riddhima could feel her pulse throbbing with an even greater force. She didn’t know why she had even agreed to Jeh, but now she was beginning to regret it. Even though everything looked crisp and clear in the daytime, yet she couldn’t stop herself from shivering in fright.

“It’s okay Riddhima. You can do it,” she encouraged herself. “Just a little distance more until you reach that wretched tree. And then, all you have to do is to turn on your heels and run…..”

She jumped up in startle when she saw a squirrel scurry right past her. That’s what she hated about jungles. Any damn creature can spring out from anywhere without any forewarning.

All of a sudden, she heard a blood curdling roar echoing in her ears. Dreadfully, she turned towards the source of the sound and to her utmost terror, she saw a ferocious looking tiger approaching towards her from a distance.

Panicking and screaming at the top of her voice, Riddhima began running as fast as her short and thin legs could take her, in the opposite direction.

Even though she knew that as a human, running away from a tiger would not help her to evade from it’s clutches, but right now, she didn’t know what to do. Her mind had stopped working and her entire body was under the control of the hormones that were raging inside her.

Her legs began turning weak and she knew that in no time, the claws would be on her tearing at her skin…..

But just then, she bumped into something hard that brought her to a complete still. Squeezing her eyes shut, she was waiting for the inevitable to occur. But strangely, when nothing happened, she slowly opened her eyes and was surprised.

She saw the most beautiful, bearded man she had ever seen, towering tall over her, and looking down at her with those sharp eyes. Don’t know what had happened to her, but she kept staring at him, caught in a complete stupor. She felt so weak that she felt the need to clutch at the lapels of his black coat.

Reality struck her, and remembering the deadly creature who had been chasing her, she turned around fearfully. But she was shocked to see that there was no sign of any tiger anywhere nearby.

“Where did it go suddenly?” she wondered, when she saw Seher shouting her name and running towards her.

She took her friend into a deep hug. “Are you okay, Riddhima? We became frantic when we heard your screams and that’s why hurried to find you.”

Seher was left aghast when she heard Riddhima narrate about how a tiger had started chasing her out of nowhere and how it suddenly disappeared from the sight too.

“Thank God for this man who saved me.” Riddhima turned to introduce the man in black to Seher, but was puzzled to see that he too had disappeared. There was nobody anywhere.

“Where did he go? He was right here!” said Riddhima getting a little anxious. “How did he manage to get away from here so quickly?”

Seher consoled her. “Relax, don’t take so much stress. Let us go back. If the tiger is still on the prowl, then it is not safe for us to stay here any longer.”

“But….”

Seher took Riddhima’s hand and pulled her alongside her. But Riddhima on the other hand, kept glancing back. She could not make out what had just happened. Where did that man vanish suddenly to? She couldn’t even say a thank you to him. And why did the tiger run away when it saw the man?

When both the girls returned to the group, they heaved a sigh of relief.

But Jeh was left a little confused. “Are you sure you saw a tiger behind you? Because tigers are usually supposed to hunt in the middle of the jungle, not on the outskirts of it. Plus, it is said that a tiger’s roar can be heard from a few kilometers away which we did not happen to hear at all. We only heard your screams. How is that even possible?”

This was enough to make Riddhima furious and she started shouting to defend herself.

“What do you mean? Do you think that I’m lying and making this all up? Or do you think that I’m hallucinating all of this? I literally witnessed all of that with my own eyes! Why don’t you guys believe me?”

As she said this, she began to feel giddy and was about to tumble backwards. Luckily, Yash caught her in time.

“It is okay. We all believe you,” he caressed her face and made her drink some water. “Stop taking stress.”

Giving Jeh a piercing look, he said, “I think it’s high time that we leave from here. If Riddhima says that there’s a tiger on the loose, then that must be the truth. We can’t keep waiting here waiting to get attacked by it.”

Jeh was about to say something more, but Seher pinched him. He swallowed when she gave him a nasty look. And it was then that he knew that he had messed it all up and there wasn’t any use to argue anymore. Not only was his carefully thought of plan to have fun was disrupted, but also he’d have to get an earful from his girlfriend as soon as he reached home.

As they sat in the jeep, all ready to drive back into the city, Riddhima stared back at the jungle, recalling all the mysterious happenings of today. Who was that man? Why did he manage to leave such a deep imprint over her in such a short span of time? And would she ever be able to meet him again?

Hello everyone! I had gotten tired of studying at a stretch, so decided to take a “short break”. But like always, the short break became quite long, lol.

Anyways here is a new story, and do tell me in the comments about how it is. It is going to be a short one though, preferably around 10 or more chapters. Also, I’m going to be quite irregular with the updates, so kindly bear with me. And kindly bear with my sloppy writing too because it has been written in a hurry with a mind preoccupied with exams.

Question for you all : What do you think about the man that Riddhima encountered in the forest?