Episode 1: The Stranger

The Resurrection 

(Time will reveal everything)

(Mini web series)

Episode 1: The Stranger

You don’t need to know, what my name is, or who am I actually! All you need to know is the story I am about to share with you all. The story that matters, and the story that needs to be told! We know that sometimes, some things happen with some people that are actually unbelievable, strange and eccentric and this story is no different. These things or the series of events, change us for the better or worse, and decide who we become. So, assuming that you are ready to believe whatever I say and believe the not so obvious, I present to you the story of the unbelievable!!

‘C’mon, Abhay, make it fast buddy,’ a voice called him from the other side of the road.

He could see his friend shouting from the other end, and so started moving real fast, almost ignoring the rushing traffic of Cars and SUVs between the two roads’ crossings. And yep, suddenly, the pain in his head, shoot up! He almost lost his balance and consciousness amid the pain, while still crossing the road.

The surroundings started to blur as the pain took control of his head. This wasn’t anything of a new experience for him. Being a Migraine patient, he had had it all; at least this is what he thought. Migraine can be a real bitch sometimes, and so was it! He too knew and was well aware of his condition with the Migraine, and it’s not that he didn’t try for its remedies either. But all he got in return was various pills and medical courses, and advise to stay away from any stress or worries!  

As he tried to shift his focus from the pain to the road, he felt a strong thrust at his lower half body! SMASH!!!!! HE fell on the ground, and embraced unconsciousness in the next few moments. Oh by the way, his name was Abhay Singhania.

It’s funny how you can rant about various people, and don’t even mention their names, save introduce them. Well, to begin with, Abhay was a well built common Indian man in his early 30s. He was a Radio Jockey by profession and had some friends for life. Now back to the story, shall we?

Abhay tried to open his eyes, but couldn’t. The more he tried, the more pain he experienced around his forehead, as if something was stretching the already injured parts. But he didn’t give in and finally, could open his eyes, with the focus retaining its blur and slowly adjusting to the surroundings. With all the burning pain around his skin bruises, Abhay could make out that he was in hospital.

‘So, how are you feeling sir?’ a lady asked as she took out his left arm, cleansed a small part of it for sterilizing and finally injected him with god knows what. Well, yep he then understood that she was the nurse.

‘Oh, never been better before!’ Abhay replied with a scoff.

Obviously, how do you expect a guy to feel, lying on a hospital bed, with drips running through his body and skin burning with possible injuries! As Abhay got used to his surroundings, he noticed that his left hand lay motionless with drip running through it. He also noticed that he could no longer move his right leg, for it had been plastered and he couldn’t move his right arm either, for it had been plastered too! It wasn’t late that he understood that the thrust he had felt, was actually due to being hit by a running vehicle and all his new attire (not to forget the navy blue hospital robe and disgusting smell of antiseptics, sufficient enough to burn holes in the nostrils) was a return gift indeed.

‘You OK buddy?’ the same friend who had asked him to rush earlier today, asked him, as he entered Abhay’s ward.

Well, he was Ronit, his long time best friend, accomplice in stupidity and colleague or fellow RJ at the Dil Se radio station. And yeah, to add to the above list, he was his roommate too. Ask him and he could remember being with Abhay for as long as Abhay himself had been in the city, i.e. 6 long years. Both had a great bonding and I don’t need to elaborate over the relation, a guy has with his best buddy, do I?

            

            ‘Yeah, I am fine,’ Abhay said. ‘Had it not been for your rushing today, I wouldn’t be here you asshole.’

Abhay chuckled and tried to smack Ronit’s face with his arm but got retaining pain instead! Like seriously dude, how can you move your arm that is already plastered!

            ‘Hey, easy man, don’t be in a hurry to hit me so hard,’ Ronit said, dodging Abhay’s arm. ‘Looks like you don’t love that arm of yours.’

            ‘Yeah, whatever,’ Abhay smiled again. ‘If you weren’t in a hurry today, I would not be lying here, almost motionless in the first place.’

            ‘Yeah OK, I get it,’ Ronit replied. ‘You don’t have to remind me of that again and again. By the way how’s your pain now, any relief?’

            ‘Yeah quite a great relief,’ he replied. ‘I am better now.’

            ‘Well take some rest then,’ Ronit said, as he got up to leave. ‘I’ll see you later.’

            ‘Hey Ronit,’ Abhay shouted. ‘Have you told Ritika about any of this? You better say the truth here.’

            ‘Well, honestly I didn’t want to,’ Ronit said, sheepishly. ‘But then it occurred to me that she would practically kill me if she comes to know about any of this from someone else. So, yeah, I did tell her.’

            ‘You are really an asshole, I must admit,’ Abhay said. ‘Can’t digest a single thing!’

            ‘Well, let’s not drag me into this or in any matter where you two are concerned together,’ he said, chuckling. ‘The last time I didn’t tell her about your migraine problem, she lectured me for 3 consecutive days. Anyway, she should be here anytime now, so bye!’

            He left winking at Abhay and Abhay was smiling all by himself, for he knew, he would feel drastically better, once Ritika was there. Now as against what you all are thinking, Ritika wasn’t his fiancée, love or girlfriend or even wife! She was his sister, not by birth though. Ever since he had relocated to that new city 6 years ago, he had been taken care of by her and his landlord- Shramaji. Since then Ritika had been his sole support and family and he had accepted her as his sister cum soul mate cum mother cum everybody!

            Ritika was a perfect fit in every relationship for Abhay. According to him, she cared for him like mother, scolded and guided him like father, supported him (no matter what) like a brother, teased him like a best friend and most importantly, loved him like nobody else. She was the one who made his life perfect and she was what Abhay called his ‘soul mate’, if nothing else. And yeah the same implied from Ritika’s side too. They both were what the craziest combination of a brother and sister would be, you might say!

            ‘So, finally you broke that leg,’ she said or rather taunted, as soon as she entered the hospital ward. ‘Enjoying it?’    

            ‘Na, not just the leg, there is more to it,’ Abhay said, giggling. ‘The right arm here too is broken. Certain bruises are there on my face above the nose, on the chin and not to mention the strain in the back!’

            ‘Oh, so why did you leave your head? I wonder. It looks unharmed,’ she taunted again. ‘I told you to take your bloody medicine for your sick Migraine, but you won’t! Grow up idiot!’

            ‘Ah cool down,’ he said, trying to sit straight and failing miserably. ‘You know the medicines are as good as nothing. The doctor too agreed with it.’

            ‘Yeah whatever,’ she said, pissed off. ‘Now here, I got all your medicines and you are not skipping any of them, got it?’

            ‘Yeah mummy, I get it,’ Abhay said teasingly, raising both his arms as if to bow down. ‘Cool down!’

            Well nobody could note down the exact moment when the scenario from this mother-son duel changed into wild laughs and eccentric talks of two childhood buddies. Well, that was the uniqueness in their relationship; both completely became themselves with each other, not tired of ranting and listening, be it day or night. But it was the night then and Abhay went to sleep, so did everyone else. This won’t come as a big surprise or an exceptional thing if I said Abhay had a dream that day, for almost every normal human being dreams about something or other while asleep right?

            But in his case, the dreams seemed more realistic, livelier and scarier! Abhay never dreamt, instead all that he had, were nightmares! Even the pattern of the nightmares remained the same: An isolated place like a ship port at midnight, a dim yellow light all over the area and all horrible things that you can imagine. The images in the dreams though remained blurred and that day was no different. And like every other dream cum nightmare, that day too, Abhay could see someone walking at the location (as if he were playing a 1^st person video game) with sort of a long rod or something towards a girl in her early twenties. The face of the girl couldn’t be seen clearly as usual.

            ‘How can you do this to me?’ the girl shouted and cried, seeing the guy approaching near her.

            The girl had a terrified look over her face, and she flinched back with every step the person in Abhay’s dream took towards her. Finally when the person was to attack the girl, Abhay could hear his own name, as if someone was imploring him to help. The voice became louder and louder until eventually when he couldn’t take any more of it.

            ‘Whoa! What?’ he yelled frantically, as he got up from the sleep on his hospital bed. ‘What is it?’

            ‘Sshhh, nothing dear absolutely nothing,’ Sharmaji said, as he hugged him tight and started petting his forehead. ‘You are here in the hospital, remember?’

            It took Abhay sometime to get hold of the actual situation. He finally recovered from the horrible dream and came to realize that he had just passed through another nightmare.

            ‘Oh, yeah I am fine Sharmaji,’ Abhay said, regaining his senses. ‘But when did you come here?’

            ‘That doesn’t matter much son,’ he said. ‘I came here after Ritika left. But you were everything but normal in your sleep. You were squirming and had these sweat beads over your forehead and were even mumbling something. You looked terrified. Did you have a nightmare again?’

            ‘Ah yeah, Sharmaji,’ Abhay said, relieved now (at least he pretended he was). ‘The same usual nightmare, that I am used to by now.’

            ‘Ah OK,’ Sharmaji said. ‘Well that’s nothing to fear about right? You have had worse nightmares than this one I suppose. Just relax and I will get you some water.’

            ‘OK Sharmaji,’ Abhay smiled as Sharmaji left the ward to get some water.

Sharmaji had been a real father figure to Abhay and Ronit. They both shared the same rented flat and Sharmaji was their landlord. Yet he always treated them like his own sons, maybe as his own son had shifted his base to the USA. Well the reasons can be immense, but the point is that he treated both of them like his own sons and supported them as and when required. And Abhay was glad to have him and Ritika along with Ronit in his life. They completed his family.

Well it is strange, but Abhay never talked about his actual family or their whereabouts. He even dodged the topic of his own whereabouts before he relocated to that new city. For those closest to him i.e. Ronit and Ritika, he was always prone to their suspicion over his concealing nature but their love for him always outweighed their suspicion regarding him.

Abhay was resting when his mobile ringed.

‘PRIVATE NUMBER’ flashed on the mobile screen.

‘Hello?’ Abhay said, as he picked up the call, amused by the private number tag.

‘Hello Abhay,’ an unknown yet smooth voice welcomed him. It was a man’s voice.

‘Sorry but do I know you?’ Abhay said, more amused by now. ‘Who is it?’

‘Doesn’t matter my dear,’ the voice became more sinister and menacingly smooth and soft. ‘You don’t need to know me. But do you remember Sanjana?’

‘Whhhat?’ Abhay was at once terrified, as if he really had something to do with whoever Sanjana was. ‘I… don’t… know… what you are talking about.’

‘You can’t elude me Abhay,’ the voice gained its momentum in the sinisterness. ‘We both know who she is, don’t we? Do you remember The Royal Plaza then?’

Abhay lost his temperament again and became restless; his hands were shaking as if he really had something to do with whatever the caller had to say.

‘I don’t know anything,’ Abhay said, and was to cut the call when the person from the other side spoke again.

‘Don’t panic my child and don’t cut the call either,’ he said as he broke into soft yet terrifying giggles. ‘I won’t tell anybody about that night, your secret is safe with me.’

‘WHHOOO are YOUUUUU????’ Abhay yelled at the caller.

‘Ah, we haven’t have had an introduction right?’ the man spoke again, retaining his soft yet evil baritone. ‘What do you want to call me? Maybe you should call me your well wisher, maybe your confidant or what about calling me a stranger? Well it is for you to decide and it is suffice to say, it was my utmost pleasure talking to you child, will contact you again, bye!’

He said everything thing in his unfailing soft voice and cut the call. And Abhay’s heart started pounding really hard. He was typically paranoid and was terrified as well.

 Nobody knows who the caller was, or what he wanted. And what was it about this Royal Plaza or Sanjana that made Abhay so restless and paranoid. But one thing was for sure, Abhay had his own secrets that he never wanted to share with anyone but somehow, the caller or The Stranger knew something about them. Maybe, Abhay was helpless, maybe he had had a dark past, or maybe there was more to him than anybody knew. Who knows what it was, only the time will tell or may be the next episode.

***@@@***

Liked it? Read Episode 2 here.