“Now do you agree that some people deserve the death sentence?” I literally jumped at that. How could I have forgotten? How could I have thought the nightmare had gone for good? It was with a deep sigh that I turned around to look straight into the devilish baby face.
“What more do you want to see? What more do you wish to see happen before you finally accept the truth?” “The truth…” Both Goldy and I exclaimed together.
“The truth that some people are a horrible waste of oxygen…”
“No one deserves death…”
Even before they left my mouth, the words felt hollow. The kind of stupid ideal that only exists in a land of rainbows and fairies. No…No…I simply couldn’t…No… There was no way I could take a life.
I gasped, suddenly realizing the selfishness of my line of thought. I didn’t want to take a life…Not just because I was opposed to taking a life but because I didn’t want to commit such a great sin…Me…It was all about me…All…
“Selfish…How selfish can you be?” A horribly childish smile curled the Red’s face. Goldy jumped a little and moved closer to me…She looked so faded and sad. Had she had the same thought as me? I think so…The guilty and shocked expression in her eyes told me so.
“ We are not going to kill anyone…” I said firmly.
“If you want people to die…Do it yourself!” said Goldy.
“Oh I would have!” The Red retorted in a mocking sing song voice. “I certainly can but…” “Stop…”
“But that doesn’t mean I can’t cause any mischief.”
Mischief! I shuddered. The word had such horrible connotations when said by the Red as it sucked its tiny thumb. It’s babyish grin widened at my obvious surprise and revulsion.
“And my idea of mischief is very different from your silly, childish pranks.”
“What did you do? What…” Goldy asked quickly. “I didn’t mess with these goody-goody guys so you can calm the heck down!” “What did you do?”
“I made a certain person blurt out a certain unpleasant truth…”
“No…” I said slowly, my eyes glancing mechanically at Shiva. “Do…”
“Do you think it won’t have happened if I hadn’t instigated it? Such naivety…I just speeded up the inevitable…” I would have liked to have kicked, screamed and yelled…But what use? All the damage, if there could be anymore, was done. I just didn’t want to hear the rest… No…
“Why don’t you two losers go ahead to Nandan’s house and see?”
Goldy and I glanced at each other. I felt a horribly sinking feeling in my chest. Ripple effect… “You fucking monster!” Goldy exclaimed. “You fuck with people’s minds and…” The Red remained unfazed. It smiled smiled slightly and crooned like a baby.
“That was so mean of you, dear…I can’t create emotions that aren’t already there…I can only awaken sleeping emotions. Dear Shivani must have already wanted them all dead…And Nandan…”
“And Nandan…”
“He must have been tired of that emptyheaded prettyface for quite a while.”
CHAPTER 27
As we rushed over to Nandan’s house, my mind was in a whirl. Breaking up their relationship had been part of our plan in the beginning…and we did have quite a lot of fun playing pranks on the unsuspecting Nandan…but…Something about breaking them apart had felt wrong to me. The two of them had more character flaws than I could count but I did believe that they cared for one another. To tear it apart like that in the name of vengeance…
“This is so horrid…” Goldy murmured as we stopped at the front door. “I know we had wanted this…” Just then the door opened and Nandan’s father stepped out. A cloud of happiness enveloped him, so much that it was intoxicating. An army of Yellows followed him, forming a glittering tail. I s
“Thank goodness the charity girl is out of the way.” I heard him mutter as he passed me. Goldy shot me a significant look. I nodded grimly. The money scale…It was curious how many people around used it to measure people and how many times it had let them down. Do these people learn after the first let down? Of course not…They are let down again and again and again.
Inside it was all quiet except for the butler humming joyously. The door to Nandan’s room was closed. His mobile was ringing...The cheerful ringtone sounded really depressing. The sad cry of someone calling a loved one back.
Goldy’s hand went for the door handle. She held it for a minute and bit her lip. “We wanted to do this, didn’t we? Why do we feel so awful now that it’s done?” “Would we have done it in the end?”
As Goldy pulled the door open, the first thing I saw was Nandan’s cellphone. Anasuya’s face smiled at me from the screen along with the words “Anu calling.” A few days ago Nandan would have picked it up at the first ring. But now…he simply stared out of his window, not even turning back to look if the caller was somebody other than Anasuya.
“What’s going to happen now?” Goldy asked slowly just as the cellphone stopped ringing.
“I honestly don’t know.”
The ring started again…Anasuya’s face lit up the screen. I did not like Anasuya. But, The ring started again…Anasuya’s face lit up the screen. I did not like Anasuya. But,
VIBGYOR at the moment I felt desperately sorry for her. Without thinking of what I’m doing or even if I should be doing such a thing in the first place, I just went ahead and answered it. And put it on speaker too. What good it would do? I had absolutely no idea. But I did know that problems weren’t resolved with icy silences.
“Nandan! Please don’t hang up…I just…”
Nandan turned around startled. He stared at his phone that was still shouting in Anasuya’s voice. “I admit it Nandan. I was silly. But how could I not be? You were speaking up for her…You were disturbed and angry that she was with someone else…Why should you be if you don’t care for her?”
Nandan bit his lip. He walked towards the phone as if he was in a dream. Meanwhile, Anasuya’s shouts had dissolved into tears. “Are you so tired of me that you just wanted an excuse to ditch me? Are you? That’s what your Dad told me I came over…If there is any truth in that please…please tell me to get lost…At least tell me that much…Please…”
I thought I saw Nandan’s hands tremble a bit when he picked up the phone but his voice was cold and distant.
“Anasuya…” He said. “I loved you…once…Please don’t prove to me again and again that it had been a mistake.”
There was silence at the other end. For a moment I thought she had hung up. But then quite suddenly, her voice, soft and barely audible spoke.
“So you agree with your father’s assessment. I’m a emptyheaded, pretty faced gold digger?” “You are silly and empty headed.”
“I’m sorry it took you this long to realize that.”
A quickly stifled sob…I wondered if Nandan heard it. Or if he knew just how insecure and vulnerable the love of his life is…The question was almost immediately answered.
“I’m surprised you never understood it yourself.”
Goldy snorted in disgust. “Didn’t waste any time rubbing it in, did he?”
“You’ve been thinking that for years haven’t you? That’s I’m worthless….That… That I’m…” She cried…I wish I could say it gave me pleasure…I wish I could say I rejoiced in She cried…I wish I could say it gave me pleasure…I wish I could say I rejoiced in
her pain and the bitter punishment she received. But I didn’t…I…All I could see was the last ray of hope a girl held onto being snatched away.
“Anasuya…After the things you said to me last night…”
“What else should I have said? Why can’t you let her be? Let her live her life and be with whoever she wants to be with.”
Nandan reached out for his phone. Slowly he pressed the dreaded red button and immediately after the call was disconnected he turned it off.
“Jolly good show, isn’t it?”
I turned around shaking my
head. The Red’s giggled looking first at an uncomfortable Goldy and then at me. “That was a low down thing to do!” Goldy said hotly.
“Do you really have to play fair with these kind of people?”
“This is not the right way to retaliate.” I said slowly.
The Red’s smile widened. Widened and widened till the ends of it’s lips touched its years. A horrifying version of a clown mask. It spun around its head again and again, faster and faster, till Goldy and I, sick of watching it, begged it to stop. Could’t we have looked away? Of course not…Not when the Red held us frozen to the spot with its powers.
“You were quite ready to do this yourself but when I do it you go all prim and proper on me.” She pouted. “Couple of hypocrites.” “We wouldn’t have…” Goldy began indignantly but the Red cut her short. “How exactly did you plan to punish the people responsible for ruining Shivan’s life?” It asked coldly. “Could either of you enlighten me? Maybe a good for nothing yellow like you wouldn’t care less but what about you Violet? Have you decided to travel the path of eternal wandering?”
I tried to act as if it didn’t matter, tried hard to ignore what she was saying but a tiny voice in my mind kept saying, “You just didn’t think of that, did you?” And the Red could sense the direction my thoughts were taking…I was sure of that. The amused but spiteful look in her eyes said so. “You know Violet, you are getting a bit too caught up in this human drama. You forget that none of them, except Shivani, matters to you…And that your future…or rather your final peace rests upon her happiness. You helping her get her revenge…”
“I…”
“She will never be happy if you let a couple of assholes mess up her life…” “I…”
“You are an idiot if you can’t see it yet. You are beyond naive if you continue to try see a nonexistent speck of goodness in these people.”
“It’s not nonexistent!” I cried out.
“Really? Then can you tell be the good character traits of people like Nandan and Anasuya…Any excuse for why they should be forgiven for their…” “I did not say that they should be forgiven.”
“Isn’t that what you are doing now?”
“They will get their punishment in due course…”
The Red laughed at this. Her cruel little giggles echoed in the silent room. Cute like the sound of wind chimes but menacing like gunshots. “Your simplicity…” she said. “It astounds me my dear Violet…How ridiculously good this world would turn out to be if Karma caught up and wiped away all the bad wicked people. Would there be spirits like you and me in this world, Violet, if that actually happened?”
I sighed and turned away, feeling as if each fresh word from the Red was a heavy load on my head. There was truth in them, I would be a fool to deny it. Yet…There was also so much wrong. I firmly believed that people like Nandan and Anasuya should be punished but now, after all these days I spent in the human world, watching them, I felt that it wasn’t up to me to dictate their punishment. Humans make their own punishment. They always do.
“Also…have you thought what you would do when you no longer have the company of your lovely sidekick? Or are you blind to the fact that her time on earth is waning?”
I closed my eyes trying to ignore the horrible sinking feeling in my chest. Why? Why was I letting the Red stand there and hit all of my vulnerable spots? Go…Just go away…
“”I know that I am close to leaving.”
What! My eyes sprang open at the calm voice. Goldy was facing the Red. There was no bitterness or regret in her voice but a sense of peace. “I have seen Shakti look at me with sad eyes. I know how much she will miss me when I’m gone.” Goldy continued, ignoring the Red’s sneers. “I’m happy just knowing that. I want her to do what she believes in and not moan and pine about me.” “I am not talking about you leaving naturally, my dear dear Yellow…” The Red snorted. “What if you suddenly vanished like a flash of lightening because of something unfortunate?”
It was as if the whole world still. I recognized in Red the vile human who would threaten another with a weapon. Who would kidnap little children and squeeze the parents dry. Instinctively, I pushed Goldy behind me and faced the Red, bracing myself for an attack.
“Don’t be foolish.” The Red burst into laughter. “I am not going to murder her! And, of course, we spirits can’t do that. I am merely suggesting that you could lose her to unfortunate events.”
She strode to the door, grinning all over the face. “And I believe that a chain of unfortunate events have already been set in motion.” The room and me felt hollow and empty after the Red was gone. Her words of parting hung in the air like poisonous smog, which was killing Goldy and me the more we took it in. We looked at each other, somehow unable to put into words the whirlwind of thoughts in our heads. Nandan too was silent. He sat on the bed with a bend head, a trembling hand gripping the cellphone. The light came on the blank screen. After a few minutes it took for the phone to comeback to life, it rang…Anasuya’s smiling face came back on the screen.
“Anu…” Nandan said, as soon as he answered the phone. Why do you insist on making this more difficult for me than it has to be?” I immediately touched the phone to be greeted by Anasuya’s sorrowful voice. “Why are you letting me go then? Why do you insist on showing me the door?”
“Because…” For a moment, Nandan’s voice faltered. But he got a hold of himself almost immediately. “ You aren’t good for me Anu…And…”
“Put me down in the list of charity girls, have you?”
“No…I didn’t mean that…You shouldn’t have said all those things to me Anu…I thought you knew me better than that…”
“So you think you deserve better than me, is it so Nandan?” She asked. Her voice was choked as if she was holding back tears.
“I just don’t want us to fall apart after marriage…That won’t be good for either of us…” Amidst the silence that followed, I heard an almost inaudible sob. Nandan didn’t however and he went on with a steely determination.
“I know you are sad now, Anu, I really do.But maybe after sometime apart, you’ll realize that…”
“You and I are not meant to be together…” Anasuya said slowly. There was a note of resignation in her voice.
“Yes…” Tears brimmed Nandan’s eyes as that word escaped from his lips. But he wiped them away quickly and when he spoke again not a trace of them could be found in his voice.
“Goodbye…Anu…”
“Goodbye…”
Nandan hung up. After one wistful glance at the cellphone, he went back to the window. Hope was drifting out and despair sinking in. I had no idea why I conjured a sentence so melodramatic but it described the feeling that prevailed in the room. The phone rang again…Just one more time but it didn’t lead to any conversation. Nandan picked it up, of course, but only Anasuya spoke. In a pain filled voice that was choked by tears.
“I didn’t expect you to do this to me…I’m sorry if I disappointed you, Nandan. I’m sorry if I failed to meet your expectations.” And that was it. The call was hung up on the other end. Nandan threw the phone on the bed in frustration and went back to the window. I held my breath, waiting for continuous rings and endless arguments but it didn’t happen.
Anasuya didn’t call again. It was six days later that I saw the news. One among the dozens of dead whose photos appeared in the pages of the newspaper was her’s. Anasuya…The beautiful, empty headed, petty Anasuya was found hanging in her bedroom. She hadn’t left a suicide note.
CHAPTER 28
Shiva gasped audibly when she saw it. She called out to her mother and told her the news but there was no malice nor ghoulish excitement in her voice. Just shock and perhaps the tiniest bit of curiousity.
“Fool…” I heard her murmur before folding the paper. I could hardly believe it myself. The photo…A beautiful shot of Anasuya in a sari, was the same one that popped up in Nandan’s cellphone when she called. Had she called him again before making
this horrible decision? Or had that heartbroken voice been the last time she…
“In mourning, are you?”
“What do you want?” I looked at the Red, standing right in front of me, with distaste. “Why are you so sad at the death of a girl who made the life of Shivani hell?”
“I don’t rejoice in death.” I spat out. “How different are you, Red, from these people you claim to despise?” The Red didn’t move for sometime. Her tiny eyes glared at me with hatred ready to burst out and burn me into ashes. I braced myself for whatever she had in store for me.
But all she did was laugh. The babyish giggles echoed in the room, somehow more chilling than her anger.
“Dear Violet…” She cooed. “Before you critique my behaviour and rip it to shreds, why don’t you take a look at your own behaviour?”
“What?”
“How different are you from humans? You allow yourself to be swayed by sympathy and empathy…You naively try to find good in terrible human beings like Anasuya…” “Forgive me if I can’t hate everyone.”
Her smile widened. The tiny eyes lit up as they surveyed me as if I was a strange specimen in a zoo.
“Miss. Goody two shoes…” She said sweetly. “Allow me to ask you one simple question. ” “What?”
“If you allow your foolish heart to produce sympathy for even the vilest kind of humans…How do you intend to help Shivani? My dear…Even in the most happy endings someone gets hurt. “
And she was gone. At the same moment, Goldy came down from upstairs. She was pale as death.
“Shakti….We have a problem.” It was that very afternoon that trouble came to our doorstep. Or rather…made a grand entrance in the smuggest way possible. Mr. Raghunath greeted him at the front door. He too looked really pleased about something.
“I think Raghu, that our woes are finally over.”
Mr.Raghunath nodded and, with a rather grand gesture invited Nandan’s Dad in. The guest was, in the politest terms, asked to take a seat.
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