The Broken Promise

“What is wrong with you, Vineet? Why the hell..oh God!” yelled a bewildered Sneha. She was sick of her boyfriend’s annoying habit of scaring street dogs by passing his bike near them at a lightning speed. “Come on Sneha, this is just for fun. I never do it hurt them. I never have.” But she chose to express her anger with silence.

They were coming back from a fancy dress shop on Vineet’s motorbike. Sneha has auditioned for the International Ballet Dance competition and had cleared the state round. If she could impress the judges at the national level competition, she’d get a chance to represent India in France. She had always dreamt of becoming a professional ballet dancer and making her parents proud. Vineet and Sneha were returning from the shop which provided clothes for rent when this irritating incident happened for apparently the hundredth time.

“You’re upset, and I know exactly what will bring your mood back to normal,” said Vineet, parking his bike in the parking zone of Gloria Jean’s coffee shop. “One peach iced tea and one choco chip muffin,” Vineet turned to Sneha and apologised after placing his order.

“You know I’m not coming to your birthday party tonight,” Sneha was both furious and disappointed.

 “WHAT! No! Baby..look..you know I can’t help it. But please don’t punish me this way. Please come to the party, after all you’re the one who planned everything. You’ll have to come. Sorry baby. Please.”

Sneha chose to stay silent.

“Please baby, I beg to you. I promise this will never happen again. NEVER.”

A smile followed a sigh on Sneha’s face. This wasn’t the first time she was hearing this apology. “You know I never break my promise.”

The only sound for the next 20 minutes was nibbling of muffins and sipping of iced tea.

At 7.30 in the evening, Vineet thought of calling Sneha and apologise for one last time but he knew his adamant girlfriend wouldn’t come to the party. Alcohol would replace his ballet girl that eve.

Sneha, hurt and irked remembered the day when her aunt called her characterless in front of her whole family, that she would end up being a bar dancer, after Sneha left her job to run her own dance academy. It was the worst day of her life. Had her father not supported her that day, Sneha wouldn’t have been brave enough to teach dance to more than 50 students in these three years.  “I will never let you down, papa. I promise I will make you and maa proud one day. I promise,” Sneha whispered between hiccups.

 “I know dear, I know you are the best daughter in the world. I don’t care what the world says about you. I know you from the moment you came into this world. I will always be proud of you."

That was the day Sneha had decided she wouldn’t break any promise, to anyone. And even today she did the same, even though it broke her heart, eating it from inside. Sneha stayed home keeping herself busy with ballet dance videos and later, family photos.

Next morning, Vineet opened the main door of his apartment after the doorbell rang for 10 minutes. “Hi,” said Sneha while holding a cake in one hand and a huge gift box in another. “Looks like you didn’t catch much sleep last night. You look so tired, and well, drunk.”

“Just had an extra glass of whiskey, nothing else.”

“Anyways, wish you a very happy belated birthday. I have your favourite choco chip cake. Shall we cut it now?”

After having small pieces of cake, the one and a half-year-old couple sat down together, hand in hand. Sneha kissed Vineet’s hand, and said, ”I know why you do that, and I have full sympathies with you. I understand what happened with Tommy was wrong, very wrong, but he’s gone for more than ten years now and it’s time you move on. I know how much your heart aches whenever you see stray dogs, but deep down you know that they had nothing to do with Tommy’s death. They weren’t even born then. Then why punish random poor dogs for what a few street dogs did to your Tommy ten years ago.”

“I know you’re right Sneha, and I always try to stay calm and forget that day, but..”

“It’s fine Vineet, you just need to have a little bit of control. Everything will be fine then.”

“I’m sorry for yesterday. I wish you were there at the party. I missed you a lot.”

“All I want to say is, stop taking out your frustration on these homeless dogs. They’ve done no wrong to you, so stop horrifying them every now and then.” Sneha’s voice had frustration more than worry for Vineet.

This conversation wasn’t happening for the first time. She had requested her boyfriend many a times before to stop punishing random dogs for his pet’s death. But it hurt Sneha every time Vineet repeated the same.

“Okay, listen. I have to leave for the class now. You look pathetically tired right now. Go have some sleep, later we’d go for a lunch to some nice restaurant. Since I’m leaving for Delhi tomorrow, we need some really nice time together today, don’t we?” Sneha winked.

“Sure, baby. Give me a call when you leave the class.”

“Bye babe. See you.”

Vineet went back to his bedroom and it took him less than thirty seconds to fall asleep. And ten minutes for the same nightmare.

Someone had left the front gate open. The laundry guy..oh yes, he had left the front gate unlocked. Damn! Was Tommy chained all this time? ‘Tommy..Tommy..where are you my boy?’  Garage..let me check in there. ‘Tommy..here, have some food.’

What was that sound? Somebody screamed. Oh my God! Please don’t let this be Tommy’s, please don’t…

Tommy…Tommy..Tom..oh no. NOOOO!

Four street dogs, circling Tommy are attacking him one by one. He’s scared but keeping up the fight. There’s blood on his white pomeranian fur already. Those literal sons of bitches have injured him out of jealousy and rage. ‘You bloody dogs! Leave him before I cut you into pieces.’

Tommy lies on the road, bleeding and howling. ‘Stay strong Tommy, we’ll go to the vet right now. Nothing will happen to you. I WON’T LET ANYTHING HAPPEN TO YOU!’

‘Vineet, your dog has been infected severely by those dogs. His wounds are deep, and I’m not sure Tommy would survive for long. I’m sorry.’

‘Doctor, please save him, please.’

Tommy was back in the home, howling in pain, getting closer to death with every breath. I can’t see this. I CAN’T.

 Why the hell are those dogs barking in the alley again? What are those bastards doing here? I’m going to kill you all! How dare you touch my dog? How dare you?!

Is that mom’s voice? Is she crying? Is Tommy….?

Please don’t leave me, Tommy. We’re brothers. Please don’t leave me alone. Keep breathing. Your eyes are so beautiful. Keep them open. Don’t leave me. Please. Don’t.

Vineet woke up in a shock, drenched in sweat and moist eyes. He wished he could explain Sneha the pain of seeing one’s pet die in your arms. Having to see your beloved pet drenched with blood, howling in pain, dying in your arms is the worst feeling in the world. He would do anything to erase that day from his life, and erase the dogs that did this to him. Wish Sneha could understand!

An hour later, Vineet’s phone buzzed. It was Sneha’s call. “I’ll be there in ten minutes. Be ready, my hottie biker!”

Sneha parked her scooter in the basement parking and within ten seconds, Vineet joined her and they left for the restaurant.

“I’m going to miss you. How am I going to spend one week without you?”

“I’m going to miss you too, Vineet.  It’s going to be tough being alone in Delhi.” Sneha sighed. She really was going to miss Vineet cheering for her in the front row, calming her down when she’d be panicking and doing their weirdly cute victory dance.

“Oh come on, you’ll be all busy shopping there. When you’re around shops, the only humans you see are the shopkeepers. Remember how you once got lost in the Dussehra fair? You’re not going to miss…” Something had caught Vineet’s attention.

A black dog with white spots was lying on the side of the road, idle in the shadow of roadside trees. 

A flashback slide ran in front of his eyes. He could listen to Tommy’s screams coming from every direction. The blood on Tommy’s hair and the dogs’ mouth was all over Vineet’s mind. The dog lying on the street looked like the same dog which had attacked Tommy.

Blood rushed to his brain and eyes.

Sneha was speaking from the back seat, but nothing was crossing his ears. He couldn’t control his brain which was telling him to drive straight, but his heart was yelling to take a revenge.

Ten metres away and Vineet’s senses were still battling within. And his emotional side forced him to tilt the bike handle and turn the accelerator rapidly.

Whizzzzz… buzzed the motorbike passing just a few centimetres away from the dog.

“Vineet..aaahhhh…maaaaa….”  Vineet had no clue what transpired in those moments. Something had gone wrong, very wrong.

The stray dog had chased the bike and caught Sneha’s ankle in his jaws. Sneha was screaming in pain and Vineet went blank for a couple of seconds. He had clearly underestimated the dog.

He stopped the bike and shooed the dog after ten seconds of threatening. Sneha was sitting on the footpath, her foot covered with blood. She held her shin tightly, wailing in immense agony.

Sneha was admitted to the emergency room and was given painkillers to doze her off for a while. There were heavy bandages on her left foot. The stray dog hadn’t just bit her deeply, he even sliced off some flesh from her shin.

Within an hour, a few other friends had arrived at the hospital and two of them went in the room Sneha was shifted to. Vineet was too ashamed to look her in the eye, so he didn’t go to her room and chose to stand outside instead.

“Doctor, how long will it take to get perfectly fine? I have a dance performance after two days. I’ll be fine then, right?” Sneha asked, pretty optimistically after having three hours of sleep.

“I’m afraid, dear. Your ankle has been injured badly, the flesh injury making it worse. It will take you about five days just to stand properly. I’m sorry but dancing wouldn’t be possible for at least one month,” the doctor replied.

A tear ran down Sneha’s cheek. And then the waterfalls. The doctor called for her friends to calm her down and instructed the nurse to give her sleeping pills again.

Sneha was shifted to her home and her parents had arrived as well. Their daughter hadn’t stopped crying since the conversation with her doctor. They tried their best to console her but it wasn’t getting any better.

The doorbell rang. Sneha’s mother went to open the door and welcomed Vineet in. She had met him before a few times. “How’s Sneha, auntie?” Vineet broke the ice.

“She’s upset for Delhi. I can’t see her in this condition anymore,” she signed. “She’s awake right now. Try to cheer her please.”

That’s when Vineet realised Sneha hadn’t told her parents the truth about the accident. His guilt reached a new level almost instantaneously. But he had to confront her, and apologise to her, even though that wouldn’t be enough.

“Hey. How are you?”

“Oh, hi. Back from a bike race, I guess?”

Vineet could sense salty sarcasm in her tone. “I’m sorry Sneha. I’m really very sorry for that day.”

“Oh yeah.. I’m hearing this for the first time. Go on.”

“I’m really sorry, Sneha. I didn’t do this on purpose. I..”

“I was supposed to be in Delhi right now with my ballet shoes on. But what am I doing right now? Gulping painkillers, seeing my parents worried and taking this shit from you. It’s so easy for you to say sorry, right?” She went all red with fury.

“Sneha, I was disturbed. I had the same nightmare and I just couldn’t control myself,” Vineet defended himself.

“Well, your nightmare killed my dream. Happy now? Satisfied enough or planning more adventures to sabotage my life any further?”

“Sneha, please try to understand. I beg to you.”

Sneha chose to stay quiet.

“Please, understand my situation, Sneha.”

“I hope you find a girl someday who’ll understand you better than me.”

“What! No…Sneha! Please don’t say that. Noooo..”

Sneha kept playing with her thumb ring, pretending to ignore Vineet.

“Please Sneha, don’t do this to me. I love you.”

“You know I never break my promises.” Sneha turned around and went back to sleep.