YOU’RE NEXT, BUDDY
PRE-NOTE:
Kindly
excuse correct the grammatical
mistakes. Thanks in advance. :-)
PART 8:
“Warn
who?” asked Vasanth.
Sylvia was the first one to come up with a
brilliant excuse. “Your brother. He had so many amazing things here. Only if he
has the common sense to leave the wasted pizza in the dustbin, there wouldn’t
be so many ants trying to build a home within his building.”
Vasanth threw back
his head and laughed throatily. “I am gonna write it down and tell the exact
words to Prashu.” Sylvia joined the laughter too.
Priya cleared her
throat. “Did they announce a holiday in college because it was raining
outside?”
Sylvia smirked.
“That’s for school kids. Ah, how I miss school. So Vasanth…”
“Actually I am in a
hurry. Aunt Ranjani has a flight to catch; Prashanth is supposed to take her to
the airport, you know? But they both forgot it totally and here I am, to clear
the mess. I had to give up an important seminar to…”
“We will do it,”
Sylvia said, ignoring the head shakes from her friend. “I was anyway going to
run an errand for a friend. So I’ll take care of it too.”
Vasanth breathed a
sigh of relief. “You’ll do that? Thank you very much, Sylvia. I’ll let my aunt
know… Aunty!” He called out and shortly they heard him descending the stairs.
“What the hell!”
Priya gritted her teeth. “Are we here to solve a mystery or are we going to
start an old age home?”
“Actually that’s not
a bad joke. I’ll laugh when I feel like it,” said Sylvia sarcastically.
“What you’re doing
is a bad joke, Sylvi,” said Priya, still shaking her head disapprovingly.
“Come now,” Sylvia
looked out and said, “Put everything back in place. Nothing must look
disturbed. I’ll take a look at Vasanth’s room before going downstairs, okay?”
“All right,” Priya
accepted and Sylvia ran to the next room. Five minutes later, they both were in
the front seats of an Indica with Aunt Ranjani on the back. Vasanth was helping
with the luggage. Sylvia was on the wheel, smiling and Priya gave her a
“we-are-actually-going-to-airport-because-of-your-stupidity” look that turned
her smile into a guilty wry childlike expression. She averted her eyes and
looked back at Vasanth. Ranjani kissed his forehead and Vasanth picked a huge
bar of chocolate from his pocket and passed it to her.
Sylvia thought that
there was something queer about that chocolate bar while Priya quipped,
“Chocolates are for young ladies, Mr. Vasanth. What do we get for this amazing
service from our end?”
“How about dinner in
Hyatt?”
“Sure,” said Priya,
looking impressed. But he was looking at Sylvia. “I am inviting my brother as
well.” Sylvia felt weird but didn’t decline his call. “Of course,” she said,
turning the ignition key. The car roared and moved ahead while Vasanth waved at
them till they disappeared.
“So Aunty, where’re
you going?” asked Priya casually once they hit the road.
“To London. My
daughter is settled there; I visit there once a year during the holidays of my
grandkids. I am going to miss my boys.”
“You
love them more than your daughter,” said Sylvia, judging from the look on the
old woman’s face.
“That’s true,” said
Ranjani without hesitation. “Prashu will take care of himself. But I am not
sure about Vasu. Ever since Supriya went missing, he is not in his usual self.
He worries me the most.” Ranjani talked about the brothers as though she was
coming back from their school after leaving them there on their first day.
“Did you like
Supriya?”
“She was a very
sweet girl. Vasanth introduced me to her one day, saying that she would come
and stay with us. She was frightened by something; I don’t know what troubled
her. She would wake up in the middle of the night and cry. But besides all
that, the girl is honest and loved Vasanth more than me and Prashu. I have no
idea why she left Vasu.” Ranjani heaved a deep sigh.
“Have you met her
friends? Rocky, David, Jhansi etc?”
“Once! They all came
to her birthday party. It was a disaster… Hey, drive straight, lady!” She
warned as Sylvia missed a goat that ran on the road by an inch. After that, no
matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t get Ranjani back to Supriya’s story.
She thanked god for saving the goat, commented that driving was really men’s
business, got into argument with Priya on the above subject of gender equality
and then the conversation moved to her daughter who was a thorough feminist
like Priya.
By the time they
decided not to fight over a silly issue anymore, they were already in the
airport. Sylvia took out the trolley and Priya helped Ranjani getting into the
wheel chair. She came closer to Sylvia and whispered, “This is your burden from
now on. I just spotted an old crush of mine and so I am moving ahead with this
old lady.”
“Priya Viswanathan,
you can’t leave me here with a…”
“You asked for it.
Bye, dear,” she smiled brightly, air kissed Sylvia and disappeared into the
crowd.
Sylvia was
dumbstruck. At first, she thought of going after her friend but then gave up.
“I am gonna kill you, Pri.” She mouthed the words and returned to the car to
check whether she had missed anything.
“Wow! A cosmic
connection, Ms. Priya,” said a voice very close to her ears. She turned around
and found Prashanth face to face. “Vijay, you scared me!”
“This is how we
meet, Priya. Remember? We don’t know each other’s names, phone numbers and so
our meetings have to happen this way. If this has the tendency to…”
Sylvia pouted and lied
deliberately. “I got it. I am leaving to London and not coming back any soon.”
“You’re too early
for the London flight,” said Prashanth. “Shall I help you with the trolley or
something?”
“Yes, please,” said
Sylvia gratefully. They both walked together and Sylvia’s eyes kept glancing
around for Priya impatiently.
Prashanth asked some
questions and she gave a few vague replies as her mind was not really in it
till she spotted Priya. She was involved in a chat with tall young man that
Sylvia remembered. “Bhargav!” she said, laughing softly. “Old crush indeed.”
“What?” Prashanth
wondered, looking all around, disoriented.
“See that guy over
there? That’s Bhargav – my best friend’s biggest crush in our college days. He
is cute and smart and dated an idiot from my class.”
“And the girl next
to him is your bestie?”
“Yep.”
“She looks melted
all right.”
“Yep,” repeated
Sylvia. “Shall we sit down here and talk something else? Sharing information
about my best friend is the violation against our agreement?”
Prashanth’s lips
broke into a hot smile as he sat down on the chair and Sylvia took a nearby
seat. “Are you sure that we’re here for the flight too early?”
“Oh, I am very
sure.” He said without even looking at his watch.
“You’re one of
Vasanth’s students, aren’t you?” She asked abruptly.
“Yes. But listen,
here’s one idea – how about us sharing the common interests of others? The ones
that wouldn’t reveal our identity?”
Sylvia snapped her
fingers. “Good idea. I go first. Tell me about your family without any names.”
“I lost my mother
when I was five. My father was a businessman and he died a year back in an
accident. My brother and I do not know the ABC of business. So it broke and we
are heavily mortgaged now. That’s the status of my family,” said Prashanth. “My
turn. Same question.”
“Long story short –
no parents. That girl over there is not just my friend – she is my second
cousin and her parents took care of me.” She jerked her head towards Priya
Viswanathan and Priya was still in a conversation with Bhargav. “Question 2:
Have you had any crush on anyone in your college days?”
“Nope. I did fall
for you now though – It still half-surprises me and half-annoys me. Who is your
biggest crush?”
“Rahul Dravid.” Even
though it was only ten minutes, she felt like she ran out of questions. Her
mind wandered around the things in Prashanth’s room. “What do you think about
The Arrow?” Her lips uttered the words even though her uncanny brain sent a
warning alert that it was dangerous.
Prashanth’s
expressions were unpredictable but he took some time before replying. “What can
I say about a high functioning psychopath in the city? Whatever his reasons
are, I am pretty sure that he deserves punishment.”
Sylvia didn’t batter
her eyelids as she watched him with curiosity. “That’s not much different from
everyone’s opinion.” She leaned forward. “Would you believe me if I say that
The Arrow is in our neighborhood?”
“No, I wouldn’t.”
Sylvia’s face
shrunk. “Why not?”
Two incidents
happened at the same time – Prashanth’s cell phone rang and Priya came running
to Sylvia, panting. Prashanth made an excuse to attend the call and Priya sat
down next to Sylvia. “I left Aunt Ranjani in the waiting room. And then I saw
him.”
“Your big time
college-crush Bhargav, right? I saw him too. He looks more handsome than ever.”
“Not him. You showed
me the picture of Vijay, the purple something guy, from internet, right?”
“Yeah, what about
him?”
“He
and Bhargav are related. I thought of warning him but I panicked and ran away.”
She was sweating all over her body.
“Goodness heavens, why?”
“I don’t… Hang on, we should call
Bhargav.”
“Sure
thing. Tell me his number,” Sylvia dialed and they both waited for nearly 30
seconds when it was picked and a male voice answered.
“Aren’t you girls cute? I asked you to
stop digging about The Arrow already. Don’t be part of the victims list
unnecessarily.” His tone was acidic and the call ended. The beep sound of the
dial reflected the loud heartbeats of Priya.
**********
Supriya
was stunned for a moment and it took long time before she completely recovered.
“She… she can’t be dead,” she touched her face and her cheeks were wet with
perspiration. “I just saw her.”
Rocky said calmly, “I think your dreams
started to overpower you. Sandy, if we skip Supriya’s story, what do we have?”
“We can go ahead
with Jhansi’s. She saw a guy in Harley.”
“Right,” He turned
to the old lady and said, “Madam, we’re sorry. Do you know anyone who rides
Harley Davidson?”
The old lady gave a
goofy grin. “What, kid?”
“He means bike. A
very large bike…” Sandhya explained using her hands and Rocky had to suppress
his smile.
“Yes. Yes. Gokul has
a huge bike,” said the old lady.
“Gokul? Can we meet
him?”
“Sure, kid. He is
upstairs. I’ll call him for you.”
“Yes, please,” said Rocky. When
Gokul came down, Rocky greeted him and questioned about Jhansi. Supriya could
not concentrate as something about Gokul disturbed. She had seen him before – not
just today, but for quite some time. Where?
And then it struck
her. “You’re in the staff room.”
“What?” Rocky,
Sandhya and Gokul said in chorus.
“Remember my first
dream, guys? The one that comes to me daily? Vasanth greets someone in the
staff room at the same time I enter. He is that guy.” She said.
**********
Vijay came out of
unconsciousness sluggishly, like a drowsing young hound dimly aware of danger.
His bedroom was cold; a pale morning light was struggling in through the
window. Somehow he was unwilling to open his eyes – but all his senses were
slowly coming back. He felt a woman’s delicate fingers on top of his forehead.
They swept his hair tenderly and he just wanted to disappear into the affection
forever.
He smiled and said, “I am still alive.”
“God,
you look like a bright young lady. Where did you get this dumbass?” It was an
unfamiliar voice.
Indhu responded. “I
don’t know. In college, we were all pretty stupid, I guess. That’s how I ended up
with…”
Vijay’s
eyes flew open. “Did somebody call me…?”
“Dumb,
yes.” Indhu agreed with a huge nod and shook the doctor’s hand. “Thanks,
doctor. Ah, Vij… Why on earth did you try to cut down the tree in our garden?
That too, with a chainsaw. You’re really dumb.” The doctor chuckled to himself
before leaving the room alone for Vijay and Indhu.
“What? What? What? I
was taken by… wait a minute, when did you come back and how did you find me?”
“Well,
I was super angry that you ditched me. But in London, I caught the next flight
ditching your friend who tried to stop me. I really wanted to kill you but when
I saw you lying in a pool of blood near our oak tree, I freaked out. God, that
was so horrible. And with the help of our neighbors, I took you straight to the
hospital.”
Vijay didn’t say
anything and there was complete silence in the room that Indhu pressing Vijay’s
hand gave an illusion of making a sound. “What about my chest?” He said after
some time.
“Yes,
I don’t know. Maybe some branch or something? No major damages though. The
chainsaw did the nasty job and so that the doctor says that you have to hobble
for a while.”
“I wasn’t poisoned?”
Indhu widened her
eyes. “Baby, is there some nightmare? You’re fine except for the wound in your
thigh.”
“Where is Bhargav?”
“When
I find that out, I am going to take his expert brain out of his skull. I mean
what he was thinking with all the arrow stuff going on… I gave a call to Raghav
and your uncle as well. They’re getting a mouthful too for leaving you all
alone – I mean, they should’ve known that you’d do something stupid like this,
right? This is all over a new episode of you trying to make a tree house last
year. And…” Indhu stopped, watching Vijay’s inscrutable face. “You’re not
listening to me, Vij!”
Vijay rubbed his
eyes and let out a deep breath. “I am sorry. My head hurts.”
Indhu made a face.
“You don’t have any concussion; so how much ever you’re going to pretend,
you’re facing me, Mr. Vijay, when I am all set to yell my lungs out for
abandoning me in an airport. That’s the cruelest thing that you’ve ever done to
me. If you wanna save it, just apologize…”
Despite all the
confusions that made his heart pump all the blood straight to his brain, he
grinned. “I am not gonna apologize for trying to save my wife’s life, lady.”
Indhu cocked her
head to a side, raised her eyebrows and clicked her tongue. “I am sure that
I’ll make you feel sorry.”
Vijay’s grin didn’t
fade. “Seriously, that’s how wives talk to husbands in a hospital bed?”
Indhu laughed. “Ah,
Vij, you’re so sweet,” she suddenly clamped her mouth over his and kissed him.
She pulled her apart and smiled sweetly. “I’ve missed you.”
“I missed how
awesome you smell as well. You’re an angel, Indhu. I…”
“I am not gonna kiss
you again till you apologize,” said Indhu, showing her tongue out naughtily.
Vijay’s jaw dropped. Indhu laughed out loud. “Told you that I’ll make you feel
sorry.”
Vijay was floored.
“I am going to surrender myself to The Arrow again.”
“Again?” Indhu asked
doubtfully.
“Did you happen to
see our bedroom yet?”
“Yes, after I
admitted you, I went back there to get a few things. Why?”
“Th… there was
nothing wrong?”
“How could anything
be wrong in that little dream world of ours?” Indhu took a pillow and squeezed
it dreamily. “Everything in our room screamed perfection, perfection… except…”
suddenly she lowered her pillow. “That photo was missing.”
“Which photo?”
“That flower shaped
photo frame with five petals on it – one of the pictures was missing from it.
You, me and the kiddo…”
Vijay closed his
eyes and tried to picture the room that he was being tortured. No, he saw the
picture all right – there wasn’t any flaw in it except…
Vijay punched his
bed hard. “Oh my god! I was such an imbecile…”
“What, Vij?” Indhu
looked completely puzzled.
“The Arrow is
killing someone right now in our house,” said Vijay, pulling off the vein trips
in his hands hastily and trying to get up. And he was correct – The Arrow’s
fifth victim was screaming for help in Vijay’s basement at the same time.
To be continued.
Comments and
criticisms are welcome. :-)
For previous parts,
kindly check
Thanks & Regards,
Lavanyaa
Awesome... mersalaytaen.........
ReplyDeleteOmg.. too gud..
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