It was nighttime. Raindrops were pattering on the roof. Anagha was sitting on the wooden table and doing her office work on the laptop, kept on the table.
The room was kept dim lit only by the lamp on the table.

Actually, she wanted to go to the balcony and watch the rain and feel the cool breeze but she was busy with her work.

An Instagram notification came. She scrolled up and checked 'Amrita sent you a follow request'
Amrita, Ah, she remembered. She felt a guilty feeling in her chest. It was quite saddening. Everything around her got silenced; she could hear her heartbeats. She could realise her breath moving on its own, in and then out.
She clicked on the notification and saw her profile photo. A girl with dusky and smooth skin, smiling.
She confirmed her request and sent a follow-up request.
Her eyes lowered, feeling a grief. Enough work for today, she thought and closed the laptop.
A message from Amrita came. "Want to meet you, in the 'Flower Garden'"

She typed "Why not, will come tomorrow. At 10 in the morning?"

"Sure"

_

It was Monday morning. Anagha was standing on her balcony with a cup of coffee in her hand. She could see other people's houses and people passing by to work. One house in front of her had a vine beautifying their black iron gate. That vine had small white and red flowers.

She played the past in her mind. It was summer; school holidays were about to start.
Amrita had hair on her shoulders and a school hairband on her head. White shirt and skirt as a school uniform. She was reading a novel sitting on her bench. Minding her own business. Her friend and sister went to the canteen to buy something for them.
"Hey," Anagha banged her hand on Amrita's bench. She had a middle partition and two braids.

"Yes?" Amrita said, she couldn’t understand why she was acting like this.

"I heard you were molested by an uncle." She said without any remorse or hesitation, just straightforwardness

"...Yes, why are you asking about it?" She gulped but said it clearly

"Because to tell you that I feel that you are weak. Can't you protect yourself? If you can't, then why go to the park alone."

Amrita couldn’t figure out how to handle the situation but still said "I like being alone, especially in a park"

"Then learn to be strong, you weakling"
"Hey, stop speaking like that" Amrita's sister, Megha said

"Megha, I am saying all this just for her betterment. She needs to be strong, there is no place for a weakling like her."

"But who are you to judge her strength? Just look at yourself, and you will see that you actually are the one who is weak." Sakshi, a friend of Amrita defended her.

Anagha was devasted when someone thought she was weak and not capable, but she didn't show it to them in her speech
"Okay, I am going, enjoy your meal," she said and went out of the classroom

Megha and Sakshi came towards the bench with lunch and sat near Amrita.
"She is like that only; I guess her father compares her to you because you get good grades; that might be the reason she acts like this." Said Sakshi

"Yeah, but now we are grown-ups; she should be wise enough to understand and handle herself." Said Megha, eating a bite of her bread.

"Let it be; I have ignored her words and will keep a distance from her, too." She stood up "I will go the washroom"

She opened the washroom door and went in. Anagha was waiting there with her group of two more girls.
"We were waiting here for you Amrita"

Anagha got scared by her presence. There was no other girl there, just Anagha and her gang.

"Waiting for me, why?"

"I wanted to copy your maths homework"

"No, I can't give you that, I can't let you copy someone."

"Oh, come on, I don't need maths in my career; you're not doing me any harm by letting me copy; in contrast, you are helping me for my bright future; it will give me more time to work on it."

"Still, no, if mam got to know about it, she will lose the trust in me."

"Okay, your wish"

They went from there with their annoyance.

Amrita came back to her bench to eat her lunch. She sat on her bench, and just then, Adi came there, rushing towards them.

"Hey Amrita"

"What happened? You look in a hurry"

"You know someone has written absurd things about you in the boy's washroom"

"What?" Megha exclaimed.

"Yes, but don't worry, if possible, we will erase it or complain to our class teacher. Some boys wrote it because someone told them to."

"Who told them to write those things?" Asked Megha

"Don't know but we will clean it"

"Oh, thanks for your help Adi," Said Amrita, distress visible on her face.

"Everything will be fine Amrita, don't worry" assured Sakshi

Amrita nodded.

_

Amrita sat on her study table after having a walk after dinner. She opened her phone.
Again a call from an unknown number. She knew it was again a vulgar call due to her phone number written in the boys' washroom.
She didn't tell about the calls to anyone because she knew her parents. She feared that they would blame her. All shame and responsibility will fall on her.

She still felt the hands of that uncle on her body, who molested her in the park, without any shame on his face.

She couldn’t sleep or talk to anyone. Sakshi, Adi and Megha used to console her, and she too used to smile in front of them, but when she was alone, she used to think and feel the things she didn't want to. They broke all their ties with Anagha.
Her life was not in her hands. She used to cry when she felt that no one was watching.

_

Anagha was standing there in the 'Flower Garden'. There were beautiful flowers, trees, grass and birds.
She was waiting for Amrita, nervous before meeting her.
"Hey Anagha" Amrita was standing at a distance, waving her hands

Anagha waived her hands too.

She came running towards Anagha. "How are you?"

"I am fine, you?"

"I am fine too. I wanted to meet you and say sorry. We thought you told those boys to write vulgar things about me in the boy's washroom, you changed the school, and later, Nilesh confessed that he did those things."

Tears came in Anagha's eyes. She was proven innocent. No one believed her. Her life became miserable because of the eyes she used to meet in that school. She cried.

Tears started flowing from Amrita's eyes, too, and she hugged her. "I am sorry. I am sorry for what I have done."

"No, it was my fault. I was an egoistic person, no one could trust me because I really used to talk that way, like I don't care for human feelings."

They were hugging each other, crying without any restrictions on their part.

When they felt relieved after crying and pouring their heart out, they smiled and wiped their tears.

"I feel free from all the baggage now", Said Anagha, wiping her tears.

"I, too, feel free from all the guilt. Friends again?"

"Again?"

"I thought we were friends, just your nature was a little different."

"Yeah, let's be friends again then." Said Adi who came there too. Megha and Sakshi joined them too.

They laughed and cherished the new beginning of their old friendship. It was like a rebirth of their long-lost connection.