Krithika, 17 was the eldest, the guiding light for the others. She was extremely protective, brave and focused. Christy, 12 on the other hand was a very rebellious kid and often got into trouble. Her temper was only adding on to her misery. Catherine (often referred to as Cathy) 9 was a very silent kid. She was shy and was conscious of everything she eats since she knew she was obese and had to cut down. The youngest of them all was Kali who was just four years old, playful and everyone’s pet. Let it be prayer, play time or having food, the four of them stuck onto one another always. They were more than a family to each other.
These kids did not stay in hostel but in an orphanage which was not only a home for the kids but also had a school with extracurricular classes, prayer hall and a playground. Little did it bother them that the other kids somehow chose to keep a little distance. If Krithika spent her time reading new books and playing piano, Cathy buried herself into painting, Christy did not particularly have any interests than picking up arguments and all Kali knew was to play.
Krithika along with the others one day was seated in her class when one of the boys addressed to her as “Kamini” and continued talking until he saw Krithika fuming with anger. Most of them knew that Krithika would be extremely annoyed if someone called her so and on the other hand Krithika just hated it because she knew all would soon begin to bully her again. All of a sudden it was Christy the rebel who interfered and told him never to repeat it again using foul language (which was quiet strange for a girl of her age to use). Everyone in the class turned towards them and all seemed to be shocked and worried. Immediately, the class tutor took Krithika to her cabin to avoid any more hassles. Krithika knew three others would follow just like always.According to Krithika, this repeated every day. Others bullied her, called her names which would trigger Christy who would be furious and on previous occasions had even got into a brawl. The tutor promised them that she would help Krithika since it’s high time now and dialed a number. Krithika gave a sigh of relief. After waiting for more than an hour, she found an old man with a big belly, clean shaven head and spectacles clinging on to his nose walked into the room with a friendly smile. He whispered something into her tutor’s ears and then seated himself comfortably on the other end, placing all his books on the table exactly opposite to Krithika.He then began the conversation introducing himself as “Mr.D’Souza” and followed saying the disastrous thing ever- “Hi Kamini”. Krithika was furious again, corrected him but deep inside knew he did that deliberately. He apologized and asked her as to what her age is and who her friends in the orphanage are? She responded as to she was 17, then named Cathy, Christy and Kali respectively. There was tension in the man’s face. He seemed confused and anxious all at the same time. He then told Krithika that he would see her at 4.00 PM in the evening and solve all the issues. Turning towards the tutor after Krithika left, he said “It’s getting worse isn’t it? I think we need to confide the truth.” The tutor nodded her head in agreement and asked how to go about it.Mr. D’Souza said the only resort would be hypnotism and also stressed on the fact that it would need a lot of preparations. If not, things could go drastically wrong. He had to plan things meticulously because he knew even though he would treat one person on the outside it was several to deal with. The thought that there could be more worried him. It was a mind game, far more serious than all his previous psychology cases. He had to make her follow that all her classmates are right when they call her Kamini which means she was wrong this whole while thinking she was Krithika. There were more bitter truths coming her way.
Was she living a lie this whole while? Do her friends really exist? What actually went wrong with her? Do find out in the next blog :)C Yah Soon!!HPK!!!
