Sense & Sensibilities

Prison

Arjun opened his eyes slowly, and immediately wished he was dead instead. His head was pounding – pretty sure a deep gash was responsible for it. He could feel dried blood all over him. His fingers clenched slowly – hands and feet tied, as expected.

Reality striked him in a flash. He remembered someone shoving him into crowd, pain on his head, and a few men dragging him through the procession surrounded by music and colors. He had to be injected with something too, judging by heaviness in his body. He tried to sit up, and failed miserably, falling on the cold rough concrete ground with a thud.

Footsteps came toward him, and Arjun looked up.

He knew it was sikandar.

For years, Arjun had waited for this moment . Dreamt about it. Honed it into his skull, wrote it On his hands as he kept shedding his blood tears and sweat to find him. He had step by step for every situation whenever he's face to face with the scum who had snatched his wife ruthlessly and ruined his life. He would fantasize about the scenario – it always started with a chase. He would chase the man as he ran for his life. He would have his gun, his trusted friend. There will be a dark alley, a dead end. He will stop near him, steel his heart, and put a bullet in his head, right between his eyes. In his dream he was in control, he pulled the strings of interrogation or torture or encounter. He barked orders and drove a car to maul sikandar, he would chop his bodies to pieces and drown in his blood happily.

Reality was different. He couldn't understand what was so misplaced in this investigation for which he had originally arrived in ETF, a case which was promised to him since start. Couldn't give his inputs, couldn't figure out in time what was wrong. Couldn't verbalise his uneasiness, couldn't ask for help when he should have. In his dreams, he always lunges for sikandar. In his dream he was driving the story, he's angry, he's composed, he's mad in revenge - but in reality it was different. So he kept lying in his injured state, stared hard at the man responsible for every single thing which went wrong in his life. Arjun was composed, waiting, patient. He hadn't planned for this. He didn't know how this ended. He was alive – for what, prolonged torture? God forbid he is used as a bargaining chip for these fuckers motives, he would rather die.

It's not a dream, so he has to stay awake, alert, and see this through . He's not planning on survival, but damn hin if sikandar isn't dying with him.