"HELP.... I NEED YOU..... GET ME OUT OF HERE..... HELPPPPP..!!"
I woke up startled....
Again, it was the dream. Or should I call nightmare. The same nightmare I have been getting for past several months.
I have been dreaming about her. But why?.... Why am I getting the same dream over and over again.
Where is she ?
Why is she calling for help?
Is she in danger ?
My mind filled with unanswered questions and thoughts. I need to find her. I look at the time. Surely, it's 3 AM. every time I woke up from this nightmare. At this exact same time .
There is something I need to find.
I lay down on my bed, staring at the ceiling, remembering my childhood. I was not born here in New York city. I was born in India. My parents died when I was born and I never knew the reason. All I know is that I had her since birth. The last time I saw her was when we were 3. That's the only memory I still remember about her.
3 YEARS OLD
I am in the orphanage garden. Sitting on the small swing, my feet dangling, grazing the grass on the ground as I sway slowly. We are going to get adopted tomorrow, we will finally have parents. I wonder if they will love us.
As I was lost in my thoughts, I heard a sweet voice. There she is, my twin sister.
"Saumya… Look… I found a butterfly," she shouts, running towards me excitedly. Butterflies are her favourite. She loves catching and playing with them. "Let me see, let me see." I squeal and ran to meet her halfway. I also love butterflies but she is in love with them. "See it has yellow wings," she holds it in front of me like a trophy she just won. "But it's dead, Seema." I point sadly to the lifeless creature in her hand. She looks at it with sadness. "Ohh.... Do you think it went to maa and papa?", she asks hopefully. "I hope she tells them that how much we miss them," I add softly.
After a few minutes of silence, she says with a pat on my shoulder, "Don't be sad Saumya we will meet our new parents tomorrow and they will love us." "You are right Seema we will have parents too, then we'll catch a lot of butterflies with them," I tell her, throwing my hands around her and wrapping her in hug with excitement making her squeal with joy. "Let's bury this butterfly so that it can rest." I point at her hand. She nods and we both bury the poor butterfly near a tree.
After washing our hands, we walk back to the ground. I pinch Seema's cheek playfully and run away before she could do the same. She shrieks with excitement and run to catch me. Just then Rishav came and pushed her. she falls down with a painful yelp. I know he did that intentionally because this guy always tries to bully Seema.
"Can't you see where you are going!!" he shouts at her. "Don't yell at my sister. You are the one who pushed her," I shout back and kneel before my sister, wiping the tears trailing down her rosy cheeks. They pick on her because she soft and doesn't like to fight. But I am not scared of fighting them. "So, what huh? It's not like she can do anything other than crying." He smirks and tries to push me as well but before he could I stand and punch him in the nose. "Aaahhhhhh…" he fell on the ground clutching his nose and crying is pain. "She cannot but I surely can… This is for pushing her..." I stare down at him. Everyone has gathered around us. Seema tries to take me away pulling me by my hand.
"SAUMYAAAAA…" The owner shout coming out of her office towards me. She was in saree as usual, she is in her 40s. She walks to me, fuming with anger. I hate her and she hates me too saying I am a trouble maker but all I do is defend sister because she is my only family.
"Can't you stop fighting for once. You almost broke his nose... He is bleeding." She starts yelling at me. "But he was the one who pushed Seema. Why are you not scolding him?" I answer her back. "Don't you dare speak back to me. I'll deal with you later." She then turns toward him and start fussing over him
I feel a soft hand wrapping around mine. Seema pulls me by my hand start to walk toward the room while crying. "Don't fight Saumya or she will separate us." One more thing I hate her for as she always separates me from Seema as a punishment. And she absolutely loves to give me punishments. But tomorrow, everything will be over, we'll get adopted and would never see her face again. I wipe Seema's tears, smiling at the thought.
"We'll be free from tomorrow and no one will hurt you." "Pro..promise?" she hiccups while holding her pinky finger towards me."Pinky vala promise. Mai hmesha hu tumhare saath. I would never let anyone hurt you Seema " I promise, linking my pinky with hers.
The next morning me and Seema are waiting for our (to be) parents to arrive. We wore our favourite twin dress- not that we have much to choose from. Other than the color the dress is same, hers white and mine black.
"I need to pee. I'll be right back. Don't leave without me." I tell my sister with a fake glare. She giggles and says "never" with a smile. I drop my glare and smile back before walking to the bathroom to pee. After washing my hand, I tried to open the door it was locked.
Nooo.. it can't be-
"Help!!!" I shout, banging my hands on the door. "I am locked in here." Ohh noo.. Seema will be scared if I didn't go back to her… She will c-
A laugh sounded from outside. It's the owner. "You'll stay here. They are only here for your sister. Children like you never gets parents."
I banged on the door with all my power. "NOOOO... YOU CAN'T TAKE MY SISTER AWAY…OPEN THE DOOR…SH-SHE WILL BE SO SCARED ALONE…OPEN T-THE DOOR…. PLEASE..OPEN THE DOOR…" I shout angrily, tears blurring my eyes. My hands hurt from hitting the door repeatedly."They will take your sister away. I only put your sister for adoption, not you." She laughs."No please… let me…let me go she is my only family." I plead but she left. Leaving me crying and shouting after her.
My tears didn't stop. I passed out from all the crying. After an hour or something, someone opened the door but my sister was long gone.
And I never knew where they took her.
PRESENT
I fell asleep crying, remembering the memories, the pain.
Loud ringing from my alarm woke me up at 8 AM. I sit on my bed, grumbling about the necessity of waking up this early. Light is coming from the parted curtains of my window filing the room. My room is quite big with a queen size bed with a bed bench and a coffee table in front of it. There are some more required furniture like a desk and a chair beside the window with shelves above it. And more bookshelves all across the room. I had decorated my room with dark contrast colors. People think it's creepy but for me it's beautiful and that's what all I care about. People can go to hell for all I care. I stand up and start to freshen up. After brushing my teeth, I get downstairs.
"Good morning, princess," my father greets me with the biggest smile on his face and my mood instantly gets lighten up. "Good morning, dad," I reply with a smile, hugging him. "What would you like for breakfast?" My other dad asked. That's right, I was adopted by both my dads- Nikolai Sokolov and Brandon King. The most feared mafia kings who love each other to death.
When my paa (Bran) saw my photo up for adoption, he instantly fell in love with me. And my dad (Niko) never says no to him. So, at the age of 4, I got adopted in the mafia family where I got more love than I ever dreamed of. People are scared of my dad, but my dad played dress up with me so that he could match with his princess and paa was in so much awe of us that he made a painting of me and dad in our princess dress. I remember when i got my first period, my dads freaked out totally. They left all their work just to cuddle with me all day and it is highlight of my life till now when the three of us spend time together cuddling and bed rotting. My dad also taught me how to fight and how to use a gun. He says I am the lethal princess.
They both shower me will love and care more than I deserve to be honest. But at the same time let me be independent and strong because, after all I am also a mafia.
"Just usual pancakes," I answer my paa. He is in the kitchen, me and dad sitting together on the table waiting for breakfast. Paa loves to make breakfast for us and dad loves to just admire him doing his work around the kitchen. Whenever he tries to help, he gets scolded for making a mess. That's why he is sitting with me here, waiting.
"What's bothering you princess?" Dad asks while paa make his way towards us with breakfast and the sweetest smile as he puts the pancakes in front of me and hugs me. "Is something wrong, sweetheart? You know you can share anything with us." Paa tells me with a hint of worry in his voice. "Umm... There is something I need to talk to you both about." I say hesitantly but I guess it's the time I do this. They both are sitting beside me. "Tell me who I need to kill?" Dad says, seriously. Paa rolled his eyes at him. "Niko, let her say first. Don't need to get too far….. yet.." Paa tells dad and I laugh lightly shaking my head at their possessiveness. They always react like this over me, more so dad. Can't expect any less from them.
"Actually… I want to visit the orphanage." They both look at me for a second, then paa asked, "Is there a particular reason for that? I mean you can But I just wanted to know if there's something wrong? So that we can fix it." I know they won't say no, they are just worried for me and I don't want to worry them more by telling about the nightmares and the reason, that I want to find out about my sister. "There is no particular reason. I just feel like I want to visit and wanted your permission. Trust me you don't need to worry about me." I wink at them. After few moments of silence, dad sighs. "You don't need to ask for permission, princess. You are an adult and we know you can handle yourself. As long as you are not in any danger, we are more than happy to send you." It was a relief hearing them say this. I surely have the best parents. "Do you want us to come with you?" "No paa, I want to do this on my own. I'll be alright, I promise." "Okay then, whatever makes you happy makes us happy. Now finish your breakfast." Paa says. I smile and the three of us had our breakfast together with lots of laugh and love.
After the breakfast i went upstairs to get ready to leave for my apartment. Since I am in the mafia, my parents decided to keep me hidden until I want to take over. Because I am their only child, they wanted me to be safe and away from potential threats. So, for the outside world I am just a normal girl with normal parents. My fake mother is a trained assassin in Bratva for the mafia world or for those who know about mafia and for rest of them, she is just a normal cook (who was once professional) for my actualadoptive parents. But in reality, she is their most trusted employee. That's why I have an apartment and come to sleep here on weekends to spend time with my dads. And my fake father is a real estate agent for everyone but actually he is my bodyguard.
After getting ready, I looked in the mirror seeing dark brown eyes staring back. I'm wearing a black jean with grey top and a leather jacket. My hairs, just like my eyes- are dark brown and mid length. They are open right now. I'm actually Indian so, my skin tone is lighter shade of brown. After looking and being satisfied with my look, I go downstairs to hug and say goodbye to my dads."Take Anderson with you when you go." Dad tells me in a serious tone and there is no room for arguments. So, I just nod and leave for my apartment.
I need to plan about how would I find about my sister once I get to the orphanage. I remember when I was adopted, I told dads about her. They tried to find her but found that she was adopted out of India and the parents disappeared after the adoption. I guess it's time I find the truth. There is a reason I am getting those dreams.
I reach my apartment and go to my room.
My apartment is big and I have guards around as workers in case of emergencies. But my all-time fav and crime partner (and my fake father) is Mr. Anderson. He is handsome and a big man. 6ft, muscular and all.
He stays in casual wear to not get attention and stay anonymous. He is in his late 40s and is intimidating but with me, he is less of a danger and more of a protector. He sometimes smiles, sometimes being the keyword here.
"Hello partner!! How's your day going?" I greet him, lifting my hand for high-five. "Good." He answers holding up his palm meeting me halfway, with his usual poker face. "Can you book our flight for India." "Sure." Sighs*Always one-word answers. So, now I need to go to orphanage. I need answers.Where is she? It's time I find out but where should I start. I was in my deep thoughts when it struck me there is only one person who would have the answers.Let's see how it turns out. "The flight is scheduled for next week, princess." Mr. Anderson said.
Next week in India (Mumbai)
We landed at the Mumbai airport and took a taxi to Dharavi, where my old orphanage is.
After reaching, I push the rusty iron gate. It opens with a squeak. Mr. Anderson is behind me. All the kids are playing laughing. After the gate, there was that garden. I see the same treewhere we had buried the butterfly and the swing but it was broken now, just like my memories of her.
I took a Deep breath and went into the office. It's a small room with a wooden cupboard on side which has lots of paper, I assume they are the documents about the kids. In the middle there is a wooden table with a chair. Then I saw her, the witch. She looks a bit older but with the same nasty attitude. She adjusts her glasses with a fake smile after noticing us. "Yes? How can I help you?" I smile and take a seat in front of her and Mr. Anderson sits beside me. "Hello!! I am Ashley… Or should I say Saumya..." I said with a sharp smile. Her face paled after hearing my name. She looks a little uncomfortable now. Good. As she should be. I feel a little satisfied because she doesn't know what I am going to do to her. But first, I need information. "H..hii… Saumya… You have grown so much. Is there a particular re..reason you are here for?" She asks, visibly hesitant. She glances at me then at the man besides me, who is giving her death stare. Go Andy!! That's why he is my partner, he knows who we hate without me saying anything. I smirk and lean on the desk between us, resting my elbows on it. "I just want to know one thing from you… Where is Seema and what you did to her??"