Quaint Days

Life and Death!

   "Okay! I think I'm getting it, somewhat. Then, Prakash raped and killed her and I was blamed for doing it. But why couldn't I remember it?! Why don't I remember going to jail? And how come I'm here? Ahh! What has happened to me?!" said a disgusted me.

              The doctor deeply told, in an entrusting voice, "Don't worry. Everything shall be fine. Just listen to your hea......"

              I felt some severe vibration in my body like someone was shaking me to death. I woke up, in pain, and sighed, realizing that I was in jail. My new friend, Sharman, was sitting beside me, holding my hand. I knew what I had to tell him, that I was framed and I have done no such registered crime, except the sole-sex thing. Yeah, I was feeling so less heavy. I wasn't guilty and that made me joyous.

           "Hey!" Sharman wished. "How are you, dude?"

            "I'm really good. You know what? I am guiltless! I am innocent!" I said in the most delightful and zealous tone ever.

            "I know that. I heard everything."

             "Huh? How?"

             "When your doctor was telling you, I heard everything."

             "But he told me in my real life. This is a dream. How could you hear?"

           "He was here and he died saving you. You were also going to die if I didn't save you. Those people will kill you if they get just one more opportunity to. We have to get out of here right away."
           "Wait what?! The doctor is dead? No!" I breathed. "Every time I get close to someone and the whole world wishes to tear me down by taking them away. And I was so close in knowing the whole secret. Damn, man!"

          "It does but now is no time to pity your luck or grieve about the doctor, let's go. Come on. Get up!"

           I stood up, held Sharman's arm and somewhat tried to gather all my strength to stand erect. He was helpful. He took me out of the cell. He banged the door straight, thudding was inevitable. We moved past cells, and more cells till we reached an underground room. A dark room, not many people knew about it, and thus we had a chance, a slight chance of escape from here. Sharman spoke, breaking the silence of the moment, "Here is from where we escape. You might ask me how. That I might tell you is a very subtle task. I might need your help. Here, lend me your hand. Grab this," he said, pointing toward a dark, ancient, rusty spade. "Lift this, and come with me, will you?"

               I took the spade and trod closer toward him. "Well, what's your plan?"

           "No plan. We escape and that's it. Once we get out, we might plan something. Now come, dig deep."
             It was plain mud down here. I hit the mud with the spade, not a millimetre of mud moved.
            "Hit harder friend, harder!" Sharman exclaimed. "You ain't gonna achieve anything by being weak. Remember that the society doesn't accept frail, poor, fat and girls easily. You've got to be strong or you have to die."
          I hit harder, hard enough to penetrate at least two inches or so. Sharman with his spade was already a foot deep. "Faster, faster Samar! Move your fat ass, faster."
           "Yeah, yeah. I'll catch up," I said. A good depth later, we were already halfway, he said shouting from down. "But why are we digging two holes? Why can't just one hole be fine?", my voice echoed.
            "One hole is a decoy. You'll know that. Wait. I mean to continue. I'll show you later."
           "Okay!" After few hours of persistent efforts, we were there. Sharman was already up, waiting for me. He gave me his hand and pulled me up. "Well, it wasn't as easy as it appeared in movies"
            "I know. This was my first time too. Come, I'll show you the plan further." He took me to his hole ( no puns intended). His hole was like a fair fifty metres away. Now, he said that his hole is a decoy and we are gonna use it as a trap and only to mislead the team which might be behind us any moment from now. But his plan was much more than mere escape. He wanted us dead.
          "DEAD!?!? As an in 'die, die, dead'?" I asked Sharman.
          "Yeah, we should be dead. Okay, wait. Not dead in real. I mean, in the eyes of the predators. Look, we've got to vanish, like disappear completely. So we are gonna set the two holes ablaze. And then we'll keep two burnt, dead bodies outside the hole. So they won't know, that the bodies aren't us."
         "But why would they believe this story of yours?"
          "They have to. It would look like we both know each other, and we were planning an escape together, and we are tricking them into believing that one hole is a decoy. Like they will believe that two holes were part of the plan. But I know the question is who blasted the bomb then? Well, to answer that let me tell you what a gang war is. So this superficial gang war happened somewhere there," he said pointing in the direction away from the south border of the prison. "They spotted you and threw a small surprise over you and me and....phoosh... over."
          "Or it might look like our superficial boss didn't want us alive as we are certain threats to him and his gang or so, and thus he might try to send his assassins to kill us. Woah, let's do it then. Where are the bodies, by the way?"
          "My guys might be bringing them anytime soon. Wait for them."
          "Yeah, what else can we do till then, anyways. So, I remember you never told me why were you in prison?"
          "Okay, since we have time. Uh, actually, I am a chemist. I make drugs. I used to work for the same fat guy, Prakash. He, uh, don't be angry, okay?"
      "Okay! Why?"
           "I was placed in the prison for you."
           "What do you mean, for me?"
           "Have I got to explain you every damn thing? You've got no brain of yours or what?"
           "Yeah, whatever, man. Think whatever your imagination permits. But tell me. Please."
           "Listen, dude. The night when you were at the hotel. You saw the fat guy coming toward you and you turned back...and ....and you found me. I hit you."
           "Wa...wait...you kidding me? The doctor hit me. The damned doctor."
            "Uh... we'll get to that. So I hit you. You felt unconscious. And then you were taken into the room. The girl, Veena, she was raped and then murdered."
            "Yeah, well what about that bickering thing?"
            "That bickering? Oh, you mean like she was saying 'this is wrong' and shit, huh?"
            "Yeah, and that fatso saying 'you wanted this' and 'you are no good'. What about that?"
            "Veena worked for our gang. She wanted money, you know quick money. Like she wanted it urgent. So our boss thought to make her a deal she can't refuse and so yeah, they were on it. It wouldn't have been a rape unless she wouldn't have screamed in front of you. Actually, it all narrows down to you."
          "If I wouldn't have peeked, then she would have been alive?"
          "You bet!" assured Sharman.
         "Then what happened?"
          "I injected xtrophine in you. And next day when you woke up, you were here, in jail."
           "What is this xtrophine?"
           "It's my project x. Actually, it's my most successful invention till now. It's a hallucinatory drug which also might erase your memory completely of about a few days back. You might remember everything previous to these days."
           "But, I sort of remember a bit from those days."
           "That's exactly because of which I landed here. Your memory wasn't completely lost, but a fraction of which was still there, revolving in your brain. And you know, how we came to know about this? Because you made an imaginary friend of yours and started talking to him. Our secret sources came to know about it and my boss sent me here."
          "Imaginary friend? Which friend?"
           Tyres of a blue car screeched. A car stopped right in front of us. Two men got out. They opened the back hood and removed two bags. Heavy as they seemed, two bodies inhabited them. Two burnt bodies. No one could identify their face or so. They looked similar to us in height. That was all which was required. Those two hardcore men carried the two bodies and placed them in front of their respective holes. And later they told us to get away from there. We were like fifty metres away from there when they threw 2-3 grenades in the direction of the holes. This helped it look real.
            "Sit in the back," one of those men said.
            "Come, friend, come," Sharman said.
            "No, wait, I cannot come with you. You might kill me," I said, "You already tried to kill me."
            "You wouldn't be any safer here. Anyways I have left my boss's gang, so you're safe with me. Trust me."
             "I don't know. How can I, after all that you've said?"
             "Well, any other option which you have and I don't know?"
             "Okay, where are we going?
             He said, "You'll know!"
             We sat on the backside of the blue car. The two men sat in the front. "Let's go, boss!" The man who was driving said to Sharman.
              "But you said you worked for them. How come you are the boss, huh?" I asked.
              "I used to work for them and then I left due to some internal issues, you see," Sharman said.
               "So you started your own gang, right?"
               "Yeah, right"
              "Who was that imaginary friend of mine, by the way?"
              "Your doctor, Dr Raman! Every time you imagined something with him, you were having a hallucination. It was a mind fade sort of thing. I don't know what you imagined about him. It seemed you were having a good time. So I was here to take you to your cell and make sure no one sees it. And also that you don't remember anything. That's why I woke you up whenever you seemed to talk something about that night."
           "But why? Why didn't you just kill me instead? Why all this? WHY?!?!"
             " You were my first lab rat. How could I just kill you? We were gonna make millions using my project x if this had been successful. But I would work on that anyway. Yeah, and to your knowledge, my boss was of the opinion to kill you. He even sent Raghav here, his favourite assassin. Though he couldn't succeed."
         "Thanks to you, right?"
         "Yeah, I had injected seprimine in him. He got, you know, lost for a few minutes. Oh, I'll explain about that drug, later."
             "Well, that explains much of it. But what about my mother? Is she safe?"
              "Uh...I am sorry...but when she heard about your crime and all, she drank rat poison and killed herself. She couldn't bear that burden."
               I was broke, in tears. I never imagined this. I never wanted this. I wanted to see my mom, so bad. God is really ruthless. He doesn't want his sons to stay happy for a longer period of time. He just cannot see us happy. So he has to bring the biggest pain in one's life. But why? Why me? I have always dreamed of a happy life with my whole family. Father was never there for me, but, but my mother was always there. This all happened because of me. I am the one to blame and no one else. My whole life has been such a tragedy. Why!?! WHY!?!"
             "Calm down, friend. It happens. No one is to be blamed here. It is what is written which makes one wonder whether if he was given the opportunity to write his own fate, what would have he written!
But nonetheless, in the end, what happens, happens for good!" Sharman tried to sympathize, but yes, to no avail.
           "Look, I want you to do me a favour!" I said, holding my tears and breath, somehow.
         "Yes, ask."
         " I want you to inject that drug again... that Xtrophine drug in me... I want to forget these few days. I want to forget everything. I want to forget what I've known in these few days. I want to forget that my mom died because of me. I want to forget everything...,"and yet again I was completely sobbing in tears, not knowing whether I should die or live anymore!