The Resurrection
(The time is near)
(Mini web series)
Have you read the 2nd episode yet? Read it here, if not...!
Episode 15: The Questions unanswered!
Questions are important in life – they define us. Imagine, how boring and baseless would a life be without any questions to strive for the answers to? From questions about the future, to some burning curiosities from the past and the present, all we do is strive hard to get answers to these questions and call it living a life! All in all, questions give our life a purpose, and without questions, would a life be worth living? Well, that’s yet another question!
‘You’re still not focusing enough Abhay!’ Ritika was furious.
‘How can I, when I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do?’ Abhay asked, frustrated.
‘You’re supposed to block the attack, damn it!’
‘How???’
‘You know that better Abhay! Now focus! Don’t let me in, in your mind, block me!’Ritika ordered, as she again began, trying to hypnotise him with her eyes.
They were at Ritika’s home after rescuing Abhay from Timothy’s cave. And now Ritika, was testing Abhay for his psychic abilities.
‘So hypnotizing people is one of your powers, or your only power?’ Abhay was curious.
‘Oh focus on the task damn it!’ Ritika had never been any stricter with him.
‘You haven’t been able to hypnotise me yet,’ Abhay said. ‘That means I am focusing!’
‘Yeah, but that’s because of the impulse of your brain and not because of your control over it! Try to control your brain, Abhay!’
‘How am I supposed to do that?? You wouldn’t tell me anything about your abilities, you wouldn’t tell me about mine. Hell, I don’t even know who I am for real! I’ve a dozen bloody questions to ask you ever since the first call from the stranger, 2 years ago!!’
Ritika looked at him with pity. He had such a great past and legacy to stand up to, and yet no recollection or understanding of how! She could sympathize with him, but couldn’t help him! Bloody circumstances! She was about to say something, when the doorbell rang on the floor below them, at the main door.
‘You stay here,’ she said to Abhay, as she got up. ‘I’ll be back.’
As she came down, the doorbell rang again. Ritika opened the door, to the horror of her worst horrors, there stood one man that none of them ever wanted or hoped to see ever again. The man who had made their lives a living hell as it was, years ago; and who lived to make the hell seem like heaven. He was the man, most loathed in the entire community, but sadly – and I mourn on behalf of every single one of them – he wasn’t an enemy! He was one of their own, and to hell with such a luck!
‘WHHHHAAATTT THHHEE –’ Ritika yelled after a brief pause, as she looked at that despicable face once again, and struggled for words. ‘WHAT??????????’
‘Nice to see you too Battle-axe!’ Pandit Shastri said, with a smug.
‘You stop calling me that!!’ Ritika yelled again. ‘And what the hell, on earth, are you doing here, at my house????’
‘Easy Battle-axe,’ Pandit Shastri hissed. ‘How strongly do I still feel like killing you all – the same nonsensical blots on the face of the humanity!’
‘Enough with your –’ Ritika was losing it when Simons’ yell cut her short!
‘HOLY…. MOTHER…. OF…. FUCKS!!!!!!’ he yelled. ‘WHAT… THE BLOODY HELL…. ARE…. YOU….. DOING HERE…. SHASTRI???’
‘And here comes the Douche!’ Pandit Shastri snarled. ‘It’s Pandit Shasttri, asshole!’
‘You stop calling –’ Simons would have killed him if it were not for Abhay, who came down from his room, due the commotion.
‘Guys, what the hell is going on?’ Abhay asked. ‘And who’s that?’
Simons looked away from Abhay and suddenly looked uneasy.
‘Oh ho my goodness!!’ Pandit Shastri blurted again. ‘If it’s not for the king of buffoons!’
Before Abhay could react, Ritika yelled again. ‘Enough with your assholery already! What are you doing here Shastri???’
‘It’s Pandit –’ Pandit Shastri left the sentence incomplete, as he entered the house. ‘Never mind. You see Battle-axe, with all the escapades that you fools have been pulling lately, the dark hour is here sooner than it should have been, and with Prof Murthy’sdeath, the high command has decided prepare the team for the worst! So here I’m, taking charge!’
He went ahead and sprawled at the Sofa in the hall, when Simons yelled again. ‘What do you mean taking charge, bastard?’
‘You see, I would mind my language if I were talking to my new leader, Douche!’ Pandit Shastri was savage. ‘But then making sense isn’t your forte anyhow! So go get me a glass of water instead, NOW!!’
Simons looked at him with bloodshot eyes, when Ritika signalled him to keep his calm and go. Obedient enough, he went to the kitchen, as Abhay and Ritika stood there.
‘So, to answer Douche’s question,’ Pandit Shastri continued in his venomous tone, ‘Prof Murthy was working on a device for us and –’
‘And?’ Ritika asked.
‘Never mind Battle-axe,’ he hissed again, as he fished a scroll from under his overcoat and handed it to Ritika. ‘Here is the official statement by the lord that, I, from this moment itself have been appointed the leader/guardian for you fools. We’ve dark roads ahead and we begin training from tomorrow. Make Douche understand this too. I’ll have to see you idiots again tomorrow, poor me!’
‘But –’
‘Never question your leader Battle-axe, never, ever!’ And he left the house, banging the door loudly behind him.
‘Where is he?’ Simons asked as he came outside the kitchen with water.
‘He left, giving me this,’ Ritika said, as she handed the scroll to Simons who began reading it.
‘“Unforeseen developments”???’ Simons said, as he read the scroll. ‘What do they mean by that? And how could they appoint the bloody nutcase as our guardian??’
‘All I know is that we begin training from tomorrow,’ Ritika said. ‘And that he is our appointed guardian!’
‘The hell he is!’ Simons yelled again! ‘How can they do this???’
‘I don’t know Simons,’ Ritika said, calmly. ‘All I know, is that we never question his highness! So if it is to be Shastri, then so be it!’
Simons clearly was avoiding Abhay, who was not getting the hang of anything anyhow, so he left. ‘I’ll better be in my room then,’ he said, before leaving.
‘Bloody hell!’ Simons smacked the scroll on the ground in frustration as he was about to leave too, when Ritika stopped him.
‘Simons,’ she said. ‘We had another letter from your sister today. I guess you should call her here.’
Simons suddenly stopped as if somebody had touched the very point that hurt the most. He turned, as he said, ‘You listen to me very carefully Ritika, with all your ears and conscience alert! I had 2 sisters for my only family and one of them – Krystal – was killed mercilessly because I involved her with us, in this mess, 8 years ago! Now I have one younger sister left and there is no way in bloody hell that I’m involving her too! Keep her out of this, and let her live for god’s bloody sake!!!!’
Before Ritika could say anything, he sauntered out of the room, down to his own bunker.
Like I said, Questions are important in life – they define us. And some even haunt us. Sometimes we hold the key to someone else’s questions but are helpless and sometimes we seek the key to our own, helplessly. But most of the times, the answers are staring at us, right in the face – we are just too close to them, to see them.
Ritika waited there with all the questions about the future eating her. What unforeseen circumstances had been created? Why was Shastri back to torture them? With many other questions eating her up, she went back to Abhay’s room.
‘You alright Abhay?’ she asked.
‘I wouldn’t even ask about the strange guy downstairs Ritika,’ Abhay said. ‘But, what’s with Simons? He seems to be ignoring me ever since we met again!’
‘Simons my dear,’ Ritika said, ‘is an emotional fellow and a terrible one at that. Your sudden death 2 years ago, took a toll on each of us, but it hit him the hardest, deepening the wounds of his sister – Krystal’s death in that fateful war, years ago! He wasn’t yet over the tragedy, when suddenly, you showed up, back from the death! How do you think anybody would react to that?’
‘You didn’t react in a strange way,’ he looked at her. ‘You seem fine!’
‘Well, I had Akshat to help me through your death and I couldn’t be happier to see you alive now!! And above else, you call me your angel for a reason, right?’
Both of them chuckled at that. Abhay was silent again for a few moments until he spoke eventually. ‘Ritika,’ he said. ‘Of the few things that I remember from my time in Timothy’s hell, one is especially troubling me a lot!’
‘Umm…. OK,’ Ritika pretended to be relaxed. ‘What is it?’
‘Timothy reminded me of how I was responsible for Krystal’s death. Does Simons know that I am the one at fault for his sister’s death?’
Ritika froze. Of all hellish things she had expected, this had never crossed her mind. ‘How could you know that you were even involved Abhay? That’s the same Timothy who led you to believe that you killed Sanjana when you had nothing to do with it. You can’t trust that snake Abhay and so how could you be so sure that you were responsible?’
‘You’re right,’ Abhay said. ‘I can’t trust him, but I trust you! Was I responsible Ritika? Does Simons know?’
‘Things here are not as black and white as you want them to be Abhay,’ Ritika tried to dodge the questions. ‘And Simons doesn’t know a thing and doesn’t need to know anything for that matter! You better understand that!’
‘You still didn’t answer my question Ritika!’ Abhay was restless. ‘Why doesn’t anyone tell me anything? Why wouldn’t anyone tell me about my past?’
‘Let me tell you this Abhay,’ Ritika looked him in the eyes, earnestly. ‘The answers that you seek about your past, are dark, deep and twisted. Nobody wants to enlighten you with them and end your suffering more than I do, my little brother, but they can destroy you if encountered at once. So right now, all I can give you is the hope that you’ll find answers when the time is right. Until then, just prepare for the worst. We’ve dark days ahead.’
She kissed him on his forehead and left the room. While Abhay waited for the right time to come and the dark days to conclude!
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