Thashi was the only person who was with Red at the moment when he was becoming no more. Situation framed her to be on top of the primary list of suspects. In her conscience, she was the only suspect that could have possibly pushed Red to his fate. She wanted to bear responsibility for Red's death but, she can't materialize her mindset to validate her confession and surrender herself as the conspirator of the murder of her loved one. A baseless thought that Red would have been alive if she hadn't summoned him there was pricking her conscience and that made her throw herself responsible for his death.
Red had been murdered! At least, that's how people wanted to believe as they spread the word; their version of the story feigning disappointment and shock. A death in Portonovo Arts was the topic of the day. It was the first time for such unfortunate event to happen in that college. For the competitors, it's a lethal weapon; their only chance to destroy its reputation; bring it down; place themselves on top of the list of safe havens for youngsters of Portonovo to graduate. They weren't going to win though.
The chairperson of the college was no ordinary educationist and a wealthy icon but a direct supporter of the ruling party. He was accused to be investing in the party during election times so as to reap it in double later. It was more than just an allegation; it was obvious. He had already extended his roots and entangled them with the roots of the party in power. Believing that this teeny incident could be used against his college was evidence of their nativity.
The investigation was going on. The local inspector took charge of the case following the complaint filed by Red's single mother, Apsara. Everyone in the town knew that the whole investigation thing was an eyewash. The inspector had been living under the direct benefit from the PAC's ( Portonovo Arts College ) chairman. The inspector was looking for a viable way to justify Red's death proving that it had nothing to do with the college management. In fact, the College really was innocent in that matter.
That day, Red was about to take a seminar on the medieval literature in front of his whole class. No wonder he had been on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The idea of standing on the stage in front of the entire class; being the center of attention was a nightmare for him . In fact, that was Thashi. She wanted him to strip off the recluse self and wear the cape of confidence. She hinted the professor that making R take the seminar would help him overcome his social anxiety; a way out of his misanthropic life. Since Thashi was a close friend and gradually on her way into becoming his girlfriend, it was a brutal betrayal as far as Red concerned only if he knew it. Everything was normal that day; a beautiful 'yet another day' for Thashi as she had her plans with R. In fact, that kiss was to pull R down from the fright bar he was hanging on. Never the thought that R will be bidding the world bye through that kiss occurred to her.
Red recieved a whatsapp message from Thashi ordering him to meet her on the balcony stair of the B-block sharply 15 minutes before the lunch hour. Red had been sweating over the seminar stuff; repeatedly contemplating the instant when he will be helplessly standing in front of the entire class like a sheep amidst a pack of wolves. Wolves! That's how Red used to see the people that are not familiar to him. There were a lot of people that're not familiar to him.The fact though is that he was the most unfamiliar guy in Portonovo. For some people, a walking mystery. For few, a no one. He was always the puzzle that no one wanted to solve. A puzzle with few of the pieces missing. One of it surely was with Thashi. In that moment of extreme desperation, Thashi's call was a life boat for him to save himself from his drowning confidence.He would have been relieved a lot if he knew that he won't be taking the seminar that day. May be he would have chosen death over ignominy.
Sammy, a sophopmore smoker who was skulking his way up the balcony was the first one to hear Thashi's cry. He didn't want to get into the trouble of answering why he was there at the moment. So, despite his lingering curiousity for knowing what's happening up there, he decided to pretend not hearing the wail. He retreated from the shenanigan he was up to and paced down to the lobby skipping three floors down his way and mingled with the freshers crowd that was herding to the canteen for lunch. Not even a hint of the idea of being surveiled did occur to his pot-head and hence he seated himself second on the list of suspects of the alleged murder of Ravin Edward. The stair that lead to the balcony was one of the few places the college management decided not to install the surveillance cameras; so did Thashi choose that spot.
Thashi's consistent wail of agony soon attracted a crowd there. The red's lifeless body was laying on Thashi's lap as Thashi was sitting cross-legged with her back against the wall of the little corridor that extends to the balcony's threshold. Her one hand was cupping his chin while the other one had its fingers entwined in Red's silky-long hair.Her flooding eyes was fixated on Red's lifeless stare. By the time a crowd formed there, all her energy and hope drained out leaving only two corpses there; one of them alive for the face of the world.
In the place, where few minutes ago, murmurs of the synced heartbeats had been the only noise was now filled with morbid burbles of the unfamiliar crowd. While thousands of questions were getting loaded to shoot Thashi, she descended into a labyrinth of blackness; an ephemeral escape from the cruel reality. At times like this, the only subconscious wish of a person would be to have the blackout permanent. There would be nothing more consoling than knowing that we don't have to
go back to the place where a lot of creatures are prowling to prey on us the moment we are thrown back to the reality.
That day, the things that were only seen on television news and read on newspapers unfolded live infront of the portonovians. These are the situations that poke the illusionary bubble we are wrapped around with believing that we are safe and immune to these TV or newspaper stuffs. Our lives are stories; unpredictability is the genre. We live as we do. We die as we meant to be.
Rumors and gossips poisoned the town like an airborne virus. The only one at peace amidst the pandemonium was Red. Sleeping peacefully or perhaps experiencing an epiphany about the afterlife.
Meanwhile somewhere...
Red is dead.
I wish to say that he is so alive in my memory lane. But, he carried everything I had of him when he decided to leave... Leave me alone!
I could no longer imagine him as perky and energetic as he was. He was an introvert. A recluse. He delve in his vivacious self rarely and mostly when I was around him.
Of course I tried. Tried a lot to contemplate his face. His voice. His deep eyes that carried plethora of emotions that no one was able to decipher. The way he smile. The way he smell. The way he squirm whenever he was shy. But all I could picture was the moment when his eyes were staring at the unlucky universe which no more belonged to him. That dead face. That's all I could remember. That's all left of him.
Maybe that's what I wanted to see; that was the exact memory I wished to carry to my grave.
I'm so sad that I'm happy!
I'm happy that my dear Red embraced the fate he deserved!
Again...
Red is dead.
Price for a brutal betrayal has been paid!
***
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Oh My R!
Mystery / ThrillerStep into the world of light where the only darkness is love!
