Tick tick tick.....
The room feels more silent than ever. Why? There is a man lying on the floor facing downward. He looks like an ordinary youngster of age around 23 his face was unshaved so he looked a little sluggish. He was in a small room with the curtain closed and it was the time of afternoon which makes the room a little bit yellowish. There is a clock hanging on the wall with a desk below it on which a PC was there with something written on the screen keeping the specs on its left side.
The man woke up with a little grunt ,sat on his chair, wore his glasses and started working. Then a man behind him suddenly appeared, everything seemed to be blurry behind him.
Then this suspicious man said "Anubhav you are not going to give up, Are you ?
"Nope, I have work to do," Anubhav replied.
There was an old cricket bat in his hand and on the bat something was written which was 'from Sakshi'. Then he suddenly swung his bat toward his head and hit him hard enough to shatter the bat into pieces. Anubhav fell from his chair on the floor and could only hear the buzzing sound in his ear.
For few seconds he couldn't even understand what happened to him, he touched his head to check if there is blood coming or not but he shocked to see that everything was alright and he don't even feel the pain, he sat straight and he was looking around the room but neither the man nor the bat could be found in the room and when he suddenly turned around he found the guy just in front of his face like he was looking at mirror.
He was scared and completely shook from inside. The bat was still in his hand.
He was frightened but still asked "Why did you do that to me Aditya ?, its not like that I did something to offend you"
Aditya was smiling maniacally and said " Offend ?, yep. You did nothing to offend me, it's just that there is something that stings me each and every moment and that thing lies in you"
"What ?"
"Your breaths !"
For a moment Anubhav couldn't process what he said.
He was now in the state in which he even forgot to breathe.
"Wh–aa-att !" Anubhav stammered.
"Huhhhhhhh, this idiot doesn't even know that his life is pretty useless" Aditya talks to himself.
"Don't you think that too? You are not good looking, you don't even have a good personality, forget about being with the people you were always a loner and always be." Aditya continues to scare Anubhav while looking at his face without even blinking.
"Nope, not gonna happen ,I am what I am, I do what I must and I will not stop even if I have to lose myself ,I will show you the art of not giving up" Anubhav said firmly but scared.
"Weellll, you are not wrong at some parts like not going to suffer any more and you know what I am gonna help you for that" said Aditya with a pleasant smile on his face.
"Really !!!, how are you gonna do that ?" Anubhav asked with hopeful eyes towards Aditya.
"That's simple.____ (pause)
Just by making you killing yourself and letting you rest at peace" Aditya smirked with wide eyes.
Even in the shock Anubhav tried to get up and tried to stand up but Aditya pushed him in the corner but then someone held him, a teenager who looked to be in his 20s and he was gentle with his voice.
He helped him to stand up and made him sit on the fallen chair. For a few seconds he was staring at Anubhav continuously like he was going to create a hole in his face, for a moment Anubhav even forgot that he exists, and just could hear the ticking sound of the clock.
He couldn't move but still felt the grasp of those eyes, now he was slowly tilting his head towards its left and what could be more scary than a face tilted left and eyes wide open without blinking and smiling gently. But now finally he was able to move his eyes and saw Aditya with the same exact expression.
When he moved his eyeballs again toward the other person he was just an inch away from his face and asked-
"Are you alive ?"
Anubhav was so set back that he lost his balance on the chair and was to fall, then the other guy grabbed the chair and 'saved him from falling'.
"Pratik, don't make him suffer more, just let him die, he shouldn't be alive anymore." Aditya broke the silence.
"What the rubbish are you talking about, die ? Nobody's gonna die, he will live even if he has to suffer." Prateek shouted and firmly decided to stop Aditya.
Somewhere in the heart of Anubhav he was feeling safe but why he was still feeling uneasy when he took a glimpse of Pratik's face he saw that he was smiling manically like he was enjoying the suffering of Anubhav. And that moment made Anubhav guess what was going to happen.
"He will live, he will suffer b'coz he has to, he deserves that, he is the reason of many people's misery, he took smiles, he took happiness, he stole money, he took their ___ lives. Now don't you think he should suffer." Pratik put his intrusive thoughts.
"Huh !!! I don't know what you are talking about ?? I didn't do any of that and I will never do anything so preposterous as that" Anubhav denied.
Pratik slowly turned his face toward Anubhav who was still sitting on the chair.
And what Anubhav saw he couldn't be able to forget for his whole remaining life.
Pratik was making a disgusting face with his eyebrows down and an intent to kill in his eyes that made Anubhav feel like he was going to die.
Anubhav was scared but dared to speak and said- "for my whole life I have never ever been a person who wants to live like someone else's life. I never took smiles, I never took happiness, not even a 1 rs coin I stole. But telling me that I took lives was far more absurd than any of them "
"Oh are you sure about that, if yes then let me now remind you about each and every sin you have ever committed" Pratik said.
Pratik started talking while shortening the distance between them.
"You are an orphan, you lived your life in an orphanage until you were 16 and then you started going to a boarding school and after you went to a local private college and then you started working as a corporate slave."
"Wait, how do you know about that? " Anubhav asked shockingly.
At that time Aditya just held up the bat and said "hey don't forget about that" showing the bat in his hand and said "the smile you took" smiling with a kind but scary expression. That may have made Anubhav feel something that led to a pain in his heart.
Anubhav was staring the bat but he was scared and said-
"Why do you have that"
"He he" Aditya giggled mischievously.
And Pratik started speaking-
"Then I should start with the beginning,
You were left by your wretched parents on the door step of your filthy orphanage. You grew up by the couple that was also happen to be the caretaker of the orphanage they were so kind that you always thought-"
"I don't need my real parents," Anubhav added.
"That's right, they were nice enough to fill the space for your parents in your life, but why is that their burnt crisp bodies are lying lifelessly in front of you and you are standing unharmed !!" Pratik suddenly stopped speaking.
"Because he was the reason that the whole orphanage got burnt down including the other orphan children since those children were so hateful to you." Aditya added.
"No, they didn't die because of me, they tried to save the children of the orphanage and got caught in the fire, it was not my fault" Anubhav was having a very low sound while speaking.
"Are you sure about that !!, you were the only one they cared most so when the fire started to spread you shouted loudly - very loudly so that they would think that you are in the most dangerous situation and will save you first." Pratik said
Aditya with a wrenched smile said-
"Also, as many as those other filthy orphans could die. And only you will be there with them"
"That's not what happened, there was gas leakage in the kitchen that led to the blast. It made me so scared and I am so scared with the fi–, Aaaaaaa" Anubhav shouted as there was a burning match in front of him. Lit by Pratik.
But not just that Pratik was looking so happy that he could watch Anubhav scared the whole day. Anubhav was scared and went to the corner of the room , totally scared.
"Ju-st get it away from me, please" Anubhav pleaded.
Pratik threw the matchstick and Aditya stepped on it, making Anubhav look more scared, and continuing to enjoy their pleasing moment.
"The old couple saved you first and went to save those children, leading them to die in the fire. You went through from those burnt bodies smelling blood and like roasted filthy pig just to escape on your own. Can you even forget the crying of those orphan children and the pleadings of that couple to save the children first by any means possible" Pratik said with a happy look.
Anubhav was now completely sweating and some tears were now coming from his face running down through his cheeks, the atmosphere went silent like Aditya and Pratik just wanted to hear the terrifying sound made by Anubhav.
Tick tick tick.....
"OK, Don't worry just forget these old horrible memories and now let's talk about something better" Pratik with a soothing sound.
Anubhav has now calmed down a bit.
"After that incident you went to the government custody where you find the same person as you and you became friend soon, you guys went to the same school and even the same college but-"
"Don't" Anubhav interrupted.
"Huh!! What did you just say ? I can't hear you" Pratik asked.
"Please don't continue, I know where you are going." Anubhav pleaded.
"Then if you don't want us to continue then go ahead tell us about that by yourself" said Aditya.
Anubhav was shocked for a moment, but he knew if he heard that part of the story that then he couldn't even grasp what would happen after that so he started speaking quietly and steadily.
"But after the college we tried to start a new business in which we found that there was tremendous profit we were having then after some time we started having some different thoughts and acted differently which led the company to fall, but I didn't stop and worked day and night but I got 'betrayed' by none other than my best friend his name was Advik he literary lived up to his name(Anubhav smirked) he seized my shares and fired me from my company. After that I am now here in this small apartment"
Pratik and Aditya was looking at Anubhav with a terrifying disappointed face,
That made Anubhav even more scared.
Silence....
"Huh !! Is that all you have to say". Aditya broke the silence.
& continued.
"Well, you might have forgotten about the memory you have discarded". Pratik imposed his thoughts.
"You were never alone. There was someone with you 'always' in the sharp edge of time, there was a girl who was like a tender but beautiful flower of rose. Who was healing you again and again which even makes your life peaceful" Pratik said.
At that time Anubhav was having a silent crying face which even shows his regrets.
"She was your good friend who even gifted you a bat at her early age with her name on it 'Sakshi' , I wouldn't go there that why was she so nice only to you but I will definitely say one thing-" said Aditya.
Suddenly Pratik stretched his hand and showed his palm toward Aditya showing that he wanted to stop Aditya just before he was about to say something.
"Lets just skip a few chapters of your life and come to the part where she became your girlfriend , YOU HAVE NOW UNLOCKED A NEW PHASE OF LIFE, congrats. But I guess this happiness will not live longer" Pratik smirked.
"She was a good person, good enough to be your girlfriend. She was even with you when you started your so called company, but now why is she not with you !!
Why ? Why did she leave you at the time when you needed her most?" Pratik said with a face which Anubhav had seen somewhere.
"Let me directly say it, she cheated on you with your best friend Advik and was also the part of a conspiracy that led you to lose your assets in that pathetic company" Pratik with a satisfied smile.
"You were now left alone, she used you just like your best friend and threw you away like your lovely parents. & you know what, the thing which is obvious that you don't even know where they are !" Aditya was saying all these in a way that was piercing Anubhav's heart.
"Your parents left yet you lived,
Orphanage burnt to crisp yet you lived,
Your best friend betrayed you yet you lived,
Your girlfriend cheated on you yet you lived." Pratik saying all these in a rhythmic way
"SO THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS THAT YOU HAVE TO LIVE 'EVEN WITH ALL THE REGRETS' NO MATTER HOW PEOPLE BETRAYS YOU, TORTURES YOU, EVEN IF THEY HURT YOU PHYSICALLY, DO NOT DARE TO QUIT. let things go on like this and you know what, die alone with your regrets." Pratik was so determined while saying all that even shocked Aditya.
"Hey, What rubbish are you talking about ?" Aditya interrupted.
Pratik turned his face and looked at Aditya with a puzzled face.
"He must die right now, the regrets he is having right now is at its peak which will-" Said Aditya.
"Shut up you idiot, let the regrets pile up and let's see his face in agony when he is about to die." Pratik interrupted.
"No, you don't understand me. Just look at him if he dies now, his eyes will pop out with blood on them and the stress, the regrets, the anger, the hatred will all overflow with his blood and tears." Aditya said with a curiosity on his face.
They are quarreling about when Anubhav should die so that his death will be satisfying for them but they are even laughing while imagining his future condition.
"WHY DO I KNOW YOU?" Anubhav realized with his eyes widened.
"You are asking this now after all this" Aditya showed his disappointment.
Anubhav was now having deep breaths.
"I KNOW YOU BUT WHY ?, YOU EVEN SAID I LIVE ALONE AND KNOW PRETTY MUCH ABOUT ME"
Anubhav was rolling his eyes from left to right.
But suddenly stopped his eyes and was looking down, eyes widened and focusing on the ant who was rooting out its own head.
"YOU GUYS EVEN WANT ME DEAD, OR WANT ME TO SUFFER."
"WHO ARE YOU !!"
Anubhav slowly rolled his eyes up and was looking at both of them smiling manically.
But, why is he very slowly but steadily smiling like them ?
When he was just about to realize something, he heard a deep voice saying-
"A MIRROR"
The moment he heard the first word, his eyes widened. He felt a presence so similar yet different. On the other hand this time Aditya and Pratik were puzzled.
Aditya and Pratik turned behind and looked, they saw a person sitting on the chair but the thing that shocked three of them was not from when and where he came but not just his appearance but also his face was SAME AS ANUBHAV, like he was his twin.
There was a sudden silence which was even quieter than an empty room, the shackled breathing of Anubhav was the only thing that could be heard in the room.
This suspicious man was dressed perfectly, he was having a nice stance, face shaved, hair combed unlike Anubhav and all the things he had, to have a good personality.
Aditya and Pratik were looking at him even more puzzled but for some reason they were smiling lightly and slowly towards this suspicious man.
"You may be wondering why we look alike ? Why do we sound the same ? But, still you are thinking that 'He is better than me', right ! " The suspicious man said.
He was coming toward Anubhav passing Aditya and Pratik, Anubhav was sitting in the corner while holding his both knees.
"A-a-a-a-a" were the only words that could come from Anubhav's mouth.
He was so close to Anubhav that Anubhav had to stretch his neck up like he was hanged and his eyes were so red like they were about to explode.
Anubhav Inhales and asked "Who are you ?"
"Kavish," the suspicious man said.
"Now tell me, is this your real face ?" Kavish asked.
"Huh ?" Anubhav was surprised.
Kavish turned his head slowly and told Anubhav and Pratik that "What you guys are doing is wrong"
Both of them frowned their eyebrows, not getting what he meant.
"Even you guys don't know the complete truth, you are tormenting an innocent." Said Kavish with a serious face.
"What are you talking about ? we didn't blame him for anything I just want him to suffer, is it wrong to want that ?" Pratik asked.
"Hey, I don't even want him to suffer, I just want him to die painfully, am I not the good one here !" Aditya said laughingly.
"Hhuuuuhh....." Kavish Exhales
"He was the one who set the fire in the orphanage" Kavish said with emotionless eyes looking directly in the eyes of Anubhav.
Another silence damped the room but this time the breaths of Anubhav were gone.
The face of Aditya of Pratik turned white, they were more than shocked and then Anubhav shouted.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT !"
"Hey, that's something new to me. Tell me more" Aditya asked excitedly and laughed but his reaction was slow and he said that with a low voice.
"Now, he needs to live even more, ha ha" Patrick was overwhelmed.
"Maybe his ex-girlfriend found it; that's why she ditched him, and went with his best friend." said Aditya.
Anubhav was scared and confused, Aditya was laughing, Pratik was excited to see how all this would turn out;
But,
Kavish was looking at Anubhav like Lucifer would look at the devil.
His eyes was looking down; toward Anubhav, eyes down with a serious face he stated-
"At his time in the orphanage he was never adopted because he loved to be with the caretaker couple of the orphanage; when he started to observe that the affection he got was not only for him, one day he asked the lady of the orphanage that when will you stop to love the other children of the orphanage she said only when all the children will gone, she meant that when all children would get adopted."
Kavish's expression slightly turned angrier; still continued.
"But this guy understood in a different way, he turned on the knob of the stove and took all the children near the kitchen and lit the fire, he made himself to stand near the burning area to fool the couple but he didn't know that the couple would go to such length to save the other children"
Kavish calmed his eyes; sat on one of his knee and said-
"The trauma to his lose his so called parents and to walk over on their corpses forced his brain to forget about his wrong doings and his subconsciousness took his evil form and went away"
Anubhav was silent and looking at the feet of Kavish with eyes widened but the lower part of his face was expressionless.
Kavish stood up and took his foot step back slowly and had an expression different from Anubhav but somehow the same.
"I would like to meet his nefarious form. We would get along well" Pratik stated.
"He was such a psychopath, huh ! so his nefarious version never came back and he ended up like this" Aditya asked.
"Nope," Kavish said and turned his head and changed his expression to normal.
Kavish continued and said while looking at the bat.
"I wish, it was like that"
He turned his neck again toward Anubhav who was still looking down.
"When he was doing his business with his old friend his girlfriend tried to help them and obviously his friend was also acquaintance with his girlfriend but for some reasons he again started to feel the same as his time in the orphanage"
"So...., did he kill them too?" Pratik asked but this time with a serious expression.
"No-no!! He never tried to kill his girlfriend, he just wanted his girlfriend's heart to belong to him, ONLY HIM " Kavish said, denying Pratik.
Suddenly Kavish turned expressionless and said-
"He ripped his girlfriend's heart out of her chest and pressed it so hard against his chest that it burst."
This time Aditya and Pratik both were so shocked that they couldn't even say anything just looking toward Kavish with eyes widened.
"What about his friend, Advik?" Aditya asked.
"He ran away," Kavish nodded, looking at Aditya.
And Kavish continued.
"But not long enough,
He threw the remnants of his girlfriend's heart, took the knife that tore open her chest and ran toward his friend, oh! Sorry his victim,
He jumped on him that made the victim to fall on the ground facing downward,
He put the knife in Advik's mouth, held his neck and made it through between his eyebrows but couldn't go up anymore so he left it there."
This time even Aditya and Pratik felt the chill behind their neck.
After a complete silence Kavish said-
"He took their bodies and threw them at the incinerator where he saw them burning but I have always wondered that I understand about Advik but why Sakshi, later I understand that what he always wanted was his girlfriend's heart and he already ripped it out, so the body is now useless to him"
This time Pratik understood that the person he was forcing to live was standing on many lives as the mental torture that he gave to Anubhav was nothing.
Still Pratik smiled lightly looking at Anubhav who was still sitting with head bowed.
"The happiness you were having while tormenting him was the feeling he was having while slicing and burning their bodies." Kavish said with a pause and continued.
"Later on when came to his senses he cried so hard while trying to collect the pieces of Sakshi's heart with his bare hands that his subconsciousness again took his memories, threw him in an empty dark pit of well before he could eat the whole heart whole heartedly."
Aditya came a little forward and said "Now we have more than one reason to make him suicide, he don't remember anything so he is still innocent, but now he knows everything so just think about the despair on his face " he was very excited.
"No-no, I won't let that happen just think the moment he was grieving I want to see that again. Let's just let him live and see from afar if something like that happens again 'if we are lucky' right !" Pratik expressed his sadistic thoughts.
Both Pratik and Aditya were debating whether to let him live or let him die.
Kavish slowly went toward Anubhav bent down on his left leg's knee and whispered in the ear of Anubhav
"Hey! You haven't forgotten the thrill of killing the one who is close to you, right ! for now the one who is closest to you is you so make the decision to feel the thrill now or on your deathbed years later"
Anubhav raised his head a little and gave Kavish a maniacal stare with a devilish grin. And laughed very lightly "ha ha" with his voice different from before.
Now,
Suddenly Anubhav was hanging from the ceiling, his leg was trembling like he wanted to live, his life was flickering and later went out.
Kavish asked Pratik "Is the regret, despair and sadness up to your liking ?"
"Well good for now" Pratik replied.
And Aditya's eyes were locked on this cold lifeless body he was smiling ear to ear.
The very next moment when Anubhav stopped moving the last of his muscle the room went to a complete silence.....
Not even the presence for Aditya, Pratik and Kavish could be found there; the room which was filled with scared breaths of Anubhav is now lifeless, only just the ticking sound of the clock, the laptop which was kept open on the table with screen on and something written on the screen.
The text cursor was flicking near the last word and later typed something 'unknowingly'..
it was nothing but '.'
Later police came and did an investigation.
"Sir it Cleary shows that it is a case of suicide, we found nothing but this hanging fellow's fingerprint everywhere like he was just moving here and there on his own like a crazy guy, or maybe he is a crazy guy after all" said one of the constable.
"But just think, what could be the cause of this madness ?" The inspector asked.
"It's simple sir, the orphanage he lived in got burnt, the company he started with his friend got bankrupt and the best part is that his girlfriend cheated him and ran away with the same friend, ha ha" The constable said it like he was enjoying this investigation too much.
"Well apart from everything. Have you sent his laptop for investigation and asked what he was writing ?" The inspector asked.
The constable picked a cricket bat; he was waving it like a cricketer with a girl's name on it and said "This crazy guy was writing a story about a guy who was being tormented by 3 people that made him suicide,
If I remember correctly the title was something uuummmmm.... Yess !!
THE DOT .