Terror on the Divine - Part 1 : Behind the mask

Chapter - 4, Lost Kid

It was a great night; the party was much better on the banks of the sea, under the moon, seawater kissed our feet often, and Mohamad Rafi's melodies partnered us; with a bottle of beer we all were enjoying the auspicious night. That is when I saw a ship moving far away, somewhere in the middle of the ocean, and the lighthouse's light was focused on the ship.

"Titanic," a fully drunk semi-conscious Satwik shouted, pointing at the ship that was moving far away.

Fully drunk Balram was in no condition to speak "Titanic was a jet, not a ship," Satwik added.

Balram also had a point to make. "Titanic, I remember I had watched that movie along with Arjun and Sahana. That day we got caught by Sahana's father."

That day we had come out after watching the 3D version of 'Titanic'; we were impressed by the film and taken up by the romance of the film. Sahana was so excited after watching a movie that she started creating a story of her own; full of expression, at that particular moment she behaved like a kid, jumping and dancing on the road under the moon between the streets of the dark forest. She started telling her story. "Imagine the wolf screaming on another side of the forest, the scream increases as we step a little forward, it starts drizzling," she said waving her hands horizontally in the air. I watched her expressions, raising my eyebrows without blinking.

"A few tribal people will attack us, as we escape, holding my hand, you will run towards a dark forest, into the deep forest. You will realize it's too cold and you will remove your shirt to cover me. All of a sudden, mosquitos will start biting you." She started laughing nonstop, and I just wrapped my arms around her saying "Stupid." She tried her best to release herself from my powerful arms; she was about to accept failure and that was when we saw the lights of a car blinking. She was still wrapped in my arms, looking deep into my eyes. Resting her head on my chest, she said, "Don't ever forget me." That was when the same car horned continuously, it was because we had blocked the 6-feet road. A person stepped down from the car; angrily he rushed towards us and, releasing Sahana from my arms, he slapped her. I lost my cool; the next moment, I pushed him and hit him on his face. And gave him a punch on his nose. Sahana suddenly started shouting, "Arjun, stop" She tried to control me but I was not in a position to be controlled. I just went on hitting his face, but now Sahana screamed like anything and shouted, saying, "He is my father." Her eyes were wet. Running his hands through his hair, her father pointed at the car and signaled Sahana to get into it. With her head down, she moved towards the car. Her father's angry eyes warned me to stay far away from his daughter.

He was a wealthy influential businessman; he got into a Mercedes, and the moment he sat inside the car, he slapped his daughter. From, the next day, he always visited the college to check on us. He had left two of his boys to keep an eye on me. For almost a month, I wasn't able to meet or speak to her.

It was during our annual college day that I took a chance, eye giving the slip to her father and his guards. I took Sahana away and it was then that I noticed the engagement ring on her left hand. She pushed me away and said, "Please, leave me alone." I saw her wet eyes. That is when I fell into depression and I didn't share my feelings with anyone.

My memories were interrupted by a child.

A plastic ball hit my toes, and it was floating over the water; the waves took it along. To catch hold of the ball, the little girl rushed towards the ocean, without any awareness of the force of the seawater. I jumped up from where I was seated and ran towards the kid and found her. The kid was unaware of the waves at night; due to the moon's gravitational force during night, waves tend to be much stronger than they are in sunlight. The force of the waves was witness to it.

Holding the kid's right arm, I lifted her and wrapped her in my arms. The plastic ball was out of reach. The waves had taken it a long distance.

The kid started crying, and I searched for her guardians everywhere on the shores of the Arabian Sea. She was alone, crying. I kissed her cheeks to console her, and she did not respond; instead she started yelling.

"What's your name?" I asked her to console her.

"Kushi," she said, pausing her tears.

"Are you my father's friend?" she asked, wiping the tears on her cheeks.

I said yes to console her. Her eyes expressed fear. "I will take you to your father, don't worry," I added.

The next moment, she tried to release herself from me and said shouting and continuously crying, "Please don't take me to my father. Please." She continued to cry. I tried my best, but she was unstoppable. "Okay, okay. We will not hand you over to your father; shall we take you to your mother?" I asked.

"My didi told that my mother has gone to meet God, as we can only see God in the photos, I too see my mother in the photo," the innocent kid replied.

"So, where is your didi?" Chirag asked.

"Police uncle had come; she said police uncle had promised her to give plenty of chocolates. So she went with them to bring chocolates to me." The innocent voice told the truth, of which she was not aware.

Kissing her cheeks, Satwik said, "Come let us go and meet your didi and you will have chocolates there itself." On hearing this, she became happy.

Chirag whispered into my ears, "This kid, doesn't want to meet her father, her mother is dead and her sister arrested. Don't you think there is something fishy in that kid's life?"

"Yeah, I suspect," I said. I remembered Mr Adyapak's words: "Help should be reached to those who are in need; it doesn't mean you have to help those who are in need. Help should be selfless, and help should have humanity. Be a human before stretching your hands to help, because you should help others without expecting anything in return."

"We are meant to help innocents," I said, looking at Balram

"Yes, of course. We never denied that," Satwik replied in return. We all were ready to help without knowing what was coming into our life.

Satwik started conversing with the kid. "So, how did you come here?"

"My didi told me to stay at home till she comes back; it's been two days and she did not come back. I was hungry. I came out in search of food. Everyone in the street was sleeping, I found a plastic ball on the road, I was playing with it, unfortunately, and the water took it away." She started crying.

"Are you hungry?" I asked. She nodded her head, saying yes.

We had brought food to have after our drinks party; feeding her, we started walking towards the police station to meet her didi.