A Life Of Lies | ✔

Ayansh • 9

April 16, 2018

Goldfish are the most sought-after pets in the world of swimming creatures. They're quite an entertainer, and perhaps cheap to get, too. But times like these, when I'm staring at them endlessly inside their own little bowl, I wonder what their real habitat is. I wonder if they ever felt at home in these bowls.

It has been four full days. I have not seen Hansika in four days. Even though I hear the rational side of myself point that I have lived without seeing her for twenty-seven years, loud and clear, it is just not going down well with me.

Staying away from home is not new to me. It is still not easy, just like it wasn't the last time. But I could survive the last time because I had a reason: cowardice. That may not sound completely validated, but that felt like a real good reason to stay away. This time, it's completely different.

I'm away from home because I want to end the whole ride of lies I've been on ever since Hansika. They've been piling up like a castle. Actually, strike that. They've been piling up like the wall of dead bodies like in the movie 300. And right on top of that stinking pile is Anirudh Joshi.

"Your 'wife' should come here to 'save' you tomorrow if it all goes per plan, Ayansh. How do you feel about that?" He asked me last night during dinner. For some strange reason, he always has his meals with me. He scrutinizes me the most when it's time to eat. I don't know if it is just to make me uncomfortable or if there's another reason behind it. 

"I hope all of this ends tomorrow then," I told him.

"I bloody well hope so, too. Enjoy your time till then," he told me, then laid back on his chair. And he let out a loud, ugly laugh. 

It still sets the hair on the back of my ears to stand still, thinking about how Hansika might be related to him. And who she really is. 

There is a knock on my door. "Your breakfast is ready, sir." I sigh as I run my fingers through my hair and look at myself in the mirror. You signed up for this. You should live through this.

On my descent down the steep stairs of the old lighthouse, I hear the soft waves of the sea hitting the shore. Diveagar is a sparsely populated town in and itself, so the beach and the abandoned lighthouse add a strong sense of solitude. Maybe all of Pune is as nice as this little town, but the circumstances are just too bad to enjoy it. 

When I was called by Anirudh the second time four days back, his words were simple. "It's already been three weeks since I told you what was needed. The time you borrowed is over, Mr. Mishra. Now, it's my time."

This is how it went down. The story of how I walked into my own abduction. Following the instructions of a complete stranger just because he has some dirt on me is not exactly the most stellar situation of an abduction scene, but that's what I got. I parked the car in my office's parking lot, carefully avoiding all the camera. Abandoning my phone and wallet and carrying my fear alone, I walked out of the lot shedding out of my role as Ayansh Mishra to Anirudh's goat that bleats to his tunes.

About ten minutes later, I saw the black SUV with the license plate marked with the numbers Anirudh told me. And with my own two legs and complete conscience, I got inside the giant vehicle and let it take me away from my life. And Hansika.

Once I got to Pune, I was really left with no option. Anirudh welcomed me on the last step of the lighthouse with one line.