"Tanya, is It you?" My words stuttered. Is she for real, maybe she's a ghost. Are her legs visible? I casually looked down to her feet, which were standing firm on the ground. She even had her Adidas shoes on.

"Why, what's wrong Nats?" She sounded lively, wasn't she supposed to be dead? Has she come back to avenge her death, I shouldn't be talking to her; I was supposed to be running away from people who were alive, even the dead. Yet, I couldn't move a finger.

"You... You aren't dead. You are alive and breathing and..." My vision started to lose her focus, the background faded in, I could no longer see her, a bright white radiance and fairly that dimmed out as well. I tried to stay awake and not pass out, but the world around me was spinning so fast, it felt surreal. Tanya had avenged her death by taking away my life as well.

"I DIDN'T DO IT" were the final words that escaped from my lips.

***

People were walking in and out for the past few hours. The same old drama was being played before my eyes over and over again a countless number of times.

Muffled sobs, the ticking of the clocks, noisy phone ringtones, a loud whine, the passing of coffee mugs, new-borns screeching wails and once in a while the click of high - heels against the mosaic floor hurt my eardrums, the pale white dresses added gloom to the horrible drama that they enacted.

I stood near him, the only person who ever said that he loved me and had meant it. We built our lives together arguing and fighting. The humorous memories that we had shared can never be explained, in words.

We used to sneak out for late-night coffees, a long bike ride when my temperature was above 101°C. Movie nights at our place with crispy bucket chicken dipped in cheese along with a plate full of steaming hot Biryani.

A tall lady with perfectly straight hair, winged eyeliner, dark cherry red lipstick and crocodile tears embraced me. "I'm so sorry for your loss my child, It must be hard to cope up from your brother's loss. But you must be strong for the sake of your parents." and she went away.

Does she even know what I'm going through right now?

I have never seen her before. I have no clue what is the relationship she has with me, most of the people who have gathered here are complete strangers to me who are trying to portrait an image as they genuinely care for us.

Those were the kind of words I had been hearing for the past few days.

'For the sake of your parents' they aren't my real parents, I was their adopted daughter. What had they ever done for me? Why had they even adopted me, when all they could shower towards me was hatred? The only favour they desired from me was to stay away as far as possible. They scorned me for reasons I never knew.

Joy Hedge. Just as his name suggests has been my Joy and my strength ever since the day I first saw him near my orphanage premises.

He promised he would stay with me and would never leave. No one has ever kept their promises until the date.

'Promises are kept to be broken' - I should have known.

I stared back at his picture, the unkempt hair that he called was a fringe, would cover his forehead and sometimes even his eyes, I had once mocked him by saying "I know the reason why you never style your hair,"

He brought his face closer to mine; he blinked his dark brown chocolate eyes and tilted his neck crab-wise. "Your long hairs are the only weapons that armour you while you doze off to sleep during class." I said and he showed off his perfectly bright teeth and stuck his tongue out.

''Disgusting, you look disgusting" I placed my palm on his face and pushed him backwards.

It is surprising how he never got caught. I had always wondered, was his technique so smart that none of his teachers found out or were they owls, they couldn't see during the day.

The fact, that I wouldn't be seeing this shriek face at the wake of dawn. His hands would no longer be there to dismantle the faces that broke my heart. I wouldn't be able to rest my head on his lap as we gazed at the stars was depressing.

'Everything good ends soon. Just like how happiness vanishes into thin air even before you could feel it.'