Chapter 24: Chapter 24- Hadraniels Land
As they were in the middle of enjoying their breakfast, a noise interrupts them. The ringing of a phone.
…
Archie snaps out of whatever she was doing and quickly answer the phone.
"Hello? Father?"
"It's me, Tanvi.'
"Uh"
It was true that she had forgiven her father a long time back but she couldn't repeat the same for her sister. She misunderstood her affection for trust and loyalty which Tanvi failed to provide. Acting clueless for all they discussed. She never understood that it was Archie's childhood that was being kicked around.
"Don't hang up."
"What do you want?"
"I just wanted to apologise."
"For what? Not being able to lie to my face for another few decades?"
"Architha, listen."
"I have nothing to hear, Tanvitha. All you have done is more than enough for me. Oh, and weren't you going to try and stop me or something? I recollect you saying."
"My fault. I should have never called in the first place."
"I'm glad you understand. Now get lost."
The tension between the three in the dining table grew larger and larger through every sentence they exchanged, but Afsah remained calm and continued eating.
Instead of cutting, the phone got handed over to another person.
"Architha, it's me."
"Hi, father."
"I'm not going to ask the reason as to why Tanvi's face is scrunched in anger, nor why she had slammed the door of her bedroom."
"That's convenient for me."
A long pause occurred.
"Call me later."
The phone was hung up. Archie took her things and walked herself outside. The two follow her quietly back to the jeep after payment.
~
The time was going real slow. Archie craved to feel the warmth of her bedroom but that was far, far, far from possible. Not exactly the warmth of her bedroom but just warmth in general. Homeliness. She needed it now the most and for some reason she thought that in Afsah's absence, this feeling could have been deeper and more painful.
She tried many times to include herself in their discussions but the truth was that there was only very little to what she knew. It was making her feel at disadvantage.
As she was thinking of how to pass her time next, she caught a glimpse of the view outside. So beautiful.
"What's this place called?"
"Green River, Utah." Answered Afsah.
She was glad he acknowledged her existences at least now.
Out below, there was a lake, or a river. It seemed such a beautiful blue while the water glistened at the kayakers who travelled slowly from one end to another. She wondered what it would feel like to be one of them right then and there but for some reason, the feeling didn't seem too far. Almost as though she had before. But when?
~
After so many tiring hours of journey, they were approaching Hadraniels Land, San Diego.
Unlike what either of them had expected, the place was very isolated from the city. It remained in the midst of a wide deserted area. There were no roads ahead and the tires of the jeep were hardly gripping to the sand below. Left, right, North and South, they were surrounded by a never ending desert. Wondering if they were lost, they stopped at a strange sign which remained all alone once again, in the middle of nowhere.
It said in bold, large rustic letters,
WELCOME TO HADRANIELS LAND
It was a very scary scene. Especially since it was very dark and they could only make out what it said by the sheer headlights coming from the jeep.
"Uhm… This is very scary. Why does your father own this place?"
"I doubt there is any human civilisation here."
"Not even an animal."
"Seriously Augustin, I would think you knew what you were doing."
"Well I thought it would just be another town or something."
"Ladies and gentlemen…"
The two stop arguing and face Afsah who is looking down at his phone, nearly blinding everyone by the brightness of his screen.
"Do either of you know who Hadraniel is?"
Archie and Augustin look at each other in confusion.
"Uh…"
"Oh God."
"Hadraniel is an angel in Jewish angelology."
"Oh come on, how was I meant to know that."
"Hmmm."
"What the heck. That is very strange. My father is very religious; I would have never thought he would buy a location with such a name."
"That's what I was thinking."
What? What does he mean by that? How could he have possibly known? But Archie couldn't quite grab onto that realisation like you and I just did.
"This is giving me the chills, I want to go back."
"No time for that anymore." Afsah says sternly before starting the engine and once again, continuing with this horrendous journey.
They have been travelling for about another 5 minutes now and could hardly make out an extremely large structure in front of them. The closer they got, the bigger it appeared. It was such a large building and quite a strange design. Most definitely a haunted house. The dim light which came from one of the hundreds of windows conformed their theory. The two were shaking in fear. Who was there?
They finally arrived in front of the house. A large golden gate identical to that in the mansion back at New York greeted them. The house was unimaginably massive that it was possible to lose yourself in side. Although it looked abandoned, it was kept clean and neatly as if it were a house hold.
They parked the car in the porch and quietly made their way to the entrance. The large wooden door was carved with symbols similar to those found on the safe and the key to the secret room back at the mansion. As they fiddled around wondering what the next step was, Afsah presses the doorbell. They could just hardly hear the sound coming from the inside. DING, DING, DING and on the fourth DING, the door opened slowly, and there stood an old lady. Her grey hair was tied in a low bun, contrasting with her wrinkled bronze skin which shone lightly from the bulb over their heads. She wore a very fancy, over worked sari which she let loose across her arms. Her hands and face were decorated by such sophisticated jewelleries like the nose piercing which nearly hid half her face and the earrings which seemed so heavy that it would fall off, ripping her ears any moment or the golden carved bracelets she wore on both hands. And looking down at her feet, a pair of very thick leg piece tightened itself around her, little ornaments with such detail hanging gently from it. A large bindi took its place in between her eyebrows and her sindoor (traditional vermilion red or colored cosmetic powder from India, usually worn by married women along the part of their hair) which gave such elegance to her face. Her presence was giving off such a homely vibration and a pleasant aura radiated off of her smile which grew bigger and bigger as she scanned Archie up and down, her cheeks raising to her eyes in such delight.
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