The Scar (Part - I)

Disclaimer: The story is a work of fiction and is in no way related to any person dead or alive. The names characters and situations occurring in the story are imaginary and any resemblance to any person dead or alive is purely coincidental.


Prologue:

He takes out the keys from his pocket, water dripping from his body. The effect of too much alcohol doesn’t let him insert the key in the keyhole twice. He succeeds the third time. Opens the door and staggers into his flat and closes the door behind him. His fingers grope for the light switch on the wall. He finds one and switches on a lamp in one corner of the drawing room, but his eyes gets fixed on the dark silhouette standing on the other corner. His drunken eyes try to focus on the steady hand holding a gun pointed towards him. He notices some scars on the wrists. Before he can understand anything there is a loud thunder crash and then silence. The only sound that can be heard is the heavy rain falling outside.

The Scar (Part 1)

It was the first day in the Engineering college that Reva had joined she was sleeping in her dorm when at 2 in the morning seniors began to round up all the freshers for a ragging session. Reva was asked to dance with a fresher who was wearing nothing but his under garments in front of the whole batch. Abhi and his four friends Ajay, Ranvir, Deepak and Shalini arrived at the scene just as the guy in his undergarments was about to put his arms around Reva to start dancing. Abhi stopped the whole thing then and there and rescued Reva who had started to weep hysterically. Somehow none of the seniors protested Abhi’s moves. Reva would learn why later, but for the time being she was in an awe of her rescuer.

That was the day when Reva met Abhi and his friends for the first time. They were in the 3^rd year of engineering and always used to hangout together. Reva soon became a part of the group, bunking classes going out for movies, dinner, night outs and long drives in Abhi’s SUV. Abhi had a flat in the city where they would all get together for drinking marathons. Reva sometimes wondered where they get the money for all this.

In a couple of months she became very close to Abhi. He would share everything with her, sometimes bring expensive gifts, and fought with the warden whenever he dropped her late at the hostel. One evening Reva and Abhi were driving on the highway, just the two of them, Reva opened the glove box to look for some CDs and was surprised to see a gun there. She asked Abhi why it was there. “It’s a licensed one, belongs to my dad, just for safety’s sake”, he said.

He parked the SUV near a dilapidated old building, they could see the sun setting behind the building, and that’s when Abhi told her that he loved her. She liked the simple way in which he told her that no fan fare no extravagance. As darkness fell, they made love in the back seat. Reva spent the night at Abhi’s flat.

The next afternoon Reva bunked her classes and went to Abhi’s flat, she had a duplicate key to the flat now. She opened the door and walked in. She saw Ajay, Ranvir, Deepak and Shalini putting small quantities of white powder in small plastic pouches. “What is this”, she asked. “Blue Magic”, Ranvir said with a loud laugh. Deepak stood up and said “Abhi is not here so go back to the college, come later”. He held Reva by her arm gently and guided her out of the door. “But what is that white powder”, Reva asked Deepak. “That’s coke”, said Deepak in a low voice. “What? And does Abhi know that you guys are using his flat for this?” “Yes he does.” They heard someone’s footsteps coming from the staircase. They turn to see Abhi coming towards them. He gave Reva a tight hug. Reva didn’t respond. “What is all this”, Reva said showing Abhi the white powder and the small packets. “This is business baby”, Abhi said coolly.

Reva started to storm out of the flat but Abhi caught her gently by her arms and took her into his bedroom. After much explaining and reasoning Reva calmed down and gave in to Abhi’s explanations. He kissed her gently on her lips, this time she responded and put her arms around his neck. By the time they came into the drawing room again all the little packets were neatly packed and put into a hollow box which from outside looked like a bound book ready to be smuggled into the hostel.

Next day Abhi gifted Reva a necklace with a diamond pendant. She was thrilled. That night at his flat, Reva noticed a revolver in his cupboard drawer. It looked different from the one she had seen in the car. After the incident Reva never said anything every time she saw them packing the stuff. Sometimes after the work was done they would take small quantities and sniff them, Abhi too but Reva never did that.

A couple of weeks later Abhi had to go to Meerut, Reva wanted to accompany him. Abhi was reluctant at first but had to give in to her demands after she repeatedly bugged him. They started early in the morning in Abhi’s car and it was almost noon by the time they reached a semi dilapidated building on the outskirts of Meerut. Abhi got off and entered the building. Reva followed. After climbing a couple of flights of creaky wooden steps they came upon a wooden door. Abhi knocked. A man opened half the door. Abhi said something which Reva couldn’t hear, the man opened the door and let both of them in. They entered into a drawing room, two burly men sat on two sofas across the room. Abhi asked Reva to sit gesturing towards the empty sofa. A man entered the room from, a small passage that connected the drawing room to the rest of the apartment. The man was thin and tall. He was wearing a black shirt and jeans. He looked like he was in his late forties.

“Pranam baba”, said Abhi and touched his feet. Baba patted Abhi’s back gently and kissed him on his forehead. Then he looked at Reva, “Who is she?” he asked Abhi. “She is a close friend of mine”, Abhi said. “I had warned you against bringing strangers here”, Baba said calmly. “She knows about us and is now one of us, besides I love her”, Abhi said. Reva lowered her head and blushed. All the while the burly men stared into the void. Baba smiled looking into Abhi’s eyes. A man appeared behind Baba. Baba put his arms around Abhi’s shoulder and said, “There’s this guy at your hostel, who’s been causing some trouble to us, what’s his name” he guided Abhi to the other room. The man standing behind Baba, said something and followed them inside. The door was closed. Reva couldn’t hear anything after that.

The two men kept looking at the wall opposite to them. Reva sometimes looked at them sometimes at the wall sometimes at the ceiling. There was no window, nothing else in the room except the sofa set and the rugged carpet. The man who had opened the door came out from the kitchen once and offered her a glass of water. For once she thought she would go out and wait for Abhi in the car, but then she remembered she didn’t have the keys. It was at least cooler inside. After what seemed like an eternity to Reva, Abhi came out of the room accompanied by Baba, his arms still around his shoulders. “I hope it will be done without me having to interfere into the matter”, said Baba. “Yes Baba”, said Abhi. Baba kissed his forehead again. Abhi touched his feet, turned around and signaled Reva to get up.

Once back in the car, Reva heaved a long sigh of relief and saw Abhi put a large brown packet wrapped in transparent plastic, into a boot under the driver’s seat. Abhi looked at Reva and smiled. “Who was that guy, and why did you touch his feet and called him Baba”, asked Reva. “He is the CEO of our business”, Abhi said with a teasing smile and revved up the engine. “What were you talking with him in the other room”, she asked again. “Nothing some business talk”, replied Abhi. On their way back to the college hostel Reva asked other questions but Abhi didn’t answer them. By the time Abhi dropped off Reva at her hostel it was late at night.

Next morning as Reva came out of her class she saw Abhi and others roughing up a guy in the parking lot. Reva ran towards them. Ranvir pushed the guy, he fell on the ground, Ajay slapped his head. Shalini stood leaning on the SUV. As Reva approached them, she saw the guy on the ground was Vikram. She had seen Vikram face off with Abhi on more than one occasions and now she knew it was Vikram about whom Baba was talking the previous day. Vikram had once openly threatened Abhi that he would go to the police if they didn’t stop what they were doing.

Ranvir caught the Vikram from his collar and roughly pulled him up. Shalini opened the door of the SUV and Ranvir pushed Vikram inside. Abhi climbed into the driver’s seat. Reva rushed into the seat beside him. “You don’t have to come with us”, said Abhi. “I want to come with you”, she said firmly. Abhi did not protest.

They drove for half an hour and came to the outskirts of the city. Reva kept hearing muffled shouts coming from the back seat but she didn’t look back. Both sides of the road were thickly covered with trees. It was getting dark now. Abhi swerved from the road and stopped the car. All four got out of the car and dragged Vikram out. Reva saw that Vikram’s forehead was now bleeding and he had a cut on his upper lip. They dragged him into the woods Abhi leading the way. Reva followed them at some distance not sure what they were about to do with Vikram.

They reached a small clearing, Ranvir threw Vikram on the ground, Ajay stood there blocking Reva’s view of Vikram, Deepak stood at a distance near Reva, Shalini took out a lighter from her pocket and put a cigarette in her lips, Abhi pointed his gun at Vikram’s head. Shalini turned around and started to walk towards the car, Reva turned around to see where Shailini was going as she passed her, and heard a loud gun shot. Reva turned around and saw Vikram’s lifeless body lying on the ground. She started to yell madly. Deepak held her. Abhi ran up to her and held her close and tried to calm her down but she continued to cry hysterically, and started to vomit. Abhi slapped her on her face so that she might regain her senses but she passed out. “You three get rid of that body, I will leave her at my flat and come back to get you guys”, instructed Abhi and supported Reva on his shoulders and walked to the car.

He found Shalini sitting in the front seat. They put Reva in the back seat. He asked Shalini to go and help the guys. Abhi started the car. By the time they reached Abhi’s flat, Reva came back to her senses and started to cry hysterically. Unable to control his anger Abhi got out of the car dragged Reva out of the back seat and slapped her face hard. That shocked Reva into silence. He caught her by her arm and pulled her onto the stairs and into the flat.

“Now, shut up and stay here, I am going back to the boys. And do not try to leave the flat while I am gone.” Abhi told Reva.

“I will go and tell everything to the police”, said Reva.

“What, don’t be a fool, you think I will let you do that”, said Abhi.

“And how will you stop me, will you kill me the way you killed Vikram”, asked Reva, her hair disheveled and tears rolling down her already smudged face.

“Yes if the need be”, said Abhi clutching her hair and right ear, and pointing his gun to her head. Reva gave out a sharp yell of pain. Abhi pushed her back and let her go.

Reva ran towards Abhi, hitting him on his shoulders and tried to snatch the gun from his hands. Abhi pushed her back again. Reva staggered and fell on the ground.

“Do you think I will be scared of you and not go to the police”, Reva yelled at him, lying on the floor. Abhi bent down pulled her hair again and slapped her face. Reva’s lips started to bleed. Reva caught Abhi’s left hand with which he was clutching her hair and bit it hard. Abhi let go of her hair, snatched his hands out of her mouth and gave a cry of pain. “You bitch”, cried Abhi in rage and slapped her face again. He stood up and kicked her in the back. His second kick landed in her guts. Reva doubled in pain. “You better be here when I come back or I will hunt you down and kill you”, said Abhi, spitting on her face in rage. He stood up once again and kept kicking her until she passed out and did not move. Abhi left the flat.

Reva came back to her senses and was instantly aware of the wreathing pain that her body was experiencing. She slowly got up and felt her face. Her hands became wet; she couldn’t see clearly whether it was her tears or blood. There was no one around she knew that Abhi and others haven’t come back yet. She slowly got up and decided that she would tell the police everything. She knew where Abhi kept a spare key of the flat. She found the key there.

Reva came out of the building, stopped an auto rickshaw and went to the police station. At the police station she lodged an FIR and told everything that had happened. After giving her some first aid and promising her that the culprits would be arrested they told Reva that she could leave. Reva said that she was feeling very scared. So the inspector asked a constable to drop Reva to wherever she wanted to go. Reva asked the constable to drop her off to the bus station. The constable drove her to the bus station in a jeep. She told the constable that she wanted to go back to her family but didn’t have the money to buy tickets. The constable bought her a ticket. Reva boarded the bus which started to move as soon as she took her seat.

Abhi reached his flat after dropping Ranvir, Deepak, Shalini and Ajay to the hostel. Not finding Reva in the flat he immediately called Ranvir, Deepak and Shalini and asked them to spend the night somewhere else. Somehow no one could reach Ajay. They left the city in Abhi’s car and went to meet Baba. Baba was mad with rage. “Abandon the car somewhere and leave the city immediately”, he told Abhi. “That girl has been here, we will vacate the place immediately. You make sure that the girl doesn’t lead to me”, warned Baba. They spent the night at a hotel in the outskirts of the city. In the morning they went back to the hostel to look for Ajay, but learnt something else.

The next morning police raided all the places that Reva had told they could find Abhi and his friends but managed to capture only Ajay, who had passed out in one of the corridors of the boy’s hostel after a heavy dose of coke. It took a couple of slaps for Ajay to confess everything and show the police the place where they had buried Vikram’s body. But the police could not find Abhi or the others.

Reva’s family was baffled to see the state in which she reached home early in the morning. They asked her questions but Reva refused to answer. She remained silent and spent most the day crying in her room. By evening her mother had succeeded in getting her to talk. Reva told everything that had happened to her mother and father. They were hysterical with rage. Reva’s father could not believe how she could get herself involved in such a thing.

Suddenly Reva’s younger brother came running into the room and told them that a car has stopped in front of their house and there were four people looking for Reva. Reva knew it was Abhi, she also knew why he was here. Her father ran into the living room and saw three men and a woman standing there.

“Where is Reva”, one of them asked. “She is not here.” Ranvir pushed the man aside and barged into the bedroom. He saw Reva and instantly made a dash for her. Her mother tried to shield Reva with her fragile body but was no match to Ranvir. He grabbed Reva from her hair and pulled her out of the room. Reva’s brother tried to kick Ranvir but he shoved him aside too. He dragged Reva by her hair into the living room and threw her before Abhi. Shalini closed all the windows and bolted the door. The whole family was huddled together trying to protect each other from any harm. Ranvir pulled Reva away from her parents and threw her again infront of Abhi. Shalini pointed a gun at Reva’s brother and threatened that if they did not stay put in one corner of the room she would kill the boy.

As Reva lay on the ground Abhi kicked her in the guts. Reva moaned in pain, her parents gave out a cry. “I had warned you I would hunt you down if you went to the police”, said Abhi. “You took my warning lightly, now look what you have done, police have arrested Ajay, and you have put your whole family in trouble”. He slapped her face and kicked her in the ribs. Reva was on the verge of passing out. She could see Abhi’s face as he pulled her hair and stared into her eyes. Abhi’s voice was only a distant echo in her ears. “I will kill your whole family in front of you and then I will kill you, that’s your punishment”, Abhi’s voice landed on her ears in a hollow echo, as he fixed a silencer on the gun. Abhi pulled her head once again so that she could look at her family. All she could see was blurred figures in front of her and then she heard three blunt shots. For a moment she gained full consciousness and saw three lifeless bodies lying in a heap and the floor below them deep red in color. The next moment the world in front of eyes was a blur again. “I won’t kill you that easily for what you have done, I will give you a slow death to die, you bitch”, she heard Abhi’s voice, which seemed to be muffled. She was too week to resist or even cry.

Abhi asked Shalini to bring a knife from the kitchen. He took the knife and made several deep cuts on Reva’s wrists. She started to bleed instantly. He then asked Ranvir and Deepak to tie Reva’s hands, legs and gag her mouth. Ranvir tied her legs and mouth. He tied her hands in a way that it didn’t block the flow of blood. Deepak was too shocked to move. He was standing in one corner and had not said anything since the time they entered the house. Reva was not moving but bleeding heavily now. “Lets go now, she would soon die of blood loss”, said Abhi. They switched off all the lights in the house and came out of it locking the door behind. It was late in the night now. There was not a soul to be seen on the streets. They all got into the car and drove away.

Reva woke up in semi consciousness several times in the darkness, always aware of throbbing pain in her whole body. She wanted to scream but didn’t have the strength. She would try to kick but would pass out again into darkness. She didn’t know how many times that happened.

The sun had just risen and people were starting to stir on the streets. The milkman came and rang the bell. There was no answer. He tried it three more times, but still there was no answer. He thought he might as well leave the milk bottles beside the door. He bent down to keep the bottles and saw a pool of thick red liquid formed beneath the door.

...Continued to Part II....