A gift from the midnight

At the stroke of midnight, my doorbell shrieked. I have been watching a suspense thriller and the sound made me jump. Staying alone in a flat could really get on your nerves sometime. A doorbell made my heart race faster than the Japanese bullet. I suspiciously peeked from my spy eye, no one. I sighed in relief, thinking it was all my imagination.

"Damn, I must stop watching such movies alone and late at night. Well may be from next time."

I turned away, eager to get back to my movie.

"Sshrieeeeekkkkkkkkkk", there my doorbell went again making me jump.

Now this wasn't my imagination. I peeked again, my heart beating in my throat, no one again. I decided to open the door and end this torture for once and for all. I cautiously turned off the locks, pulled open the doors and slowly craned my neck on either side to see who has been pestering me. As a face came in to view I did a double take, my jaws hit the ground. No, no, that wasn't a ghost. Well, may be you can say it was sort of. Standing at my door was a long lost friend of mine. Seeing her after a decade was no less startling than seeing a ghost itself.

"Ummm hi." She said in a barely audible tone.

"Nidhi", surprise was evident in my tone.

I remember being friends, best friends with Nidhi since as long as I remember. We had been partners in each others crime. If She was caught doing a mischief, it went without saying that I had been involved as well, and vice versa. We went to same school, and then same college. We hung out with same people and had same hobbies. None of us fell in love ever. Among all these similarities, our thought differed like earth and sky. I was a wild horse and she was my reign. We were blessed to have each other. All was going good and then misunderstanding happened. Now that I think back, I fail to remember what was all the fuss about. I didn't explain and she never asked. That was the end of it. Well atleast I it was until now.

Seeing her standing at my door, so meekly, and so clearly troubled, had so many questions do marathon in my mind. But one look at her told me she needed time, and along with it a warm cup of coffee, some hugs and a pair of alert ears. And I was only too happy to provide all of it. I asked her in.

Although I earned good, I always had this love of spacious sitting room, a coffee table and few bean bags that you can easily drag around and mishandle. I went to get two steaming cup of coffee, handed one to her. She adjusted herself on the bean and so did I. Minutes passed with only occasional sipping sound.

"How are you?" She broke the uncomfortable silence.

"Good, but you look miserable."

A sad smile crept over her lips.

"Want to talk about it", I coaxed.

She sighed and began her story

It all began when I was doing my mass communications. It has been nearly over a year since we ...we separated. Ever since I remember you had been my best friend, my only friend actually. I was feeling lost and lonely without you. I, kind of, went in to a shell. I hardly spoke to anyone and usually kept to myself. Karan was my fellow-mate. We were studying the same branches and worked on many projects together. He had been pretty famous among girls, with his dark good looks and mysterious attitude. I had no idea what ignited his interest in me. But he would often come up to me and bug me until I talk to him. That became his habit and mine too. I always told myself he was annoying, and I keep looking for him so as to escape him. But even I knew I was fooling myself. I waited for him, I missed him when he was not around. He was my first real friend after you. And before I knew, I was in love with him. In time I found out he reciprocates my feelings. He asked me to marry him and I gladly said yes. That was then I slit the throat of my happiness from my own hands, just that I came to know this fact later. No sooner than I was married, I found out he was Casanova in true sense. He had been sleeping with many women. And what almost killed me was knowing that he had an...

She gulped

...had an illicit affair with his brother's wife as well. Even when we were studying together, he had been taking women to bed. Only I had no ways to know it back then. When I confronted him, he apologized, said he will stop seeing everyone, and begged me to stay. And I like a fool believed him.

She broke down in to tears. I hugged her tight. But there was more of the story.

I loved him. And trusting him was my only crime. I believed in his promises that he never kept. It went on, but more discreetly. I went to my mother's home for ten days. But I had to come back early due to my mom's prior engagements. I rang the doorbell. A young looking female opened the door. She was wearing my bathrobe and was apparently naked beneath it. And then came my husband following her, in his bathrobe, naked beneath it, calling her the names he used to address me with. I left the house right away and ran as far as I could. I had no idea what to do, where to go. I was lost and lonely again and broken. I could think of no one but you. Thanks to social sites I knew your where about from the people you have been in touch with. And so I came.

She looked up at me with those wet pleading eyes, as if asking if it was fine with me, if she did the right thing. I did what I would have done back then, I hugged her.

At the stoke of midnight I got my best friend back.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda