"Doctor!"

This wasn't supposed to happen.

"What's the situation?"

Her slightly tanned hands were not supposed to be covered with the blood of a stranger.

"Ran over by a car."

Her eyes were not supposed to be attacked by the offensively bright hospital lights.

"Pulse?"

Her nostrils were not supposed to flare at the sickening sterile smell of medicines and disinfectant.

"Heart Rate?"

Her eardrums were not supposed to cringe at the orders the doctors barked at each other.

"She's going to be okay, girls."

A woman, her nemesis's mother as she came to know, was not supposed to be wheeled into the hospital on a stretcher and into a surgical theatre.

---Fading In The Sun---

She had heard stories of how the world was an unfair place from her aunt while growing up. A reflection of the unjust world. She believed it now. No matter what one does, someone always gets hurt, even if they were innocent. She wanted to save the puppy and while it worked; another person bore the brunt.

She was the least proud of the person the restroom mirror was showing. She wished this regret and guilt could be channelled in a snowglobe- it could be shaken up, looked at from every angle and allowed to settle to gather dust. That was a fantasy- a fallacy of will.

Riya Abhishek Prem Mehra was a self-centred snob. A person that cared about no one else but herself. A spoiled rich child that didn't realise how privileged and fortunate she was to have everything she ever desired at her feet without having to lift a finger. One that didn't give two hoots about anyone else's feelings.

What a lie.

Rhea was all of those things to the cruel world she found herself living in. When they decided that she wasn't anything but an arrogant spoiled child, she proved them right. Some was a facade, some wasn't. In hindsight, she should have fought harder to retain her kindness and altruistic tendencies.

It made the nurture vis a vis nature debate a whole lot interesting. Was she a product of being raised by people who couldn't see the past status and power or a product of the genes her father and mother gave her? Probably both. My dad is an ass, my mother...who knows? And my family never seems to descend their high horses.

Somewhere in between, she found her own forte. A place where she didn't have to pretend to be what her family and people at school expected her to be. Where she could discern right from wrong. She knew her family was far from right. So in this self-built fortress, she can be Riya and not the person they raised to be - that person should not exist.

It was moments like this that made her dislike the person she was- the real person she was. It would have been easier to really be all those things people thought of her. Contrary to rife belief, she was a human and part of being said species was having a conscience. Right now, her conscience was anything but a silent spectator to her actions. It screeched ceaselessly in her ears, reprimanding her disgraceful actions.

Riya washed the blood as best as she could off her hands and neck. It was slow and gentle before she started digging her nails in and dragging them across her skin mercilessly; scrapping until the sting was felt by her nerves. If she didn't have low pain tolerance, she wouldn't have stopped. One more reason to hate me.

Snatching the paper towel from its resting place, she furiously rubbed her hands clean. While they were clean of blood, a determined red tint left itself imprinted on her hands. She scowled at the hue and remaining marks on her clothes. Son of a- Grabbing her bag, she walked back out of the bathroom.

Prachi Arora was sitting in the waiting room beside the ward her mother was currently being treated in. The nurses walking past, patients and visitors chatting, beds being wheeled in and out, and the wind blowing ever so soft on the periphery was background noise- traffic on an unseen road. There is an electrical storm in her brain that takes a turn toward the painful street. It's different from a headache but it is the same as intense sorrow. To the human discernment, it's a sort of frozen panic with nowhere to escape from, fettered by its own virtue.

Prachi felt an innate need to move; if her limbs were in motion the anxiety was quelled, or at least she could ignore it a while. She couldn't muster up the strength to fulfil her desire.

Her mother had warned against coming to this godforsaken city. Only bad things happened here and Prachi herself couldn't help but agree. Since she had stepped foot in this place, everything had gone awry. The Mehras seemed to be at the root of it all. She was beaten to within an inch of her life. Figuratively. My mom on the other hand, literally. She cursed the day she met that ostentatious rich family.

Her right foot tapped away furiously on the ground as she wrung her sweaty palms, staring intently at the door.

"You are going to burn a hole in the ground if you keep doing that," Riya remarked, joining Prachi by the benches despite the apprehension tickling her skin. "The hospital staff won't be particularly happy about that."

Prachi whirled her head towards Riya and glared daggers at her. "What are you doing here!"

"Well seeing as I brought Mrs Arora here, it's only fitting that I wait till she is out of the woods."

"Miss Arora," Prachi corrected with a click of her tongue. "And haven't you done enough by running her over? Get lost before I call the cops."

"No," the guilty party stated simply, leaning back into the chair as a show of getting comfortable in her spot.

Perhaps it was this sense of entitlement that Pragya had distastefully spoken about when expressing her concerns about Mumbai. The children of this metropolis lived in a bubble of surety and blithe disregard for rules. It was unnerving to those who could only aspire to be like them. But, Prachi thanked whichever heavenly entity there was for sparing her this fate or as some might call it, luxury.

She gritted her teeth and jumped to her feet. "Riya, i am not in the mood for nonsense. Get out."

"No," she said again, jaw slack. She got invested in her phone, ignoring the girl standing over her head.

"Who in god's name do you think you are!" Prachi roared, seizing Riya's smart device and chucking it across the room.

It landed on the beaches opposite them. The occupants of it ducked in time and narrowly escaped getting hit in the head. Not wanting to get involved in the exchange, they scurried off.

"My mother is in there being operated on, possibly fighting for her life. Wanna know why? Because you are an A grade asshole, that doesn't give a shit about anyone else but yourself. I thought that people misunderstood you for being one when I first came to school. I thought that maybe, just maybe you had a little humanity. Holy crap was I wrong. You are all of those things that people think of you. It's not your fault really. I was stupid enough to think that someone who saw ragging as nothing but innocent fun, would possess ethics," Prachi seethed in disgust before haranguing once more. "I am the one you have a problem with so take it up with me. Not an innocent passerby on the road. And I am warning you, Riya Mehra, if touch wood, something happens to mom, I will make sure you spent the rest of your pathetic excuse of life in prison." she wagged a finger in her face with a dirty look.

Riya scrunched her eyebrows together as if trying to figure something out. "You should get a pair of specs." she deadpanned, sitting back in her seat once more.

Prachi stood, astounded by her nonchalant temperament. "What?"

"It will suit your lecturer persona."

The shorter one of two gawked at Riya like she had grown another head. "Are you seriously joking with me right now?" she hollered eyes wide.

"Prachi, get a grip. I am in no mood to listen to your lecture." Riya rolled her eyes despite the bile rising in the pit of her stomach.

"You ran my mother over!" she glowered in exasperation. "You are absolutely going to sit here and listen to me calling you out. I don't care about what mood you're in."

The younger twin detached herself from the uncomfortable hospital plastic chairs. She walked over to the opposing bench and picked up her cracked phone. Well shit, there goes all contacts and important data. I think this is why Aryan always asked me to back them up. Oops.

She returned her attention to Prachi. "In that case, you can sit here and talk to the walls. Although it won't be very advisable unless you want people staring and the nurses calling for the shrink."

Prachi ignored her comment and raced to catch up with Riya who was already close to the exit of the waiting room. "Where the hell do you think you are going? I am not letting you go..."

"To the police station? I thought that would have been the first place you wanted me to go."

The elder of two released the arm she was holding to halt the other girl. "I think we need the doctors to check you out as well. Did you by any chance hit your head?"

Riya bit her tongue. This wasn't the time, not the place to fight. They could do that in school, not the hospital. "Since you are so incompetent to understand the logic, let me spell it out for you. I," she pointed to herself. "Ran your mother over," she continued pointing to Prachi. "With my car. So now I'm going to go to the police station to lodge a complaint."

Prachi smacked her finger away from her head. She was sure that was just a way to make fun of her height. "First of all, I am a child. Two, I am perfectly capable of understanding what you were implying. Three, it's simply shocking."

"What that I have morals?" Riya questioned, raising an eyebrow before shrugging, unconcerned. "Yeah, I surprised myself too." she tried to leave the room once more, only to be yanked back with a sharp tug on her throbbing wrist.

She yelped and Prachi immediately let go of as if she'd been stung. Riya gingerly rubbed her swelled up wrist. Approaching the wincing girl carefully, Prachi moved around her to get a better look at what had made her screech. "Your wrist, it's bloated." she gasped.

"Yes, it's swelling. Not exactly rocket science genius," Riya retorted, flinching when Prachi cradled it in her hand.

"Let's get the doctors to have a look at it."

The injured girl's eyes widened momentarily before she schooled her frightened features. "No, let's not. You stay here with your mom and I am going to the police station."

Prachi pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation. "It could cause permanent damage if left untreated, moron. Maybe I wasn't clear earlier but I am not asking for your permission," Riya didn't have time to comprehend what was happening since she was being dragged by her good hand towards the receptionist. "Can we get a doctor to look at her wrist?" Prachi requested holding up the bruised hand.

"Are you always this bossy with your sister, sha...Shazia?"

"Shanana and...shit." Prachi cursed, remembering that Shahana hadn't been informed about what happened. "I forgot to tell shahana."

"Then call her. You don't need to be so exponent about it." Riya shrugged not seeing the issue.

"That's rich coming from you."

"Yea well go big or go home right."

Prachi ignored her and excused herself to make a call to her adoptive sister.

---Fading In The Sun---

Riya failed to be the good person she was born to be - the strong woman with the softness of a mother. She let out an animalistic scoff of resentment. How would I know that when I don't have an example to follow?

Instead, she showed the impulsive child within, damaged and insecure, the one still hiding in the dark, waiting for someone to find her. These are things for her to work on, not for others to mitigate, she is an adult after all. By that she meant, remaining indifferent, wearing a facade of a bimbo and drinking. That one is best. You can simply forget everything and be you. If only i made it to the bar and the puppy didn't come in my way.

Like a stupid child, she held out for love, wide eyes and shaking limbs, still looking for that dark place all over again, but praying for the light.

The light was telling the truth. The truth is equivalent to the light right? Metaphorically at least?

"I just wanted to save the puppy from being flattened like a prata." Riya mumbled from her position, head hung low.

They were sitting in Pragya's ward, each occupying the space adjacent to her resting form. The plan to lodge a complaint had been temporarily suspended as they waited for the mother figure to regain consciousness.

"What are you talking about?" Prachi questioned, gaze fixated on her mother.

"I didn't want to hit you or your mom. There was a puppy on the road, I had to take a turn and unfortunately," Riya looked at Pragya. She swallowed thickly. This wasn't supposed to happen. "Your mom was in the way and she got hit instead. I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

Prachi cast a sceptical gaze at Riya, "you really didn't do this just to spite me?"

"No!" Riya yelled offended by the implication. "Who do you think I am? a murderer? Prachi, I admit I haven't given the best impression but do you seriously think I am capable of running someone over just because I am in a position to do so."

"I don't know, Riya. I don't know you." Those words were heavy on her tongue, almost as if they sounded so wrong to be spoken.

Riya sighed and lifted her eyes from where they were tracking the worn-out tiles. "You're right. That wasn't fair. I am sorry," she said around the bile in her throat. "But I really didn't mean for any of this to happen. It was never my intention."

Prachi nodded, unsure how to respond to that. "I guess we don't need to involve the authorities then."

Riya snickered slightly. "Was that supposed to be a joke?"

"No," Prachi stated despondently.

The car owner frowned. "Then why do you still look like someone stole your puppy?"

"Because I am just now realising how close Shahana and I were to losing the only parent we had."

The air shift was thick and disagreeable to the words just uttered in the room for the wounded to rejuvenate- grievance for a person that had not existed enough to feel any remorse for.

The younger twin snapped her head towards Prachi- eyes dimmed, limbs loosened, back hunched, gaze longing in a way all too familiar to Riya. This is the cost of ignorance and a pretentious disposition. It becomes so intertwined with a verisimilitude that one is left stricken from the ability to percept and be open to it. She hadn't realised this girl sitting in front of her could be in a situation so similar to her own. Not that she did, it only made her want to dig her guts out. I almost killed her mother. Her only parent. Riya, what the hell is wrong with you. Her lips curved to form words but were left miming as the voice died in her throat.

In a strange way, she could relate to and understand this girl-child. It was wrong to leave her hanging but Riya couldn't exactly formulate a coherent reply. It took a while but she found the syllables.

"Miss Arora is going to be fine. I am sorry that you had to go through that scare. It sucks, I know."

"How?" Prachi whispered. "How do you know it sucks if you only have one parent and have to watch said parent nearly succumb to death?"

Sleep was heaven, safe and protected from the monsters of the night. Waking up is a slow and relaxing process as if the day was kind enough to come swiftly into focus with the subtleness of gentle dawn. For Riya, it was anything but. She woke up as if it was an emergency- sleeping had become a dangerous thing. This waking nightmare-reality- demanded solutions.

"Because in my twenty years of living, I never figured out who my mom was. All I've known was my dad who was always so close yet so far." Riya breathed, so soft that if the room wasn't this void of auditory stimulation, no one would have heard it.

Prachi let the words register in her mind but they only seemed to echo in a fading rhythm. When they finally did start to make sense, she had a moment of epiphany. We are more similar than I thought.

"Was it hard? Not knowing who she was. Where she was," Prachi reminisced over the questions she had posed to herself several times. "If she ever loved you?"

"In the beginning, I was mad. I still am," riya added. "I used to think that maybe it was my fault that she left. Dad never talked about her or told me anything. My family used to backbite and constantly curse her existence. I never understood it because I didn't have reasons."

"Did you believe in what people would say about her?"

"At one point yea, I did. It was easier. But there is one thing I learned in the past twenty years. No one is ever the way they look. So until I find that reason, I'm going to continue being mad but I won't hate her.'' Riya shifted uncomfortably as Prachi continued to gaze at her mother. "Are you mad at him too?"

Prachi easily identified who she was referring to. "No. Mom didn't talk about him much either. But she said he was a nice person. The way she spoke about him before whatever happened between them, I couldn't do it. If he was here, I'd have had the perfect family."

"You can be mad at him. This isn't about what he did to your mom," Riya reconsidered her choice of words. "I mean it is. But what about what he did to you?"

Prachi shrugged her shoulders. "I came after my mom. He wronged her and that's what resulted in this."

"Are you even listening to yourself?" Riya asked, stunned. "Nobody cares about who came first. Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. He is your father. He should have been there no matter the situation. If that was too hard, he should have been there to explain himself. He owes you that much."

"You are projecting."

"maybe, but it doesn't make what I said less true."

"Maybe you should continue holding out hope for that explanation you want so much from your mom rather than handing out advice to me." Prachi indictmented. She didn't want to hear this, not when her mother wasn't there to comfort her.

They took stolen glimpses of each other, trying to gauge what the other was feeling. They both messed up and they know it.

"I am sorry," they said at the same time, stifling a small chuckle. Prachi motioned for the sister she never got to know to go first.

"I am sorry for this and whatever happened in school. I shouldn't have ragged or tried to character assassinate you."

"Do you mind me asking why you did it?"

No. she is getting too close. "Because I am an asshat?" Riya said as if it was the most obvious thing. "There seems to be a dearth of pragmatics in here."

"You know as well as I do that that is not true. So really Riya Mehra, why did you do it?" Prachi challenged, a stern expression poised on her face.

Riya couldn't help but gawk at her former enemy. She was the same person claiming Riya lacked a moral compass earlier on. "Because I have a reputation to keep up. Everyone at school knows me as a bully and that's what I do, bully and rag. No one had ever stood up to me and when you did, my ego was bruised. I was so angry I didn't realise what I was doing. It's not an excuse, I know that." She took a deep breath collecting herself. "Look, Prachi, I am not a good person and I am self-aware. But if there's any way I can make it up to you, I will."

"You can start by promising never to do that to anyone else again."

Riya wondered why she was going through so many vagaries. "I'll try."

"Riya."

"Fine, fine. I promise. Seriously, are you this bossy to shahana?"

"Why do you keep dragging her into this?" Prachi said, annoyed by the question.

"Because you are bossy."

"Shut up." Prachi groned.

"Well, you won't hear me any longer. Cause I'm dropping you home and then going home myself." Riya said, getting up from her seat. Riya raised an eyebrow when Prachi didn't budge from her position

"I am not leaving my mom like that and Shahana is on the way." Prachi frowned.

"Look at the time numbskull. Visiting hours have ended and unless you want to be kicked out, let's leave like respectful citizens of this constitution."

"You're being dramatic," Prachi grumbled under breathe and reluctantly left the ward after saying her goodbyes. The ride passed in comfortable silence as the both of them processed the happenings of the day. There was a new light shining on them.

"Thank you," they said in unison as they pulled up to Prachi's house. They shook their heads fondly and Prachi got out of the car.

Riya didn't know what it was about Prachi that was drawing her towards her. Whatever it was, it was good, nice even. It was an unknown submission to elucidating the facade wearing thin.

Prachi knew this was the imminence of something beautiful- something she has longed for all her life.

Maybe that's why they say every cloud has a silver lining. 

A/N: Dont forget to R&R! Prompt and beautiful cover by shadycrazyme