Caged

by Onaiza Khan

  “Maybe he thought…,” I started but didn’t feel like completing the sentence. I didn’t want to give away everything I had. I thought that maybe Daniel suspected that Christian had something like Yousuf. Sucking powers from others can give you more powers. If that were true, I might be strolling with the biggest danger in my life.

  Then I reminded myself that I had doubted Daniel based on the information I got from Christian. If Christian really is the villain, then Daniel is not. I built logic that not everyone can be a bad guy. Rhon, Daniel, Christian, Yousuf. Not all of them can be villains. And to fight the real villains I needed to find the good guys and get them on my side.

  Christian’s phone rang, and he mouthed ‘be back in a minute’ and started walking away. I was staring at him continuously trying to figure out who he was talking to, why so much secrecy. He claims not to have a girlfriend but who then is on the call. A chameleon suddenly jumped at my feet and alarmed me. I started marching backward trying to jerk it away when I realized there was no ground under my feet.

  I fell from a cliff, but I immediately found a rock to hold on to and another to step on. I managed to balance myself before wailing, and Christian turned up in a minute. “Oh crap, how did you?”

  He was smart enough not to waste time in asking questions as he caught hold of a tree branch and stepped down to help me. He had no ropes and most likely no plans either. He tried to give me a hand, but I couldn’t move mine in response. If I left even one hold out of the four, I’d lose balance and fall. I wanted to tell him that but with my body being stretched out like a rubber band; my mouth was unable to make a sound.

  “Gimme your hand, come on try Noor. At least try,” he growled at me, and I did try. I tried to carry myself a little upwards to hold his hand so that I could take his support. First, I struggled to find a foothold around where my thigh was. Then, once I found one, I fixed my left foot in it. A little more balanced, I stretched my right hand towards Christian. He stooped down and grabbed hold of it just as the branch snapped.

  The branch he was holding onto broke, and he came tumbling down. He gushed downwards with lightning speed crushing my right arm and sweeping my entire support on the right side. I barely managed to hold on as I looked back at him yelling his name.

  Chapter 22

  I felt a strange power coursing through my veins. In a matter of minutes, I had maneuvered to climb back and as I reached the top of the cliff I sighed. I turned around trying very hard to locate Christian, but I couldn’t see anything through the morning fog.

  But how did I climb back up so easily?

  I realized Rhon had entered my spirit and empowered me to do something that was a piece of cake for him. Born in the mountains, he could climb any cliff unscathed. I wanted to thank Rhon with all my heart if only I could enter the stone. But then again I asked myself, how did I know it was Rhon that saved me? My power was probably back. I wanted to lunge right into the stone, but first I wanted to make sure Christian was alright.

  I concentrated on Christian, and I saw him lying in some woods on his back bathed in blood, but he was conscious and breathing. I was relieved conceiving that he’d heal soon and will be back to get me. I removed the necklace from my neck and placed it on my palm.

  Ready.

  Steady.

  Go.

  Nothing happened. I was sitting exactly where I was. On the cliff. I was expecting to see the palace or the other mountains where Rhon’s house was. But nothing materialized. I had already lost all hope when I heard his voice from the back.

  “That was dangerous.”

  “Rhon,” I turned around to face him, and then I went blank. I didn’t know what to say. He had just saved my life, but I didn’t plan to trust him. What was I supposed to say then?

  “Are you alright, friend?” he said sauntering towards me.

  “Yes, I’m fine. I’m good. What did you just do to me?”

  “I merged my spirit with yours to help you get out of there.”

  “And how did you do that?”

  “I don’t know. My spirit has a habit of slipping. Following my heart. I wanted to help you. Save you. So it just jumped right into you. But I was careful to exit as soon as possible.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “You don’t know. Do you?”

  “Know what?”

  “If I had stayed in your body any longer, you’d have lost control. One body cannot bear the weight of two souls. At least not for long.”

  “Thanks, Rhon. Thank you for saving my life. I’ll leave now.”

  “Sure. Take care Noor.”

  “Yeah, you too. Oh, I’m sorry you’re dead. I mean I don’t know what to say.”

  “A goodbye should do.”

  “Goodbye.”

  And I came back to reality but since it was just the same place I didn’t feel much of a difference. I had a lot of questions and not enough time before Christian turned up. So I started with him.

  Christian’s intentions.

  Christian’s intentions turned out to be all about genuinely helping me and every word he had told me was true. I remembered I had checked on his intentions before and found them in my favor. But all the stress, weakness and the loss of power had made my faith waver. I carried on the investigation.

  He had no idea about his dual power and wasn’t even intrigued. He wasn’t hiding anything, but yes he did have two different powers. But as long as he was my friend, I didn’t have to worry about his mechanical defects. And also, I couldn’t strain my mind too much, so I decided to move on to Rhon.

  Rhon had never lied in his whole life nor did he ever cheat anyone. I stopped myself there and moved on to Daniel.

  I braced myself to dive into his mind when I heard Christian bellowing. “Oh boy, are you alright?” he was panting with his words barely understandable.

  “I’m fine. I climbed back. I’m sorry; you had to go through all that for me. I saw you down there. All this blood. Are you okay now?” I jumped placing my hands on his shoulders. This was the first time I witnessed the power of Christian. He was soaked in blood, but his body was free of any mark.

  “I’m fine. It did hurt like hell, though,” he pulled me into a hug, and I stayed there still without moving, taking in the fragrance of fresh blood. Daniel can wait I told myself. Now that I know I do have a friend, I should thank God for it.

  We went back home laughing at something, but the accident had clearly had a huge impact on Christian. This was the most serious accident he’d ever been in after his parents’ death. The grip of fear hadn’t lost its hold on me either. But we both tried to hide our emotions from each other.

  And our casual conversations stumbled on to a strange topic ‘God.’

  “There’s no God. It’s all a hoax you know,” he grunted, and his fake humor was gone too.

  “Do you know who invented the telephone?” I asked him casually.

  “Some Bell, Graham Bell I believe. Wait; are you getting at something through general knowledge stuff. Like you did with Kann Trichan?” he murmured.

  “Haha, you know me so well Christian. And by the way, yeah it was Graham Bell. Do you think his contributions are significant?” I asked.

  “Yes, so?”

  “So why did you decide not to acknowledge the one who made Bell and Edison and Newton and you,” I questioned, halting him and looking up into his eyes.

  “Probably because he killed my parents. I don’t know,” he returned in a hoarse voice.

  “What happened? How did they…” I didn’t need his help anymore in finding out anything, but he needed to get it all out for once. Living in pain isn’t easy at all. Christian had given me reasons to smile and laugh. I probably couldn’t do that. But I could allow him to cry for once and be there for him.

  “It was an accident. That’s all.”

  “Tell me more,” I sighed. He didn’t know that my power was back, so I played at genuine curiosity and concern. I just wanted to get him to talk. I didn’
t want my only friend to stay locked up in his personal hell. All alone.

  “It was my birthday. We’d gone out for dinner, and on our way back we had an accident. I didn’t even realize when and how it all happened. Suddenly the car was going sideways and then it overturned on its side,” he perched on a rock on the way and gazed towards the sky. “I remember my mom screaming. I was in the back seat so I couldn’t see my dad. But I can imagine how horrified his expressions would be. That face haunts me even now. All this power that I have now, this strength. I wish I had it then so I wouldn’t just be a liability. Oh Noor, how much I hate myself for that,” he sobbed burying his face in his hands.

  I sat in front of him trying to release his face from his strong palms and looking into his eyes I said, “It’s alright Christian. LET GO OF THE PAIN. You deserve to be happy,” I could feel a tear rolling down my cheek, but I hadn’t realized that I had compelled Christian into letting go of the pain.

  He very abruptly rose, wiping his tears with a smile forming in the corner of his lips saying, “You’re right, it’s okay. I can’t keep crying over it like a child,” only then it struck me. I had done a noble job with that necklace. Although I wasn’t entirely sure about the nobility part, I was happy that Christian was happy.

  We walked back home without another incident, and I went to my room which was apparently Christian’s room as he had to spend the two nights on the couch in the living room.

  It was still late morning, and I had to spend the whole day in Newfoundland. And before I left for Yukon the next morning, I had to find out everything about Daniel and be sure about his intentions. A part of me didn’t want to know. Again my hopeless love was proving to be a pain in the neck. Now that I had my power, it was very easy to do it. And yet it was very hard as my heart was aching for him to be on my side. I had accepted my father to be the bad guy but Daniel. It would crush me now. Now that the hope of being with him had rekindled.

  But fortunately for me, his love for me was as strong and passionate as mine for him. That was all I needed, but I tried to reason with myself and inquired about Christian’s revelations a little bit more. How could Daniel see Christian at a party at around 11 pm when he stayed with me after 8 pm every night.

  Yousuf had placed a memory in his mind of seeing Christian save that girl from the fire. Daniel was perplexed at it and was constantly questioning the credibility of that memory, but he was so hell bent on helping me that he decided to take the risk and picked Christian up from the street and got him straight home.

  That was huge. Yousuf’s power of placing memories in someone else’s mind scared me to the core. Daniel never told me about it. He might not have known. Or else he wouldn’t have been fooled by it.

  There was so much to know about Yousuf. And to fight him, the first things I needed to know was his strength, his powers, his people, his plans and his networks. The idea of diving into his world was tempting, but I thought I'd take a break. I didn’t need another burnout. So I stopped right there.

  Chapter 23

  I spent most of the afternoon gazing out the window. In the evening I decided I’ll go talk to Christian’s grandparents. I’d been a really bad guest till now. They were very happy to see me behaving normally and made me feel welcome. We got talking, and I also helped grandma in the kitchen. She told me how important Christian was for them. He was all they had.

  Christian is only a part-time conman by the way, he’s actually a farmer and works for his grandpa on a salary.

  Grandpa is very fond of chess and hockey. He also tried to teach me chess after dinner but I couldn’t get the hold of it. Anyways I was just happy watching him kicking Christian’s ass.

  Grandma makes the world’s best fish and chips. That night I ate more than Christian. He was pretty offended.

  Grandma is worried about Christian’s marriage. It is all she thinks about. And Christian just ignores her. Then I asked him about it, “Why don’t you get married now, you’re over thirty.”

  “I don’t mind getting married, I just can’t stand girls and their tantrums,” he gave me back.

  “You did fall for one,” I whispered to which he glared and shushed me.

  Christian will be Christian after all.

  The next morning when I landed in Yukon, Daniel was waiting for me at the airport. I was expecting him to come and lift me up in his arms but, then I realized my kiss the other day hadn’t made any impression. He was as cold and expressionless as before. But he did care for me, I reminded myself, which is why he had slipped the necklace into my bag. Just like Rhon had slipped into the necklace in the first place. Because he cared for the princess. Loved her. I couldn’t help but compare Daniel with Rhon. They were pretty similar. Closed up. And secretly romantic.

  We had some time before we went to India. Daniel had already applied for the visa and, as soon as we got it, we’d be gone. Now that I’m back home, that is all I can think about. About India, about home and Yousuf. In my mind, I always call him dad but now I'm training myself to call him by his name. The waiting period doesn’t seem very pacifying but this time is very crucial for me. I have to find out how I can fight Yousuf. And I’m doing this pretty well these days. I meditate every day and have fixed a time for using my spirit power too. Even if I don’t have anything else to do, I want to use my power rationally. No burnouts. No power cuts. Not anymore.

  But it’s not all so easy, spending these days in the same house brings back the dark memories of those three months. The pain, the hatred and the fear. I asked Alba, “When I was kept here by force, when I couldn’t step out of that door, all I could think about was going out, but now, when I can do whatever I want, go wherever I want, why don’t I feel like going out, or even leaving this room? When I was trapped here without knowing what my future held for me, I still cared about French toast and roast chicken. But now food tastes like soil and ashes. When I hated Daniel, when I wanted to get rid of him, he came to me every day. But now that I want him, now that I'm always dying to see him, he doesn’t show me his face for days. I don’t know if I was caged then or I’m caged now.”

  She didn’t utter a word. Obviously. I keep talking to her about my problems and keep compelling her to forget. It’s a daily chore now. In fact, I have fixed a time for talking to her too. Four in the afternoon. It's like a therapy session.

  Today, I also talked to Rhon. He said he’s bored living in a little necklace all these years. The only thing that is satisfying is that this necklace has touched her skin. Hopeless romantic. I teased him but then he reminded me of my foolish hopes for Daniel when technically he was hurting me. So I shut up.

  I asked him if he could teach me to fight. Physically. He said he would, and, I’ve decided to spend as much time with him as possible. He would train me to fight which I found out would be of great help to me. Rhon and I both have a lot of time to kill, so it’s a great idea. We’re starting my training from tomorrow onwards.

  And Daniel, well he does have a job supervising a factory 40 kilometers from home. So he still follows his 8 to 8 schedule. And on weekends he only sweeps the library for some books and reads them. No talking or anything. I feel guilty for Daniel. Caught up in our family drama he had to do such things that he can’t face himself. He doesn’t even sleep in this room anymore. He sleeps somewhere downstairs.

  He is just like before. Like in New York. Less talking. Except now I don’t see him smiling or blushing. And when I wake up in the mornings, I don’t find him sitting at the dining table in my room. These things hurt me a little. Sometimes I crave to see him reading but, he does all that in his own room.

  He had asked me if I wanted cable, but I had denied. I have always loved TV and movies but, after what happened with watching Lost, I don’t want any constant tugging at my mind for unimportant things. My goals should be my only concern right now.

  The next day I started my training, but I wasn’t doing very well. We were practicing in an open field near a lake. Rhon tried very hard
to make me concentrate and replicate his movements. At the end of the session, I did learn to jump a little higher than normal. When I yanked out of the necklace and Rhon’s world, I felt exhausted, even when I had done all the training in my mind. Physically I was just lying in bed. I also practiced after coming out. I went over everything Rhon taught me at least twice in a day.

  Days passed, and I got better, I could jump really high, lunge at someone’s chest, throw a punch, and I even managed to knock Rhon out twice.

  After a long and tiring day when I was just brooding over my practice sessions sinking in a chair holding The Stranger in my hand, the door opened.

  “I’m buying the tickets for tomorrow if that’s okay with you,” Daniel stated.

  It took me a while to take it in. Tomorrow? I have to go to India tomorrow. Face my monster father… Risk my life tomorrow. But I brushed all those fears away.

  “Tomorrow is perfect.”

  Chapter 24

  We landed in Mumbai and were supposed to take a connecting flight to Delhi. That’s where my father is. We’re meeting him in an abandoned property outside Delhi that he had bought ten years ago. People called that place haunted and so he had got a lot of concessions in money. But never did he use that place saying it’s cursed. Now I know what or who is cursed.

  “Wait, Daniel, I have to go somewhere, I mean we have to…” I clutched his arm. He looked into my eyes and I really couldn't tell what he saw but his expressions softened a little. But he managed to get out of the moment instantly.

  “We have a flight to catch Noor. What are you talking about?”

  “This is important Daniel, very, very important, come on let's go,” I started dragging him outside. There were a lot of awkward silences shared by the both of us these days so every word that we said to each other meant more than just words.