The Scar (Part - II)

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.

…. Continued from Part 1… The milkman bent down to keep the bottles and saw a pool of thick red liquid formed beneath the door. The bottles slipped from his hands. He instantly knew what the red liquid was. He picked up his bicycle and pedaled to the nearest police station. He informed the constable what he had seen. Within half an hour Reva’s house was swarming with police. The Police found Reva’s body in a pool of blood unconscious and nearly dead. They rushed her immediately to a hospital. People from the neighborhood crowded the streets to see three dead and one half dead body being removed from the house.

Abhi, Ranvir, Deepak and Shalini came out of the house got into the car and left. Abhi and Ranvir drove in turns for the whole night they reached Agra early in the morning. They went straight to the railway station, “let us all go separately from here, you know whom to meet in Mumbai. If anyone sees anything suspicious, alert everyone on the cell phone”, said Abhi. The left the car in the parking lot and separated.

Everyone bought a ticket to Mumbai separately. The train was not due for next two hours so they waited in different parts of the station. When the train arrived they boarded different coaches. They reached Mumbai late at night and went in different directions. Shalini called up the girl’s number she had got from Baba. The girl lived in a working girl’s hostel. Deepak went to a relatives place and Ranvir went to the person who was a close aide of Baba.

Abhi went to a flat which was owned by his uncle who was now living in Dubai. It was his uncle who had introduced Abhi to Baba when he had got admission in the regional engineering college in Faridabad. He always had the keys to his uncle’s flat. He had visited Mumbai many times sometimes for vacations and sometimes to meet Baba’s accomplices. He knew the city well and used to stay in his uncle’s flat every time he came to Mumbai. But he had never brought Reva to Mumbai with him during the short time he had known her.

The police questioned Reva when she gained consciousness, after three days, but Reva refused to speak. She did not say anything, did not even respond to the doctors question. The doctor said she might be in shock and might start speaking in a week’s time. The police waited, a constable guarding her cabin’s door day and night.

The moment Reva came to herself the only visual in front of her eyes was three bodies lying in a heap with blood everywhere. In a moment everything that had happened that night flashed in front of her eyes. She did not want to speak to the police. She wanted to die. She was depressed with the fact that she had survived. She wanted to kill herself. She kept repeating only one question in her mind “Why did God give me a second life?”

Then she realized there must be only one thing that she should to do in her second life.

On the fifth night she noiselessly unbolted her cabin’s door. She came out and saw the constable snoring on the bench in the corridor. There was not a soul in sight. She came to the reception and saw a nurse and a ward boy sleeping there. The grill was closed but wasn’t locked. She slowly opened it so much so that she could pass through it. The front gate was locked but there was no guard on the gate, so she climbed over the gate. She walked for a long time and reached her house, and still no one in sight. The front door was locked but she knew that she could open the backdoor if she could jiggle the latch right way. The door gave way after she tried the third time.

She entered the house through the kitchen and immediately went to the living room. The room was clean as if nothing had ever happened there. She fell on the floor and broke down. She cried hysterically for some time. When she had no strength to cry anymore she lay on the floor remembering all the good times she had spent in that house with her parents and young brother. After sometime she made up her mind. She decided that whatever happened she would do what she had decided to do in the hospital. Slowly she got up, went to the bathroom and stood under the shower. Slowly she shed all her clothes and stood naked in front of the bathroom mirror watching her wet body. There were bruises on her ribs. She could see blood clots and blue spots on her stomach and thighs. Everything about her naked bruised body reminded her of that night. She saw deep scars on her wrists, the scars of the night which she would never forget for the rest of her life. She broke down once again, sat on the floor and cried, cold water running through her body.

Slowly she got up once again and went to her room. She took out a towel from the wardrobe and wiped her body, put on her clothes, took a knapsack and threw in a pair of jeans and a T shirt. She found some money below her mother’s saris. Tears rolled from her eyes at the touch of the saris. The money would be enough for her to see her through her mission. She left the house through the back door and went to the bus station. She would go back to the college, she decided. She bought a ticket and waited. At four in the morning the bus left the bus station.

She reached the college hostel in the evening and went to her room. She found the room was locked. She came out and went to Abhi’s flat the flat was padlocked and sealed. So she went back to the college again, and asked a few people where she could find Abhi or Shalini, but no one had seen them since a long time. She went to the boys hostel to Deepak’s room, the room was closed from inside. She knocked. Someone opened the door. “Is Deepak here”, she asked. “No he is not here”, said the stranger. Reva turned and started to leave. “He just took all his stuff out, was saying that he had a train to catch, if you are quick enough you can catch him at the station”, said the stranger. Reva turned around and ran, she didn’t even thank the guy.

She ran out of the college and was about to climb into an auto rickshaw when she saw Deepak smoking a cigarette in the kiosk on the opposite side of the road. She threw her bag and ran to him. She caught him by his throat, her nails digging into his flesh.

“Where is Abhi”, she said grinding her teeth in rage. Deepak stood in a shock; he didn’t know what to do. Reva was too frail to choke him but her nails were digging in his neck.

“Where is Abh”, this time Reva cried hysterically, her face wet with sweat and tears.

“He is in Mumbai”, said Deepak. “Where in Mumbai, tell me where in Mumbai”, she screamed again. “Calm down Reva, I know what happened with you was wrong and shouldn’t have happened, but Abhi is too strong and has deep connections”, said Deepak pulling away Reva’s hand from his neck. “Calm down, and listen to me. He can get you killed in no time so don’t be a fool and go back to your home”.

“Home you call that home, you bastards killed my family”, cried Reva angrily. “I will avenge myself, even if I die doing it”, she said a calm setting on her face. “You will have to help, I know you are not one of them. You will have to help me out Deepak”, she said.

“Help you, in what? You really think you can kill Abhi? Don’t be crazy, if he finds out that you are alive and I was with you he will kill us both”, said Deepak. “Please Deepak you will have to help me out I know you are not one of them”, Reva said her hands folded and tears in her eyes. She knew Deepak was her last chance of getting to Abhi.

Deepak knew he will be in trouble if Abhi came to know about this but he believed that whatever had happened to Reva was wrong.

“Ok, tell me what you want me to do”, said Deepak with a sigh. “Where does Abhi stay in Mumbai” asked Reva. “He is staying at his uncle’s flat”, said Deepak. “Give me his address”, said Reva. Deepak wrote down Abhi’s address on a piece of paper. “Now you will have to arrange a spare key to the flat”, said Reva. “No. I can’t do that, this is too dangerous, he will kill me if he finds out”, cried Deepak. “You will have to or I will go to the police”, said Reva. Deepak gave in. “But don’t stick to me, I am taking a train to Mumbai which will leave in an hour. You take the same train but we will travel separately. In Mumbai meet me at this place”, said Deepak and wrote down another address on the same piece of paper and gave it to Reva. Reva kept it safely in her wallet.

Deepak picked up his bag and got an auto rickshaw and left. Reva picked up her bag took an auto rickshaw and left for the railway station.

The next day Deepak arrived in Mumbai. After keeping his bag at his place he went to meet Abhi at his flat. Shalini and Ranvir were already there. “Was anyone asking about us in the college”, asked Abhi as soon as Deepak came in. “No, no one in particular”, said Deepak, sweating. “Why are you sweating like a hog”, asked Shalini. “It’s really hot out there”, said Deepak. He saw Abhi’s car keys lying near the CD player. “I will go wash my face”, Deepak announced. No one noticed. He moved towards the bathroom slowly slipping the keys into his pocket. He went in to the bathroom, shut the door and heaved a sigh of relief. He came out of the bathroom and kept keys near the CD player noiselessly. “I am going out to get some cigarettes anyone wants anything”, he announced once again. No one noticed. He slipped out of the flat, shut the door behind him and gave another sigh of relief. He went out and hailed a cab.

Reva checked the time for the umpteenth time. She stopped a guy passing by and showed him the address that Deepak had given her and asked whether the venue was right. The passerby confirmed. She began to wait again, that’s what she had been doing for the past four hours. It was getting cloudy by the minute and the winds were gathering force. It started to rain.

Suddenly she saw Deepak appear from around the corner, he was talking on his cell phone. He reached her and switched of the phone. “I just got a call from Abhi. We are going to a pub tonight, and Abhi will come back home drunk”, he told Reva, looking into her eyes. “This might be your only chance, and by the way if you open his cupboard and look under his clothes you might find something useful”, he said and slipped something wrapped in a white handkerchief into her hand. Within seconds he disappeared around the corner. Reva didn’t have the time to say anything.

She opened the handkerchief and found a bar of soap inside it. She was baffled to see that. She was thinking that Deepak had cheated her but then she examined the soap closely under the light of the shop nearby. She saw that the surface of one side of the soap had a shape of a key embossed deeply on it. She was excited now all she had to do was to find a locksmith, and the rest would fall in place. She asked the shopkeeper if there was a locksmith she could find nearby, he showed her the way.

She wrapped the bar of soap in the handkerchief and put it in her hand bag so that it won’t get wet in the rain which had now tuned into a heavy down pour. She walked in the rain as directed by the shopkeeper.

It was two in the night when the bartender told Abhi and others that the bar was closed. Deepak the only sober one offered to drive the car. He dropped everyone off at their places and finally reached Abhi’s flat. It was raining heavily and occasionally lightening would light up the dark night followed by loud thunder. Abhi got off the car and fell. He was too drunk to even stand on his feet. Deepak got out of the car and by the time he helped Abhi to the staircase they were both drenched. Abhi told Deepak to leave him and go. Deepak did so. Abhi staggered and climbed the two flights of stairs and finally reached his flat door.

He took out the keys from his pocket, water dripped from his body. The effect of too much alcohol didn’t let him insert the key in the keyhole twice. He succeeded the third time. He opened the door, staggered into the apartment and closed the door behind him. His fingers groped for the light switch on the wall. He found one and switched on a lamp in one corner of the drawing room, but his eyes got fixed on the dark silhouette standing on the other corner. His drunken eyes tried to focus on the steady hand holding a gun pointed towards him. He notices some scars on the wrists. He tries to focus his eyes on the face and realizes the face instantly. Before he could react there was a loud thunder crash and then silence. The only sound that can be heard was the heavy rain falling outside.

Abhi’s body lay motionless near the door. Reva broke down and started to cry. She had found the gun in the cupboard hidden under Abhi’s clothes and that had made the whole task a lot easier. Slowly she got up wiped the tears from her face, opened the door and walked out.

The next morning, the clouds were gone and the sun had risen. The milkman came and rang the doorbell. There was no answer. He rang the bell again, but there was no result. After a third try he gave up and decided to leave the milk bottles near the door. He bends down to put the milk bottles on the ground and sees a pool of thick red liquid formed beneath the door.