The girl opened her eyes, and unlike the dark, unfamiliar, uncomfortable and sorrowful atmosphere from earlier, this was completely opposite. She could see and feel a bright, familiar, comfortable and happy atmosphere.
A man in his early 30s stood there, wearing a doctor's coat over a red shirt and blue jeans. His spectacles were shining due to the reflection of lights. That man was standing in front of her, calling her, "good evening Shringar."
Shringar was lying on a comfortable bed with saline drip and a vitals sign monitor connected to her. She felt really confused since she could not remember a single thing from her past, but she had the feeling that the nightmare she just saw had some basis in reality. She felt utterly blank, and the person standing in front of her bed seemed like a doctor to her. He also seemed pretty compassionate.
"I am Dr. Nitish Das. I am a doctor, as you can see, and also your cousin. Since you lost your memories, I will remind you of everything from now on. This is my house; you are here right now," the doctor said while smiling.
"I really do not know which question I should start with, since I am utterly clueless about almost everything related to me," Shringar thought to herself. At the same time, Shringar does not feel well due to lack of vitality. She stayed on complete bedrest until she recovered.
After three days of complete rest and being taken care by Dr. Nitish and nurses, Shringar slowly began asking questions since she started to feel more or less comfortable now.
She asked, " I want to know about my family. Who are my parents? Do I have a sister?"
For a moment Nitish just stared at her, then answered, " Your father's name was Abhigyan Das and your mother's name was Sharmistha Das. Yes, you had an older sister as well. Her name was Ananya Das. But do you remember anything about them? You asked about your sister as if you were sure you had one. Was it just a feeling."
Since Shringar was comfortable with her cousin, she recounted everything about the nightmare, which she could not properly recall herself. Nitish's eyes widened, but he did not say anything and listened to what Shringar had to say.
After hearing her nightmare, Nitish decided to tell her what had happened to her and her family.
"As far as I know you and your family went for a trip to Banquet Lake 245. One night, someone entered your guesthouse and killed every member of your family. But before that man could kill you, the police arrived, and he ran off. The police are still investigating the case, and the autopsy of your family members gave us the clue that they were killed by a sledgehammer, struck on the head. For some reason, the police told me they will give us the bodies for Antim Sanskar (last rites) later."
Nitish said this hesitantly, knowing well enough that this incident might traumatize her, but he thought that she should know the truth. It was definitely difficult for Shringar to fathom, but she still swallowed the truth and asked about the progress of the police investigation and whether she would have to go in for a testimony.
Nitish said, "I asked them not to disturb you until you recover, and since you have lost your memories, they planned on working on the case without your testimony. But if you want, I can ask them to come. And I do not know much about the progress of the case since it is confidential. So tell me, should I ask the police? I guess they should know about your nightmare."
Shringar refused and said, "It is alright, let me try to remember more, and then I will talk to the police since this much information is not enough to find anything."
Shringar got curious about why she was not in a hospital but instead in Nitish's house. Nitish got up and started preparing dinner. While doing so, he answered, "Your father told me about some strange incidents which took place just recently before his death."
"What kind of incidents?" Shringar asked while trying to sound calm. "I don't know exactly…. Something about stalking and some sort of disturbance which he did not openly talk about, so he told me that he was trying to keep his family as safe as possible. That is why I decided to keep you here and not in my hospital. I want to keep you safe without taking any sort of risk. I even asked the police for permission, telling them about your father's suspicion and they accepted my demand." Shringar started thinking hard for days, and now it has been a week. Nitish seemed concerned about her.
Shringar saw a novel and asked Nitish if he liked reading. "Sometimes," Nitish answered while looking at a pamphlet. For some reason, Shringar got interested in the book and started reading it right away, as if she was familiar with this posture or perhaps reading novels had been her hobby all along.
Nitish gave her the pamphlet which he was holding a few minutes ago. It was about a free counseling session in an amphitheater format. If they become interested, they could opt free trial session for a month.
Shringar thought to herself, "I do not have much faith in these free services, but before I could say something, the look in Nitish's eyes explained that he would not listen, and going to the session was a forceful obligation, since Nitish was very concerned about my mental health."
The next morning, she went to the "Free Counseling Session of Devki Psychiatry Institution".
Shringar went there early and sat in the waiting area. The atmosphere of that place felt as though Shringar was waiting in an hospital. She started reading the novel which she found in Nitish's house. The name of the novel was "Cryptic Memories."
"It is about a little girl who lost her whole family and is in a village full of mysteries. She feels like a wanderer who is trying to find the truth of her life and mind. She is trying to escape the village and find her family's killer." Shringar thought to herself while reading the chapters.
Shringar felt familiarity with that girl since her situation was similar. That is when she heard someone's familiar footsteps coming towards her. When she looked up, she saw a handsome boy about her age, wearing a blue sweatshirt, black jeans, and boots of the same colour, pass her with a neutral expression and start looking around the hall. Shringar felt as though she knew him.
Suddenly, a lady came out of the classroom and asked them to enter since the session would begin within ten minutes. Shringar noticed that there were some more people of different generations gathered to take the free class.
The boy introduced himself to her since they were both from the same generation. "My name is Sanskar Adhikari," the boy said with a smile. Shringar replied, "Nice to meet you. My name is Shringar Das." They started making small talk and sat together in the last row since they had entered from the back. When almost everyone settled down, a girl about their age, with pink hair and wearing a white shirt and peach short skirt, came running in with great anxiety.
"SORRY TO BE LATE!" she screamed and noticed that nobody really cared about that except for Shringar and Sanskar. The girl got embarrassed and started walking in to get a seat.
Shringar said with a faint smile, "The session has not started yet."
Hearing that, the girl felt better and sat besides Shringar on the left. She introduced herself, "My name is Elina Fernandez. It is really nice to meet you."
Shringar smiled and introduced herself to Elina and soon realized that Elina was an extrovert, unlike herself. Sanskar also joined their chat, and Shringar felt nice to see two extroverts talking to her casually. She started to feel good in this new atmosphere.