Atharv was greatly disturbed by what had happened that morning; he blankly stared outside his balcony window. He gazed at the countless people rushing towards their homes as it was almost time for the Curfew. The light of the flickering solar conduit reflected on his face. He was then distracted by the knock on his door.

He turned to see his mother rushing to the door, opening it for her father to enter. The turning to him.

"At least get the door", she tells Atharv.

Atharv's father enters the house with a bag in hand. Keeping the bag near the sofa he starts opening his shoes and socks. His father then turning his gaze towards him.

"What's up son?"

Atharv simply nods

"By the way, I have news for you Rhea will back in town sometime next week. Nishant was chatting on and on about it.", his father further adds.

Rhea and Atharv had known each other since they were kids. He had first met her when he was around twelve years old. Her father and Atharv's father were business associates in the past. She was always good and kind to him. Rhea had been born in a very strict household that was sometimes unnecessarily hard on her. They'd see each other as companions whenever life was difficult and this companionship soon blossomed into love. She had always been the smarter one when it came to academics. After they completed school her father sent her to an institution that specializes in teaching 'Energy cores' and 'Conduit Augmentation'. Atharv had last seen her when she had come back for her semester break four months ago, so he felt happy that she'd be back especially given his current situation.

Smiling at his father he kept thinking about what transpired today.

"Hey, you can tell me if there is anything bothering you?", Atharv's father asks looking a little concerned.

After a significant pause, Atharv speaks, "How do you know which is the right decision? Which is the right path to take?"

Atharv's father had a bit of a worried expression on hearing his words, but after a few moments with a relaxed face he tells him;

"You never know, the only way to know is when you choose your path and walk that path. See Atharv the thing is that the paths, they never matter what matters is how you manage the obstacles on the way."

He looks at his father with a short smile, what he said did make sense. But still, he wasn't sure. He had always been like this since he was a kid. He never had faith in his own decisions. In fact, it was worse when he was younger, his confidence got a boost only after he met Om and Yasu. They were the only friends he had ever known and yet he couldn't stand up even for them. Even after all these years at the core he hadn't changed, this thought was now driving him mad.

"Believe in yourself Atharv. Don't be afraid of your own capabilities or the possibilities.", his father tells him with a warm smile.

Atharv looks back at him, this time with a genuine smile.

"I want to Papa but......I...am good for nothing. I've done nothing significant in life while everyone is on their way to achieve something. I feel like I'm just a spectator. I...I...don't want that, I detest being the audience."

"Then stop procrastinating and do something!", his father asserts

"What something! That's what everyone keeps telling me.....do something....take action........but actions have consequences and how can I do something when I....when I....."

"Don't be like that, tell me.....what are you so scared of?", his father enquires.

"I feel everyone in this world is assigned a purpose....like it's pre-ordained or something and people spend their whole lives trying to fulfill this destined role or in some cases a self-assigned role. But everyone instead of being thankful is afraid of their purpose, scared of seeing it through, intimidated by the fact that they might not live up to it. And I find that so funny and unfair because my greatest fear is that I'll never know my purpose. To not know what I'm meant to do. I don't want to watch anymore I want to be on that stage too and do something....I want to play my part for you, for Mumma. A place where I have my own audience.", Atharv pauses to look at his father.

"Unfortunately you don't make a place like that son, you take it from someone else. Some people might say not taking action is an act of cowardice but to not act also needs restraint. You need to be really strong to practice restraint.", his father advises.

Atharv chuckling replies, "You always find something good in everything papa."

"That's my purpose, after all, it's small but it made you crack up. You'll do what needs to be done... I know that", He looks at Atharv with an expression of assurance.

***

The next day as Atharv was heading to college, He kept thinking about his father's words from the previous day.

He reaches the college gate and sees that it's completely crowded with people and a small old solar-powered ambulance van parked right outside. He curiously asks one of the bystanders who replies that there was a huge fight in college. Atharv was surprised that something like this transpired in college. He could then see a few men escorting a body on a stretcher. He went ahead to check on who it was, his curiosity getting the better of him. As his eyes tried to find out who it was he saw Yasu walking by the body, she looked completely devastated and in tears.

Atharv shocked on seeing Yasu's expression rushed towards the van, he tried to reach out to Yasu, but they boarded the body on the van and left, leaving Yasu behind as there wasn't space for more people. As the crowd settled Atharv walked towards Yasu who was still standing there completely spaced out. Atharv shook Yasu to get her consciousness kicked in.

When Yasu saw Atharv, she couldn't hold back her tears and she broke down.

"Yasu, Are you okay? What happened?"

Her voice completely broken, speaking unclearly, "that was Om...."

Atharv's hand that was patting Yasu suddenly stopped his face of concern turning into an expression of horror

Yasu adds on while still crying, "He saw that I was extremely upset and nudged me to tell him. When I told him what had transpired he completely freaked out. He went to confront Vijay. He did this because of me......because of me....he's dead."

***

A tall young man paces across the classroom like a mad man, his wheat-colored face was red. He went from classroom to classroom sparing a single glace inside. This process finally came to a halt when his eyes fell upon the person he was looking for. Om stood at the classroom gate staring at Vijay who was in the room with five other boys. Their gaze meet and Om enters the classroom. Vijay says something to him but Om was flushed with anger, his body was burning and everything that came out of Vijay's mouth fell on his deaf ears, to him they were just taunts. He straight away went up to Vijay and punched him in his face without any restraint. Vijay taking the support of the bench next to him somehow maintained his balance. He held his nose as it was bleeding but Om held him by the shirt and punched him again throwing him to the ground. As he again stepped forward to hit Vijay the other boys held him back. As Om struggled he kicked and punched the other boys who also fought back and hit Om. In this madness, a straight punch landed on Om's face who lost his balance and hit his head on the edge of the table as he fell. He fell to the ground instinctively holding the back of his head as he was bleeding while the other boys kept pounding on him. In the midst of this Vijay got up who had now recovered and was extremely furious without noticing the injury his friends had inflicted on Om, he started kicking him in the face. They kept pounding him again and again till one of them noticed that he was not moving. As this realization seeped into the mind of the other boys they stopped to check his vital signs, they were medical students and smart to realize that there were no vital signs. He was dead.

***

Atharv very softly asks, "Yasu, Where are they?"

Story By: Four Eighty One

Art By: Sakshi Chokhani

(The Story, Characters and Art are all original pieces of work, kindly refrain from using them without permission)

Chapter 5: The Awakening Part 2 releases tomorrow