Adversary

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Trisha removed her Ghungroo and kept them aside on the table. She was exhausted but exhilarated.

After her solo dance performance and a long photo session, she had to endure signing what seemed like a million autographs and taking a plethora of selfies for her fans. But she loved every minute of the tiresome ordeal.

When her mother enrolled her in Kathak dance classes, Trisha was just 5 yrs. old. Her teacher saw something she hadn't seen before. A natural talent with a spark to set the stage on fire.

Then it was classes to classes, mentors to mentors, and stages to stages, as every step was more challenging, bolder, and terrifying than the last.

Today she was fecilated the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. It was a hard-earned reward for a twenty-three-long journey.

She sat on the ottoman in her green room and cleaned her makeup with a cotton ball dipped in cleansing cream. The eye makeup was the hardest to come off. She was lost in the reverie of her success when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in", she said.

A man entered her room and placed an enormous bouquet on the side table, nodded at her and left wordlessly. She knew who the sender was. She walked to the side table and ran her hand over the pink lilies and white tuberoses before picking the note nestled between the blooms.

She read the note.

'For the most excellent dancer and most gorgeous woman in the world, my one and only, Trisha.'

Aditya would never forget this ritual. He may not attend her shows but his flowers always reached her.

She folded the note and kept it in her handbag. Along with the letter was a small box. She opened the box. Inside was a solitaire diamond ring and a folded piece of paper.

'Trisha, my love, my one and only, will you marry me?

I Love You!

Yours and only yours,

Aditya'

She wore the ring and kissed it as she video-called Aditya and showed him the ring. He was on cloud nine. But he couldn't let his emotions overwhelm him as he was in a meeting in New York.

Trisha once again sat on the ottoman and thought about the time when she was not the one and only. She had an adversary. A woman giving her intense competition not just on stage, but the rivalry reached had spread its vicious tentacles to Aditya.

***

Trisha was dancing, tapping her foot, perfecting her Chalan, Thaat, Uthaan, but no matter how hard she practised, she could never beat that one woman, Aashita. The exquisite ivory-skinned beauty; a stark contrast to Trisha's ebony Dravidian beauty.

They once used to be thick friends. Trisha, Aashita and Aditya, 16 yrs. old and students at the same dance academy. But they both fell in love with Aditya and Aashita morphed into a threat to Trisha when her smooth dance moves swooned Aditya off his feet. They started dating.

It was a dance performance much like today, exactly five years ago, and they were getting ready in the green room. Aashita was applying makeup, and Trisha was practising her steps one last time. She was a nervous wreck next to Aashita.

"Ta Thei Thei Tat, Aa Thei Thei Tat,"

"Ta Thei Thei Tat, Aa Thei Thei Tat..."

Trisha was practising her Tihai when Aashita laughed and Trisha spun around and faced Aashita. She saw Aashita giving her a mocking look with raised eyebrows in the mirror, twirling her hair around her finger with her lower lip under her teeth. Trisha held her chair and revolved her around.

"What's there to laugh, Aashita?" Trisha asked. She was teetering with frustration and resentment.

Aashita stood up. "Trisha, till when are you going to practice? You have been practising for the past 18 years now, but you weren't able to beat me, even once."

Moisture pooled in Trisha's eyes as she bit back the humiliation. "I am on par with you. Stop trying to make me feel inferior", Trisha said at large to the room.

Aashita placed her hand under Trisha's chin and lifted her face. Trisha looked up into Aashita's eyes. The teardrop threatening to roll down her cheek leapt from the corner of her eye and fell on Aashita's open palm.

"Tch tch tch. My dear, innocent Trisha. If you are on par with me, why don't you ever get a solo performance? They only want to see you with me. Why do you get paid less than me in every show, though you work harder than me?" Aashita said with contempt.

Tears were now flowing down Trisha's face, and her embroidered dance costume was soaked in her mascara and pain.

"Why...", Aashita paused, "did Aditya ask me out and not you? Trisha, the sooner you understand this, the better. Aditya is mine."

Trisha broke down, hiding her face in her palms, not wanting Aashita to see her cry. The ignominy of it all shook Trisha from her core.

There was a knock on the door, and Keshav opened the door an inch and peeked inside and said, "It's time, get ready, you two.", but then he saw Trisha, sitting on her knees, crying like a baby with her makeup running down her face and her soiled costume.

He gave Aashita a perplexed look, swell with tacit questions. She gave him a sickly-sweet smile. "The audience is in luck, Keshav. There will only be my solo performance today. Trisha here is having a little existential crisis." With these words, she looked at Trisha over her shoulders with a wicked smile and left the room, closing the door behind her.

The next hour went like one aeon for Trisha. Her mind was oscillating between sanity and insanity. Several times, she called Aditya but he didn't pick her calls up. She needed to talk to him and know if he loved Aashita.

She was sweating. Her heart was thudding in her chest, hard enough to break her ribs. Every breath she took was assaulting her lungs as she struggled to breathe. She fished out her mother's medicines from her handbag and washed down two anti-anxiety pills with a bottle of water.

Trisha survived.

An hour later, she heard thunderous applause. She knew Aashita was taking her bows, her favourite moment when every pair of hands came together again and again to celebrate her success.

She got herself together and stuffed the medicines back into her handbag. Aashita doesn't need to put her to humiliation for having a nervous meltdown. She washed her face and changed her clothes. Aashita would be back any minute. She was zipping her handbag close when she saw the new syringe kept in her bag. She bought it that morning for her mother, along with other medicines.

Her mother needed a monthly vitamin D injection, and Trisha got the vial and the syringe from a discount store recommended by the doctor. She pulled out the needle as an idea took shape in her mind. Hadn't she seen about killing someone with an injection full of air in a movie? What did they call it? Embolism. Yes.

Trisha smiled to herself, and her gaze fell onto the mirror. The reflection in the mirror was her, but it wasn't Trisha. It was some mad woman who had taken possession of Trisha. She screamed. The fear brought her back to her senses. She can't kill someone just because they are lucky.

Trisha shoved the syringe back into her handbag when the door opened, and in came Aashita. She looked at Trisha with a dazzling smile and spun around in circles.

"THEY GAVE ME A STANDING OVATION!" she said, shutting the door and standing with her back against it. She looked at herself in the mirror. The triumphant look on her face was edging on delirium. She was brimming with vanity and pride.

"Look at the mirror, Trisha. There stands the best dancer in India. The most beautiful woman in the world. And the would-be wife of Aditya Aggarwal."

Trisha looked at the mirror and saw nothing but a rival, an enemy, a woman with no compassion and empathy.

Aashita sat on the ottoman and started removing her costume jewellery, smiling.

"You know what Trisha, quit dancing. Why get your ego hurt repeatedly? You can take a job as a dance teacher for kids. I can even ask Aditya to give you a recommendation letter. You know he won't say no to me. He is in love with me." Aashita said and scratched her neck, "Damned, these mosquitos are big enough to carry you away."

Aashita removed her bangles when she held the dressing table hard and had her whole body shook and her face contorted. She looked in the mirror at Trisha for help. Their eyes met, and realisation dawned on Aashita.

Trisha ran from the room, taking her handbag and the used syringe.

On her way home, Trisha took a detour to a road she never takes to go home. She threw the syringe in a waste pile and bought a new needle from a small, obscure chemist shop. She burned the receipt too.

The moment she reached home, she got a call from Keshav.

Keshav sounded panic-ky as if he would cry. "Trisha, Aashita has suffered a stroke. We have brought her to the hospital. Come soon. Doctors are trying to save her." The call ended, and so did her competition.

Aashita became a vegetable and was in the hospital for the last five years, while Trisha became the number one. The one and only. She had never visited Aashita as she couldn't muster the courage to face her.

***

A shrill sound brought Trisha back to the present. It was her phone and picked it up.

"Hello, Trisha Khanna, this side."

"Trisha...!!!", It was Keshav. He was no more her manager. Trisha wondered why he was calling her.

"Keshav, how are you? Where have you been, Yaar?" Trisha asked, sounding friendly and concerned.

"Trisha..." Keshav's voice cracked and broke up. "Aashita...Aashita is gone, Trisha. She passed away ten minutes ago." The phone fell from Trisha's hand, and she sat with a thud on the ottoman.

'Aashita is dead!' She said to herself. And then she laughed. She laughed like a maniac. Trisha was always scared that one-day Aashita might recover and expose the truth. But now, she was dead, and Aditya was hers, and she was the best Kathak dancer in India.

Trisha looked at the gigantic mirror in front of her and stood up laughing as she swirled and spun in circles, dancing till she was giddy. She switched on the lights of the mirror and made a perfect Apsara pose, smiling like a goddess of love and beauty.

But the mirror reflection stopped smiling and stood still with dead eyes. Trisha blinked and laughed. She was sure she hallucinated from the sheer adrenaline and dopamine rush.

She winked at the reflection in the mirror and, to her horror, the reflection bit her lower lip and twirled her hair around her finger. Trisha fell back in shock. She dared to look at the mirror again and slapped herself to break the stupor. But her reflection hit the real her hard across the cheek.

Trisha screamed and backed away from the mirror till her back hit the wall and her knees buckled under her. She fell to the ground. Her eyes were locked on the reflection in the mirror. She was petrified.

And it stepped out of the mirror and walked over to her. Trisha sucked in a sharp breath as her mirror self went on one knee in front of her and their noses touched.

"Say my name." Her other self said in a whisper, barely audible and the face of the woman transfigured.

"Aa...Aa...Aashita!!!???" Trisha's words sounded like a staccato brick was stuck in her throat.

The reflection that now transformed into Aashita nodded and smiled. "The one and only."

With these words, Trisha screamed as Aashita held her head in both hands and gave it a sharp twist, turning it 270 degrees before stepping back into the mirror.

The End

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