Jane recollects the first time she met her.

Pain.

It has the power to crush the strongest bones, stirs the soul and leaves behind a shooting pain in your chest. That’s one kind of pain that you can part ways with. It’s intrinsic, internal- hidden. But there’s another kind of pain, one that leaves a big ugly scar on your warm body, one that cuts right through the skin into your veins. While the former one may be a forgotten story, resurfacing once a memory strikes your idle mind, the latter will have no pain left. Just a deep, ugly scar, which cannot be overlooked. It’s sitting there, right in front of you. Every time you see it, you retrace your steps back to the incident that caused such trouble. There’s a pain, that is forgotten and there’s this one- which can never be. 

Human reactions cannot be predicted, you think you would be happy to know that someone is back in your life. Especially someone who has the liberty to call you ‘Darling’. But for Jane, those beautiful words bought back memories of her turbulent past. Her hands started to shiver and tears came streaming down her face. A sudden, blue flash blurred her vision and she went deep into a tunnel of memories. 

The spring of 2007, Jane was fresh out of school. A pretty girl of 18, the world was at her feet and so was she back in her glory days. An extremely agile athlete, Jane was nothing short of wonder in high school. She ran and sprang like a beautiful horse, her long brown tresses tied in a messy bun, her broad fair forehead that shined with the droplets of her hard work. But it was her deep black eyes that stole the hearts of many. A brown stallion who ran seemed to run for pleasure. But in her head, Jane raced and paced her steps on her mark to escape. Her natural flair was not by her choice, but by a force within. She ran to leave behind what she thought, if it happened to catch her, would kill her. She never looked back when she ran. But today, was different.

Sprinting with passion to get to the finish line. She heard a voice at the back of her head, “Run”, in a sultry voice. It wasn’t her. There was no one around, she was running for god’s sake. She turned her head to see who had called out for her. She looked back, only to see what she never wanted to see. 

Her head jolted, retracting her mind from the field track, back to her bedroom. Her hands were still shaking and the pain in her abdomen kept shooting. She got up from her warm bed and walked towards her wardrobe. Looking right at her was her reflection, she realised how long it has been since she ran. Her reasons were fair enough. She could run from the memory, but now that it’s all coming back there was no place she could run. Caressing her agonising abdomen, she lifted her t-shirt to see a deep scar on her stomach and beside that a blue bruise. Jane ran over her bruises and caressed them gently, tiny droplets fell on her weak, shaking hands. She sighed, “I can’t believe it, she’s really back.” 

Part 1: https://www.101india.com/horror/old-friend-part-1-shes-back
Part 3: https://www.101india.com/horror/old-friend-part-3-shes-angry

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction and bears no resemblance to any real person or events.

By Sonali Kapoor
Cover photo credit: picdn.com