Episode 11: The Stranger- A final face-off

The Resurrection

(Time will reveal everything)

(Mini web series)

Have you read the Episode 10 yet? Read it here, to enjoy this episode!

Episode 11: The Stranger- A final face-off 

(Season Finale)

The story so far: 

We were introduced to Abhay Singhania, a boy with a mysterious past and with only three people to call his family: His best friend Ronit, their land lord Sharmaji and his soul mate and sister like neighbor Ritika. Abhay had a terrible migraine attack problem and soon a stranger began contacting him in mysterious ways, haunting him with the questions about his past and a girl named Sanjana. The stranger then began attacking everyone close to Abhay and Sharmaji fell victim to one such attack, forcing Abhay to save his life by donating his blood for blood transfusion. Abhay then started getting nightmares and intuitions that started turning into reality the very next day and one such dream showed Ritika killing Sharmaji and Abhay with a gun. Eventually, Ritika did shoot Abhay with a gun and kidnapped Sharmaji.

            Soon after the kidnapping, Abhay and Ronit found themselves on a mysterious island with magical surroundings, without any logical explanation. The flashbacks showed us that Sanjana was a girl that Abhay loved and had eventually killed, unknowingly. While the flashbacks showed us how Abhay was the murderer, the happenings on the island confirmed that Abhay indeed had been on that island before and might even have some mystical powers of his own. Soon, they were kidnapped and kept prisoner in a palace, lead by the stranger. And when the stranger forced Abhay to kill himself, Ronit shot himself, in order to save Abhay. 

            It was revealed through a letter from Ritika that she indeed was never behind any of this and was forced to do whatever she did. Eventually, Abhay broke out of the prison with the help of a fellow captive: Simons, who mysteriously knows everything about the palace and Abhay’s life. Abhay then freed a herd of special golden rabbits: the aureum lepus, similar to what he had saved on the island before, from a cage in the palace. Simons revealed to Abhay that his migraine attacks were actually one of his sub-conscious special ability that warned him of any impending dangers in the form of the migraine attacks. And eventually, Simons and Abhay were caught again by the guards.

The present time in the palace:

          

So, they were finally thrown into a prison again, with their handcuffs now unlocked and they heard the metal doors being shut, behind them. After sometime, they untied the black cloth blindfolding them and realized that they were back in a similar underground prison, they had escaped from.

              ‘Abhay?’ Abhay heard somebody calling him. He turned around and it was Ritika.

            ‘Ritika!’ Abhay exclaimed. ‘What on earth is happening here? And what are you doing in here?’

            Ritika came closer to him and hugged him tightly as tears trickled down slowly from her eyes, glistening with the tears of pain and guilt.

            ‘I am so happy you are alright Abhay,’ she said, still embracing him tightly. ‘I’m sorry brother, this is all  my fault. I should’ve been more careful from the beginning!’

            ‘What do you mean?’ Abhay asked, confused as hell, as he broke the hug. And before she could say anything, Simons jumped in.

            ‘Hello my loving young lady,’ he said, as he went ahead and kissed Ritika’s hand. ‘Been a really long time, hasn’t it?’

            ‘Simons?’ Ritika said, after a few moments of trying to figure out who was the guy in front of her. ‘What on earth are you doing here now?’

            ‘How the hell do you two know each other?!’ Abhay yelled again. ‘Mysterious things have been happening since I landed on this island. Would anyone care to explain what actually is happening here????’

            ‘Abhay this is really vaster and more complicated then you think it all is,’ Ritika said. ‘All this… whoa…!’

            She was interrupted by a sudden jerk from the ground, like an earthquake. Soon, the ground below them started rising like a platform, as they rose along with it, standing on it, all shacking and vibrating. ‘What is happening here?’ Simons and Abhay yelled in unison.

            ‘I don’t know myself, damn it!’ Ritika shot back. They were soon on an open ground, with heavy rainfall hitting them hard like needles and pebbles, as the ground kept rising and finally stabilized on that open arena. They looked underneath them, and boy! The ground was more of a metal platform, something like a secret lift.

            ‘This is ridiculous,’ Abhay shouted, as the rainwater kept hitting them really hard. ‘How come have we reached here? It’s raining cats and dogs!’

            ‘Well, it will keep raining like this Mr. Abhay,’ Abhay heard a menacing and dreadfully familiar voice and yes, it was the stranger’s. All of them turned around, and found a figure, staring at them, with an army of humanoids, similar to the ones that they had fought earlier that day, accompanying him. 2 of them were guarding him, while the others scattered in a big circle around Abhay, Simons and Ritika, pointing their guns at them.   

            ‘What a great coincidence that we are meeting the second time at the same palace again, right Abhay?’ the figure spoke. ‘Ah, well just to be clear, I am your oldest and closest well- wisher, your confidant, yours beloved –the stranger! Welcome back my friend.’

            So, he indeed was the stranger and he had his face covered with a mask and his body covered with what seemed like a powerful armor.

            ‘Ever since you’ve contacted me, my life is a living hell! You just want to kill me right?’ Abhay growled. ‘Fine, kill me! Why don’t you end it all for once and all??’

            ‘Easy my boy easy,’ the stranger said, maintaining his sinister calm. ‘If only it was so easy to kill you! But, guess what? It isn’t! ‘Cuz if it was, do you really think I would’ve waited this long?’

            Abhay stood there blank, trying to comprehend what the stranger actually meant.

            ‘Oh c’mon,’ the stranger said again. ‘Don’t act all childish now, you know your abilities right? Now, even though you’ve lost your memory, I still very much trust your IQ. I mean, you weren’t the first warrior for nothing, right?’

            ‘He still is,’ Ritika growled at the stranger. ‘He is and he’ll always be the first warrior you filth!’

            ‘Now, she is really a funny girl,’ the stranger said, mockingly, with a scoff. ‘If he still is the first warrior my dear, why are you along with your Romeo, Mr. Simons, are waiting to embrace the death right here?’

            ‘What the freaking hell is happening around here???’ Abhay exploded, glaring at the stranger. ‘Will somebody care to explain? And you –you jackass, why don’t you just kill me, damn it? And where is Sharmaji? What’ve you done to him? And why are you so hell bent on wrecking havoc in my life?’

            The stranger began laughing hysterically and then spoke. ‘I still wonder how can’t you understand a simple equation that I can’t kill you, nobody can’t, except yourself??’ he exploded. ‘I want you to kill yourself ‘cuz nobody else can. And now, I guess, this shall help.’

            As he said that, the stranger removed his mask, uncovering his hidden identity. And although Abhay had thought nothing could shock him more than the happenings on the island, he was yet to witness the biggest shock that shattered every single emotion left within him. Behind that mask, stood a very familiar face, it was Sharmaji.

            Well, yeah the man behind Abhay’s hell ridden life was none other than his very own father like figure –Sharmaji. Abhay almost froze, as the stranger unveiled his true identity. Out of a million creepy things, this was the least that Abhay had expected. He couldn’t react and couldn’t comprehend what was happening. All his life seemed like a perfectly scripted drama then and he was lost.

            ‘Hello son,’ the stranger cum Sharmaji said. ‘How does it feel now? You’ve missed me these many days, haven’t you? Well, guess what? I missed you too, my beloved son.’ With his last sentence, Sharmaji began to laugh hysterically again. And Abhay stood there, shaken.

            When he finally gathered some courage, Abhay eventually spoke. ‘What –’ he tried to say something, but his lips quivered, his throat dried and his heart rate rose, dramatically. ‘Why –? Why did you…? How could –’

            Abhay couldn’t complete his sentence as the world around him started swiveling and he almost lost his balance, when Simons held him. His eyes were filled with the tears of being betrayed and his heart raced faster with disbelief. The stranger or let’s say Sharmaji was unaffected by any of this. ‘Well, I guess everything in your life so far has been limited to just few things my dear,’ he said, with his sinister giggles. ‘Why, what and how, hasn’t it?’

            The stranger began laughing manically again and then finally stopped to say something more. ‘Well, remember the letter that you had received when you mysteriously landed at your home after killing your love –Sanjana?’ he said. ‘The letter that asked you to leave the city and visit Sharmaji – guess, who sent it?’

            So, it then turned out that ever since the day Abhay got the letter asking him to visit a certain Sharmaji, it was all a well executed plan to get Abhay kill himself, either out of frustration or out of guilt.

            ‘You mean all my life since that day was nothing but a bunch of lies?’ Abhay asked, now slowly regaining his lost senses.

            ‘Ah, not only your life my son,’ Sharmaji said, maintaining his evil calm. ‘Even your dreams, I mean those typical nightmares weren’t true either.’

            Before Abhay could shoot another question, Ritika jumped in the conversation. ‘Yes Abhay,’ she said. ‘The devil is right. Your dreams that you believed to be a superpower were nothing but an illusion, planted by the bastard in your head.’

            ‘What –?’ Abhay asked, confused. ‘I mean, what do you mean by ‘planted’?’

            ‘Told you,’ Sharmaji said, laughing. ‘Your whole life is just a bunch of questions.’

            ‘Well,’ Ritika said, clenching her fists. ‘As it turns out, the devil head that you’ve believed to be your uncle Sharmaji, is an elite member of the dark force. He indeed is ‘the delusor’ –the one bestowed upon with the psychic ability of entering in and altering people’s dreams and minds.’

            ‘Well, well,’ Sharmaji spoke again looking at Ritika, his tone reeking of an impending doom. ‘Wiser for once, intellectual for life, isn’t it? This girl, is so pure, so full of intellect and knowledge and so smart indeed that she sensed the fishiness of the situation within just a few days of entering our neighborhood, didn’t you dear?’ 

            ‘So, guess what now?’ he continued. ‘I was failing miserably to get you kill yourself out of guilt of killing Sanjana, even after my repeated attempts at reminding you of your sins at the New Year eve and The Royal Plaza. And this beloved angel of yours –Ritika, had sensed my motive sooner than I had anticipated. So, I decided to infiltrate your dreams and plant the seeds of your soul sister being the culprit. I thought that would leave you so lifeless and broken that you will surely kill yourself. And then, she caught me and was confronting me with a gun pointed at me, when you saw us, so perfectly in sync with my plan.’

            ‘Ritika,’ Abhay said, with vulnerability. ‘If you knew it, why didn’t you tell me? None of this would’ve happened, had you told me the truth. Hell, Ronit would be alive today!’

            ‘But would you’ve believed anything that she said?’ Simons jumped in. ‘You would’ve never believe that a man so kind, was indeed the devil of your life. And you remember that shot that Ritika took at you? Well, here is the complete story: Ritika was confronting him with her gun, when you just appeared at the scene. And when she turned around, she saw a few men of ‘the delusor’ already standing behind you, oblivious to you. So she shot you with an antidote camouflaged in a bullet, when his men shot you with a dart. Then, due to the dart, you passed away and thankfully recovered soon due to the antidote. The bastard then flew away with Ritika when you were unconscious, and you thought she had kidnapped your beloved Sharmaji.’

            ‘But how did she know what dart they had used?’ Abhay asked. ‘How did she give me the antidote when she couldn’t have known about the dart? And how the freaking hell on the earth, do you know everything, about everyone??’

            ‘Well, I just anticipated that they must be using the same drug that they’ve been using for ages to weaken your immunity,’ Ritika jumped in. ‘I just took a guess, and I guess –’

            She couldn’t speak further as Sharmaji interrupted her with his loud maniacal claps. ‘My goodness,’ he said. ‘I should’ve killed you both the day I saw you for the first time. You have some serious intellectual issues, damn! Anyhow, I guess, our first warrior here –the one who cannot be killed by anyone but himself, is ready to kill himself now. I mean buddy seriously! Your friend Ronit died saving you, and soon your angel and her beloved too will pass away the same way. I know you don’t want that. So, KILL. YOUR. BLOODY. SELF, now!!!’

            ‘You son of the devil,’ Abhay yelled, as his veins surged with anger. ‘I’ll kill you indeed!   You –’  

            ‘Don’t,’ Simons stopped him. ‘Don’t even try to. As much as you’ve known it for yourself now captain, this bastard can’t be killed either.’

            ‘What?’ Abhay exclaimed. ‘I thought you gave me the loopholes of his armor, a while back. What was that for?’

            ‘Well,’ Sharmaji, interrupted them again. ‘What? You’ve the trick to fail my armor? I guess, you’ll need to strike a lightning bolt on the heart of armor here, in presence of rain, snowfall, storm and the bright sun altogether, this is what the genius told you, isn’t it? But it’s raining cats and dogs here, so whom are you kidding? Also, do you remember when your poor uncle Sharmaji aka I felt victim to an accident planted by the stranger aka me again? You had donated your blood to save my life back then. But guess what now? Due to the very fact that I have partly the same blood as yours, I can enact the same cellular metabolism as your body, and I can’t to be killed, until you are alive!’

            Plot of a dammed typical Hollywood science fiction movie, right? Well, Abhay thought the same at first. But then he remembered that everything that had happened in his life that far, wasn’t scientifically acceptable either.

             Money, wealth, looks, fashion sense, what values do these actually hold in defining us? I guess, none. But there are times that we are faced with the dilemma of making some choices that have the power to not only affect our present or future, but our whole lives, along with others’ indeed. Well, the decisions in that very moment decide who we really are, from inside, and only that is what that really matters. That decision is what that actually defines us as an individual. So, Abhay made a choice, and it surely defined him, clearly than ever before.

            ‘Simons, can I trust you?’ Abhay yelled out loud in the rainfall, with a deep breath.

            ‘Ah, well,’ Simons was confused. ‘Of course you can captain.’

            ‘Great,’ Abhay said, as he stretched his arm wide open and closed his eyes. ‘I want you to take care of Ritika and Vodka, after I am gone.’ Well, didn’t I mention Vodka was with them the whole time? Anyhow, he indeed was.

            ‘Whoa,’ the stranger jumped in, mockingly. ‘Hold your horses, sailor. I am really impressed and emotional right now. I so wish, you didn’t have to die.’

            ‘I wish the same for you, Sharmaji,’ Abhay said, with a smile that a poker player has when he is about to change the entire game, with the hidden trump card. 

            ‘What?’ Sharmaji, hesitated for a moment, as Abhay closed his eyes again and the loud thundering of clouds signaled for a terrible change in the weather. ‘What are you doing?’

            Soon, a strong storm took the entire scene by surprise, and loud sounds of lightning with the shivering of earth like a bloody doomsday, accompanied. And soon, sun glowed bright in the skies, with dark clouds around it, scattered in uneasy fashion and the snowflakes started powering. It was magical indeed. The snow and heavy rain were pouring together, protruding through the bright sun, accompanied by heavy lightening and a strong storm. The rainbow that covered a small quarter of the sky looked marvelous, and everyone was stunned, bewildered and frightened at the same time.

            ‘I didn’t believe it at first when Simons told me about the wish granting abilities of the aureum lepus,’ Abhay yelled through the storm. ‘But I guess he was right. Look, they’ve granted me the impossible wish of the impossible weather. Simons, stand true to your promise buddy.’

            ‘What the –’ Sharmaji was to say something, terribly flustered, when something happened that shocked everyone.

            A strong bolt of lightning came down and Abhay almost caught it and directed it towards Sharmaji’s heart in the armor. And then he pounced upon Sharmaji and embraced him tightly, as everyone saw the scene, astounded. The sudden bolt of lightning under the typical weather conditions destroyed the armor like Simons had told Abhay, as all the humanoids around them started falling onto the ground. And finally with a loud sound, the armor exploded. And so did Sharmaji and Abhay along with it. Turns out that shutting the mother armor that Sharmaji wore, shut down all the other humanoids indeed, as it controlled them. 

            Ritika stood there, destroyed and motionless at what she had just seen. She had helplessly seen her brother blow his life in front of her, when she was supposed to protect him. Simons pulled her out of the scene and they both along with Vodka disappeared. And Abhay laid there along with Sharmaji, lifeless, covered in the debris. Well yeah, when Abhay threw the lightning bolt at Sharmaji, the armor exploded, failing permanently, failing all the humanoids in the process. And Abhay knew it wouldn’t kill Shramaji alone and that he would’ve to die too, to kill him.

            So, when he embraced him, the current from the failed circuits of the armor ran through both their bodies together and along with all the humanoids, it destroyed them too. As hard it is for me to say, it still is the truth. Abhay killed himself to destroy the stranger who had indeed wanted Abhay to kill himself from the beginning. So, Abhay defeated the stranger but ended up fulfilling the sole purpose behind the stranger’s motives. Who won then? Well, I’ll let that for you to decide. And also,

You still don’t know, what my name is, or who am I actually! All you know is the story I’ve partly shared with you all. The story that matters, and the story that needed to be told! Throughout the course of this story, you’ve connected with Abhay and his sufferings and have led his life indeed. Saying, that the story ends here, would be unfair, and if I’ll be back with another story, only the time will tell! So, assuming that you tried to listen whatever I had to say and believe the not so obvious, I’ve presented to you a part of the story of the unbelievable, the story of the    Resurrection !!

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Thanks for your love and cooperation throughout the run of this series, I am really touched!

-Shan Gupta

You can now read the Season 2 of the web series here