The Cursed Shell

31

(A/N Sorry for updating so late, I didn't come online for a long time.)

[15 YEARS AGO]

A ten year old boy was heading towards his bungalow. That day, the boy looked different from what he always looked like. His shoulder was bleeding and his right-eye was bulged. There was a cut on his right cheek. His legs were trembling in pain. This wasn't the first time he was beaten up. Two of his classmates had been bullying him since last few months. But he didn't tell about this to anyone. But now, the bullies had crossed the limits.

He pressed the door-bell. The maid opened the door. She covered her mouth with her palms as soon as she saw the badly bleeding boy. She rushed and informed Todd Lamb that his son had come home and was badly bleeding.

Mr Lamb and his Scottish wife came running to the door. Lamb hugged his son tightly as tears washed down Josh's cheeks.

"What happened, my son?" Mr Lamb asked, keeping his hand on his son's head.

Josh was barely able to speak while crying. "I - I am beaten by - by the bullies.....in sc - school."

Mr Lamb wiped the tears from Josh's cheeks. "Don't worry, Josh, I'll complain about them to the headmaster of your school."

"I don't want you to complain them to the headmaster, father," Josh tried to control his tears and his anger reflected in his voice, "I want you to kill them!"

Mr Lamb's eyes went wide. He couldn't believe his ears. He never expected to hear those words from his ten year old son. He was speechless. He just kept hugging his son tightly.

That evening, Josh was feeling bad. He was a little angry from his father but he didn't want to show that. As his father had complained about the bullies to the headmaster in a phone call, Josh knew that he would be beaten again next day. There was an option to avoid being beaten again - to kill the bullies. But his father didn't do what he wanted. 

It's a very dark thought that evolved in a ten year old kid. We may know that this is a wrong path, but ten year old kids aren't mature enough to think like us. Kids with such thoughts sometimes end up with depression or a suicide. Unfortunately, Josh wasn't among those kids. Now you must be thinking why I said unfortunately here. I said this because if Josh weren't alive in the present day, so many people would still have been alive.

Till now, you know that Josh started turning towards a wrong path since he was ten. This ten year old boy was going to do one of the biggest crimes in future.

"Josh", Todd Lamb's voice came from the living room.

Josh walked towards his father.

"Why don't you sit here and watch TV with me?" Todd Lamb asked.

"What are you watching?" Josh asked. He didn't actually have a mood to watch anything. But at the moment, he didn't have anything better to do.

"Vishnupuran," Todd Lamb answered. It was an Indian TV series which was aired at that time, in 2000. It was based on an Hindu epic, Vishnupuran, which depicted the story of the ten avatars of Lord Vishnu.

Josh sat beside his father on the couch. His father kept his hand on his son's head.

In that episode, it was shown that Lord Vishnu was angry from the Devas when they killed Virochan. Although Virochan was born in a family of demons and was their king, he was very kind hearted and was a devotee of Vishnu.

Josh watched the episode very carefully. The episode pushed Josh into a deep thought which he shared with his father after the episode was over.

"Father," Josh asked, "are the Gods evil?"

Todd Lamb laughed. "No, my son, who told you that?"

"No-one," Josh said, "I just realised that after watching this episode."

"Well," Todd Lamb explained politely, "the king of the Devas, Lord Indira, sometimes used to take wrong decisions. This was one of those wrong decisions."

"So you mean to say that Gods are evil", Josh said.

"No, I didn't say that," Todd Lamb smiled, "just look at LordVishnu, how good he is! Although Virochan was a demon, he loved him like a son."

"I'm not saying that Lord Vishnu is bad," Josh said, "I'm just sure that the Devas are evil."

Todd Lamb was speechless. "You're too young to think about that. Go and have some rest." He swept Josh's hair with his hand.

It was night now. Even on bed, Josh just kept thinking all about the episode he saw that evening.

"The God is the true evil", he kept repeating in his mind.

[PRESENT DAY]

Dhawan had reached America almost twenty minutes ago. Right now, he was bolting towards a barred cabin in the FBI headquarter. He had recently received the information that Professor Todd Lamb had been assassinated.

He stopped in front of the sealed barred cage with a few FBI officers in it.

"Hey, who are you? How did you get in?" an FBI officer snapped when he noticed Dhawan standing there, panting heavily.

Dhawan showed a fake FBI identity–card. The officer examined it and apologised.

Dhawan stared inside the cabin. He could see blood there which was the proof that Todd Lamb, his old friend, had died. It was clear that he had lost this case. He could save none of the eight scholars.

"Hey," Dhawan turned towards the officer who shouted at him, "What exactly happened here?"

The officer sighed and replied. "A close relative to this guy came to meet him. Suddenly, the CCTV cameras stopped working. When we reached here, we could only see the corpse of this old professor and nothing else."

"Not even the visitor was here?" Dhawan crossed his eye–brows.

"Nope", the officer shook his head.

"Who was the visitor, anyway?" Dhawan asked.

"The visitor was this guy's son, Joshua Lamb!" the officer exclaimed.

Dhawan was hit by a big shock. He now realised what Stephenson Mal actually meant by 'Professor Lamb'. Joshua Lamb was also called Professor Lamb in the TV shows he hosted as he talked just about education of symbols and religion. Josh might have snooped through Mr Todd Lamb's e-mail and sent messages to the assassin to kill the eight scholars.

Dhawan bolted out of the cabin, and then from the building. Now he had to find Josh in any condition. Crunchy was beside him, following him all the way he went.

[15 YEARS AGO]

Josh didn't want to go to school. Although his father was pretty sure that nothing would happen as he had complained about the bullies to the headmaster, Josh knew he would be beaten again.

The same happened.

He was running towards his home, but stopped. His home was still far, but he stopped to think. He was weeping. His cheeks were wet with his tears. His forehead was bleeding. He was punched by a bully there. He fell on his knees as he didn't want his trembling legs to support his body, as it pained. This ten year old boy was beaten by two bullies. They were angry as his father had complained about them to the headmaster.

Josh remembered his father saying, "Just believe in God, he'll help you in all the situations."

Josh looked up at the sky.

"Are you really there?" Josh spoke in a very weak voice. Tears continued to flow down his cheeks.

"I need your response!" Josh screamed.

He was on a road which was a little far from houses and he was the only one on that road at the moment. There were dense groups of trees on both the sides of the road.

"Speak to me!" he cried again.

No response, he got.

He looked down. "Now I understand," he spoke, "I don't agree with the thought that there's no God. There is God. But he is truly evil."