Charade - KarEena

Day 1936

Day 1936, 8:00 pm

The low hum of the machines, the rustling of papers and occasional typing sounds filled the clean white lab. The senior scientist sitting at the end of the 1st workbench stared hard into the results obtained earlier, the analysis on the wall showed the results were favourable, stretching her sour back she leaned forward resting her head on her hands rechecking the results. Being assured and elated by the result, she emailed the news to her junior.

"I didn't know you were here!" Said the lab technician startling her

"GOD! I didn't hear you coming Pandey" She said recovering from the shock, "I'm checking the results, it turns out our experiment is successful," she said with her natural aloofness

"Wow! That's great, congrats doctor" he said smiling at her

"To you too. I need to prepare a presentation for tomorrow, will be staying late tonight"

"Okay doctor, I came in to check the subject and feed the rats. Call me if you need anything" he started walking to the vivarium.

"Sure, Thank you," she said getting up to plug in the laptop charger. After performing prescribed shoulder exercises, she was immersed in work again.

9:30 pm

A red Santro stopped at the transformer on the road leading to the laboratory, 4 members wearing khaki outfits got down the car. Studying the surroundings a strongly built man walked to the back of the car and took out a travelling bag with the logo of MSEB (Maharashtra State Electricity Board), another man walked to the front of the vehicle making a call while other two men stood guard on either side. After a few seconds, the entire Mumbai city went dark, and lights slowly flooded after a few seconds as the generators roared to life.

The lab went silent and black for a few seconds, the senior scientist sat still as her face glowed from the glare of the laptop. Lights blinked as the generator came to life. Happy with the work, she removed and stuffed the hard drive in her jeans pocket. She partly closed the laptop screen and started preparing the next day's schedule on the board.

10:00 pm

Lights blinked indicating the power coming back, and the senior scientist turned to face the lab. An explosion somewhere startled her, and the lights in the lab rapidly increased their intensity, before she could gather her thoughts the laptop lying on the table and the lights exploded, the intensity pushed her back, and losing her balance she fell hitting hard on the head.

The red Santro waiting at a safe distance from the transformer observed the lab, hearing the explosion in the lab, they waited another 10 minutes, observing no movement they started the engine and drove away.

Chocking on the smoke she came to her senses, she reeled herself up and sat leaning on the wall, trying to concentrate her dizzy mind she searched for the fire, the smoke and her blurry vision making it harder. After a few minutes of searching, she found out that there was no fire but the burned components of the electrical equipment causing the smoke. The fire alarm buzzed somewhere in the background, the water jets went on showering water on her.

Estimating it'll be too late for the help to arrive, she went around the lab looking for an outlet, all the rooms are sealed to protect them from being damaged further. Fear gripped her as she recalled the flaw in the building plan of no fire exit. She finally tried her room's door, fortunately, the door opened, she closed the door behind her and took deep breaths, the smoke inside the room was less than the lab and oxygen cleared her mind. She frantically searched for her mobile in the darkroom, and after a few minutes, she gave up, anxious, horrified and terrified she sat down with tears trickling down her cheeks.

Afraid to give up, she started looking for opportunities to get out of the lab. Finally, she headed to the washroom, with the help of the lid of the flush tank, she broke the ventilator glass panel and slowly crawled out.

Breathing fresh air for the first time in 20 minutes she gulped the air, filling her lungs to the fullest. Reeling herself up, she walked towards the car dusting herself, cursing for not having her keys, she looked towards the road. The transformer is still having sparks, ahead she saw the tail lights of the car. Although her mind said it was useless, she called out and ran towards the car. Losing the car within few seconds she slowly walked towards the city, reaching the starting of the Highway she stood there dripping wet, and the cold November air blowing the strands of her messy hair, for the first time in her life, she stood there without the next course of action.

After a few minutes, she saw a car on the highway, without further thought she walked to the middle of the road signaling to stop. The taxi driver perplexed came to a stop. She walked to the car and signaled to get the window down. The pale face and her light blue shirt covered in sweat and dust horrified the driver. Deciding to turn her down, he lowered the window a little

"I'm not taking any passengers, mam," he said with fear and shock written all over his face

"Please it's urgent, I'm ready to pay any amount! Please I need the ride" The tears in her eyes and her desperate tone turned his fear into empathy and after losing his money to gambling, he desperately needed money to go home. Calculating the choices he signaled her in.

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Hey beautiful people, hope you enjoyed the first part of Charade. This is going to be a short story, shorter than the previous one but I promise it worth your time and energy with grappling suspense. Who do you think the doctor is? Please do share your thoughts. See you soon in the next part.

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