Episode 8: Trust me

The Resurrection

(Time will reveal everything)

(Mini web series)

Have you read the 7th episode yet? If not, Read it here, to enjoy this episode.

Episode 8: Trust me 

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!!

The present day on the island:

            ‘Hallo!’ Ronit yelled at Abhay, pulling him out of his chain of thoughts. ‘What the hell is wrong with you? You’ve been daydreaming or what buddy?’

            ‘Huh? Umm… What?’ Abhay asked, covered in the veil of confusion as he came back to the reality.

            Yeah, they were still stuck on that unknown and deserted island and Abhay for a while had been dunked into his memories of that fateful New Year eve so much, that he almost forgot about their present situation and their whereabouts. And his strange behavior was freaking out Ronit, who by then was already pretty much disturbed by all of a sudden and creepy incidents.

            ‘Hell, no buddy,’ Ronit exclaimed again, totally freaked out. ‘Something’s definitely wrong with you, damn it! Wake up! Come out of your sweet reverie bastard! We are stranded on a bloody unknown and mysterious island, don’t you get it???’

            Before Abhay could say anything, they heard a loud shriek of what looked like a petrified animal. They waited for sometime only to find a golden rabbit running, petrified towards them. It just came and leaped at Abhay, who was agile enough to catch it in his arms. Maybe Abhay knew what was coming, so he gently placed the Rabbit in Ronit’s lap and took a sword from one of the dead-bodies lying by from their last fight.

As he had expected, a few wolf like creatures came looking after the petrified rabbit. They surely were planning to hunt it. As they saw Abhay and Ronit standing in front of them, one of them took a giant leap towards Abhay and Ronit, and was sliced into two halves by the sword that Abhay wielded. There were three of them and the remaining two were too petrified to react, so they flinched back and eventually disappeared into the bushes in front of them.

Abhay then went back to the rabbit and took it from Ronit’s hands, who looked terribly frightened. Abhay saw a wound on the rabbit’s back, so he applied the same mixture on its wound that he had used on himself and Ronit. As expected the wounds were healed within no time and the rabbit jumped out of Abhay’s hand and sprinted into the woods, till it finally disappeared.    

‘What the frigging hell was that now???’ Ronit exploded, trembling. ‘Why the hell did you kill that animal who was trying to hunt that rabbit for survival? I might not know about this place like you do, but I know the rules of survival. Why did you kill it? And where the hell did you learn that sword fight????’

'First of all, it wasn't an ordinary rabbit, it was an Aureum lepus, a special breed of rabbits found on this island,' Abhay explained, giggling at Ronit's weird expressions. 'Secondly, those wolves like creatures: the Nigra lupus, they weren't hunting for survival as they don't feed on aureum lepus or any animal walking on 2 or 4 feet. They feed only on the ones walking on 3 feet so obviously they were hunting the poor animal for fun. As for these mysterious sword combating skills, I've told you- I am as confused as you are.'

‘You are scaring me to shit now!’ Ronit exploded again, shivering. ‘How on the lush green earth did you know all this crap about leaves, rabbits, 3 legs and 4 legs and all stuff in a frigging language that a normal human won’t understand? I doubt that 31^st December eve transformed you somehow. Oh god! Save me!’

‘I would like to think so buddy,’ Abhay thought, as he maintained his smile. ‘But I was surely transformed way before the 31^st December eve and I somehow have no idea about it.’

As they were having this argument, the darkness covered the sparkling sky, as the dark clouds veiled the mighty sun. Soon, it started raining hard and both of them were forced to take shelter in the nearest bushes beneath an enormous tree. Abhay, who looked terribly tired, just sprawled down on the ground, prodding his back against the mighty tree trunk. 

‘Yeah right,’ Ronit exploded again, both irked and frightened. ‘This has to be a horrifyingly chilling dream now. On one hand I don’t have any idea about my whereabouts on this strange and mysterious island, and my best friend here is behaving so strangely, almost freaking me out now. And to add to the agony, this is what I get: bloody turbulent rains! I need sunlight damn it!’

‘Ah, well about that,’ Abhay said, smiling. ‘Don’t expect sunlight or sun for a week now Ronit. From what I can perceive, this is the 1^st rain of the season here. And so from now on there will be 10 sessions of the continuous heavy rainfalls that last for minimum 1 week each. So yeah, forget about sunlight for at least a month now.’

Ronit looked at Abhay in absolute bewilder and shock. His expression deteriorated as the fear took better of him.

‘This guy isn’t the Abhay Singhania that I’ve known for years now,’ Ronit said, completely freaked out. ‘Who are you? I am going away from you as far as possible!’

With this, he ran away into the woods, ignoring all that Abhay had to say to stop him. Soon, Abhay heard a loud cry and he knew it was Ronit. Abhay ran towards the woods only to be struck by a heavy blow on his head. He turned around in pain to find Ritika standing there in a strange black body suit, holding a distinguished weapon and a group of 10-12 people who were dressed in the same attire as the ones that Abhay had killed in the combat earlier, behind her.

‘What the hell?’ Abhay freaked out. ‘What are you doing here Ritika? And why did you just hit me?’

She stood there pale and emotionless, unlike her true self. She looked past his eyes, without even a blink. Then she hit him hard again and said something to the men behind her in some strange language. They all then gathered around Abhay, and took him hostage as they blindfolded him and took him away with them.

Maybe he was tranquilized en route as he didn’t exactly remember travelling to the place that he found himself in, when he woke up again after those men held him hostage. He woke up to find himself in an open arena, much like those enormously wide palace courtyards, surrounded by tress and marble floors as in The Hobbit series and the Prince of Persia video games. He soon realized that he wasn’t the only one there. He found some fifty other individuals with teenagers, infants and ladies included. He was trying to decipher the exact complexity of the situation, when he heard a familiar voice.

‘Abhay, buddy we need to talk.’ It was Ronit, his face smeared in dust and blood. 

‘Whoa Whoa wait buddy,’ Abhay exclaimed, shocked to find Ronit in such a condition. ‘What happened to you? Who did this?’

‘I – I don’t know buddy. I seriously have no idea what’s going on here,’ Ronit said, as he broke down into tears. ‘Look, I know something happened with you before you met us and I believe you when you say that you don’t remember anything from your past. But buddy, you know what? I don’t know about you, but until recently, I was this normal person – a normal RJ, who loved interacting with people, 5 hours a day; had these wild parties with friends and family on weekends and slept peacefully with no worries of a better future or a dreadful tomorrow.  I had this normal life, and that’s where I belong. And now I am here, in the place that is so strange that I think I am living a Bilbo Baggins’ or a Harry Potter’s life. I didn’t chose anyone of this Abhay, I never would. I want to go back to my usual life and I don’t want to die, here wondering what actually happened buddy –’ 

He broke down and couldn’t say anything beyond that. And Abhay could understand his pain as well and he so desperately wished that someone could understand his agony as well. But he very well knew, that wouldn’t happen, ever.

‘I know buddy, I know,’ Abhay said, soothing him down. ‘Nobody’s dying here, I promise. We’ll have our old life back soon, buddy. Just trust me.’

‘I trust you buddy,’ Ronit said, as he hugged him tightly. ‘I trust you completely and I know you won’t let me die easily. Yeah, I do trust you. Thanks buddy.’

‘Well, Well, well,’ a strange voice echoed in the arena, out of nowhere. ‘Ah, guess what do we have here now? Ladies, welcome Mr. Abhay Singhania, my very dear friend.’

That was the same voice that had hunted Abhay for the last couple of days. The same sinisterness that it commanded, freaked Abhay out. It was the stranger.

 

‘Oh crap! Now you got to be kidding me,’ Abhay exclaimed. ‘This can’t be the stranger!’

‘Well sure this is,’ the voice said again, as Ronit, along with others looked at Abhay in utter shock and bewilder. ‘I trust you with at least recognizing and remembering my voice if not remembering either of Sanjana or the New Year eve. And before you ask me what I want from you, let me be clear. My demands are still the same: KILL YOURSELF!!!’

Soon, a glass box emerged from beneath the floor in front of Abhay and Ronit with a weapon that resembled a gun. It seemed strange but nobody out of the group of the people present there, dared to speak a single word. Everyone stood there in complete silence, almost lifeless as if the death had already been unleashed upon them. 

‘So, Abhay my dear,’ the voice said again. ‘You’ve spent quite a long time on this island haven’t you? The gun that just appeared has just one bullet in it. And here is the deal: Either you shoot one of these innocent people here with it, or shoot yourself! You as much as just dare to do anything else, and believe me they all are dead! You don’t want to test the authenticity of my word now, do you? And FYI, your very dear Sharmaji is also in there.’

Abhay looked closely and yes, Sharmaji was there. He too looked similar to everyone else in the herd: emotionless zombies. Abhay didn’t know what that moment felt like. On one end, he had eventually found Sharmaji and on the other he had chose between his own life and others’. 

‘C’mon fast,’ the voice echoed again. ‘We don’t have the whole day. I would suggest killing yourself is way much easier and better than killing someone innocent now, isn’t it?’

Anyone who knew Abhay would know the obvious choice that Abhay would make. He was, after a lot of consideration about to pick up the gun when Ronit grabbed it.

‘Nooo,’ he exclaimed. ‘Don’t even think about it. If whoever this guy is, wants you dead so badly than you’ve got be someone real special Abhay. And I believe that you really are -from my experiences with you and what I’ve witnessed on this island for last couple of hours. But this guy will kill everyone else now if you don’t, right?’

Abhay was unable to comprehend what was brewing at that particular moment.

‘But you’ve to live my friend,’ Ronit said again, his body trembling and sweating badly. ‘You’ve to live and do what you were destined to do. You were and you are really special buddy, believe me. I’ll miss you.’

Tears trickled down his eyes as he said that, with a bright smile. And before Abhay could process anything, he did what nobody had even fathomed –Ronit shot himself! 

‘Nooooo’ Abhay yelled, his eyes glistening with tears and wide open in shock. He couldn’t say anything else –he had no energy left with him to say anything else. So, he just broke down into the emotionless state like everyone else and thumped on the floor, next to Ronit’s lifeless body, covered in a pool of blood.

‘Well, that was quite a show here,’ the voice said, in a playfully evil tone. ‘Relations, emotions and blah blah blah. Fair still, we had a deal. An innocent guy was what Mr Abhay chose to kill over himself, so nobody else dies today. Agents, now clean the mess up as fast as you can. I don’t want to spoil the aesthetic beauty of my land with blood and gore. And yeah, take other measures to do what you deem appropriate!’

Abhay was in a state of partial comatose. He didn’t react but he could see the happenings around him. Soon, Ritika entered the premises with her team as they shifted the herd of people along with Shramaji to some other place. As Ritika came near Abhay, he instantly gained the energy to speak. Maybe they really shared a great bond.

‘Ritika,’ Abhay said. ‘Ronit –Ronit killed himself. I know you can take both Sharmaji and me out of this rut Ritika. You always do, you always have. I –’

Abhay couldn’t utter anything more as the combined effect of shock and emotions took hold of him. However he pleaded a lot to Ritika to help him but she stood there stone cold. And when he tried to hug her, she asked one of the guards to take him away.

‘Shut up,’ she yelled at him, glaring right through his eyes as she hit him hard. Abhay was broken and her attitude completely ripped him apart. He saw her standing there, stone faced as the guards forcefully took him away from the scene and as he began to pass into nothingness. 

This wasn’t the same Ritika. She was his angel, she always had been –at least this is how he had remembered her. As he began to pass into a trance memories from the past started to flash in front of him like a slide show.

Few years back:

Abhay had just then been fired from his job and Sharmaji had not been keeping well. So he was into such a depression that he had forgotten his own birthday. He was sitting in his room, when a golden retriever entered the room suddenly, and pounced near him.

‘What the –’ Abhay was about to say something when Ritika entered the room.

‘Happy birthday my dear brother,’ she had said, as she hugged him tightly. ‘How did you like your birthday present?’

‘Well,’ Abhay struggled to find the perfect words as he was lost in the innocence of that little fur ball: the golden retriever that Ronit later named as Vodka, remember?

  ‘I know you love it,’ she had said, smiling, as they broke the hug.

 ‘I so hope we didn’t have these problems right now. We could celebrate,’ he had said, sadly.

‘So what?’ she had retorted. ‘We’ll celebrate still. Don’t worry. All these problems will be over soon, I know. We’ll tackle them together, don’t be upset.’

‘How can you be so sure about that?’ he had asked, despondent.

‘I know everything,’ she had said, chuckling. ‘Now stop being so despondent.’

‘Ritika, I love you dear,’ Abhay had said, as he had hugged her tightly again. ‘Please don’t leave me ever! Please!’

‘I love you too my dear brother,’ she had said. ‘And I’ll be with you forever, I promise. Trust me.’

‘Yeah I do,’ he had said, relaxed. ‘I trust you.’

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 Liked what you read? Read the next episode here: Episode9