It was not a pretty view. It was almost dawn and the stunning hint of sunlight made every dust look uglier. Blood mixed with mud and turned it into a dark clot. And we were walking through a land of torn flesh, smelling death. The dead bodies became unrecognizable, some of their faces were cut in two pieces or their eyes were bursting out the socket. One of them had a thousand of bullet holes on his chest. And we were trying to find Uncle ji in the midst of this mess.
We entered the wrecked room which was still on fire and found the man with his burnt skin, exploded arm, torn blue shirt. Uncle ji was lying dead in front of us.
Atreyee kneeled down to check if his heart was still beating. But I could see in his wide open eyes that he was already gone. I reached to the ground and gently closed his eyelids. It was all over.
...
Some people were still alive. They were able to flee in time just to come right back so that they can be in the funeral. Last night we took care of every dead soul in a huge flaming ground; today is the day when everybody stands quietly to pay their respect to the dead and their lost loved ones. The trees around us were decorated with the forest flowers. This really seemed nice against the ashes and broken branches, the ruins of war. They tried as hard as they could to look it like a proper funeral. There was a portrait of Uncle ji in front of us. Uncle ji never clicked a picture, so the portrait was done by hand. And bellow it there was a huge pile of white flowers and garlands.
Atreyee was standing beside an old tree gazing upward at the vast blue. And for some moment she was staring at the people who were there. She took a few steps forward and then broke the silence with a sudden and strong voice,
- Our leader has fallen. It is our duty to keep up the work he always tried to do. But it is our bad luck that we have lost so many people. I don't know how we will do this. But we will stop; we will not let our visions die with uncle ji; we will rise from the ashes like a Phoenix.
As she was speaking, everyone in that place got excited; it was no longer a silent funeral. I could hear a loud echo of 'Here here' around me. And it was really magnificent to watch Atreyee take the lead. As soon as the shouting and yelling excitement dimmed, there was loud roar from behind. It was a very familiar voice,
- Thank you very much Atreyee, for keeping all things going. But I'm alive.' He paused, 'And we will not stop protesting.'
Everyone looked back; their eyes were shocked and widened like they have just seen a ghost in bright daylight. I was Vijay standing there, and beside him was that mysterious Uncle ji.
...
It didn't seem like there had been happened any deaths just a day ago. Vijay's return to the clan was such a happy moment that they couldn't remain sad anymore. Vijay have been watching us for the whole time. He followed every moves our plan; but I was still confused why he didn't show up earlier.
We were all meeting at Vijay's home as long as our discussion room had been destroyed. His mother cried most when she heard that her son was still alive; his father hugged him tight but couldn't say anything. Atreyee couldn't believe that he was truly back. She was still dealing with the fact.
- How are you? Haven't talked to you properly for a long time.' Asked the mysterious uncle ji.
- Yes, I'm good. Thank you very much. But Vijay...' I looked at him. 'How?'
- It's a long story. Another time.'
- No...' I exclaimed. 'I got enough time, tell the story.'
YOU ARE READING
THE REVOLUTIONISTS
Mystery / Thriller**completed** Prateek got abducted; by that very friend he made on the train. His name was Vijay. Vijay turned out to be a terrorist and their clan destroyed the train that night. For some reason, Vijay saved Prateek's life by kidnapping him; brin...
