As he opened it, few photos were of Avni’s marriage, but after those few photos, the photo he saw shocked him. It was a photo of Avni and Nandini together. “So that means Nandini and Avni know each other.” He went on and kept flipping photo after photo and there were many more photos of Avni with Nandini and then came an end to the album. “Great, I never knew that this lovely ghost and Nandini used to be friends.” He said and looked for another clue. He took the diary lying in the corner of the cupboard and opened it.





In the front page, there were many petty details like name, school, college etc. Written beside the name column was Avni Ayesha. “Huh? Avni Ayesha? But she is Avni Sharma, how come she has dual identities?… Huff, I m thinking too much, one identity can be of before marriage and one of after marriage.” He shrugged and read further. Written beside the column of school was Jesus and Mary’s Convent School (Shimla). “Hmm, this school is in Shimla and Nandini has done her schooling from Mumbai, simply means that they weren’t friends from their school life.” He sighed. Written beside the column of college was Xavier’s College. “This is where Nandini also used to go, they might’ve become friends at their college life.” He smiled and flipped further. There was a diary entry which said:

13th November 2013
Dear diary,
You already know me, and you’re my first diary and my best friend though you never reply me and you will never judge me no matter what and that’s what I love about you. You are my father’s gift, maybe I will contact you only occasionally or who knows daily, but I promise to share every happiness and sadness with you. Though you won’t get happy with me but at least I will have someone to share, though you won’t wipe my tears when I will be sad but at least I will get my mind off my problems. Right now, daddy is out for his work and I m here all alone writing to you. It’s my daily routine, in morning I simply go to college, then when I return, daddy ain’t home and I unlock the door by myself with the help of the key hidden in the flower pot which of course is hidden by him.
Then I have to complete my homework and all day goes boring as all I do is cook and clean the house, because when daddy will be home then he will be hoping for something delicious to fulfill his need of hunger. While doing all this, it’s evening, time comes closer when daddy will be finally home. I m a motherless child by the way, sadly my momma passed away after she gave birth to me. My loving daddy cares for me and loves me, he did everything for me and didn’t sent me to hostel like other fathers out there.
Right now all I m waiting for is night to approach soon and so daddy comes home and home will feel like it’s really a home and not just shelter. Write to you later.
Avni Ayesha.
“I was right, it’s her name before her marriage, so she did get married and wasn’t just in an affair.” He flipped to another page. It said:

17th November 2013.
Dear diary,
Sorry that I didn’t wrote to you earlier. Anyways, dad has fixed my marriage with someone named as Vyom Bedi. Tomorrow dad is taking me to meet him and his family. I m excited as well as worried, what if they don’t like me or badmouth me and my dad doesn’t like it and something bad happens? He’s a heart patient, something which affects him in a bad way is also not good for me, let’s hope for the best that everything goes well.
Avni Ayesha.
“Hmm, Vyom Bedi… She was hoping for the best, but nothing went as good as she thought it would be, no one gives away their life without a reason, for life is sweet.” He proceeded further and the diary entry said:

18th November 2013.
Dear diary,
Finally my marriage is fixed and nothing went wrong but I just hope that my married life will also be as good as I think it will be. Well why not? My life partner will surely be the man of my dreams and God won’t do anything which will be wrong for me or for anyone, and dad might be knowing better as he has seen the world more than I have. He can see those qualities which I can’t and he’s my guardian angel after all, which dad will be able to see his baby suffering like hell? I know everything is going to be right.
Avni Ayesha.
“For now I m clueless about her husband, on one side my heart says it wasn’t her husband but on the other side my mind says that he is the one to do everything wrong to Avni, God knows.” He proceeded further and the diary entry said:

1st January 2014
Dear diary,
Finally I got married yesterday, as soon as he came to the room and saw me sitting hugging my knees, he came and sat in front of me keeping his hand on my hand and vowed, “I know we barely know each other, but I will try my best to keep every happiness of the world in your feet.” I blushed as he said that and then he lifted my veil and caressed the side of my face. “The first time I saw you, it was like a fairy or some other magical creature has come in front of me and I couldn’t take my eyes off you, you’re beautiful.” He pecked my lips as he said that making me blush to the darkest shade of red. This guy gives me shivers down my spine, both of shyness and of love.
Avni Ayesha.
“I wonder where did he go wrong, pecking lips without consent is also not good at all but according to her, it was right, what can I say?” He flipped to another page but sadly the diary entry he read sometime ago was the last entry she ever wrote. The page where he flipped after that didn’t had a diary entry but it said:

“The video cassettes, and the poems says the rest.”
Neil got teary eyed recalling the poems especially that of rape and the abuse, she had gone through so much. He looked around for the camcorder and finally found it inside the bedside table drawer and connected it to the laptop and played the first video.