The Last Bet, The Lost Bet

“Hey Betty! Look you lost the bet, as always.” cried Rosey when she discovered peeping from the keyhole that Headmiss had ordered a butterscotch cake and not a blackforest cake. 

“I never bother to lose the bet. I wish I never lose you my dear.” replied Betty. Rosey couldn’t hold herself on such a sweet reply and ran to hug Betty.

Betty and Rosey were two orphan friends. They were each other's world. Such was there love that while Betty would hold Rosey’s hand in dark because Rosey feared the dark, Rosey would sing lullabies for Betty. Both frequently quarreled but it always ended up strengthening their love for each other.

Betty was less beautiful than Rosey. One day, a rich couple came to adopt a child. They selected Rosey. Betty overheard them talking to the Head miss,” We would like to adopt Rosey, Miss Middleton”, said the lady. Head miss told them that to adopt Rosey they had to adopt Betty as well because the two can’t live without each other. “We have not planned to adopt two children. May be Rosey is not in our fate.” said the man.

Betty at once felt guilty. “Because of me Rosey lost rich and kind parents.” she said to herself. She could not persuade Rosey to leave her, so she decided to be with her whole life and never make her feel lonely. At this moment Rosey came in, ablaze with anger, “They think it’s all just a game to leave someone you love the most. Life isn't a contact list that you simply add and delete people from it.”

“What happened dear?” asked Betty, pretending to be unaware.

“Nothing, promise me you will never leave me.”

“It’s Ok dear! Come on. Sleep now, it’s too late.”

Betty fell ill the next day. She had problem in digesting food, doing heavy work, walking up and down the staircase etc. Her head miss took her to a doctor.  Rosey accompanied them. Betty was called in alone and came out lonely. Her eyes were full of tears. Rosey was frightened. She cried, “What happened Betty? Tell me. Quick. My heart is pounding.”

Betty looked up into Rosey’s eyes and suddenly burst into laughter, "Yeah! I befooled you."

Rosey was happy that all is well. But all was not well. From the next day, Betty started avoiding Rosey. Now, she did not bother to share with her anything that she got from Head miss. She talked less and preferred the company of other girls to her. She weekly visited the doctor but that did not mean she was sick. The doctor had become a father figure for her. Every sunday he came with sweets to see her and every Thursday she went to see him. Above all she always looked at Rosey expecting the presence but praying the absence of a response. The water overflowed when one evening Betty went for a walk with Rosey, though reluctantly but when it grew dark she left Rosey’s hand and ran away. Rosey was stunned. She walked alone, her eyes wetting her cheeks, her temperature rising, her heart beating faster, she feeling like vomiting as it happens in fear. She heard someone coughing heavily and following her. She grew fainter but somehow gathered her strength and ran back home. Betty was not there. She felt worried. Just then she heard the coughing follower and scaringly peeped out to see him. But the follower escaped. Rosey came back in. Betty came out of the washroom. Rosey was extremely annoyed at Betty’s aberrant behavior but remained quiet. Her will to talk or fight with Betty had reduced. In her bed she sobbed so much so that the pain echoed, as if it came from the walls, the benches, the other beds but still Betty did not respond. The next day, when Rosey got up she found that Betty was not in the room. She was curious but not worried. She asked Head miss. “The doctor took her away.” said Miss Middleton in a sad mood. Rosey grew more curious.

Then she remembered of the diary that she gifted Betty months ago. Every day she had seen Betty scribling something into it. "There must be some reason for her changed behavior and that can be found in the diary only", she thought. She looked for it and found it. All the pages of the diary were torn but one. On it was written,

“10^th July- Today I feel lucky enough to find new parents.  They are rich, kind and they will fulfill all my demands. Daddy has healed so many people, he will also take care of me.  I know to go with him, I have to leave Rosey. But in an orphanage we are meant to leave each other a day. Why that day can’t be today? So, I am going to my parents…….

This abruptly ending note had a devastating effect on Rosey and she cried and cried with a mixed emotion of sorrow, disappointment, anger and hate. "So, that is why the doctor and Betty regularly met!! You were so willing to get adopted Betty that you didn't even bother to tell me for the fear that I won't let you go alone? Why did you betray me Betty? I hate you Betty. Much more than I loved you."

 She at once decided to go with the couple which had come for her a month before. Luckily they still awaited her and were happy to adopt her.

Rosey had nothing but hate for Betty in her heart. After few years Rosey went to a function at the same orphanage. The children there had been told the stories of friendship of Betty and Rosey. They prepared a song on the same and gifted Rosey the old thick glass photoframe with Rosey and Betty hand in hand photograph.

Rosey accepted it there but could not make her heart love Betty even then. Reaching home she threw the frame breaking it into pieces. With the splash, flew, pages of some copy all around the room. She was astonished. These were the very torn away pages of Betty’s diary. She quickly gathered them and started reading them without wasting time.

“31^st May- Today a rich and kind couple had come to adopt Rosey. But because of me they didn’t adopt her. I am so bad. Why does Rosey love me so much? Well, if she was not adopted because of me, I would never let her feel lonely. I would always be with her in all her smiles and tears. Oh! Sorry I have to stop. My stomach ache has become severe. Tomorrow I may visit a doctor.”

Rosey was indifferent as if reading an already known boring chapter.

“1^st June- Oh no! How could this happen to me? Only yesterday I promised myself to be with Rosey all my life but what after this month? How will Rosey live? I have to put her away. She should forget me before I die…..I die of cancer….

Rosey’s heart  came to mouth. She read further,

….Only if she forgets me it will be easy for her to live after me. Otherwise….What after I vomit blood?  The doctor said the day I vomit blood I will be left with only last few days or even hours. I will have to go to the doctor immediately after that. So, I have to make her hate me. Yes, that can be the only way she forgets me. The first thing that I will do is to take a promise from Head Miss that she would never tell Rosey the truth. ”

Rosey was filled with tears, so much that she could not read further. But she had to and so wiped off her tears and read further. In all the pages from 2^nd June to 8^th July there was nothing except the sentence “I am very Sorry dear Rosey.”

“9^th June- I am sorry…very sorry. Today I had to leave Rosey’s hand in the dark leaving her alone because I felt like vomiting. I did not want to let her know about my illness. I ran away to find a dustbin where I coughed and vomited.  It was all red. I knew my dusk was close….very close but I had to look for Rosey. She was extremely fearful of dark. Is she okay? To see this I followed her such that she couldn’t see me. I knew this scared her more but I had no other way. My cough was too adamant to stop. Somehow, I managed to reach the home and secretly entered the washroom from the back door. Tomorrow the doctor will take me away. I even made him a call secretly.”

“10^th June- I could not sleep the whole night. I sobbed whole night echoing my dear Rosey. I am sorry I hurt you, Rosey. I am extremely sorry that I can’t take you. Actually it is the first time that I don't want to take you with me. I hope you don’t come behind me. I stop now for it’s the time for the doctor to come.”

Rosey could not hold her tears but she was surprised to see the next page without any date, as if it was a continued part of some earlier written event. It read,

…..The God. Rosey I bet.... 

Wait. Something stuck her mind and she quickly stood up, went to the almirah, took out the well preserved envelope titled, “This is why I hate her”. The only page of the diary Betty had left in the diary lay quietly in the envelope, although burning from within. Rosey quickly aligned the two pages to get the diary completed and thus it read,

 “10^th July- Today I feel lucky enough to find new parents.  They are rich, kind and they will fulfill all my demands. Daddy has healed so many people, he will also take care of me. I know to go with him, I have to leave Rosey. But in an orphanage we are meant to leave each other a day. Why that day can’t be today? So, I am going to my parents…….The God. 

Rosey I bet you will never get these pages and I pray that I win my last bet. My time has come. I can’t write anymore. I am sorry…..sorry for everything. I quit.”

Rosey was in the river of tears wiping them in vain. She said kissing Betty photograph, “ Dear Betty! You lost your last bet, but I lost you.” Although Betty would not have lost her bet had the Headmiss accepted her request. How would have Rosey ever found the pages had the Headmiss burned them that very day? How would she ever find them if the Headmiss had not secretly hidden it in the frame and asked the kids to give it to Rosey as a gift? 

Thank God she did not accept Betty's last wish. Sometimes it is good to be dishonest.