Read Online Neel Dervin and the Dark Angel by Neeraj Chand - Free Book Online

and when he had learnt about the serum and what it
had done to him. He had spent hours deliberating upon the answer before giving it to Doctor
Fahim, yet now he had to admit the decision he had made in the hospital had been a product
of fear and uncertainty, and a not too well thought out impulse to mimic the heroes he had
grown up watching. And now he was second guessing that decision.
    But what choice had he had? And who could he have turned to for advice for making
the decision? He lived alone with his mother. There was no one who could have helped him
decide, no one to tell him what the right course to pursuewas. He couldn‟t even tell anyone
the truth about the accident. He felt yet again a sharp attack of loneliness as he stared around
the silent room, as it dawned on him at that moment how truly on his own he was in this
matter. The only people who could help him were those whom he had never met before, or
knew anything about. How was he supposed to handle this situation?
    The walking was not helping. His heart was beating so loud and hard it felt as though it
would burst. Neel took several deep breaths, and slowly, his mind stopped racing. Difficult as
it was, he began to finally accept the situation instead of second guessing the whole thing all
over again. Abruptly, he sat down and forced his mind to slow down. He had found it helped
to listen to the loud thumping of his heart and slow down with it. But it still took several
minutes of internal wrestling before the ticking of the clock returned to its normal speed. He
stared in silence at the wall opposite to him, feeling calmer as he accepted that there was
nothing he could do for now. He had made the decision in the hospital, and as far as he knew
it had been the right one. There was no use panicking now. He was not going to get answers
right away. Only the meeting with Doctor Fahim tomorrow would help him understand his
circumstances better.
    He got up from his bed and walked slowly over to the end of the room, absent
mindedly checking the textbooks that were kept on the shelf and wondering how much work
he had missed out on at school. He glanced at the clock on his table. They had arrived at
seven. It was now almost eight. The doctors had advised him plenty of rest, but he did not
feel remotely tired. He paced the floor slowly. The bizarre, two dimensional view of the
world that he had experienced even since waking up made the room feel like a cage, and Neel
felt a great desire to be in a more open space. He came out of the room and was making his
way up to the nest when the doorbell rang.
“I‟ll get it.” he called out to his mother as he made his way down again.
     
He went to the door, and as he opened it, a female figure almost ran inside and threw
her arms around him.
     
“Thank god!” Priyanka exclaimed fervently. “We‟ve all been worried sick about you. I
couldn‟t believe it when your mother told me about your accident.”
     
“All better now.” Neel said as he returned the hug and grinned at his best friend. “It
wasn‟t anything too serious. How come you didn‟t visit me at the hospital?”
    “Of course I did!
Aryan and I came to see you at the hospital the night you had the
accident!” Priyanka said, stepping back and looking him up and down as anxiously as Neel‟s
mother had done at the hospital. “But you were unconscious at the time. You were covered
with bandages and stitches. I was so scared! And Aryan was absolutely terrified! We all
thought you were going to die.” Her eyes had suddenly become bright with tears that alarmed
Neel more than the bandages had done. Priyanka was not usually the weepy type.
    “
Come one, all those things were justprecautions.” Neel said in a low voice, laying a
hand on her shoulder tentatively. “Really, I‟m completely fine. I know you were all worried
but…” he sighed. “I wish I could tell you just how well I am. Believe me, there is nothing
wrong with me now.” He spoke