A Nightmare in Disguise

I wiped away my tears and looked at Vishal with eyes still glistening with moisture. He knew something was wrong, even though he didn't know what had happened to make me cry. He hadn't seen me cry like this in years.

“Hey, I know you’re shaken up right now. I’ll listen to what you wanna say during lunch. If you don’t want Aashvi to know, we’ll deal with it after we get to the room after classes. Now get ready… Let’s head to the class.”

I was hesitant to tell Aashvi about this, but I was even more surprised when Vishal suggested that we keep her out of our discussions. Although we had only known each other for a short time, Aashvi knew me better than anyone else after Vishal. We had never been on bad terms, and there were only a few things that I kept from her. In fact, Vishal didn't even know some of them. I had a bad feeling about the day ahead.

We met Aashvi who was waiting at the entrance. I wanted to shake off the ominous morning experience and thought discussing it later would be better. Although Mythili was on my mind the entire time, I decided to distract myself. So, I took the initiative to greet Aashvi first.

“Hey, Aashvi! Morning!”

She freaked out immediately while Vishal took a step back.

“What’s wrong? Is there something on my face?” I asked with a nervous expression on my face.

“It’s just… It’s the first time you greeted me.” Aashvi whimpered.

“You’re kidding right.”

“Well, she had always been the first to greet you and you would just say ‘hi’ or something like that,” said Vishal with a smug face.

“For real?”

“Yeah.”

I should have noticed it by then, but I chose to ignore it since Myhtili was weighing down my mind. We went back to the dorm after a long day of classes and I sat face-to-face with Vishal in our room.

“So, what happened that got you all shaken up in the morning?”

I told him everything from when we met her until our pseudo-date.

“Well, she felt like someone who did exist because dreams won’t be this long and detailed but you’re telling me that I also spent time with her, of which I don’t remember a single thing. Are you sure you aren’t hypnotized by some shady cult or something?”

“You must’ve hit your head or something.”

“The way you’re saying… Fine. Let’s assume I did hit my head. At least Aashvi must know her since you told me they were together too. But man, why couldn’t you be a bit more friendly with her? She cares a lot about you too ya know.”

“Of course, I know. When were we ever on bad terms? Sure I tease her a bit for being too active but we are good friends too.”

“Did you dream again? Or did I forget the part where you’re buddies with Aashvi too?”

“You’re taking this joke way too far.”

“What else am I supposed to say? Sure you talk with her a bit. But that’s not even close to the way you are describing it.”

It was then it hit me. ‘Something felt off from the morning but now it’s all clear. Both of them are acting like different people. Or am I the different one? Is the way I described myself to them the ideal me that I was making up?’ Numerous thoughts flooded my mind and I was breathing heavily.

After a while, I calmed down and I had an idea.

“I’ll go out for a few minutes.”

“Wait! Where are you heading out?”

“Don’t worry I’ll just roam around and come back in a few minutes.”

I went out and called Aashvi.

“Hello”

“Hey… Ram.”

“You have a crush on Vishal don’t you?”

“How- No. No no no. Who told you such a baseless assumption.”

“You saw him treating that little animal and fell in love didn’t you?”

“How did you know that?”

“...”

“Come on! Tell me!!!”

“I observe people. I noticed how you’d blush around Vishal. Don’t worry I’ll support your dream in whatever way you’d want me to.”

Yes. That did sound like a stalker. But I couldn’t care less about that.

“You sound different. Were you always this cool? Anyways thanks a lot.”

“Oi. That sounded more like an insult than a compliment.”

“Hahaha. You’re back to normal.”

Thank god she’s dumb enough not to notice anything off about me. It seemed that she didn’t want to deny it, more like she couldn’t deny her feelings for him. Such pure love… But I was in no mood to continue her first crush conversation. I was finally sure that the ME they knew was different from me. I had to confirm a lot of things. I took out my phone to find the photos I took at the program in which my sister and Mythili both participated. As I expected, they weren’t on my phone.

I took a few days off and went home. The fact that I bought her her favorite watch means that she must know about Myhtili.

“Hey sis!”

“What?”

“Where’s the watch that I bought you?”

“Oh! Did you perhaps dream that you bought me one?”

“No”

“Then?”

“I’m asking about the one I bought after your performance in August.”

“Shut up will ya! I’m already pissed off that you didn’t come there and now you’re talking crap like you actually came there.”

“Wha-”

“If you got nothing else to say I’m gonna do my work.”

“...”

She started walking towards her room.

“Hey Tina!”

“What?”

“I’ll buy you that watch you’ve been eyeing as an apology for not attending your performance.”

“... For real?”

“Yeah. Anything I can for my dear little sister.”

“How did you become so cool? You seeing someone?”

“Shut up and do your work.”

“Yeah yeah.”

“Hey!”

“What?”

“Keep this a secret from Mom and tell me what you know about the girl named Mytili from your group.”

“Ah! So she’s the one huh.”

“You wish. Mom said she’s my junior and she’ll be joining our college so I was thinking of inviting her to our Phoenix club.”

“Are you a member of that club?”

“Don’t you remember? I joined it when I was a first-year back then.”

“Oh. I don’t remember it anyways.”

“Get back on the topic.”

“Fine. The last time I saw her was at the end of our performance. She doesn’t speak much. She performs her role to the point of perfection, bows her head to the teacher, and leaves.”

‘She’s exactly the person I knew’

“And?”

“Nothing else. I don’t have her contact info.”

“Fine.”

I went to Mythili's house, hoping that it would hold the answers to my questions. I rang the doorbell, and a woman answered. I could tell from her calm demeanor that she was probably Mythili's mother.

“Hello Ma'am”

“Hello. Who are you?”

“I am Ram. Is this the house of Myhtili?”

“...Yes. What do you want?”

“Is she at home? I just wanted to speak with her…”

“May I ask how long has it been since you last saw her?”

I started to get an ominous feeling.

“During her performance last August. Did something happen?”

She started to tear up. I was about to burst out too but I fought back tears to hear what she had to say.

“It was during our return from the venue…”

“...”

“We got into a major car accident… We lost our daughter right after we admitted her to the nearest hospital. My husband suffered severe injuries too. He refused her death and started to think that she was still somewhere there and prays to god every day hoping that she would return back to him someday. I don’t know how long I have to keep on living this punishment of a life that is devoid of her presence...”

I wasn’t able to control my emotions anymore. I cried and panted to the point where I was almost out of breath. I screamed ‘Sorry!’ and ran away from her house.

What is REAL anymore?