The next morning felt heavier than usual.
I hadn't slept properly.
That woman's voice kept replaying in my head.
Nervous. Shaky. Wrong.
At 7:12 AM, my phone rang.
Adray.
I almost didn't pick up.
But something inside me knew.
"Hello?" I whispered.
"Ashu…"
His voice was tight.
Controlled.
Like he was holding something back.
"What happened?" I asked.
Silence.
Then—
"Shivrit… took his own life."
For a second—
I didn't understand the sentence.
It didn't register.
"What?" I said.
"He's gone, Ashu."
Gone?
"What do you mean gone?"
"He… he's not here anymore."
No.
No.
"That's not funny," I said sharply.
"This isn't a joke."
"Ashu, I'm at his house."
My heart started pounding violently.
"No."
"He—"
"No!" I screamed.
"This can't happen! We were laughing yesterday!"
My mind refused to accept it.
Yesterday afternoon we were teasing each other.
Yesterday he told me to call.
Yesterday he was normal.
How can someone go from laughing…
To gone?
"I'm coming," I said.
I don't even remember how I reached there.
Everything felt blurry.
Voices. People. Whispers.
And then I saw him.
White.
Covered in white cloth.
Still.
Too still.
Motionless.
The boy who could never sit quietly.
The boy who was always restless.
The boy who said he couldn't live without me.
Lying there like he had nothing left to say.
My knees gave up.
I don't remember screaming.
I don't remember crying.
I just remember the feeling—
Like something inside my chest had been ripped out.
It felt like some part of me died that day.
For days after that—
My mind kept replaying everything.
What went wrong?
What happened?
Was it me?
Was it some girl?
Was it Tina?
Was it the fights?
Was it the money?
Was it something I said?
If I had called earlier…
If I had stepped out of the movie…
If I had insisted…
If I had given him what he wanted…
Would he still be alive?
Questions don't stop when someone dies.
They multiply.
And they haunt.
Because now—
There was no one left to answer them.