And She Kissed a God

9. Chaos

Samidha had walked out. She marched west, crossing the glass wall that separated the garden and the room. She had stood in the garden, her back facing us, watching the moon rise out of the trees. Something was bothering her. I meant other than the goddess.

Silence ruled the place. They offered me a glass of water too, but I refused. The air-conditioning was decent, and the carpet tickled on my barefoot.

What was happening in my life? It was perfect until the anniversary dinner. I started feeling like a kid holding his mother's finger and walking through a busy market. No idea where he was going, but he shouldn't stop or he might be stuck in turmoil.

The goddess was quiet too. She sat in a chair, leaning backwards and lost in her thoughts. They offered her some juice. No one so much as looked at her eyes.

"We had a deal," Anil said, standing before the goddess.

He wasn't concerned about the slap anymore. I had to agree; he could take a slap and not make a scene.

The goddess came forward in her chair. "I regret my behaviour, Anil. Anger took the best of me."

I walked between them. "What deal?"

"Why is that your concern?" Anil glared at me.

I giggled, and it had a pinch of self-pity. "She . . ." Was I allowed to address her like that? I took a chance. "She was trying to take me away. I was a part of your anonymous deal."

"It is a complex issue, Aditya," said the goddess. I couldn't get over the fact that an actual goddess was talking to me. "I don't think we are blessed with enough time."

She glanced at the man on the floor that Sam dragged out the tunnel. "Who is this miserable human, anyway?"

Sitting on his knees, Anil observed the unconscious man. His men checked already, and they found nothing. Yet, Anil seemed certain to find something. He ran his hands inside the man's mouth and stopped when he reached the centre of the right cheek. With a grunt, he pulled out something.

"Suicide pill," Anil mumbled and put his head down. His wrinkled forehead showed a frown. "He is one of the Saurav's men. I don't understand how he keeps finding my grandmother."

"Who is this Saurav?" I asked.

"I pity humans," said the goddess, overlapping with my words. "They fight over the least important things."

"Power," Anil continued, "is an important thing on earth."

The goddess smiled with a slight shake of her head.

Anil turned to the glass-wall, glancing at Sam. "If I tell her a bio-terrorist is monitoring her, she would go searching for him and god knows what she will do."

"Samidha is a gentle soul, Anil," said the goddess. "She knows the difference between a mistake and a sin."

"I am not sure anymore."

I widened my eyes. "Bio-terrorist?"

Anil and the goddess turned to me, making uncomfortable eye contact.

The goddess said, "Yes, Aditya. This man is one of the worst among humans."

I adjusted my standing stance. "Who is he?"

Anil clapped and one of his men came running with an iPad and handed it to me. An aged photo of a middle-aged man appeared on the screen. The man looked harmless, his hair ruffled, and a mask hanging around his neck.

"Saurav Mehra is a Synthetic biologist." Anil walked around me and sat in a chair. "Until 2009, he was the best out there working on epigenetics."

I scrolled the screen for more photographs. Every picture told the same story; a naïve man who had the same messy hair like Einstein. Ten similar photos later, I found a girl with him in the photos.

"This girl?" I showed the screen to Anil.

"That's his daughter, Katrina. The biggest psycho I've ever known."

I turned to him, aghast.

"She ran a drug union in Delhi and spoiled hundreds of kids."

I kept scrolling the screen. There was an article on her. 'Admired scientist's daughter caught running drugs. Immediately taken into custody by the police.'

"Ever since the arrest of his daughter, Saurav has turned against the system. He started an organisation and broke his daughter out of jail."

I paused, scrolling at a screen. "Now, he's the most-wanted in five countries. What is he doing?"

"What else? He's been kidnapping people and experimenting on them. I even heard he was working on DNA modification and cloning humans."

I scrolled a bit more and gasped. "No way, Katrina's the one behind the gas attack in Mumbai airport last year." I gazed at a leaked black-and-white picture of her from a security camera. "Now, you are telling me they've been looking for Sam."

Anil stood up and buttoned his coat. "He thinks my grandmother is a scientific miracle. Now you must understand the gravity of the situation."

"See, I can protect myself," he continued, "I don't have to worry about my grandmother. But as long as she's with you, or anyone, she's vulnerable. You . . ." Anil pointed his hand at me, his voice frustrated. "You are a liability in several ways."

He wasn't wrong. Thinking about it, the things he didn't seem cruel any longer. He was looking after her grandmother.

The goddess stood up and walked to us, dragging the loose end of her saree on the floor. "Alas, I have meddled too much already. I cannot find myself facing this terrorist too. God will not be happy when we mingle with humans a lot. We have to talk to Samidha." Her voice was unsteady. "And I have to return to heaven before sunrise."

Anil nodded devotedly, and they walked past me to the garden. Jogging behind, I tailed them. One of the men slid the glass wall for us.

"Grandmother," Anil called.

Sam didn't reply.

"I'm sorry." He went and stood in front of her. "I didn't mean—I just wanted to get rid of him."

"Have you ever?" Sam shouted. "Have you ever once thought why I was bringing him with me?"

The goddess stepped forward. "You understand that—"

"I'm not talking to you," Sam said, turning back.

"Stop being irrelevant, Samidha." The goddess raised her voice. "This is bigger than you."

"Let me guess, it's important to gods."

"When will you stop being a child?"

"I'm not childish. You are. The entire clan of gods is childish. Petty. And selfish." Sam rubbed her lips with her wrist. "Your God almighty is childish, creating me and then, forgetting about my existence."

"Mind your words, girl." The goddess blustered. "Remember that you are accusing God."

"Why shouldn't I? I spent hundreds of years questioning my purpose and he never replied."

"Don't blame God for the human's mistakes. Blame your greedy father, you so trusted. He hid the truth from your family." The goddess walked sidewards, her saree flying to the breeze now. "Behold, the girl is your gift from the God Shiva. Raise her well and protect her at all costs, for she will bring good luck into your lives—" She repeated what the god of winds had said while offering Sam to her parents.

Then she stopped in front of Anil. "—she'll lead an eternal life in an endless youth, serving her life's purpose, and once she seeks to return, all she has to do is ask."

Sam remained quiet, hearing the missing part of her prophecy.

'All she has to do is ask.'

I bet those words induced vast burning chaos in her head.

'All she has to do is ask.'

'All she has to do is ask.'

******

#Thanks for reading. How did you like the twist?