Dreamy Red

Episode 38 - Party Popper

We passed through the creature unnoticed. Though I expected myself to get stuck in a quicksand just like in my dream, nothing of that sort happened. Sid's shattered body was vaguely visible in the dim light. I did a silent prayer in my head when we crossed him. I couldn't get a glimpse of the creature though. It had cuddled up looking like a small hill. The tunnel led straight out into the forest beside the highway. The tunnel seemed like it was almost parallel to the ghat ki guni highway tunnel. Christy was with us too. She didn't look upset at all. She didn't look like a person who had just lost her husband. She seemed pretty happy just to be alive.

"What was that creature?", I asked Karan astonished looking at the tunnel opening when we got out. "I have no idea. I have never seen anything like that before!", he exclaimed. Looking around, he asked in a worried tone, "Isn't it risky to let it stay there? What if it attacks someone passing through the highway?" "Maybe, but for now, we have other problems to deal with", I told him wisely.

The sun was about to set. So I thought that maybe we had passed the entire night and a day in the dungeon. But when we got to the highway, walked up to the Dhaba dry and exhausted, and called Ravi via a public phone, we found out that we had been missing for two whole days. It felt totally irrational. How could we have survived two nights without eating or even peeing? Before I could think more, suddenly everything went blank. I had fainted.

*****

When I woke up, I was in a hospital ward with Mamu, Viku, Vichu, Chachu, Dad, Vivan and Karan all sitting in chairs lined up beside my bed. They were busy discussing something. Vivan saw me being awake and told his mamma. Then they all turned toward me and smiled at me, including Viku. Perhaps he felt it best to forgive me. "This is the second time you are fighting death", remarked Mamu as he caressed his fingers over my forehead. "My girl, Bubbu", said chachu proudly looking at me. Dad got a call on his phone. He looked at me, smiled and said, "I'll be right back. You take rest" and he went out to attend the call.

Viku came closer to me and did something I did not expect him to do. He placed his hands on the top of my head and kissed me on my forehead. Involuntarily, I blushed and my cheeks flushed. He said warmly, "I'm sorry. I won't leave you alone again. All this while I wanted to teach you a lesson. But it hurts the both of us", and he held one of my hands tightly as if he let goes of it, I would fly away. But I felt immense happiness exploding in me. Finally, things were getting sorted out. I didn't let go of his hands too. 

Then I looked at Karan who was gaping at me and Viku with astonishment and asked him gently, "How are you feeling, Karan?" He smiled broadly and replied with excitement, "I'm super good, Bibbi. You know what? I met Shilpa too. We are getting married once her divorce process is complete." He seemed to be pretty ecstatic. I felt happy hearing that. "And before you ask, Christy is good too", he told me. "She is in another ward. Actually, she got hit by a car at the same moment you fainted. But hell yeah, she survived", said Karan with a tint of sarcasm. I felt relieved that at least we managed to save one person. "Did they nab Arfaaz? Did you tell them about your grandpa? And," looking around, I asked, "Where is Ravi?" I bombarded him with questions.

"Wait, wait. One at a time. Today is Samarstan Baba's 30 years service celebration party." My jaws dropped in shock. "It is already that day, huh?", I asked innocently. Karan laughed and said excitedly with a wicked laugh, "It's going to be an awesome party where his 30 years of great service is gonna crash and go kaboom" "Is Arfaaz caught?", I asked again. "Yes. But he is not telling anything it seems. He is being beaten to death, yet he doesn't want to open his mouth", replied Karan. "By the way, Ravi called and told me that he has got all the permissions for arresting the baba aka my grandpa and is making the police force ready", he told excitedly with a little bit of cunningness. It felt weird to see him excited hearing that his own grandpa was going to be arrested. Maybe there was a bitter past which was why he never spoke about his grandpa at all. "They are planning on arresting Nana dramatically with all the crowd present so that the people who believe in him could all see his real face behind the mask", told Karan guilefully.

"When are we going?", I asked quickly. "We??", he exclaimed. "No we! Only me!", he said. "No way. I gotta go and no need to waste your energy arguing", I told him strictly. "If you are so adamant, you can go, but you have to eat something first", said Viku letting go of my hands. I nodded. Mamu pulled out a container with yummy dal chawal (lentils and rice) and aloo (potato) and handed it to me along with a spoon. "And I'll be coming too", said Viku sharply. "I can't afford to lose you again", he said with love. I smiled, pushed myself closer to him and kissed him gently. I heard my people wince with disgust behind us. But I did not care for I was reunited with my love.

*****

We reached the Ashram when the party had already begun. Ravi and his police force had already rounded up the area. They had sealed all exits, handcuffed the bodyguards and taken them to custody in their police van which was parked outside. We entered the Ashram from one of the exits that Arush was guarding.

It was a masked party. There were lots of people and everybody wore colourful masks. The music was banging very loudly. The Babaji was made to sit on a massive throne plated with gold on a high circular platform in the centre of the auditorium. The platform rotated very slowly so that everyone around him could have a glimpse of him every now and then. He wore a golden and velvety red robe with a matching mask that covered just his eyes and forehead. He also wore a headdress made of gold like a crown. The lights were dim all around and the colourful disco lights shone here and there. It made it very difficult to identify anyone in the crowd.

I spotted Ravi in the crowd in his police uniform with a green-coloured mask covering his eyes. Ravi waved to us and went over to the DJ guy. He mumbled something to his ears, probably asking him to cut down the music because the music stopped at once. The people's shouting became louder and sharper. Arush had turned on all the lights in the hall at around the same time. And everyone shouted together, "Awww!", quite loud and clear. Ravi had a microphone in his hand. He adjusted it and spoke calmly, "Hello, we are police. Everyone, please remove your masks. We are to inform you that there have been aggressive murders taking place in the town. And, we have found the culprit. He is here inside the premises. Please maintain calm and cooperate by removing your masks." His bold voice echoed very well in the hall and people had no other go than to listen to him. People were asked to remove their masks because if the baba tried to escape with the help of someone, it would be easy to recognise the people helping him.

Slowly people obeyed and began removing their masks. My eyes immediately spotted two familiar people a few feet away. They were Mr Samiksh and Mrs Reena Sharma, Karan and Rahul's parents. Karan went to them and hugged them. It appeared like they already knew the truth. They didn't seem surprised seeing us. Mr Sharma looked at me and waved. I went closer to them dodging the people around me while dragging Viku along.

I felt a magical aura when I went near them. Mr Sharma spoke in a gruff voice, "Poor my dear Rahul, he always thinks his grandpa is a hero and treats him like a god. Now if he gets to know about this, he will be devastated. But it's for his own good. But I'm not able to find him anywhere here because of all the masks." I had no idea why he told me that, but my mind stirred. I had a spark of thought. I immediately rushed to Ravi and muttered to his ears whatever I had just realised.

Almost everyone had removed their masks. The Babaji had also removed his mask and was looking around innocently. But we couldn't spot Rahul among the crowd. I announced through the mic I had borrowed from Ravi, "Rahul, where are you? Please come to the Dias"

Suddenly the lights went off and we could hear a loud and long wicked laugh from all the speakers around us. It was quite dramatic. A spotlight fell on a man standing right beside the platform where the Babaji sat majestically. The man wore a mask exactly like the one our killer Spiderman wore. Silicon-made, grey in colour with the design of spider webs and black patches, covering the entire face.