"Raghav !!! RAGHAV ?!", I heard Nilima shouting. She was waking me up. What's that foul smell ?
Then, I heard some gunshots too. What the hell was going on ?
I saw around. I was in a pitch black room, in the corner. I could only see guns firing a few metres away from me.
"All clear ?", I heard Arjun.
"All clear, sir. Shall we proceed ?", A voice buzzed.
"Proceeding 12.... There's an exit next to you", Arjun commanded.
"Permission to open ?"
"Permission granted."
I heard a loud noise of something blowing up at a distance. Lights filled the dark room. Around laid several ppl, with guns in their cold hands.Arjun handed over a gun to me.
"Just don't act smart", he warned.
"The backup will arrive soon, sir", Nilima whispered.
"Can anyone just tell me what the...", I said.
"Shhhhh", Arjun silenced me.
1.2.3 and there 4. Total 5 living people in the room proceeded towards
the open door. Arjun peaked his head out to check.
Tang....Ting....
Here, starts the rain of bullets from both sides. I just couldn't move myself. Fear overpowered me. That's when I heard another sound from behind.
Khakhi uniforms covered around us. In a mere seconds, the the firing stopped. A dead silence spread across the room. The policemen occupied the whole area.
The map was correct. There is a basement down the old SCF. A 3 storey basement.
The people from the cell, looked at us. Upon us. They still have hope. We won't disappoint them. Their suffering I could somehow feel it.
***
"The only remains of the body is the skeleton. What's even more fascinating is that an arrow was found in his rib cage...It happened years ago", Arjun said. He turned towards me.
"And Raghav, have some courage outside the ICU too", he said as I handed over the gun to him.
My eyes laid on a half burnt book. A diary.
Small enough to be kept unnoticed. "Arjun !", I called out. I felt some really strange vibes from it. "What's this now ?", he said.
"It's a small diary. It's written... More like scratched... 4_38", I said as I flipped it's pages.
I opened the diary. There were some short paragraphs on each page. The handwriting changed on every page. It became worse.
"If this belongs to a single person, he/she wrote each paragraph for each day in this", I remarked.
[ THIS DIARY BELONGS TO SANGITA ]
My name is Sangita. Atleast, I know my name. Other people here, don't even remember that. What is this place why am I being kept here ??
I'll find my way out. I should have someone to save me right ?
The people here are messing with my brain. They are blinding me with some light. They also give us shocks. It hurts. I'm crying. Please someone help me. I don't remember anything about my past.
But there will be someone out there right ?
[ JUST GET ME OUT OF HERE ]
***
I closed the diary and told Arjun to see if there's a Sangita in the cell. He quicked downstairs to check. I was sweating profusely.
I took a long breath and took a look around. A big basement. Quite exquisite. According to the map, there was just one entrance. From the president's office.
But ahead of me lied hundreds of entrances. All closed by the same lid we saw earlier.
Arjun returned, "No Sangita here... But all of them say that they are waiting for their saviour. He was supposed to come today to their rescue. And he did too, according to them."
"Hmmm", I muttered.
"I think the best option we have is to get them a proper psychological testing before we release them. Because according to this diary, this is a testing lab. Illegal ofcourse...", I adviced.
"I've talked to the nearby asylum. They'll be taken care of", Nilima informed.
"This Sangita is really a depressed soul. She thinks just like them, a saviour will ascend and save her. Which is what she has written
repeatedly throughout half of the diary", I said.
"This case has more holes then the entrances around here", Arjun said as he looked up. "I'll have all of them checked and opened."
***
We were at the HQ once again.
I was reading the diary. Because Arjun says he can't understand the wierd handwriting and I would be the perfect candidate for understanding it due to my profession. Does that count as a compliment or an insult ?
"Her handwriting is worsening day by day. I can't read some words out", I complained.
"Maybe, that's a side effect of the testing she's undergoing...", Nilima suggested.
"Maybe... Yet, half of the diary is the same. Someone out there will save me. And... Wait, there's something different here", I said as I
noticed a sudden change in the wiring style.
[ A YEAR LATER, SANGITA'S DIARY ]
Someone new has come. He is very fierce. He doesn't agree to all of their orders. He calls himself Vajra. They did experiment on him. But didn't show any change in his attitude.
He's still raw. He's still the same. He is. He is the saviour.
YOU ARE READING
IGNOMINY
Short Story[ Completed ~ around 12k words ] Raghav, a rookie surgeon goes against his seniors to save an old lady from an odd illness. But he soon regrets doing so as this starts a vicious cycle of events affecting the life of his own and that of his loved one...
