The Man in Black

Chapter 3: What you sow is what you reap

The ground beneath him felt coarse and rigid, the tiny rock particles scratching his face as he stirred awake. His limbs were heavy and drained of energy, making it difficult for him to rise. He wiped away the sleep in his eyes and looked around, trying to remember where he was. He struggles to get up. As he takes support of ground, looking up he hears footsteps approaching towards him. The darkness was slowly fading away as he saw Man in black standing in front of him.

In the heavy dark voice, the man in black says, "It should have been you instead of her". "No" stammers Aayush. The man in black picks him up by his collar and pulls him near his face, and with another hand takes his mask off. Aayush was seeing himself in this invisible dark mirror. "It's all your fault, I am your fault" The man in black says. "With all his energy drained out, Aayush tried to beg, "Please...leave me...please". The man in black pushes him down with disgust, "It should have been you instead of her".

Aayush wakes up with a start, falling from his bed. Struggling to breathe he rushes towards basin to respond the feeling of nausea with his heavy chest. He had heavy eyes as he slept late. He and Hemant were trying to find everything they could about four people, Sujal Shukla, Palak Sinha, Bhavya Naik and Sumedh Yadav. They found nothing on anyone, except for the fact that the man with gun aimed at him was Sujal's father.

*****

Aayush with his uncombed hair, un-ironed shirt looking like he rose up from the dead enters college. Most of students were giving a look back to him, unbothered by which he enters the classroom. The seating arrangement was changed, everyone was seating alone with books in their hand. Aayush stood their figuring out what it was until a bell rang.

Two teachers enter with bundle of papers. Aayush figures out it has to be exam which he totally didn't knew about. "The semester just started...what kind of exam-" as he was thinking, he gets hit by a teacher on his head. "Do you not see the timing, take your bag and sit on your place."

As he was taking his bag off, he remembered. A faculty died, bled to death by unnamed goons. The exam was postponed to next term as the college was closed due to this incident. He walked towards his place.

The unnamed goons were never found, not by the police but by The man in black. They were found with other men holding a six years old girl near the docks. He beat them all, but none of them opened their mouth. Then he left them for the police to go further. But next day, no one was found by the police except the little girl.

One hour passed by, Aayush being able to answer very few questions gave in to his inner voice, suggesting to use his ability to hear others writing answer. He concentrates and increases his range of hearing. Many overlapping voices crossing his ears. He heard hearts beating fast, some students just tapping their pen, some mumbling their answer. Aayush focused on one voice which was revising the answers written.

Aayush gave up paper before one hour by writing as much as he could. Taking his bag, he sat on the stairs near his class. He took out his phone, the official report about the truck incident was finally out. He read through, and as he expected, proofs and witnesses were tempered.

Two dead people reported, and one severely injured man named Devendra Shukla. Only a vehicle was found with which they were said to be travelling. A theft by man in black for the money they were carrying. Aamira Ahmed, the CEO of Alcamart movers offered deep condolences for innocent lives being taken. "Vigilantes like this the man in black are cancer to the city, as long as he is celebrated by any one of us in city, he'll continue to do so." She spoke.

Aayush texts Hemant to find out if the names of two dead people were real or made up. He then notices a word file sent to him by Hemant. He opens it, it showed a witness, Mohanlal who first reported the incident, said he saw it with his own eyes. But then, the same link was not working and the article has been updated to what he just read now. He responds to that word file, "Gotta find out.".