by Onaiza Khan
After breakfast, we freshened up, and I asked the man at the counter about another bus to the city. He said there is one at four. It was only eleven in the morning. No way are we spending five hours in this place. The city was hardly an hour’s drive now, but we didn’t have a ride anymore and staying in a place like this for so long didn’t appear safe. What if Daniel finds out that we were here?
He must’ve come back home and realized I wasn’t there. What must he be feeling? What would he do? Try to find me. How?
He must hate me even more now. Will he take another woman or women? Will he go to France? I’ll never find out where he is or what he’s doing. I’ll never see him again.
But then something started gnawing at me, and I grew pensive. What if he’s not looking for me at all? He wanted to get rid of me, and now that I'm gone, he could be all smug and relieved.
I sighed and sank back into my chair and saw Christian strolling around like it was his grandma’s garden. I saw everything that my eyes could see, but my mind was blinded by him. Daniel. He was all I could think about. My heart wasn’t ready to accept his indifference. I could take anything but not that. If he was distraught by my escape and looking for me then I had won, but if he was happy to have driven me out of his life without even a teensy bit of legwork, then he had won, and I was the fool.
It was a race between him and me. A fight. A war. Something along those lines. I wasn’t running for the freedom I had substantiated. It was something way more complicated and sinister. I didn’t feel like a caged bird dying to escape and fly across the skies. I was something else. Intentionally slackening the overflow of thoughts, I noticed something strange going on.
Some men in the restaurant were watching me, talking to each other, glancing back and forth between me and a phone. “That’s her,” they said in hushed voices. They thought I couldn’t hear them but I somehow could, even with all the distance between us. My hearing ability wasn’t human anymore. I could hear things that I wasn’t biologically or scientifically capable of hearing. But science was long lost on this quest of mine. I figured they must be looking for me. There must be a picture on the phone that they'd be trying to match with me. So he is looking for me. Daniel is looking for me. I impulsively smiled at myself for just a heartbeat and then put my body into action.
We need to run. The race is on.
Chapter 12
I didn’t scream or run or create a scene. I glanced over at Christian, and he seemed to have noticed everything. He was standing near the counter talking to someone and eating a chocolate chip cookie. I walked casually towards him and leaned on a wall. The other guys were watching vigilantly but didn’t move from their places.
“They’re watching us, probably looking for us, we have to run,” I smiled at Christian trying to look normal and unaware of any danger. He had to take advantage of that too. He smiled and took my face in his hands and replied. “We can’t outrun them; we have to hide sweetie.”
He grabbed my hand, and we started walking towards the washroom. It seemed like we’re just seeking a corner to get intimate. We made it look like that; I had hoped. Those guys were pretending not to look at us, and one of them was texting.
“You were saying something about hiding,” I inquired when we were out of their sight. I was half-expecting those guys to close in on us in that corner, but nothing happened. Our expressions returned to normal.
“This is the Deep North; there are a lot of gangs and criminals in these places and a lot of inter-gang, intra-gang and police encounters going on all the time. It is one those places where there are more exits than entries. We just have to find one.”
“Don’t you think they can find it too,” I grabbed hold of his arm questioningly.
“They will.”
I was confused, but I didn’t have time to voice my doubts. I decided to follow Christian with this. He seemed to be more cognizant of such situations. As he predicted, we found an extra exit. Those idiot watchers were probably still waiting for someone else to come. Daniel, it could be. They didn’t make a move for a long time. At least I don’t think so.
This exit went through the basement. God, I was so sick of basements. But when we took the hidden flight of stairs outside, it was just mountains and roads, nowhere to hide or run. If we ran outside, we would be in more danger; we had no car and could easily be visible and killable. The road didn’t provide for any hiding places. So we stayed inside. A lot of storage was laying down there, old furniture, enormous sacks of rice and god knows what. And there were empty sacs too. We stepped into them and tied ourselves. It was Christian’s idea by the way. We were at the back, and Christian had also loaded some small sacs of onion on my head.
I couldn’t see anything but people were moving to and fro probably looking for us. That chilled my bones for a while. Being in their proximity wasn’t very comforting. But thankfully they left after some time. I was so relieved. Like a load of onion sacks had just lifted from my head. Okay, it had. I sighed.
“Nobody saves you baby, the way I do,” he was singing again.
“Yeah thanks, tell me one thing Mr. Edmond Dantès, if it ever came to a fight, could you?”
He sighed and said, “I can’t even throw a punch right, if it ever came to a fight, I could run, or I could just get beat up or wait for them to go away.”
I laughed. We were both laughing and sitting on the floor. I felt happy. He made me happy. After such a long time I felt something good. Positive. In Christian’s company, I felt like myself, my real self. I wasn’t a caged bird anymore. I was flying I told myself. I was making decisions. I was collaborating with someone. These simple things that everyone did in their life and that might not hold any significance for them like choosing what to eat, where to go. I realized I hadn’t done those things for a while. So they meant something to me.
“So what are you planning? What now?” I honestly didn’t see that coming from him.
“I don’t know, let’s sell that bloody necklace off and part ways,” I replied cheerfully.
“You’ve started to sound like me,” he turned to me and spoke again very gravely. “Hey listen, this is crucial. Whenever you go to the police, just keep me out of the story. I don’t have great terms with police.”
“Don’t worry I’m not going to the police,” I shook my head still wearing the cheerful look, but he turned white.
“Then how are you supposed to go back home? I thought you must be going to India after this.”
“I can’t go home Christian,” I said looking at the ceiling now. My smile faded “I’ve disgraced my parents. I’ve hurt them too much. I don’t deserve to be there.”
“Oh come on they’re parents. They’ll forgive you for whatever it is you did.”
“I can’t,” I whispered.
“But you still have to go to the authorities. You don’t have your passport or anything. You can’t just keep living here illegally, running from him.”
“We’ll see about that.”
I knew he was right, but I couldn’t agree with him. Something inside me was saying that I WILL NOT REPORT HIM OR CONTACT ANYONE FROM MY PAST.
We spent most of the day in the basement. We ate a lot, talked a lot and even played X and 0 on the floor with chalk.
We took the four o’clock bus and reached the city. We checked into a place that was apparently an illegal B&B. Or so he said.
“Give me the necklace; I know where I can sell it,” he said thrusting inside the room. And it took me a little fraction of a minute to respond.
“Wait, Christian, I’m coming with you.”
“No you can’t, it’s not a very decent place,” he replied in a bored way, but I’m sure my face looked hard and adamant.
“I don’t care; I have to come. I can’t just give you all I have and…” I trailed off realizing I had just obliterated whatever friendship we had built.
I understood that it was a little out of line, but I couldn’t help it. His eyes were suddenly
wide with shock, and there was a little something like disappointment in them, “You think I’ll run away with it?”
“No, I just…I want to come,” I couldn’t make up for it by saying anything else now. I didn’t even try. Although it did hurt me to hurt him.
“Hmm, but you can’t come like this. People are looking for us. An Indian girl with a white guy. And they have orders to kill the guy and take the girl. They have your picture too, so…”
That was too much information at once. I cut him off mid-sentence. “How did you know all that?”
“This place belongs to my friend, and the search is getting popular. Now listen, you have to wear some man clothes, hide your lady parts so that no one recognizes you. Okay?” The disappointment was gone, and his voice was now emotionless.
“You have to say everything clearly, don’t you?” I said half to myself.
“Come on hurry up now,” he went to the washroom without looking at me, and I realized again I had lost him. Again and again, the thought kept hauling in my mind. I had lost a friend I just made. And once we’re through with the necklace deal, I’ll be all alone in this world. No family, no friends, and no Daniel. I swallowed.
Drawing myself up I wore one of Daniel’s jackets that Christian had packed for himself. I could smell him in it. Could feel him. Like being wrapped in his arms. I wanted to hate him but…but I don’t know why I just couldn’t.
We were quiet on our way. All those things we could’ve talked about just disappeared like a puff of smoke. I missed his rambling already. We went to a place which looked like a bungalow from the outside but seemed to be a brothel from the inside, and I wasn’t exactly looking like a guy even though I hid my hair, but I guess it didn’t matter. Everything was quick. The other guy saw the necklace and was awed. He paid us in cash a total of $4,000.
We were out in fifteen minutes, and we then decided to walk towards a little mall to buy some decent clothes and eat something. Christian said that the money is only 20% of the value of that necklace. But what did it matter? Nothing mattered anymore. My fears of being alone deluged my mind. It hurt so much that I could have considered going back to Daniel if Christian hadn’t grabbed me and took me by surprise.
“Two things. Number 1, I take 60% of the cash because I made the deal happen. 50% my share and 10% brokerage. Don’t get into the math. And number 2, I’m not leaving you alone unless I know you’re safe.”
I wanted to cry and hug him and tell him that it had been a long time since someone had thought about me or cared for me. I didn’t care about the money. I just didn’t want to be alone, but I couldn’t do anything more than nodding. My feelings for Christian were getting more and more twisted. I had started to trust him. Or perhaps I needed to.
I bought myself a red sweater dress and black jeans and decided to wear them right away. Christian said he'd wait for me outside. When I tried the new clothes, they looked great. And now I could spot the difference between the caged me and the free me. The free me was happy.
And suddenly I was jerked back by someone covering my mouth so I couldn’t shout. I tried to wriggle out of that hold, but I was evidently drugged because I lost consciousness after that.
When I woke up, I was in Christian’s chair. In the basement.
Chapter 13
I was handcuffed to the chair, and I could feel his presence. I knew him by the sound of his breath, the beat of his heart, his smell. Everything was ruined. I was back to where I started, and there was no way I could ever get out of here. Again. I had lost.
“So you just took off,” his voice sounded pained and damaged. I couldn’t reply. I was too tired for that.
“How could you do that? How could you trust him? You didn’t know the first thing about him,” he continued angrier this time.
“If I could trust you, I could trust anyone,” I murmured trying very hard to offend him.
He walked towards me standing right in front of me and leaning to meet my eyes. “That was your biggest mistake, but I won’t let you make any more mis…”
That necklace shone again, and this time I couldn’t pull myself away. It drew me inside, and I lost consciousness. Again.
This time when I woke up, I was in my bed. I mean in Daniel’s bed. He was sitting right there holding my hand, and as soon as I opened my eyes he asked, “Are you alright? What happened to you?” his eyes floating with fret and fear.
“You never hurt me, Daniel,” I whispered.
“What? What are you talking about?” he grew frantic.
“It was some sort of magic through which you made me think that I was being tortured, but you never physically hurt me. You put it in my mind somehow; it was COMPULSION. You COMPELLED me.”
“How can you possibly know that? Did you… Was it a dream?” His face turned white, and he seemed to be taken aback by my revelation.
“No, it wasn’t a dream. It was real. It was a memory.”
“How did you find this out?” his tone jumped to that of interrogation. His fear was replaced by a fear of some other sort.
“The necklace,” I touched it lightly, but the warmth of his body sent an alarm through mine rekindling the fire of love in my heart, and I stopped myself.
“The necklace? What about it?”
“I fell into it.”
“What do you mean you fell into it?” by this point he had pronounced me crazy in his mind, I’m sure. But I was now sensing an inexplicable force of energy inside me and could feel my eyes glinting callously.
“That necklace gives you the power of compulsion. You can magically compel anybody into thinking or doing anything you want. Something like hypnosis. Whoever wears the necklace can have that power. Am I right?”
I was. It was unnatural for me to have found that out. But I did not waste time to consider logic and what’s possible and what’s not. Unnatural and Supernatural exist. I had enough evidence by now, and I quickly understood everything. All my distorted memories were distorted because of COMPULSION. I did not remember names and numbers because of COMPULSION. I thought I was in pain when I wasn’t because of COMPULSION. There was nothing wrong with me or my mind; it was ALL his COMPULSION.
“Why did you do it?”
He was in shock, he couldn’t move, he looked at the necklace and then at me.
“How did you find out? Can you talk to things? Can you read minds?” he threw his hands in the air in surrender.
“I don’t know all that; I just know that you’ve used some stupid power of compulsion on me all this while. And I want to know why.”
He was silent and turned his back to me. He replied in a low and distraught voice, “It’s a long story Noor, I don’t think you’re ready for it.” And when he started turning away, I grabbed his hand and pulled him towards myself.
“I just told you your biggest secret, and you think I’m not ready for this?” I was roaring at the top of my voice and almost scared him.
“Fine, I’ll tell you, but you have to calm yourself down. And listen to me patiently.”
I nodded composing myself.
“Some people in this world are extraordinary, they have special spiritual powers,” I had no idea where he was going with this or what powers he was talking about, but the only superpower I had observed in the past few days was that of Christian. But I promptly reminded myself that I hadn’t witnessed any of his power myself. And as if he could hear my thoughts, he went on, “I’m sure you know about Christian’s powers. He wouldn’t get burned and all. But it’s not in his body. These powers have nothing to do with the bodies. His body is like any of us. These powers lie in the spirit of a person.”
I nodded suggesting that I totally get him. I was getting better at hiding my fear, confusion and all other emotions these days. Practice makes a man perfect as they say.
“Powers could be of any type, physical or mental. Christian’s is physical. People with these spirit powers are rare, and even those who are special don’t necessarily realize their powe
r,”
“What do you mean by realize their power?”
“It is believed that unless a person goes through unbearable tragedy and pain, he will not realize or trigger his power,” he continued in a low, earnest voice.
“You were trying to trigger my special power? Weren't you?” I asked squinting my eyes in suspicion.
“Yes, but I couldn’t lower myself to physically hurting you so…” He trailed off, looking ashamed of his actions.
“How did you know about it? Why did you need to do it?” I was getting restless; I wanted to know everything immediately. His revelations would throw light on one of the biggest mysteries of my life. Every minute that passed was grating at me. I was stuck at a crossroad where in a few minutes I’ll know if he ever loved me or not.
“Someone asked me to. I know I shouldn’t have agreed to such a savage thing, but I did anyway. But if it weren’t for me then he would have made someone else do it, and I can’t even bring myself to think what would have happened if…” He couldn’t face me now; his eyes were red, and his head was held down in shame. I wanted to take him in my arms and tell him it was okay and that I can forgive him. Because I love him. I could never stop myself from loving him even after everything he did or didn’t do.
“Who is he?” I asked bravely.
“A man I met in India. He wanted me to get you to realize your power and deliver you to him.”
“But why?”
“Because he wanted your power for himself.”
“What?”
“He has a very powerful and incredible power. He can suck spirit powers from people through physical contact. Like for example, if he met someone like Christian, he could hold his hand for a few hours and strip him of his power and put it in his spirit. He could become fireproof like Christian. And Christian will himself become as vulnerable to fire as you and me. He can rob people of their spirit powers and stash them in his spirit. He wanted to do this to you. Steal your power. But for that, you need to have triggered your power or else he wouldn’t be able to find it and could end up killing you.”