Collide [Chapter 1]

Title: Collide
Author: Roshni
Fandom: Is Pyar Ko Kya Naam Doon?
Pairing: Arnav/Khushi
Rating: R
Word Count: 2080
Summary: Khushi has just escaped from a horrible life. This will focus on her struggles, psychological and physical healing.
Disclaimer: This was written for fun. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement was intended.
Author's Note:This story is going to be focused on healing psychologically and physically. There will be topics and themes that everyone might not be comfortable with. There will be mentions of torture and rape. Please read at your own risks.

Chapter 1 

Khushi could hear her heartbeat and her blood racing through her mind.  This would be her only chance to do this and the timing had to be perfect. It was a question of her freedom. She needed to find her way back home but she didn't even know where that would be now.  Did her parents even stay in the same house or did they move away?

The delivery truck was about to leave. "Come on Khushi, this is your only chance!" She muttered to herself.

She had to leave with that truck, in another few minutes they would probably notice that she was not in her bunk.  She slipped out from her hiding place and ran to the back of the truck hiding behind the empty boxes in it. It was now or never. She could hear her heart thudding.

This escape plan had been in the planning for a while.  She could feel the freedom calling out to her. She had been prisoner long enough. Now that it was happening, she couldn't believe it. Before they were even sixty miles away, the alarms wailed through the silent night.  The truck started to slow down. As soon as the truck stopped, she jumped out of the truck on the passenger side so the driver wouldn't see her and ran into the woods.

She could feel the branches cutting her skin and clothes, if the rags she was wearing could be called clothes. She didn't care that her bare feet were leaving tracks. All Khushi wanted was to get to the highway where she could hear the sounds of traffic cutting through the air. If she could just make it to that road, she could get away. She could hear the men coming for her. She had always known there were monsters out there but she hadn't realized that people she knew would be the ones she had to look out for.

The highway was so close. Her heart pounded in her chest and her lungs strained for oxygen, her body could only take so much. She could see the small rail only a few feet ahead of her. She could feel the burn of aching muscles in her legs, but she just needed to get there. Her desperation to get there gave her the last bit of speed to escape the hands reaching for her.

She leaped the low rail and landed in the path of an oncoming car. The driver of the car stepped on the brakes, screeching to a stop bare inches from the wild looking girl who had appeared out of nowhere on the road in front of him. Khushi squinted, blinded by headlights. She gathered the pathetic rags of her garments around her, stunned for a moment by unexpected success. In the car, Arnav starred in horror at what he could see of the girl's exposed skin heavily patterned with bruises and cuts speaking a litany of horror that could only have been inflicted with purpose.

Arnav didn't know how she was standing. He could see her shaking and couldn't imagine how she was still standing.  He saw the bushes to her left rustling and quickly opened the passenger door. "Quick! Get in!" Khushi threw herself into the vehicle and he peeled off. When he glanced over she's slumped unconscious against the door. He didn't know who was after her, but he knew they wouldn't get to her.

Arnav watched her nervously while fumbling fingers dialed his cell, trying to remember Eyan's number as he sped down the road towards the hospital she so clearly needed. Eyan was a doctor, he would know what to do with strange, tortured women who appeared out of nowhere on the highway.

"Eyan, you have to help me this woman just came out of nowhere on the road." Arnav tried to explain the situation as quickly as he could. He could see the girl coming to.

"What do you mean you are not at the hospital today?" Arnav noticed the girl jolting at his raised voice and frown at the word hospital.

"No hospital." Khushi tried to say but her voice cracked.

"Are you at home?" Arnav asked hoping that Eyan was so he could take her there. "I am bringing her there then. We are about ten minutes away." Arnav hung up the phone and started to look for the water bottle he had been drinking from a while ago. He knew he hadn't finished it.

He found it in the bag between the front two car seats. When he looked up to give it to her, she was unconscious.

Eyan had gotten the spare room ready and prepared it with everything he thought he would need. Eyan was waiting for Arnav outside his house. The car pulled up and Eyan took one look at Arnav's unexpected passenger and winced visibly. Eyan had seen cases like this and didn't know if he was prepared to see the wounds on her that he knew were being found on a lot of other bodies that had been turning up lately.

Arnav carried the girl to the spare room and laid her on the bed.  "Do you need my help?" Arnav asked reluctantly. 

"No, I called in a friend who is a nurse from the hospital. She should be here in a minute or two. Can you just let her in?" Eyan asked distractedly already assessing the girl's injuries.

The nurse arrived ten minutes later and they had both been in there since then. He also knew of the bodies being found around the city. No one knew where they were coming from.

Three pots of coffee later, Eyan came out to fill him in. "She has a few broken ribs. Her right wrist is broken and left ankle is sprained badly. She has numerous small burns, cuts on her stomach, arms, back and legs. And there are signs of a lot more abuse than that in the recent past. Do you know what you are going to do?" Eyan asked him.

Arnav had no idea what he was going to do. He just wanted to leave her here but it wouldn't be fair to Eyan either. The ringing of his mobile brought him out of his thoughts.

"You answer that and think about what I said. I am just going to go finish patching up the girl." Eyan took a deep breath before walking into the room again.

Arnav knew, he had to answer it was his sister. She would get worried if he didn't answer.

"Yes di," Arnav answered. "Where are you?" He knew she was going to ask that and he didn't feel like lying. Before he knew it, the whole story had spilled out to his sister.

"You know you have to bring her here. Right? You can't just leave her there!" Anjali ordered, knowing that he would do anything she said in order to keep her happy. "

Arnav's reply was cut off by blood-curling screams. "Di, I'll call you in a bit." Arnav hung up the phone rushing into the room and saw Eyan and the nurse moving towards the girl clutching a blanket on the floor in the corner of the room. They were trying to appear harmless but it wasn't working.

"Stop it. Get away from me. Let me go. I won't tell. Please!!!" She kept on whispering repeatedly like a broken record. Khushi had woken to two strangers touching her and not wearing anything. She thought she had gotten away. She stopped as her eyes land on Arnav.

"You have to help me! We need to go far away from here. NOW!!! Before they catch up. Please!" She tried to get up but Eyan put a helping hand on her arm only to have her flip out on him again. Her voice was cracking and he knew her throat had to be hurting. He motioned for Arnav to come closer to the corner she had backed herself into. Eyan and the nurse backed away as Arnav knelt down in front of the girl. Eyan handed Arnav the water to give to her.

Khushi looked at the glass of water suspiciously. People had tried to win her over by giving her water. At first she had accepted but then she knew not to accept water. They could have mixed something in it. She looked at Eyan dubiously before looking at Arnav. She wanted to trust him, really she did but she needed to be sure.

"You take a sip first." Her voice was shaking and it was taking all of her effort to hold the blanket up. Arnav looked at her surprised. The left side of his mouth curled up in a small smile. Smart girl. Not many people would have thought of that. What happened to make her so distrustful? She is scared of Eyan who couldn't even hurt a fly. Arnav thought taking a sip of the glass of water in his hand.

The girl looked at him thoughtfully for a minute before extending a shaking hand for the glass. Her hand was shaking so much that the water was sloshing out of the glass. Arnav steadied the glass and helped her take slow sips. 

Eyan handed Arnav a pair of sweats and a shirt for the girl. Arnav raised an eyebrow at the female clothing in his friend's house. "Shut up!" Eyan murmured before walking out of the room.

The girl looked at him before looking around the room and tightening the grip of the blanket .

Arnav snorted at her reaction angrily. "Don't worry I don't force myself on girls or hit them."

Khushi nodded at him but didn't move to get up or wear the clothes. Arnav finally took another sheet and wrapped it around her before picking her up as gently as he could. He could still hear her whimpers of pain, as her ribs were jostled. He put her down on the bed gently and called in the nurse.

"Don't leave." Khushi pleaded with Arnav as the nurse walked in.

"She'll help you get dressed and I'll stand in the room facing the other direction. Okay?" Arnav asked. Khushi nodded her approval. After she was dressed, Eyan came back in the room.

"There is nothing else I can do for her here. You should take her to a hospital." Eyan advised Arnav.

"No, no hospital." Khushi was adamant in not letting other people poke her and touch her. She just wanted to get far away from here..

Eyan motioned for Arnav to follow him outside of the room. "She seems to trusts you. She will need to speak to someone about what she has been through. She will probably have nightmares."

"What the-Why are you telling me this?" Arnav interrupted Eyan.

"I thought you were going to take her home since she doesn't want to go to a hospital and she obviously feels safer with you around." He could see Arnav was about t refuse. He couldn't keep the girl here. If they had been followed, he did not want to get involved if the people came here. She doesn't want to go to a hospital and she's willing to let Arnav get near her, better for Eyan.

"What would your sister want you do? Anjali wouldn't want you to leave her here." Eyan brought out the trump card that could make Arnav do anything.

"Don't bring my sister into this." Arnav warned Eyan.

"What will she say? She would want you to bring her home and at least if you are not going to help her then Anjali-ji would want to help her."

He could see the resolve in Arnav's eyes fading. He just had to push a bit more for that wavering to turn into yes. "Actually let me call Anjali-ji and ask her what she thinks you should do."

Arnav rolled his eyes at Eyan knowing he would actually call his sister to get him to take the girl home and Eyan, Nani and Anjali against Arnav was just not something he wanted to deal with at the moment and Di had already said to bring the girl home.

"Fine, I'll take her home with me." Arnav sighed.

Arnav looked back into the room to see the girl's eyes trained on him like a hawk.  She looked like she would collapse anytime. Only her sheer-willed determination, fear and desperation kept her awake.

_____

What do you think?