Trepidation – Chapter 5

Please read the previous chapter here

Name of Author : Sadagopan Govindan

Note on Author : A serial procrastinator. Self inspired writer with a cold feet. Avid reader and no-themed blogger.

You can read his blog here

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Chapter 5

I was tired. I was tired of running again and again. After an arduous effort, I ended up in front of Satan again. The hole on the wall which gave me hope of freedom was merely a game design. Satan and his accomplishes were deriving extreme sadistic pleasure out of my desperate efforts to escape. But now, I am done with running away from my fears. I may be called an idiot but I decided to stay put and fight my fear rather than running away from it. As Shakespeare rightly said, ‘a coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once’.

‘What do you want from me, Satan? Of what value am I to you? You had killed your own daughter but I am still alive. I must be of some use to you.’

‘Ah! Smart Alec. Pun Intended’, guffawed Satan. ‘You are, indeed, a very important coin in my chessboard’

‘And how’s that?’

‘Alec! Alec! My boy! I am still amused that you do not remember anything about who you are or what you are capable of’

‘Can you tell me already? I do not have time for drama. I’m tired.’

‘Have you ever thought about why you torture women?’

‘May be, I’m a psychopath?’

‘Psychopath is the word coined by ordinary humans who do not comprehend paranormal behaviour. They do not understand what goes on in a so-called psychopath’s mind.

You, Alec, are not a psycho. You are one of the finest creature that I have ever seen. You were a natural. I guided you. You were far above everyone in your abilities. You would give hope to people so much so that they will do anything for you.  People came binding under your spell quickly. You would then rip their soul off them slowly. Without knowing what’s happening to them, people used to die smiling. Their body turned grey and eyes blood red. You would then offer the deprived souls to me in reverence. You were so good, Alec! So, so good! I can’t tell you enough how much proud I was’

‘I don’t believe you. You are lying. Why don’t I remember anything then and why am I your prisoner now?’

‘Your biggest flaw was your friend Ramon. He was your weakness.’

‘Ramon?’

‘Yes. Ramon. You grew up together with him. He had no special abilities, or so I thought. He talked you out of your evil acts. He was convincing you that you will be happy when you stop being evil. And you started going against me Alec. I was your godfather. I taught you everything. Yet, you stood up against me for a mere human. You did not understand how valuable your contributions were to me. Each soul that you offered me moved me one step closer to becoming the most powerful evil of all netherworlds. Yet, you disappointed me by taking Ramon’s ill-advice. You let me down. So, I had to do what I had to do.’

‘You killed Ramon!’

‘Not just killed. I relished. He was the purest soul. He was staring at my eyes when I slowly sucked his soul out of his body. His eyes went on from expressing anger to immense fear to pleading to surrender. The most enjoyed prey of mine. ‘

‘You bastard!’

‘You turned up at the place uninvited. You saw me killing your dear friend Ramon. You were shocked to see what had happened. You lost your mind. You wanted to kill yourself, but that’s our curse isn’t it? We can take other people’s lives how many ever we want, but can’t take our own. In frustration, you took a dose of amnesiac and vanished. You thought erasing the memories of all that were taught will keep me away from you and will teach me a lesson. But, I guess, the dose was not enough to wipe your evil memories off completely. Deep inside you are still evil and that is why you are torturing others’

‘How do I know you are telling the truth? If you were as powerful as you say, you would have known where I was long back. Why didn’t you come after me all these years?’

‘Good question. You were harmless Alec. With your memories erased, you were nothing to me. I left you alone as you were neither useful nor threatening. But now, you are the top most threat to my life. My foreteller told me that I will be killed by you.’

‘A foreteller? You consult a foreteller?’

‘Everybody has their fetish, my friend. My foreteller had always helped me stay one step ahead of my enemies.’

‘It’s brilliant. I am supposed to kill you as per your foreteller. Yet you are having conversations here instead of killing me. The logic beats me.’

‘How I wish you have not had that amnesiac! It made you forget the basics. I am not here to have a nice chin-wag with my old student, Alec! I can’t kill you without The Jade Knife. ‘

Satan turned towards the direction of the approaching footsteps.

‘Say your last prayers, Alec’

Catalina was approaching Satan with glowing green Jade Knife in her hand.

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Now, I am going to try and end this story. Somehow.

Race against immortality – Chapter 3

Please read the previous chapter here

Name of Author : Amutha R

Note on Author : Living at the moment with no great future plans, obsequious sometimes, learning from life experiences, helpful and always happy to make others happy

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As AA advanced, checking every passenger, Nirvaan raised his head with his face showing no trace of the fear. He began to look around trying to find an alternative that would gain him some time. Nirvaan noticed that AA takes a second extra at some. He again stopped at French beard person, who this time looked at Nirvaan and signalled him to come stand beside him.

Thanks to government systems for the fact that people working for the government were allowed to take an attendant, albeit the term used was companion. Vidyush made use of this privilege after a long time. Moment AA passed them; Nirvaan looked at him and said “Thanks”.

Vidyush, “It’s been quite a while since I helped somebody”. The world seemed to run on auto pilot these days with hardly anyone having time to connect with their fellow beings.

Nirvaan asked,” How did you know?”

Vidyush replied “You slipped your hands into all your pockets. Then your restless gander at AA, made me guess”.

In the silence that ensued, each was lost in one’s own thoughts.

“I am Vidyush and you are?”

“Nirvaan”

”Where are you going?”

“I’m heading to Vivaio, to a plant nursery called ‘Help me breathe’. I like pampering them” after a pause “so, what do you do?”

Vidyush continued in a low voice, “I’m a warrior”. Nirvaan sighed with a small giggle “that word is two centuries old”.

“And how do you say that?”

“I read literary books from Markland library. I work at Markland for.. (Pause) I can say I sometimes live there and sometimes at schlafsaal”. Markland is the place for war survivors, situated near the city’s war memorial. Vidyush was surprised to see hear his multifarious life exposures; a parallel thought of whether it was a bowl of broccoli or chocolates for Nirvaan, and said, “You can learn a lot at Markland. Next time when you visit, convey my regards to Veran, my old partner”.

As the conversation continued, Vidyush felt the temperature inside the express was quite comfortable, that made him shed his jacket. Nirvaan noticed a sachet fall out on Vidyush’s lap while he took off his jacket. Nirvaan enquired about it, as he was curious. Vidyush offered him few more and said “Entrée’ pills”. Meal replacement pills, meeting minimum calorie, protein and vitamin requirements, were in use among armed forces, which will help boost their energy during attacks or rescue operations.

Though Nirvaan was hungry enough to grab one, he refused. By then a few more passengers had alighted and the duo proceeded to occupy the vacated seats.  Quantum express was fitted with food shoot tubes that shot food to the passenger in a click of a button under the seat. Vidyush arranged for a meal to Nirvaan as he was not sure if the pill would be satisfying. As time flew by their chat was disturbed by a recorded voice.

“Kind attention passengers, the next stop is Terroir”

Vidyush wanted to take Nirvaan along and promised that it would take just half an hour at terroir and they can go to Vivaio together. Terroir was new to Nirvaan. People are busy moving around as it was a weekday morning. Walking on the footpath covered with solar panels as shades, there were too many things to notice; monitors playing advertisements, body spare parts unit, models put for display, flying cars on the road, virtual birds tweeting only around kids to attract them, emergency call points with white cross on red tattooed robots, sounds of footsteps as people stepped on solar panels placed intermittently in the footpath and pure air packets for sale.

After about half a mile Nirvaan’s nostrils caught the whiff of fresh ripe grapes. Vidyush recalled Nirvaan’s interest towards plants and thought he should visit here; vineyard. Nirvaan lit up with energy in seeing the long wide field throwing lively green all over, all tight muscles all over the body which was tied up till now, loosened.  “woooohooho…I love this place”.

“Land, nature, water and human always share a deep bond”

Nirvaan’s happiness yielded more zeal in Vidyush. Vidyush would visit this place only when he feels alone and when work gave him a break. Nirvaan jumped in to the yard, moving fast along the path left for field robots, trying to touch buzzing plant imager above the head, flicked a beautiful ripe grape from collector tray and popped it into his mouth. Machine farming was at lesser intensity as like-minded people gathered on the field.

Fibots known as field robots stopped whenever there was human or object intervention. “Hehey, you caught me”. Hang time, the time the fruits spend on the vine, was over for grapes as it was already late September and Fibots were on the job. Vidyush called out for Nirvaan to stop running and stay on the designated path, though his heart was stopping from stopping him.

Vidyush, “Guess, I should loosen up too” and started running to hug fresh air. Little away from grape multi grade conveyer belt station, Nirvaan hopped from one row of vine to another. Seeing Vidyush closer, Nirvaan giggled with a scream and started running faster making Vidyush the catcher. Vidyush was happy like in his youth.

A sudden flash of a memory from 2060 struck his mind. What made Vidyush recall that memory? Was that when he was this happy?

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Next author to be nominated soon

Unique Strength – Part 1

Author 1 : Swaran Michael

Note about author 1 : A voracious reader. Writing has always been my passion. Proud holder of a certificate in technical writing and quite a blogger myself.

Swaran’s Personal blog : www.languagehype.com

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Chapter 1

Franc, a traveller always had the habit of travelling in the night to enjoy every minute of the chillness. This gave him immense pleasure. He always walked carelessly in the freezing temperature to witness the life of the poor people living in the pavements.He interacted with these workers as a friend and ended up in a park in the neighbourhood to introspect his learning of the day.

One fine day,just before the sun rays hit the land,Franc moved towards the park thinking of the day with poor people. As he entered the park, he heard a loud cry. He was speechless and rushed to the spot, but he realized that there was no one around. Though he continued to hear the loud cry, he kept walking. When he sat to take rest, the cry suddenly stopped. Again, when he started walking, he heard the same voice. He was scared and rushed out of the place.

After a while, once the light shone, the commoners visited the park as usual. Just as Franc had experienced, the visitors also felt something unusual in the park. But, they stayed in the park and started to make speculations. The whole crowd in the park had varied thoughts lingering on the minds. On the third day of the incident, there were shocking news in the TV channels. The news telecast informed that the park had many uninformed and unidentified issues. The news also informed that twin investigators named, Jack and Mac had been appointed to solve the issue.

Franc hoped that the twins would come out with a solution. However, the public was not very hopeful about Jack and Mac. The twin brothers began to gather information on what was hidden in the park. Franc met the twins on the same day in the outdoors. Jack and Mac were not ready to disclose the plan to the traveller as they wanted to maintain secrecy. But the traveller inquisitively asked them what they had found so far. They gave a vague answer and avoided any further discussion. The twin brothers had a unique characteristic talent that they could use for the investigation.. They had the power to hypnotise the people.

 

When the commoners heard about this uniqueness, they were spellbound. When inquisitiveness increased among the crowd and everyone wanted to know more, the brothers told the power to hypnotise was not easy to learn and it came with tremendous practice. The explanation still inculcated an interest in the people. when they started to raise questions from all sides, Jack and Mac were enthralled to answer them.

 

when the questions were answered and crowd settled down, the brothers began to interrogate the people.  Jack and Mac also requested the director, George of Beam Hypnosis Centre where they had come from to guide them in the case. The director had a research duty, so he sent his assistant Heja who was an intellectual in the field.

The people followed suite as they did to the twins and asked Heja on how the issue was going to be solved. He replied with disinterest and discouraged everyone from coming to him.

The three gathered more information about the happening in the park with  intense interaction and study. They also assumed that there could be some history in the ark that had clues. As Jack and Mac collected the information, Heja told them to have a record of their findings. The twin brothers had a speculative theory on what might have happened. Heja realized the the brothers had put their effort into this, and would be only fair if they were allowed to pursue further. He waited for them to come to him. The twin brothers tried to resolve their speculations but were not able to draw any conclusion devoid of facts. They requested Heja to guide them.

Heja immediately came to their ai and asked them with concern on what was their speculation. Jack and Mac always had encountered a rude response from Heja, but this was surprising. They asked him if after the people were hypnotised, would there be chances of them getting ill? Heja replied it is a state of unconsciousness under the control of someone. Nobody would become ill  by hypnosis.

Jack and Mac started their interrogation with Lin, one of people who had visited the park earlier. Jack encountered a problem when he hypnotised Lin. To start with he asked general questions to Lin to understand him better. Slowly when he tried to hypnotise, he found that Lin also had the capability to hypnotise.So, he concluded this person would not be able to help him further.

Mac was now in the interrogation room with Satvik, a school teacher, whom he was able to hypnotise easily. Capitalizing this chance, Mac asked all questions related to the park. The answer was the same that there was something unusual. What or how was it, the teacher was not able to answer. Mac gave up on him.

The third person, Frick Ving was a researcher who excavated artifacts. It being very unusual to see a researcher in the park and also, collector would have an eye for details,  Jack took him out him to a place farther to the park. Fearing that the researcher might turn violent under the hypnotism, Jack took all the precaution. In a sub conscious state, the researcher revealed that he had seen two children sitting alone in the electricity room right in the middle of the park. When the researcher was woken up, he didnt remember anything about the children. This was the normal behaviour . In subconscious state, people tend to remember more than they are in livid state.

The twins met together near the electricity room to investigate further on the case.

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The next author would be Rehan. All the best 🙂

 

 

 

 

Chronicles of Medu Vada – Meaty Broccoli

Because life comes in a full circle. Like Medu Vada.

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If you have chronicles in your life that are funnier and worth sharing, please share the write up at indiawritestogether@gmail.com under 1000 words. I will post it in this blog. So, this is like the Sit-down comedy (and I just make that word from Standup comedy) of the blog!

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Experiences of Sadagopan Govindan

Please read more on his personal blog here

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He was from an orthodox brahmin family from South India. [A politically incorrect statement at many levels to start a post with]. He was not too orthodox or religious himself, but he did believe in some of the stuffs that were preached by the veterans in his family. According to the house rules, there were many violations that could attract the maximum punishment in the after-life. The most important of them all was eating non-vegetarian food. One may think this is a trivial issue. It is not. Nobody understood his everyday battles.

The first hurdle was to understand the concept of vegetarianism itself. His knowledge about vegetarianism was like the famous campaign of Zomato. There are two kinds of people – vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Life was simple. Then one day, his friend argues that egg was vegetarian. According to him it is not. Then a third friend joined the argument and announced that they both were wrong. He claimed fish was also vegetarian. This was now a complete chaos. They even graduated but never reached an agreement on what is vegetarian. It took lots of hours of painful arguments, research, and a couple of trips in international flights to understand that non-veg was rather simple, but vegetarian had subsections like lacto-vegetarian, lacto-ovo-vegetarian, Jain vegetarian, kosher, vegan and so on. Since he consumed milk and its by-products he settled himself for a lacto-vegetarian. He is still in argument with some of his friends about mushroom. That story is reserved for later.

He joined a multinational company and was staying with his friends in Bangalore. Let me stop you before you start thinking that his friends tricked him into eating non-veg. Nothing of that sort happened. They were good people. Except snatching his share of Maggi from him, they were harmless. These guys went to a theme park to spend a weekend. It was a fun day and they were soaked in the water like a careless bunch of buffaloes. Too much monkey business in the water made them hungry and they ordered lunch from the cafeteria. It took 20 mins to wait in the queue and order the food. And another 20 mins to get the food. He was famished and forgot all the table manners and started hogging the first dish that was placed. The steaming hot Gobi Manchurian. The moment he started chewing Gobi he realised that something was wrong. Gobi never has a strong stem. And it was extra mushy. It was only after his other friends joined his table did he come to know that they were incorrectly served “chicken 65”. He was horrified. A grave mistake but unintentional. His friends mocked him. He went to the artificial wave pool, took a dip chanting Holy river Ganga’s name and washed his sins away. He took an extra-long bath and changed his sacred thread next day to ensure that all sins were completely negated for.

This incident spread like wildfire at his workplace, thanks to his friends. Everyone was taking the piss at him for few days. He had frequent dinners and lunches with his team later and became quite conscious of what he was eating. He never let his guard down. Until another super-orthodox-tambrahm joined his team. Now this guy made his parents look like liberals. He started following this new guy blindly in team lunches/dinners. Whatever this guy ate would be an ISI certified pure vegetarian. One day, his team went out for lunch. As usual the number of meat lovers were more than vegetarians. They went to a place which is famous for meat food but also served good vegetarian dishes. So, they ordered many soups, starters, and main courses as was the norm. They were busy pulling each other’s’ legs when the food was being served. The new guy inspected a dish and then grabbed few pieces of it and started munching. So, he also confidently took that dish with his eyes closed. He got the same feeling as before. The food was mushy, and he could not identify what it was.He asked the new guy what it was. “Okra Fry”, came the reply. Now, he had tasted Okra fry in 100 restaurants. All of them had different tastes and textures. But this was nothing close to anything like an Okra. So, he enquired the waiter who told them it was a mutton(lamb) dish. He ran towards the washroom to spit the pieces and wash his mouth. He slightly felt better as he had only chewed it but didn’t swallow. The new guy though was devastated. Everybody could hear him throw up in the restroom and it was disgusting. As usual, he took a holy shower to wipe of his sins and was back to normal the next day. The new guy didn’t come to work for 3 days.

These were the two instances when he had tasted meat. But there were many instances where he came close to. During one of his road trips in the US, he and his friends got stranded in the snow storm near Grand Canyon. The car that they had rented was towed away after they rammed into the car in the front of them; inexperienced drivers on the snow. They hitchhiked to a place called Flagstaff and checked into a motel. It was late in the night and they were completely knackered. The regular food joints like McDonalds, Burger King, Chipotle were closed. Only one Chinese restaurant was open, and they decided to order the delivery. He was the only vegetarian of the three, so he went through the menu list very carefully. Unable to find anything vegetarian, he ordered the only dish that was safe – Vegetable Fried Rice. They waited painfully for 90 mins for the order to be delivered. Another 30 minutes and they could have ordered breakfast. Finally, the food was delivered and when he opened the box, he was furious. He saw a shiny white egg sitting in the middle of the rice. He was enraged. He called up the restaurant, not minding the charges that he incurred from the hotel phone and started yelling at them.

‘I ordered a Vegetable Fried rice’

‘Yes, mister’

‘Then may I ask why I see a shiny egg sitting in the middle of my food?’

‘Yes, sir! You ordered the vegetable fried rice’.

‘Exactly! Why is there an egg then?’

‘Because it is vegetable fried rice and not a vegetarian fried rice. You should say ‘no egg’ when you order it’

He had given up hopes. He never felt that stupid in his life before. His large intestine was eating his small intestine and he was getting educated about the difference between Vegetable Fried Rice and Vegetarian fried rice in the wee hours of the night.

‘Can I change my order?’

‘Yes please. What would you like to have?’

‘A Margherita pizza with thin crust base and cheese, with tomato, capsicum and olive toppings cut using a clean knife which was not used to cut any meat; meat includes – egg, fish, livestock, poultry, seaweed, and mushroom; no oil’

‘Yes, Sir! You want a kid’s vegan pizza. Is that correct?’

‘Fuck You!’

Plethora of freedom – Chapter 4

Please read the previous chapter here

Name of the Author : Ashwin Arun

Note on Author: Likes well crafted sentences. Thinks that he might just hate puns although not really sure how he feels about them. Oh! and long live the Oxford comma.

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Chapter 4

Just another day

Inspector Dijkstra stood in middle of the dank cell that had not more than a day ago, been the residence of former district magistrate Sara A Birdwing. All around him, forensic personnel were scurrying about, methodically investigating every square inch of the cell desperately seeking clues as to what might have caused the flooding. The case was nothing if not bizarre. Any rational person would say that the water should have seeped through the door hinges and cell’s windows to the corridors but oddly enough it appeared to have been contained within the cell, as though by some sort of force field that only gave away when the warden opened the cell door from the outside. Secondly, where had the water even come from? There were no major pipelines in that area of the building. Finally, Sara had been found lying unconscious despite evidence suggesting that she must have been deprived of oxygen long enough to kill any human being. The doctors at the local municipal hospital had diagnosed her condition to be comatose with no evident higher brain activity.

Dijkstra had suspected something odd was going on with Sara ever since he had found her that night at that store with a gun in her hand. She hadn’t stolen anything. Her gun wasn’t even loaded. She just stood there … waiting to be caught. What made her do it? What could make a decorated judge risk everything? Was she being coerced?  Why did she not tell him if that were the case? After all the years the duo had spent side by side making the city a safer place, he’d have thought she could have at least considered asked for his help. Perhaps, somebody else was being threatened and Sara decided to take the fall. Whatever it was, she had never told him.

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Meanwhile, Ox had found his way back to his laboratory at the foothills of the Redstone Mountains. This was a rather remote area, a long way from any known human settlement which made it an ideal location for Ox to conduct his experiments. He placed the bottle containing Sara the butterfly inside a small glass chamber which appeared to be part of an apparatus containing several solenoid coils, two tiny cathode ray guns pointed at the glass chamber, and surrounded by an array of electronic sensors.

“Alright then! Let’s see” he muttered, “Vital signs are normal. Brain activity seems to be multiplexed and in synchronization with subject’s base EEG. Sensory responses are within acceptable norms. Excellent!”

“Hello Sara”, he looked at her, “How do you feel?”

Sara could see her brother or whatever version of him that her compound eyes would construct. She seemed to be able to hear him as well.

“That’s odd”, she thought “Do butterflies even have ears?” she had never thought about it. “Surely they can’t speak now … or can they?” she had seen too many strange things recently to be certain of anything. So she tried to speak anyway.

“I’m not sure how I feel. How I’m even supposed to feel.” it was an odd sensation. She could hear her voice out loud as if it were spoken but of course, she wasn’t really speaking now … was she?

“I do suppose there isn’t a baseline for how humans in butterfly bodies must feel”, he laughed “It must be strange. But don’t worry, I’ll have you back in your human body soon enough.” Ox said, “The apparatus around you can read and process vocal signals from your neural activity. It then matches the frequency of your human body’s larynx and activates these speakers. This way, as long as you’re in the chamber, we will be able to communicate”

“Uhm … ok”, she said, a little confused but really wasn’t in the mood for an explanation, “So… what now?”

“We wait”, he said calmly, “and hope your friend Dijkstra gets the message. I couldn’t have made it more obvious for him”

“He will. He’s a smart one. Although, are you sure, all of this is wise?”

“Of course I am. I’ve never been sure of anything more in my life”

“Billions of people will be affected. Do you not believe in free will?”

“Sure, I also believe in unicorns and huldufólk.”

“I’m being serious”

“Do you really believe that free will even existed to begin with? Humans have always been slaves to their circumstance. A victim of unstable chemical reactions in their brains. I merely aim to enlighten them of their condition. Once the inevitability sinks in, they will become more productive citizens. Surely you know a thing or two about accepting inevitability from your time in prison. I’m doing them a favor”

“I still think there might be a better way”, she wasn’t convinced but there wasn’t much she could do being a butterfly and all.

“I know you do”, He smiled “Everything is going to be ok”

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Dijkstra walked up to his window. He could see the hospital across the street.  As he was looking, the red neon signs from the hospital seemed to twist and elongate to form three numeric symbols.

2 1 8

Dijkstra rubbed his eyes in disbelief. It took him a moment to realize that what he was seeing was indeed there and not merely a figment of his imagination. What did that mean though? Was it some kind of message? He felt something moving in his pocket. His magnetic compass was whirling furiously. When he picked it up, it stopped, not facing north as compasses usually do, but 60 degrees south of the hospital. They were relative angular co-ordinates with his office as the point of reference. He didn’t know where they led. He had to find out. He put on his coat, grabbed his hat and just as he was about to leave, turned around to see the hospital once again. The message had disappeared.

“Just another day!” Dijkstra sighed sarcastically as he started his car.

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Next author to be nominated soon

Judgement – Chapter 5

Please read the previous chapter here

Name of the author:  Tania Mallik

Note on the author: A Hilsa raised as a Bombay Duck, Tania’s love for reading and writing is matched only by her longing for Hilsa and Bombay Duck. Nothing gives her more joy than watching Tarantino movies, seeing Cersei blow up the sept and consuming abandoned leftover alcohol. And when she’s not selling overpriced corn to hapless dukandars in Indore, she likes to spend her time recommending Mohsin Hamid to friends.

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As the van made its way to Risok Lab, Kwon’s mind wandered back to the day he was visiting Monteplier to meet his brother Rusty and his wife Melissa. It was a similar dark gloomy day.

 

As the car sped down the highway, Kwon was mortified as he scanned the files sent to him about his latest secret mission. The cover page read: “Olev Youzhny” with a picture of a face that he recognised very well. “A Russian agent born in Berlin during the Cold War. His mother Anya used to be a ballerina at the Bolshoi Theatre before meeting his father Sergie – a chemistry student – at a grand ball in Moscow organised by a common friend. Post a brief courtship, the couple married and moved to Berlin. Sergie wanted to pursue his doctoral degree in chemistry at the Max Planc University while Anya started teaching ballet at the local school. Two years later, they had a baby boy whom they named Olev. A deeply religious man, Sergie felt grateful for the blissful life he shared with his wife and son until one evening when he stumbled upon a letter from an anonymous source. A trap was laid by the CIA and it was revealed to Sergie that his beloved wife was in fact a spy who worked for the Soviet Union. Her alliance with Sergei was seemingly planned to enable her to move to Berlin in order to carry out a secret mission. Filled with rage and betrayal, Sergie had a violent confrontation forcing Anya to give up her charade. Anya was captured and executed by the CIA. The same night, the CIA covertly made a flight arrangement for Sergie and his one year old son, Olev to Monteplier to protect them from any danger. A legend was crafted and two new identities were created. Thus began Sergie’s new life – a widower teaching chemistry at the Monteplier University named Eric Thelmes who lived with his baby boy Rusty Thelmes.

 

Four years later, Eric remarried- this time a Korean-American journalist based out of Monteplier. A year later, the couple had a son named Kwon Thelmes. The two boys grew up in the same household. While the elder one was a prodigy with a scientific bent of mind, the younger one was tall, athletic with a knack for solving investigative cases. Rusty went on to pursue a degree in neuroscience while Kwon joined the FBI. Sometime in the final year of bachelors, Rusty was given an opportunity to intern at a renowned pharmaceutical company in Berlin by Boris Mitrokin who headed the organisation’s research division. The work progressed swiftly, and the boy was invited for a conference in Moscow. There, he met a stranger who identified himself as KGB operative. Young Rusty was presented with a concocted version of his past, his real name and information about his mother of whom he knew very little of. The boy was asked if he was interested in using his technical prowess for a greater cause. Disillusioned by the revelation of his lineage, the boy offered his consent. The KGB training started soon after – Olev would travel to Lennigrad once a month wherein he was taught cryptography, trained to evade surveillance and acquainted with ways to retrieve package from concealed locations. After a successful training programme and completion of his neuroscience project, Olev was sent back to the US as a neuroscientist to work for the Monteplier Government. Unlike other “illegals” planted by the KGB, Olev already had an identity in the US as Rusty Thelmes. The mission was to develop a series of mind-altering drugs as a counter attack technique to deal with American spies and prisoners – the most important being a loyalty-test drug”

 

The train of thought was suddenly interrupted as the driver slammed the brakes and the van came to a sudden halt. Kwon realised they had arrived at the destination. He alighted from the van and proceeded at a brisk trot in the direction pointed by the official. The soil was wet as a result of incessant rains. As he reached the end of the twisted slippery walkway, Kwon looked up at what seemed like a balcony standing atop a waterfall. He stood there, momentarily awestruck by the architecture – the design was in such perfect harmony with the natural surroundings that the building could easily go unnoticed to a passer-by. Kwon was escorted down the stairs to the drawing room where a young lady waited for their arrival.

 

Varnia extended her hands, and greeted Kwon with a warm smile “Good Afternoon Officer Thelmes, my name is Varnia , I work here at the Risok laboratory as a teaching assistant. We are so thankful that you agreed to help us”.

 

Kwon shook her hands in hesitation but before he could respond, Varnia cut him short by saying, “Would you like to drink something or rest may be? It’s been a long day for you.” Kwon was tired but he was too anxious to be able to rest. He agreed for a cup of tea and the two sat by the side of the fireplace as Varnia continued the conversation. She praised him for his years of service at the FBI. She also elucidated her work at the Risok Lab- her publications and some mind boggling findings. While the sweet smell of chemicals and the internal apprehension disturbed Kwon, the warmth of the young lady seemed to distract him from his thoughts – not to mention he was impressed with the repertoire of work done by the lady at such a young age.

 

The clock struck 7 pm. Kwon barely realised that they had been chatting for almost two hours. The rains were pouring like torrents. Kwon felt vulnerable for the first time in his life. Finally he put forth the question that he had been wanting to ask for a while now, “I still don’t understand, why am I here? “

 

Varnia forwarded a file across the table. It detailed a few articles on human brain and the behaviour exhibited by humans under different circumstance. Varnia informed that the project involved understanding the human psychology by asking a series of questions and analysing the interviewee’s response to the same. The interviewees included four inmates from Mwalisso 22 each convicted in unique controversial cases. According to Varnia, if there was anyone who knew how to elicit the responses by asking the most apt set of questions, it was Kwon who had spent years at the Mwalisso 22.

 

The next four days, Kwon and Varnia sat through the interviews each day as they questioned, observed and analysed the behaviour of each inmate. Each interview was followed by an hour long discussion between Varnia and Kwon on the morality of the act, the criminal angle, human conscience, cognition etc

As productive as the discussion seemed to be, Kwon simultaneously felt a sense of uneasiness. The stories of the inmates vaguely reminded him of something buried in the recess of his mind but he could not really decipher. Each prisoner was incarcerated for a heinous crime which either involved murder of innocent people, betrayal of family, disobedience of high ranking official, treachery or corporate espionage. He wondered what one should do when a person is faced with circumstance involving moral choice. What is right? What is wrong? Why is the “right” thing the right thing to do? The subjectivity of morality.

His mind once again went back to the encounter with his brother Rusty Thelmes at Monteplier back in 2015 .

In the aftermath of the fateful night , Kwon carried the corpse of his brother who said to have died under mysterious circumstance- most likely from inhaling a toxicant released as a by-product during the synthesis of an API at his laboratory. Melissa wept uncontrollably but what bothered Kwon was the sight of the 8 year old Rusk who was looking on at the corpse of his father without batting an eyelid. The sight was still etched in his mind. There was something deep and mysterious in those eyes.

Kwon wiped his face and noticed the surveillance camera in the room for the first time. It was at an odd position. Was there someone observing him behind the camera?

Little did Kwon Thelmes know that it was he who was in fact the prime subject of the experiment and the inmates he was interviewing were merely the stimulator.

Rusk Thelmes felt a sense of triumph as he observed Kwon from the surveillance room. He was happy with the progress of the experiment.

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Please read the next chapter here

 

 

Trepidation – Chapter 4

Please read the previous chapter here

Author name : Brijesh Deb

Note on the author :I am an occasional blogger and like to talk on social, political and cultural issues. I am a social media buff and very active on Twitter and LinkedIn

Please read more of Brijesh’s writing on his blog here

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Chapter 4

“What is happening to me, why am I so weak” I said to myself while trying to sit up but fell on the ground so hard that there was this huge puff of dust all around as all of the 200 pounds in me hit the ground. I could barely open my eyes as I saw broken walls and shattered roof of this ruin.

 

I felt my heart beat really fast and could hear myself breath loud. Bruised and battered I lay in the corner of the ruin. “Wake up Alec… Wake up”, I could hear Catalina calling me loud. As I tried to open my eyes, I could feel a cold behind my ear I tried to reach for it but could not raise my tied hands. “Are you looking for this?” asked Catalina in her sultry voice showing me blood at the edge of a knife after running it through the back of my ear. This was the rage of a girl who had been the object of my pleasure for years. But wait, was that my own blood? I thought. Why are they doing this to me. What do they want? My head was spinning like a top with questions.

 

Right beside me was a plate with 4 slices of bread and cheese and some rice. “Eat this”, ordered Pablo in his very angry tone. “I am not going to eat this food”, I replied and bang, I was smashed behind my head with a gun. “You don’t want to die. Do you?”, asked Catalina. “Just do as you are asked to.”, ordered Pablo yet again.

 

Catalina sat next to me and started feeding me the bread. My throat was dry as the bread thrust down by her began to choke me. “Water…”, whispered my cracking voice. Pretty sure she heard it, but she did not pay attention. When I coughed there came a voice from the background “No le des agua… Eĺ Morirá”… Bastardo”(Don’t give him water. He will die. Bastard). They can’t be doing this to me. They cannot choke me to death. “Give me water… I beg you please give me water”. Tears rolled down my cheek as I pleaded for water. I thought I knew no fear, but this was different. Horrific.

 

Catalina opened up a bottle of water and poured it into my open mouth from a distance… Gluk… Gluk… Gluk… I gulped the water. I was never so relieved as the water overflew from my open mouth onto my throat and then my shirt. I had barely caught my breath as the empty bottle whizzed past my nose and all I saw was an angry Catalina who had the rage of a killer in her eyes as she stared at me.  Being the man, I was, I sat there admiring the curves of the two sisters through the camouflage, I suddenly I felt a sharp pain on my neck. I thought a bee had stung me and I was collapsing. A needle had just pierced through my neck. My eyes were closing.

 

My eyes opened, and I saw only 2 gunmen sitting across from me smoking weed. “Where was everyone else? What had happened to me”, I said to myself. I turned my head to see a plate with a half-eaten slice of bread and some rice… Rest of the rice was on the floor. What was going on…? I was more puzzled now. Just as I was thinking, I could feel slight wind hitting my left shoulder. It was consistent… I looked for the spot from where the wind was coming in. My eyes opened wide as I saw a small hole on the wall.

 

My eyes lit up with hope. I slowly started to try and drag myself towards that ray of hope. I wrestled to try and free up my arms which were sore. I couldn’t move my legs. My face was bruised my neck was bleeding. But I had to get out. “This is the chance… Probably the only one… I need to get out of here”, I thought. I started to crawl knowing that I had to keep quiet. The two men guarding me were high on Sativa… “Could I take them on if I had to? Probably not “, I wondered as I tried to muster up the courage to reach out to that small hole. I couldn’t feel my legs. Pablo and his men had smashed my legs with guns as they were trying to restrain me. I was dragging myself towards the hole creeping ever so slowly. The guards were in their world laughing out loud not bothered by my movement. I had to make the most of this. I closed my eyes and gathered some more strength in my hands for the final few inches towards that tiny ray of hope.  After a while my ordeal almost ended as I reached the hole and as luck would have it, I felt the rope tying my hands loosening up. It was a matter of time before I could actually free myself up.   I struggled and wrestled rubbing my tied hand against the rough floor and finally managed to untangle the rope around my hand. I started to scrape the mud under the hole to create enough space for me to slide out. I untied the rope around my leg. I couldn’t move my legs, but I had to get out of the hellhole. I pushed myself looking at the guards from the corner of my eyes. I pushed harder and harder. Hard enough to plunge through the hole and I finally soaked in some fresh air devoid of the smell of marijuana. I dragged myself to a tree and held on it trying to get on my feet. My legs were weak, but I managed to stand up. I wanted to scream in pain, but I couldn’t. I was free… Free as a bird, I was ecstatic to go anywhere…or was I?… I started limping holding the tree in the muddy path between the trees. I needed to get out of there before nightfall. My bruises weren’t getting any better as they were rubbing against the branches of the trees and the leaves. I kept following the path winding my way through until I saw a broken hut. I breathed a sigh of relief and made my way up to the hut… As I pushed open the door, my face was covered by a black cloth and I could hear loud laughter… “Welcome back, Mr. Manser” said that haunting voice… My escape plan just ended… Now what?…

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Next author to be nominated soon.

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Please read the next chapter here

Chronicles of Medu Vada – Twisted tales

Because life comes in a full circle. Like Medu Vada.

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If you have chronicles in your life that are funnier and worth sharing, please share the write up at indiawritestogether@gmail.com under 1000 words. I will post it in this blog. So, this is like the Sit-down comedy (and I just make that word from Standup comedy) of the blog!

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Experiences of Sadagopan Govindan

Please read more on his personal blog here

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“It’s almost time, can we wind up now and continue in tomorrow’s call or continue now?”

He was in a late night conference call that could have been easily confused for a webinar. This call was like his Sunday masses. Somebody else was driving the call but he had to be present to say ‘Amen’. Else he will be tried for his blasphemy. He needed to say a line or two; email would have been sufficient. But his boss was as adamant as a child in a candy shop. He insisted him to dial-in. It was, undoubtedly, the longest two hours of his life. He was famished and managed to help himself with some pieces of watermelon stuffed in the darkest corners of his refrigerator. He found the biggest piece of the lot that he could stuff and slowly removed all the seeds one by one using a fork. Mentally, he was skinning his boss. After a bit of a struggle, he emerged victorious and stuffed the trophy in his mouth. That is when he heard the organizer calling out to check if the meeting should be continued then or later. He was in a dilemma for a moment. He wanted to continue the call for few more minutes and get it done with then rather than having to join the next day again. But he could only mumble “Mmmmm…” Bloody watermelon in his mouth. He was stuck like the infamous monkey with the peanuts in his fist. He was neither able to swallow the watermelon faster nor spit out. Without any room in his mouth, his frantic attempt to breakdown the pieces was as effective as an overloaded mixer. By the time, he managed to break the wall and shout “We can continue for 15 more minutes”, it was too late. “The organizer has ended the meeting” was the reply. This wasn’t the first time he was in such a situation. Never will be his last time either. Some people’s lives are ruled by their in-laws. His life was ruled by Murphy’s Law.

Last January, like any other normal temporarily-optimistic citizen of this world, he decided to change his life. The long hours at work and the sedentary lifestyle have troubled him enough the previous year and this time he decided to take control of his life. Committed to a changed lifestyle, he went through a lot of videos about waking up early. He was dead sure that he was going to be the life time member of Robin Sharma’s 5 am club. That night, he went through 2 giga bytes worth of motivational videos on YouTube. He was pumped. He set the alarm for 30 minutes earlier than the usual for the next day. He would get up 30 minutes earlier and go for a decent run. This was the life changing moment. This day was like that five minute song in which the protagonist will turn from rags to riches. This day would be as historically important as the day when 300 Spartans bravely fought against the mighty Persians. The alarm went off as planned and he woke up with full enthusiasm. All he had to do was brew a cup of smoking hot filter coffee before he heads out for a run. He entered the kitchen and stepped on something cold. He switched the lights on and he was annoyed. The refrigerator had turned to auto-defrost mode and the mini Gangotri had melted and occupied the territory on the floor. It looked like the ice had decided to start slimming today just like him. He started cleaning up the place. After mopping vigorously for about five minutes, he looked at the clock to see if he had time for a coffee before the run. He had time only for a coffee and not the run. What looked like five minutes of mopping was actually 25 minutes. One may plan whatever he/she wants to, the universe always has a plan B.

His everyday life was a struggle. If there was a biography involving his bad luck alone, it would be bigger than the novel ‘Ponniyin Selvan’.  The other day, he boarded the public transport to get to work. Previous day was a long one. He was cranky as he had to burn the midnight oil to resolve some critical issues at work. So he was in an irritable mood. Isn’t it amazing what a lack of proper sleep could do to you? The beautiful flower that you would pick from the road and smell on any other day suddenly becomes a hindrance in your path. You step on the flower and mash it while yelling ‘THIS. IS.  SPARTAAA!’

He thought some music would help him relax and took out the earphones. And it was tangled for life. After 20 minutes of trying with mother-of-all-focusses, the knot became worse. He had no idea where the ends were. After playing quite a bit of thumb wrestling, he solved the life’s greatest mystery. He was able to unknot (if there is such a word) the earphones and started playing the song ‘It’s my life’. The bus halted suddenly and, all thanks to law of inertia, he banged his head on the front seat. His frontal lobe became a frontal globe. He had reached the workplace.

If he was sure of anything ever in his life, it was this: He was the living proof that what could possibly go wrong will definitely go wrong.

 

Upheaval – chapter 2

Please read the previous chapter here

Name of Author : Munmun Singh Nagpal

Note on Author : I am a part time writer and a full time mom. A believer, an optimist, a dreamer. Sometimes, I try to capture my dreams in words. They say I write, I say I want to play a million roles, and the lifetime is not enough.

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Chapter 2

The feeling of shame caused by the thundering burp sound was overpowered by the relief it caused to Seshadri. He could bet his paunch had gone in two inches and the way Venkat drifted a few feet away, he could tell it was a good one. “Tell me all that you know”, he asked of Venkat. “Not much yet. A husband and a wife who had been together for around fifteen years. Not a very social couple so even harder to dig in information”, replied Venkat, looking at the dishevelled body which had started to swell. “Take the body now”, Venkat ordered a few of his men who had been waiting for the command. “I would like to meet the husband then”, said Seshadri, studying the room. “Then let’s go back to the police station where he has been kept for interrogation”, replied Venkat.

“We are sorry about Sukanya’s demise. Could you tell us something about her that would help us solve her case?” Said Seshadri coming straight to the point. Alok, the husband, didn’t look at him at all. He seemed preoccupied. Seshadri thought it might be a result of the shock that the news must have caused him. He exhibited all characters of the anti social element that he had been declared earlier by Venkat. It was hard to tell if the trauma was causing him to behave like that or this was his original self trying to hide from the outside social, talkative, expressive world. He kept looking here and there, exhibiting discomfort continuously. “Yes, she is dead”, he said, looking at the cupboard placed in the interrogation room, “but I can’t help you.” Seshadri kept quiet for sometime, giving himself some scope to read him but he was too hard to be decoded. He looked borderline psychotic. “You know, Alok, considering the fact that you two were not social at all, and almost had no interaction with the outside world, it gives us enough probability to suspect you. Who would kill a woman who wasn’t even a part of the society that she lived in?” Said Seshadri and tried to note his expressions as he talked. He smiled a little in response. “It doesn’t even make sense. Or does it?”, he said more to himself than to the detective. After a pause he started, “she was not entirely off the outside world. She was a part of a club where they did weird stuff that no one can understand. Though we didn’t talk much, weekly perhaps, but as much as I noted her, she brought home planchette and stuff. She used to have bon fire inside her room. She had needles of all sizes that I have no idea how she used. I have never cared. But isn’t it clear to you all?” He yelled out the last sentence. Venkat and Seshadri kept looking at him for more. Then he moved in closer to the table, with his chest almost touching the cold wood and spoke, “the devil had her”, saying which he looked in all directions to ascertain no one else heard him. Then moved back in the chair again and started counting his fingers.

“The man is mad. We can’t trust anything he says. Moreover, he hasn’t even spoken anything worthwhile. For all we know, maybe it is him who killed her”, said Venkat coming out of the police station. “There are a lot of possibilities Venkat and we can’t rule out anything from where we are. It is possible that the man is perfectly fine. He killed his wife, and is now pretending to be loony so he can get away with it. It is also possible that someone from her club killed her. It may also be something totally unexpected. The case is especially difficult because we don’t have leads. Let’s go meet the people of her club first. Maybe we’ll get closer to solving the case”, said Seshadri as they stepped into the police jeep.

“Police”, said Venkat flashing his badge as an old woman peeked through the chained door that they had knocked. She opened the door in response. As they entered they noticed a completely dishevelled house. There was no order, whatsoever, to anything inside. Plus it wreaked of something strong yet indistinguishable. “Please be seated”, she said to which the men looked at each other to know where exactly she was directing them to. The only place accessible was the floor, so they stayed put. “Do you know Sukanya?” Asked Venkat. “No” she replied. They looked at each other again. “Here is a picture of you burning something with her, on your wall”, said Venkat. “Oh!” She said, putting her spectacles on, that were hanging by her neck. She came closer to the picture and said, “which one is Sukanya?” “You don’t know?” Asked Venkat in surprise. “No. That’s why I asked”, she replied, still looking at the picture. “There are only four of you in the picture. And it looks like you were close, the way you have her picture hung on your wall”, said Seshadri. “Listen, it is my wish to have any picture hung on my wall. And it is not a crime to not know the name of the person in the picture. Is it now?” She shot back. “No it is not. But this case is getting more interesting for sure. One mad husband, another crazy yelling friend. Listen lady, we don’t have time to go on like this. You have to help the police solve Sukanya’s murder case. We have work to do” said Seshadri. “Murder? Who is dead now?” She squinted at the picture again. “The one standing next to you” said Venkat, “Now please tell us how you have a picture of her in your living room but are not aware of her name.” “We have a club, the whereabouts of which, I can’t tell. We have no clue about any club member’s life. We don’t even know each other’s names. We know our souls”, she said helplessly. “So you can’t tell us what this club is about?” Asked Seshadri. “I would say, you’re better off” she answered. “And what about Sukanya? Can you tell us something about her? The kind of person she was. Her life. Who she interacted with?” Asked Venkat. “Oh yeah! The devil possessed her. Now that she is dead, I can tell. If she were alive and I told you, I would have to sacrifice a part of my body for revealing. Oh please tell me she really is dead” she said.

“I need a break. This is far too complicated than I had imagined” said Seshadri. “I need a break too” said Venkat, “do you want to go grab some samosas and tea?” Seshadri gave out a loud burp in response. “I’m off samosas for life”, he said as they walked away.

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Please read the next chapter here

Trepidation – Chapter 3

Please read the previous chapter here

Author name : Himani Yadav

Note on Author : I am an avid fan of reading, but I write occasionally. You could call me a novice in the blogging world trying to get my feet wet.

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Chapter 3

“Am I dead or is this a bad dream?”… A loud noise is what it took me to realize that I was alive but “where was I? And why am I moving? “. I could barely open my eyes completely, but I could see the shadows of 3 huge men with automatic guns guarding me.
“Where are you taking me? Who are you guys? I whispered as I could still feel my head ringing from the blow that had knocked me down. “Shhh…be quiet” said one of 3 shadows. I could feel my body on the floor of a trailer which was moving fast. I asked again “why are we moving? And who are you?”. The next thing I felt was this pain… A pain of being kicked on my stomach… ” Be quiet if you want to live.” said another heavy voice. My hands and legs tied up not giving me the chance to move let alone get up.
After a long journey I could feel the trailer slowing down and the men talking something in a language I had never heard before. I was even more intrigued now. “Welcome to my kingdom Alec Manser… We have been waiting for you ” said this husky devilish voice as the doors of the trailer opened and the three men dragged me out. It was a voice that I had heard before, but I couldn’t recognize it as my head was still heavy. I was in this jungle with more than a hundred men and women dressed in camouflage uniform followed me as I was being dragged.
” Hope you had a good ride.” Said the husky voice again. “Satan? Is that you? ” I tried to speak after clearing my throat which was dry. I was hoping my guess was wrong, but that hope was killed in a minute as the voice replied, ” Ah so you know who I am… Small world eh!” I was even more puzzled now. “What do you want from me? Why all this? And was it you who killed Angelica? Wasn’t she your own daughter?” I shot a barrage of questions at Satan. ” Patience Mr. Manser is a great virtue… Relax… You’ll find out everything soon ” said Satan with a big smirk on his face. I was taken to a trench which was more of a destroyed army bunker.
“Welcome to my kingdom Mr. Manser…”, said Satan with that nasty grin of his. He continued,” You are here for the purpose of your life… For something you were born to do… And yes, I killed Angelica…she was just a bait “. “She was your daughter…wasn’t she?” I asked in that cracking voice of mine. Satan in serious tone replied,” There is no place for emotions in my world. She was just a bait… Nothing more!”
“Pablo… Take care of our guest and fix him. Make sure he eats well and give him the dose of magic potion. He needs to be ready for his job quickly” ordered Satan to one of his stockily built guards who had this weirdly straight face. “What do you want from me?” I almost begged for an answer and the next thing I felt was Pablo punching my face. I almost immediately started bleeding from my nose. I had never felt so weak and helpless. I tried to free my arms from the tight rope that was used to tie them. ” Calm down Pablo…” Responded Satan… He continued “Mr. Manser is our guest and needs to be treated like one. I know he has questions but like I said patience is a great virtue… Satan looked at me and said, “You’ll get your answers so hold your horses for now and let my folks take care of you.” I hated that smirk. It was killing me.
I was then made to sit on a broken wooden chair. I could hear the chair crack even more as I sat on it. A young Latina appeared from the background with a first aid box in her hand. She looked like one of the girls I had transported once but what was she doing here? Why was this happening to me… My aching head was ringing with these questions. ” I am Catalina…Remember me Alec?”, said the girl in her sultry voice. I had heard that voice before and that opened up the gates of my brain and I could recall the torture I had subjected upon this girl and many more from her neighborhood. She had faced the wrath of my lust and desire not once but many times I couldn’t count. There she was standing in front me trying to fix up the wounded face and bleeding nose with sheer hatred for me in her beautiful eyes that had an expression of pain and anger. I could tell she wanted me to die but why was she trying to clean my wounds. “Is this another trap?”, I could just wonder…

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Next author to be nominated soon