Episode 5: A Battle with the past

The Resurrection

(Time will reveal everything)

(Mini web series)
Have you read the 4th episode yet? If not, Read it here, to enjoy this episode.

Episode 5: A Battle with the past

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!!

Few weeks before the day on the island (continued):

                So yeah, Ritika shot Abhay and Abhay went unconscious thereafter. The next thing that he remembered was that he woke up on a bed, with throbbing pain in his chest, maybe that was where Ritika shot him. He however was unsure of where he was and how long it had been since the night that she shot him. And the surroundings in the room that he found himself didn’t seem familiar either. It was only after Ronit told him everything, that the picture of the ongoing events became clearer to him.

            ‘How the hell were you shot damn it?’ Ronit exploded, as soon as Abhay woke up.

            ‘Wh…a…t?’ Abhay said as he tried to make sense of the ongoing events.  

            ‘When I entered the apartment last night, you were bleeding profusely,’ Ronit said, his voice trembling. ‘You were shot by a bullet and so I rushed you here at once. How are you now?!’

            ‘But where the hell am I?’ asked Abhay, still confused. ‘This place doesn’t look familiar.’

            ‘Ah, well this is Sakshi’s place,’ Ronit said. ‘Sakshi Verma, our neighbor, remember?’

            The only thing that Abhay knew about Sakshi was that she had been a medico with the Indian Army for last 4-5 years and that she was a great friend of Ronit. But how all of a sudden, he was nursing his wounds at her place was still very much unclear to him. Seeking the hint of confusion at his face, Ronit spoke.

            ‘Well, you were shot and were bleeding profusely,’ he said. ‘Luckily, I was with Sakshi yesterday when all of a sudden someone called me to inform that you were shot. I immediately rushed at our apartment to find you lying unconscious and bleeding profusely. So, immediately Sakshi asked me to get the required first- aid and started operating on you.  She just went to get some medicines just now. But how the hell were you shot????’

            ‘Wait, what did you just say?’ Abhay asked, panicking. ‘Someone called you to inform that I had been shot? Who informed you? And how the hell did she agree to operate on me without shifting me to a hospital? How could you manage to operate without an OT?’

            ‘I don’t know who called me as the number was a PRIVATE NUMBER,’ Ronit said. ‘And as for you, firstly we didn’t have enough time to shift you to a hospital as you had already lost enough blood and secondly, both of us thought of a long trail of police investigation and all other shit, if we rushed you to a hospital. And dude, she is a medico with the Indian army and has handled even worse cases without an OT. But bastard who shot you damn it and why??’

            ‘Fuck you stranger!’ Abhay exclaimed in agony, and spoke after regaining his senses. ‘Where are Ritika and Sharmaji?’

            ‘I don’t know,’ Ronit said. ‘I mean since yesterday night, both Sakshi and I are so busy nursing you that I didn’t bother to enquire about either of them. Also, Ritika had called in yesterday to inform me that she was taking Sharmaji for his regular checkup at Mumbai and will return in 2-3 days. And who is this stranger by the way that you just screamed at?’

            ‘Holly shit!’ Abhay exclaimed again. ‘Ronit, you idiot! You didn’t bother to even enquire their whereabouts? And unlike your usual self, you didn’t even inform her about me being shot?’

            ‘I didn’t know what to do OK?’ Ronit exploded again. ‘I was waiting for you to gain consciousness and I was about to inform her when you woke up. I have been so worried that I haven’t yet removed your bloody shoes, can’t you see? And hell, who shot you asshole?!’

            Before Abhay could speak, Abhay’s cell phone rang. Ronit gave it to Abhay and Abhay was furious as soon as he read those two words: PRIVATE NUMBER. 

            ‘Hello Abhay,’ a girl’s voice greeted him as soon as he picked up the phone. This time it wasn’t the usual stranger’s voice. But it was Ritika’s. ‘I am surprised you are alive!’

            ‘Ritika?’ Abhay said, freaking out. ‘Is that you? Is that you Ritika?’

            ‘Yeah, I am,’ she said silently. ‘Now listen you moron. Don’t even try to find where Sharmaji is or where I am, OK? You were asked to kill yourself but you didn’t; now Sharmaji shall pay for your sins!’

            ‘Ri…ti…ka please don’t do this,’ Abhay implored, as tears went down his eyes. ‘How could you…? How… how… could you be the one that you now have become? Where is Sharmaji? Where are you and who have you become? Please, don’t do this, please!’

            ‘Shut up, you idiot,’ she shot back. ‘Sharmaji is with me and is safe right now, but he won’t be for long, if you don’t stop your emotional shit, for once and all! Just kill yourself Abhay Singhania! How many more lives do you intend to take now?’

            ‘Ritika…’ before he could say anything, she cut the call. 

            Enraged, Abhay smashed his cell phone at the wall in front of him and broke down. His arm hurt badly due to the sudden force and so did his muscles around the wound. But the hurt that they created was nothing in comparison to what Abhay had been experiencing. It was a mixed feeling of emotional breakdown dipped in fury. How could this all be happening?

            ‘Whoa, whoa! What happened?’ Ronit exclaimed, at the sudden reaction of Abhay. ‘Hey, Abhay buddy, you alright? Hey, hold on, what’s happening to you now?’ Abhay!’

            Abhay clasped his head between his hands as the migraine pain shot up again. He was crying badly already and now the migraine attack took better of him and suddenly, the world around him started swiveling. His head became heavy and vision started to blur, eventually he fell down on the bed as he passed into a trance.

            The next thing he remembered was that he woke up on a strange place that resembled an unexplored island or a dense forest. He recollected himself, and after gaining his full senses he was surprised! His wounds were gone! He struggled to remember how long it had been since the day at Sakshi’s home. He looked around and found Ronit lying few feet away from him. 

            ‘Where the hell on earth are we?’ Ronit burst out as soon as he gained his senses after Abhay woke him up. ‘What the hell is happening, damn it?’

            Abhay didn’t respond. How could he? He was already broken and the damage was beyond repair. Betrayal from your closest ones leaves the intangible wounds that are never healed, just concealed. Even the time doesn’t heal these scars, and they become a part of you. And so, was the case with Abhay. He, however analyzed the situation and asked Ronit to just get up and walk with him.

            ‘This place bloody looks like the Brazilian Rainforest,’ Ronit said, after they started wandering on the island or forest whatever that was. ‘Look at the dense trees Abhay, there is barely any sunlight passing through them!’

            Well yep, the place was covered with dense trees and resembled the Amazon forests as depicted in the Anaconda movie franchise. The surroundings looked fascinating and Mother Nature was at her asethetic best. But the condition that they both were in, didn’t let them savor the nature. They walked and walked in the dense forest until they heard the sound of flowing water. They were near a waterfall for sure. It was then that they saw an opening ahead of them, letting the sunlight pierce the dense area. They walked faster and Shoot!

            An arrow just landed in front of them, just inches away. Had it been for just another inch, they both could be the target. They both were startled, when suddenly a bunch of masked men, covered in black attire ambushed them. Nobody knew how, but Abhay was already alert and so began the hand to hand combat with them. He took away a knife from one of them and slit opened his throat. Ronit too tried to fight, but failed miserably, getting injured badly. Ronit couldn’t believe what he witnessed. Abhay shifted from one place to another, dodging the blows and attacks of the masked men with the agility of a panther and attacked them with the fierceness and cruelty of an assassin. He fought like a pro and Ronit was astounded!

            ‘Where the hell did you learn that?’ Ronit yelled at Abhay, who was busy tackling the masked men. ‘Dude this is ridiculously awesome!’

            ‘Believe me, I’ve been asking the same question to myself buddy,’ Abhay retorted, as he dodged a blow from another masked man, and then snapped his neck. ‘I seriously don’t know!’

            ‘That’s ridiculous, asshole,’ Ronit yelled. ‘Hey watch out!’

            Before Abhay could react, another masked man attacked him with a blow over his head. Abhay was startled for a second and then he swiftly turned around, dodged the masked man, clenched his arm fiercely, snatched the weapon from his hand and eventually broke his neck. After that he looked around and yeah, all of them lay lifeless on the ground and Abhay himself was astounded at his unknown ability to fight like a pro Ninja or a Kung fu master. 

He moved forward towards Ronit, who lay badly injured a few feet away and suddenly he limped and again, passed into a trance. And then, we know the rest don’t us? Let me remind you:

He then woke up amid a few dead bodies and saw Ronit lying unconscious ahead of him and when he limped for a certain distance he fell down again in a trance and all these events replayed in his head. Hospitals, injuries, nightmares, unwanted calls, migraine attacks and these untimed trances had started to define his life then. However, he woke up again, this time more conscious than ever. He walked to the waterfall, splashed some water over his face and sighed.

Then he looked around as if looking for something and finally found it. He plucked a few weeds like grass, leaves and some wet sand, placed them on a rock and started pounding them with another rock. When the mixture looked mixed enough, he removed his shoe, put the mixture in it and then filled it with waterfall water, shook it thoroughly and poured the mixture on his injured head. With a piercing and burning pain, his injuries were gone, magically!

‘Whoa! This is burning damn it!’ Ronit screamed after Abhay applied the same mixture on his injuries and he at once gained senses. ‘Hell, this hurts. Fuck! How the hell did those wounds vanish?’

Ronit’s injuries too were healed within seconds like Abhay’s and so he was astounded.

          ‘Shh…’ Abhay said. ‘This is a special potion made from the Kuṇappaṭuttum leaves, it heals your injuries within seconds.’
 

‘Wait, what leaves? Kuna… what?’ Ronit exclaimed. ‘And what now? How can they heal somebody so fast?’

       ‘The Kuṇappaṭuttum leaves,’ Abhay said, laughing. ‘It’s Tamil for ‘Healing or Curing’ and they are magical leaves buddy.’

‘Now you didn’t tell me you knew Tamil too!’ Ronit said, bewildered. ‘And wait, does this mean we are in South India? And what! Magical leaves, are you kidding me? And how the hell do you know all this?’

Abhay became silent, and frustrated as if he himself didn’t know the answers to any of Ronit’s questions. It was true. Abhay didn’t know where they were for sure, he also had no explanation for his unexplained combating skills and for his helpful but dreading knowledge of those special leaves and that special potion. It was like he remembered some parts from his past that had entirely been erased from his memory. Remember, he never talked about his family or his life before he met Ritika, Sharmaji and Ronit? 

It was because he had no idea about his life before one night: 31^st December, 2008. And he had longed badly to remember everything for years now, but it was all a vain attempt.  For him, his entire life story started from that New Year eve, for he didn’t remember even a scratch of his life before it. It was the night that involved Sanjana, The Royal Plaza and his sins that enraged the stranger and his destiny. The night that was the reason that Abhay and his family were in this ongoing rut and the stranger menace. The night that Abhay wished never had come in his life. It was a battle with the past, that Abhay had no hopes of winning.

Unlike my usual self, I promise you all, the mystery behind the New Year eve of 31^st December, 2008 is about to be unveiled soon, just maybe in the next episode itself. Till then, you are free to ponder how did Abhay and Ronit reach the island? What are Ritika and the stranger up to next? And why the hell did everything happen in Abhay’s life the way it happened?

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 Liked what you read? Read the next episode here: Episode6