The alarm blared on, but Bhairavi's sleep was unbroken. Having stayed up till two in the morning, reading the first four chapters of 'Das Mahavidya', she had lost track of time. By the time she finished reading about Maa Bhuvaneshvari, she had fallen asleep gazing at the eternal motherly face of the Adi Parishakti, the Primary Supreme Being, the Mother of Creation.

Her peaceful slumber was broken by an anxious Namma, who informed her that she was an hour late for college and asked if she wanted to take the day off. Scrambling to get ready, Bhairavi tried to remember what she was dreaming about but the details had faded already. All she remembered was sketchy details of a face.

Another thing which troubled her was how she slept peacefully, as her mind had been troubled, and a couple of days ago her dreams had been nightmares. Shaking off her apprehensions for the present, she rushed to college, after taking the leftovers and her lunch, kissing Namma's cheek on the way out, much to her delight.

An hour and a half late, Bhairavi decided to attend the third class and entered college after giving away the night's leftovers to the old beggar who smiled toothily at her before thanking her. It had been almost a month since she had entered the college canteen.

Headphones in place, she ordered a tea in the canteen by scribbling in her notebook, ignoring the surprised, curious, and pitiful stares. She was used to those by now, though the pity still ticked her off. She needed nobody's pity.

Smiling a little at the man who served the tea, she decided to sit in a corner and look around. Seeing the laughing groups and happy couples, she felt a twinge of sadness. She had once been a part of that crowd as well, unburdened and carefree, filled with joy and light.

Now, she was in perpetual night, which was soothing and safe, but a little sad at times. Hearing the distant notes of guitar, she smiled wistfully. The headphones were in place only to cut herself off from the world, she did not listen to music anymore. Once upon a time, she used to sing while her boyfriend played the guitar. Now...well, she liked being quiet, enjoyed the stillness of sound. Dr. Bagchi had been clear about her selective mutism, it was less of trauma and more of self preservation in her case.

A cry of anguish broke her train of thoughts. Somebody was going on and on about how she had lost her wallet. Sipping at the almost cold tea, Bhairavi saw that it was her class mate Mayuri, who had been her first friend in college, her favorite tea buddy, and had gifted her a beautiful red kaftan on her twentieth birthday.

Chuckling to herself internally at how strangely she kept track of people based on random facts and memories, Bhairavi threw her empty cup away and started walking towards the source of chaos. On the way, she decided to try something to quench her own curiosity.

Concentrating hard on Mayuri and her wallet, she began to wonder where it would be. Her ears felt hot, and the rest of her began to feel cold, while the necklace warmed at the base of her throat. Whispers of Mayuri's thoughts and memories, if they were indeed hers and not Bhairavi's imagination, crowded in her mind as she sifted through them, looking for the wallet.

A headache sprang into existence, though milder than normal, making her slightly dizzy. Suddenly she saw a memory where there was a sensation of the wallet falling off while Mayuri and her friends were joking and pushing each other around. Opening her eyes, Bhairavi felt a little scared but more excited.

Mayuri saw her coming and forgetting all about her absence in the first class and their recent distance, ran to ask her if she had seen her wallet. Bhairavi quickly wrote in her notebook, 'No. But when do you remember last seeing or holding it?'

"Umm....I think it was in geography class. We were giggling and pushing each other...maybe it had fallen then. I think I will go and check it," Mayuri answered, before her eyes widened and she realized she was talking to Bhairavi after so long.

'Here, take some money incase your wallet was stolen. You can return it if you don't need it.’

After writing this, Bhairavi handed Mayuri some money. A gob smacked Mayuri stared at her, not knowing what to say. Waving goodbye, Bhairavi left for her next class. A knot seemed to slightly loosen in her chest, she had lowered her barrier and taken a very small step towards friendship again. Maybe college will become bearable at this rate in the near future.

After her classes were over, Bhairavi was leaving college when Mayuri caught up with her, panting, "Hey, Bhairavi, hey, wait a minute please. Please." She turned and stared at her, surprised. "I...thank you. You were right, I found my wallet in a classroom, thankfully the money and all were intact. Here...your money." Bhairavi resisted taking the money and wrote, 'Please do not return the money, I will feel bad. And, I did nothing other than point out where you might have lost it, nothing to thank me for.'

But Mayuri insisted, "No, if not for you, I would not have remembered about geography class at all, since I left with my friends before the teacher came."

Sighing, Bhairavi wrote, "Fine. You are welcome," and turned to leave.

"Wait. Umm. Actually, I came to invite you to my engagement party. It is next week." Before she could react or refuse, "I know you will not take the money, so you have to come to my party." Mayuri seemed to be convincing herself as well as Bhairavi. Knowing that Mayuri would see through any excuses she offered at this point, almost regretfully, Bhairavi conceded, 'Congratulations, is it with Rakesh?'

"Yes! He proposed two weeks ago! Our families are so happy, they wanted to get the engagement done so that we can finish our degrees and then get married." Bhairavi smiled at that, she did miss her pragmatic friend a little in those moments of weakness and self pity. Mayuri seemed to sense her wariness, because she simply handed her the invitation card with a knowing smile, patted her arm and let her be, "Hope to see you, Bhairavi. Bye."

Bhairavi waved at her with a sinking feeling, and resumed her journey to the bus stand. Crap, she had no way out now. A little angry at herself, she wondered how she got coerced into going, for she was not in a better mind space yet. It was not that she could not stand seeing their happiness, instead she would have felt sad about not being there for a relationship she had seen blossom and flourish, but....she loathed crowds. She could not bear being in a room, surrounded by dancing, drunk people while she pretended to belong.

Irked, Bhairavi sat on the bus, but her mind wandered off to her unbelievable feat in the canteen. She wondered if, somehow, she could actually read minds or sense the thoughts and feelings of a person if she really concentrated on it. Also, it seemed that the necklace played a key role in it.

As the bus rumbled homeward, Bhairavi made a mental list of strange happenings. The telepathic abilities, the necklace growing hot, and the physical symptoms. Dizziness, headache, ears feeling hot, rest of her body feeling cold, though the symptoms had considerably lessened since the first time.

Deciding to try it on the bus, she stared at the bus conductor and was about to concentrate on him and find out his name when her eyes caught a man rubbing himself on a lady as she squirmed in discomfort. The bus was quite crowded and Bhairavi had got a seat, but the lady had entered late and had to stand near the front of the bus. Disgusted and livid, she concentrated hard on the man, directing a lot of her anger and screamed in her mind, 'LET HER GO'.

Almost immediately the man reacted as if someone had yelled in his ears, as he jumped back, and stepped on someone's foot, before clutching the crotch of his pants and shouted in agony. His pants were wet and from the reaction to the smell by the people near him, it was not urine. The man half sat on the ground, half on others' feet and kept screaming in pain, as his pants grew wetter. The man could not stop ejaculating violently, and it seemed he did not find pleasure in it anymore.

Not waiting to see the rest, Bhairavi got down at the next stop. It was still far from her area, but she decided to walk. Taking deep breaths to calm her racing mind, she wondered what on earth had happened. She had only concentrated on directing her rage and inserting her words into the man's mind. Instead, she had not only screamed in his mind, but also, somehow, made the man's genitals malfunction.

Confused at the way things were going, she wondered if these...powers were harmful. But she would have to see the extent to which they functioned before taking a call. And, to be honest, she did not regret what she did, if it had been her indeed, to the man. The pervert deserved it and more. For a moment, Bhairavi reveled in the powerful feeling of righteousness before sobering, she would have to find out more about these so called powers before using it aggressively again. For all she knew, she could end up killing someone.

Deep in thoughts, Bhairavi crossed the busy street full of shops, and stopped in front of the bookstore. She needed to buy a couple of notebooks, as the one she normally used was completely filled. Also, she felt an urge to see the owner of the shop. She could not explain the pull, it was more of curiosity than attraction, though Samanya had been an attractive boy...no, man.

Also, the fact that her vision had flickered around him yesterday, made her feel that there was more to him than what he led on. All her bouts of dizziness were connected, she felt, and if she had been dizzy or seen something out of ordinary, she would not ignore it. After all, if she could not trust her senses and basic instinct, where did that leave her? Taking a deep breathe, Bhairavi entered the book store.

A/N