Chapter 3, The End
I was now approaching the edge of a precipice, and traces of any rational thought were now fading fast. I took my phone and backed away from her without disconnecting the call. I had to get outside at once, I needed to get help. The impatience in the princess’s body was now palpable in the room. I told her that I needed to step outside. “Why do you want to go outside ?” she said sharply. I must’ve stammered under the force of her words, and I don’t remember what I said in response. I think I just repeated the same thing again “I-I n-n-need to go outsi-ide. I won’t be long.” I stammered through the words. She looked up from her chair and once again, there was a look of cold fury on her face. Did she know of my plan to scarper and get some help? When she spoke next she spoke through gritted teeth, with her jaw set in anger. “Make the call from here.” she said softly and yet I could feel the threat and malice behind that cold furious voice. I don’t think I had felt my heart ever beat this fast, I could hear it thumping wildly against my chest it was now hurting. My voice trembled with a primal fear as I spoke in response. “N-n-n-n-n-o. I-i-i-’ll go out.” I felt the tears forming around the edges of my eyes as I struggled to form words.. “Make it from here” the princess said again, this time with a force that nearly threw me out. Through her round spectacles I could see the rage in her eyes. The lights in the dining room flickered as I backed further away, and was now unable to speak. She got up abruptly from her seat and took a step towards me. Whatever was holding my sanity together, now snapped all at once, and I seemed to have lost my ability to speak. I couldn’t help myself; I turned around and ran. I truly understood the primal response of fight or flight. “Hello? Hello?” Yb’s mother was still online as she tried speaking, I barely registered any other sounds. “Auuunttiiieee !!! she’s coming, she’s following me.”, I whispered in terror. I couldn’t speak, it was like my mouth refused to cooperate, as though I was no longer in control of my actions. Fear had completely enveloped me and I had lost my ability to function as a rational human being. I was now panic stricken. I bolted down the stairs and ran outside, repeatedly whispering “she’s following me.” I stepped outside the hotel and tried to take in some of the night air in the hope that I could gather myself before I took any further action when I heard a distant sound that oddly resembled Yb’s voice. The voice was clearer now and as I looked towards the entrance of the hotel through the haze of my tears, I saw the lovely form of Yb, sheepishly grinning. “Babe. It’s me. The whole thing was a Halloween prank.”
I asked her as we sat outside the hotel on a bench, “Why”?,and her mother echoed the sentiment through the phone; and while she was smiling she didn’t look too pleased with her daughter. I held Yb first and hugged her and then a hot flash that I can only describe as anger rose to my head. I felt relieved, annoyed, embarrassed and still a bit anxious all at the sametime. Yb explained to us that she had plans of extending this prank till the morning but when she saw that I was about to call for reinforcements, she chose to stop. “At first, I thought it would just be a cool thing to do. I was winging it as the evening wore on and played off your statements. Figured we’d have a nice Hallween story. And mind you it wasn’t easy. I’m still sick and I can barely walk. I had to use every ounce of inner strength within me to pull off a princess act.” she said. “Are you sure that it’s you? Can you tell me what happened after we left the palace hotel ?” I asked her. I wasn’t entirely convinced of this prank and thought that I should quiz her a bit more to see if she remembered everything. She answered all my questions and then some more, she told me her thought process behind the actions. “Sometimes I’d feel sorry for you.” she said “especially when I saw your face shrink when I didn’t recognize you or rather pretended not to.” she continued with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “Yeah right.” I thought to myself. “You would’ve if you didn’t have this much fun.” “Why Yb? Why would you do this to him? Are you really okay” spoke the concerned voice of Yb’s mother. “Just in case, please both of you sleep with Vibhuti under the pillow. And tomorrow without fail, visit the Chamundi temple.” so saying she disconnected the call. Yb and I looked at each other that night on the bed as she lay in my arms wincing in pain from her fever and general body ache. “How in the world did you pull off such an erect walk with this much pain?” I asked her in absolute astonishment. “Well I really wanted to play this prank. Partly because I wanted to keep my mind off the pain.” . My exasperation and anger quickly turned into sympathy and affection; I hugged her hard and said “You poor thing.” A few moments later Yb got a group call on her phone. It was her brother, sister in law and her parents on the phone demanding another retelling of the most terrifying story I’ve lived through. After much back and forth and fun and frolic we finally got to bed half past midnight. Just before we turned in she said thoughtfully not without some concern “But you know… there was one thing that wasn’t part of the show. I really did get a flash of the human pyramid while driving over here” and she turned over to try and sleep. I for one, couldn’t sleep at all that night.
As I write this almost a year later, back in the safe haven of our home, there are moments even today when I feel the presence of the princess. There may have been parts of the episode that weren’t a part of the prank. Even today during some quiet evenings as we sit and sip on our tea in the balcony and stare out into the urban Banglore landscape I do on occasion find the same far away look that she had; even if just for a few seconds, in those seconds, I can see a shadow of the princess flicker behind those beautiful green eyes of my beloved wife.
The End
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