Strangers & Secrets

by Jai T J

  “Are we talking anything specific?” He asked, typing on the laptop.

  “I’m not interested in him but Mia asks me to meet him”

  “You know from your childhood you are always attracted to danger. Every time you got hurt and you grew stronger, sometimes stranger. But the real question, is there anything you want from him?”

  “Nothing. He is no use to me”

  “What about his house? You talked about suicide and is that house is your way of doing that?”

  “He is hiding something. Something about his past. I can’t find anything. The data are not proper and missing a long range of information”

  “What you can’t understand is usually what gets you killed. How are you going to proceed now?”

  “I don’t know. I’m not sure... Teach me”

  He looked at her, sweet shock in his face. “After all this year, now you are asking me to teach” He unplugged her phone and showed it to her. “Unlock it”

  She leaned and kissed on the phone screen. The tick mark icon appeared and display changed. He reconnected the phone and typed something before closing the lid of the laptop.

  “Go to the next phase” He said.

  “Manipulation?”

  “No, revelation. Tell a truth about yourself. See how he behaves after that. Analyze how he sees you for yourself”

  “He will run away”

  “Then see if he doesn’t disappoint you”

  She thought over his word quietly. She pushed herself off the floor and went straight down. Her black cloak came out of her and floated on the surface as she sunk deep.

  The house stood in front of her. The sprinkler sprayed revolving. She pulled the phone out of the burka and called him. The ringing sound went on and on. Finally, the call connected.

  “Hi” Devin said over the phone.

  “You are free now?”

  “The door is open, come on in”

  She put the phone back and walked inside the gate. She opened the door and entered. The living room was empty as same as the kitchen. She walked toward the hallway and heard a noise from her left. She saw a tiny passage which she hasn’t noticed before. She followed the path as it turned right and stopped. There was a door at the end and one on her right.

  She heard the noise from her side. The sliding door moved, and she saw a studio type room. Multiple white canvases were thrown at one corner and other end with some paintings. All the walls were of different patches, patterns, and colors like a child’s scribble.

  She saw Eva sitting on the stool. Devin was in front of her. She saw Devin dipping his brush into the color palette on his hand.

  Devin saw the black figure emerging behind Eva. “You are back”

  “I guess so” She pulled up the veil and saw a series of abstract artworks lying beside him.

  Eva turned and looked at her. The left side of her face, around the eye was covered with a floral pattern in red and white.

  “Hello, pretty pie” She said between her teeth, trying not to move her facial muscles.

  “Hello, Eva”

  “I’ve got something important to tell you” She hissed.

  “Me too”

  “What are you going to do this time?” Devin asked turning Eva’s face toward him and continued his work.

  “You are expecting something as usual?” She asked

  “Well, Apologizing doesn’t suit you”

  “You want me to make amends?”

  “It’s not up to me. Eva will tell what you should do”

  “Why are you doing that to her face?”

  Eva tried to turn.“Wait, almost done. Just a sec” He finished the border, tracing near her eyebrow and dropped the brush on the cup. He went and began searching something on one of the domino boxes.

  Eva jumped off and faced Yuleika with burning wing-like design above her cheek. “I have a project. I need to jubmit on Monday. Devin promij me he will help”

  “Project work, that sounds fun”

  “Yeah, that waj boring. Thaj why he did my pace”

  Devin came back with a hairdryer. He connected it on the plug, setting the temperature to cold and turned it on. “Hey, come here” He pulled Eva near him. He blow-dried the painting on her face.

  “So you are a painter?”

  “He ij an aaar-tis”

  “That’s right. I’m an aaaartist”

  Yuleika looked at the loads of painted canvas at the corner. She went toward and studied the various sketches and paintings. Various types of arts were lying around. From meaningless abstract painting to modern art, Natural scenarios to the portrait sketches evidently showing the enormous effort gone into it.

  She picked up a small black workpiece. The whole screen was black, covered with coal but erased parts brought the life to the picture. A house overlooking the top of a cliff with a leaf-less tree next to it like skeleton fingers stretching toward the house and a circularly erased part depicting the full moon and a tiny figure appeared to be jumping off the cliff.

  She kept it down and looked at the rest. “Which one would you say is your best work so far?”

  “You are in it” He said turning off the blow-dryer.

  She looked back at him before looking around the room. “You designed this house?”

  He nodded slowly.

  “That’s quite a lot of work”

  “We all do what we like”

  “Not me. Doing something we like is the root of evil”

  “What?”

  “Eva, why do you think bad people do bad things? Is it because they have to do, or they like doing it?”

  “They like doing it” She replied

  “You are really smart. We all do something no matter whether we like it or not”

  “That’s not true. We don’t have to simply comply just because we have to do”

  “I don’t like breathing but I have to do it and I’m doing it”

  “You don’t like breathing? You are really crazy”

  “Your verdiction doesn’t count. You never would have given a thought about liking your breathing, have you? You are just doing it throughout your life. Tell me I’m wrong. Have you ever thought about whether you like breathing?”

  Eva looked at him with curiosity. “Well... Yes. I like breathing”

  “You are a pathetic liar. I told you that already”

  “Hey, go and bring the bag. We’ll do the project now” He distracted Eva, and she ran out of the room at once.

  Yuleika went toward the drawing board and saw a portrait sketch of a woman on the stand. A round face of typical Indian feature with bangs on the front with hair flowing down the shoulder. “Who is she?”

  “Ah, that is something I’m working on. Wait, let me show you something. You might be able to guess” He went toward the shelf to his left and brought another sheet with him. “Can you tell now?” He showed the sketch of another woman facing upward to her right.

  They both looked alike. Same facial structure except this woman’s hair was not freestyle but little messy with a comb on top of bun giving a bridal look.

  “I’ll give you a hint. They are not the same”

  “Oh, twins”

  “I’m not sure of that. I asked and most people were not sure and some were denying”

  “I think I’ve seen this face somewhere”

  “You might have if you heard a little bit about Hindu mythology”

  “I was told I’m Hindu by your government because I was born in a Hindu family. So another thing I had to be for a while, without my concern. There is the another example for doing because having to”

  “Fine” He sighed. “The one on the stand is Hindu goddess Lakshmi and this is goddess Saraswathi”

  “They look alike?”

  “Most places. Without their usual attire and equipment, it’s hard to recognize them”

  “Maybe it was all a concept and ideas rather than the face” She said.

  “No, no. It’s about face too.
You can’t expect a foreigner to be one’s god. My god has to look like me but more beautiful and powerful but has to be like me. That’s the unwritten law”

  “I’m sensing resentment”

  “No resentment. Just pure hatred”

  “I got something for you” She pulled out a square box from the pocket and handed it over to him.

  He opened it and saw a new leather belt. “I figured you wouldn’t be wearing that belt after what I used it to tie. So, this is untouched”

  “I’m sorry about that. I promise I’ll use that if you return it”

  “It’s been turned into ashes. I can try to give that if you want”

  “You are really a witch lady, aren’t you?”

  She looked at him from the corner of her eyes. “Careful with your words, You might lose your tongue”

  Eva’s voice came from the hallway.

  “What?” Devin yelled as he dropped the hair dryer into the box next to him.

  Only her voice came, but he couldn’t understand the words. “Wait, I’m coming” He said leaving the studio.

  “- HEAVY” Eva shouted as he went to the hall. She was dragging her heavy school bag and carrying a huge coke cola bottle on her hand.

  “Take one at a time. Leave it, I’ll take the bag”

  He took the bag as she strolled away with almost half her size bottle. When he passed the kitchen, he saw Senandra standing on the top of the stairs. She was holding a green apple using both her hand, in front of her belly. It rolled over and fell onto the stairs. The apple came down, hitting each wooden stair with thudding sound and finally, it fell near his feet. When he looked up, she wasn’t there.

  He picked it up and went back to his studio room. When he entered, he saw Yuleika has removed her black overcoat. She was in full sleeve white and black striped sweater with a gray long flare skirt.

  Maybe it was seeing Senandra before coming or maybe it was that skirt’s curvy waistband raised a quick question in his brain. He noticed Yuleika’s belly protruding little bit outwards.

  He stopped staring when he noticed she was staring back at him. “Are you pregnant?”

  She looked at her tummy. “I worked really hard to get this. It takes lots of time to get the perfect bump” When she turned and faced him, her skirt’s waistline and the broad stripes on her tops made a slight smiley curve.

  “OK. That’s sexy, I guess” He said unsure about his response.

  “Me too, jegjy” Eva said rubbing her belly, pushing forward.

  “Come on. show me what you have to do?” He said to Eva.

  “Take thijh” She began handing over a box of crayon, few stencils, mockup stickers, and a rolled chart paper.

  “Where are those craft works?”

  “Ij in your room”

  “Go and take it”

  “No, you go and take it. I need to ijpeak with her”

  He stood there thinking over the idea of leaving a child with the woman who comes and goes like a character from a horror novel.

  “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to her” Yuleika reassured him but that just made it worse in his mind.

  He left reluctantly and hurried to his room. He searched in his desk, the side table and finally he found out what he was looking for. He strode out of his room.

  When he came back, Eva was giggling with her hands covering the mouth but Yuleika was standing there with a straight face and chart in her hand.

  “Why are you laughing?”

  “Nothing” Eva said and opened the coke bottle.

  Yuleika showed the chart. Multiple clouds and chat bubbles of color papers were stuck and each carrying a half-written messages. The top cloud next to mountain sketch read: “There is a woman behind every successful man but there is a man behind every... ” and the rest followed a similar pattern – “practice makes men perfect but for women... ”. The statement became stronger, questioning morality and religion as he reached the bottom bubble.

  “What is this?”

  “That’s the last week project. My teacher jed thijh haj no meaning. Jo jhe rejected mine”

  “Who gave you this idea?”

  “You did”

  “When did I give this?”

  “All the time. Thoje Jupid line you only tell. Everything about men, men, men... practij makej men perfect, blah blah men. Thatj when I got thij idea”

  “I told you, she is brilliant”

  “Is that what you were thinking when I taught you those?”

  “So you bore everyone with your philosophies” Yuleika said sitting down on the chair.

  “What the hell is this?” He picked a thin, Barbie doll with a noose around its neck from her bag.

  “Oh, that was the game we were playing”

  “This is wrong”

  “Yes, that is wrong” Yuleika added. “That’s not how you make a noose. Bring that rope, I’ll teach you how to make a proper hangman’s knot” She said pointing to the ropes rolled in the box.

  “Hey, don’t spoil her” He removed the string from its neck and threw back the doll.

  “You don’t give refreshment to the guest?” Yuleika asked.

  He exhaled shaking his head. “What would you like, a glass of AB negative perhaps?”

  “Anything that takes more than 5min to prepare is fine”

  “Please don’t teach her wrong things”’

  “A good teacher teaches the right way of doing and it’s consequences of bad action”

  “Who is boring with philosophy now?” He said leaving them.

  He returned back quietly after few minutes. Yuleika was holding the back of Eva’s head on one hand and the other grabbing the loop near the knot. The noose was tight around Eva’s neck, and she was holding the loops with both her hands like the prisoner who got the death sentence.

  “You understand?” Yuleika said loosening the knot.

  Eva nodded slowly before looking at him.

  “Are you done?” He asked standing at the door.

  “We can do ‘tell you what’” Eva said between her teeth, sucking the chocolate milkshake out of the straw. They all were in the backyard, under the big umbrella.

  “Ah, no. This will become the last time we see her if we play that”

  “What is it?” Yuleika asked taking a sip from the coffee.

  “Come on. It will be fun. Pleaje pretty pie. We used to play thij with my mom and now jhe is not playing anymore. Pleeeeij, can we do it?”

  “What is it?”

  “Pleeeeij, promij me. You told me we should do something new every day. Pleeeeij”

  “OK. I give you my words”

  “Yay” Eva cheered raising her arm. “Wait, I’ll get the bowl”

  “Hey, careful on the street”

  “I’m not a little girl” She yelled running on the side of his house, kicking back her tiny legs.

  Yuleika kept her half emptied cup down. “So, what am I getting into?”

  “It’s nothing. That’s just some silly game”

  “I’m not talking about the game” She said looking at her cup.

  “Then?”

  “Where is she?”

  “Why are you interested in her?”

  “Why am I not seeing her?”

  “You are not answering my questions”

  “You are not either”

  “She has become little more unusual”

  “Did she hurt you?”

  “No, she promised me that. It’s just... she is looking for the next help after me”

  “And she thinks I will be her next pawn?”

  “No, she talks like she knew it already. Remember the first time when you ran out of this house, I said you were the key and now she agrees with me. What exactly happened in her room that day?”

  “She didn’t say anything. She just showed me something I have forgotten for a long time” She thought over what else happened in that room. Everything in her began to change drastically from that day, from that meeting. She b
egan to feel uncomfortable and rose abruptly. “I am - ”