The Final Farewell
"So this is some of psychological illness?" Abhijeet asked her after a long silence.
"Yes sir." She said fidgeting in her chair, apprehensive of his next words.
"That means you have to go on a leave." He said, his voice calm.
"But sir the doctor said that I can continue working. I'm not mad sir." She pleaded, desperate for her senior to understand the fact that she's not a loony or a retard.
"Why are you thinking like that Muskaan? I only said that because you can get some rest that way." He said.
"I think Abhijeet is right, Muskaan. You do need rest." Said ACP Pradyuman.
"Right sir." She said after a long pause and got up from the chair.
On her way out of the bureau she met Deviyana. She gave her a painful but at the same time loathsome look and got back a confused look instead.
"Hey Musi! Wait! I need to tell you something." She came face to face with her best friend as she was descending the stairs.
"I'm sorry Tarika. I don't feel like it right now." She said before storming past Tarika who shook her head.
She knew that her best friend was depressed for quite a long time now and had forced her to see a doctor. But none of them had any idea that Muskaan was suffering from Bipolar Disorder.
Being a medical student herself, Tarika knew that it was not totally curable but with the right dose of medicine it could be kept under control. And she was ready to be there for her friend and give her all the help she needed.
But this was the last thing that she had expected from her. But she knew that she could in no way blame her for this.
After sometime,
She lit a pot and took a sip from the bottle of Smirnoff. She knew what was doing was wrong but for the past few months she had found solace in it. It helped her to stay happy.
"But why am I sad?" She asked herself for the umpteenth time. "I've got everything that I could've asked for. Then why the hell am I sad?"
But she didn't care if she was happy or sad anymore. She knew that whatever be her mood it would take only a moment to turn into its opposite.
"I should say sorry to Devyana." She thought as she opened the second bottle of Smirnoff that night.
She popped another pill and heard that the phone on the other end ringing.
"Hello. Sub-inspector Devyana speaking." She heard her say.
"Devyana I'm sorry." She came straight to the point.
"Muskaan?" She could sense confusion in her voice.
She was the last person that Devyana had expected a call from. And Muskaan calling her up to apologise to her was a thing straight out of her dream.
"I'm going on a break. Make the most of the chance that you're getting." Muskaan slurred.
Devyana was left confused once again. It sound so like Muskaan and yet unlike Muskaan.
"Th-Thanks" She tried her best to keep her confusion out of her voice.
"Well, gotta go now. Bye." Muskaan said before disconnecting the call.
She took a big swig from the newly opened bottle as she dialed Tarika's number. She heard her phone ring but before she could hear her voice she felt a sudden darkness engulfing her.
After a few hours,
She scrunched up her face as the sunlight fell on her eyes. She sat up straight and rubbed her eyes with her hands. She could hear hushed voices in her drawing room. She tiptoed out there to see what the matter was. To her surprise she saw her whole team as well as some of her close friends and neighbors standing there, discussing something. All of them bore a gloomy look on their faces.
She wondered what the matter was.
"Drug overdose." Declared a voice behind her, startling her.
She looked around to see Dr. Salunkhe coming out of her bedroom.
"Is she d-dead?" Tarika had to struggle a lot to bring out the last word.
"I'm sorry, my child. But yes, she is." Dr Salunkhe said in a sympathetic voice.
"Dead? Did I kill someone?" Fearing trouble, Muskaan rushed inside her bedroom.
She was confused to see a girl's dead body lying in there.
"Where did she come from?" She wondered as she went closer.
As she turned the girl she had a shock of her life. The girl was none other than Muskaan herself. She heard a sniff behind her. She turned around to see Abhijeet entering the room.
"See, I left. You don't have to worry about the mad woman now." She hissed and took a few steps towards him. But to her utter horror, he walked right through her.
Horrified, she went outside once again and tapped a crying Tarika on her shoulder.
"Hey! I'm right here." She screamed her lungs out. But it was a futile attempt on her part because her friend showed no sign that she had heard her.
"Dumbo! I'm fine." She screamed again.
But when no one looked up, she went back to her bedroom to check herself in the mirror and wished that she didn't.
"I'm so sorry Muskaan. I misunderstood you. I never knew you'll go away like this." She heard Abhijeet say in between sobs. "Please give me one more chance. Please come back."
"Dead people don't come back sir." She said in a somber voice.
By now, she was sure that she dead. It's just that she didn't know when she had died. But to confirm her doubts, she turned towards the mirror to check.
But as soon as she looked into it, she found that the mirror had turned into a tunnel with a very bright light at the end of it.
With a sigh, she took one last glance at the man who had just proposed her dead body and started her journey through the tunnel.
A/N: Friends, with the end of this story, I'm taking a break from writing FanFics till I get over my writer's block.