Strangers & Secrets

by Jai T J

  The door opened and they both went inside. Part of her long gown was outside the door. Eva ran toward them and picked up the cloth with her both hand. She walked inside and dropped it on the side of her feet. Before he could reach, the door began to close.

  “Hey, wait –”

  The doors closed completely and the down arrow beamed.

  Oh, no, no, no, no Devin wandered around, searching for the familiar car in the parking lot. His phone began to ring. He took it out and saw Mara’s name on the screen.

  “Mara, listen -”

  “Where is she, Devin?” She yelled with panic.

  “She went with them, I think. I will find her. Don’t worry”

  “Come with her or don’t come at all. I want my daughter back”

  “Don’t worry, I will” He tried to soothe her rage.

  “You don’t even know where she lives. You know nothing about her. How will you find out?”

  “Did you check her GPS?”

  “It’s on and moving really fast. I’m going to kill you for this. Come back with her, Devin”

  “Mara, listen to me. I will find her and bring her back. You have to help me in this”

  The line went dead. He checked the network but it was showing five strong bars. He ran back and pressed the unlock button on the key chain. The Mara’s silver colored car beeped, and he got inside.

  He started the engine, tying the seat belt across him in hurry. He steered out of the parking lot and went toward the exit gate. He reached the road and turned left. His phone began to ring again. He flipped open, steering with one hand. “Mara, tell me where is she now?”

  “I’m sorry for that. She is with me” It was a different voice came out of the phone. He pulled the phone and saw the infamous ‘unknown number’ on screen.

  “Where are you taking her?”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t have time. I will drop her at her home. You can talk to her. She is here”

  “Hi, Devil” Eva’s voice came from a distance.

  “Hey, are you alright? Why did you leave like that?”

  “They waited par you to pick me but you didn’t come. Pretty pie ij not well. We are going to the hojpital. I ijpoke with mom”

  “Which hospital are you going?”

  “I don’t have a say on that” Yuleika’s friend spoke again. “Look, I’ll drop her in two to three hours and I have already informed her mother. I can’t talk and drive now. I’m cutting you off”

  The line ended and the disconnected tone began to play. He went to call log and called Mara.

  “Mara, I just talked to her”

  “I heard. I spoke to her too. You come home, Devin”

  “No, tell me where she is. I will bring her with me”

  “She is safe. You come back here at once”

  “What the hell? You and your mood swings. You are trusting that couple of strangers?”

  “I’m not the one to let my kid vanish with strangers. I trusted you with my daughter. I’m not going to fight over the phone. You come home”

  It’s been over 3 hours. The clock hands frowned, pointing at 8:20. Devin stood leaning on the wall and Mara was on the couch. The call came around a half an hour ago, and they both were waiting for her daughter since then.

  She got up and went near the TV. She turned on the switch and screen filled with static snow. She changed the channel but the screen was quite the same. She turned it off and walked to the entrance. She unlocked the door and opened it.

  In front of Devin’s house stood the dark colored car. She saw a thin girl walking toward her, carrying her daughter. She was sleeping on her shoulder. Mara took her on her arms as she handed over. Devin came and stood at the door.

  Mara went inside her home as Devin stepped out. He looked at her thin friend as she stared back with unusually wide eyes. She turned and went back to her car. The door next to her opened and Yuleika stepped out slowly in the same white gown without the veil.

  “How are you now?” He asked.

  She nodded quietly without a word.

  He pulled the door behind to close and climbed down the stairs.

  “I want to talk to you. Whenever you can, I’m okay with that” He said approaching her.

  She looked at him quietly and then looked at Mia. She mouthed something back he couldn’t understand and then Mia got inside the car. Yuleika picked the burka and pushed the door before walking toward the dead end of the street. He took the cue and began following her.

  He noticed something off-putting in her face. Despite her gown glowing in the moonlight, her face didn’t look the same. They both walked in silence.

  “I’m sorry” She started. “For losing your job”

  “No, that’s fine. I can use some free time now”

  “If you are free tomorrow, come join us for lunch”

  “Something happened to you? You are apologizing and inviting me for communal. Are you alright?” He tried to break the ice.

  “I’m same. I just wanted to give something”

  “Oh, OK” He said seriously considering how to speak normally. “When you say lunch, it is same like how normal people say, right?” He tried to bring a glimpse of a smile in her face.

  She nodded with a straight face. She stopped walking and began to remove her low heel wedding shoe. She carried it in her other hand and resumed her walk on barefoot.

  “What happened today?”

  “Nothing, I’m just allergic to crowd”

  That explains why there’s no one whenever you were there. “Were you always like this?” He asked

  “It doesn’t matter”

  He sighed and began to get frustrated by her abstract answers

  “You know what? I can’t handle this. I’m leaving” He said “You won’t tell anything. I don’t know where you are from. I don’t even have your number”

  “You have to be my friend at least to get my number, you don’t remember that?”

  He exhaled. “What do you want me to do? I went to places where I’ve never been in my entire life because of you. You don’t trust me, I get that but you have to give chances. You can’t - ”

  “Okay, I will” She interrupted.

  “Okay, what?”

  “I will give you a chance. Not just one but three. She called me I’m a liar and you find out one of those lies and in return, I will reveal whatever you ask. That will set you free”

  His jaw stood in the air. He finally got the opportunity for his curiosity. This is exactly what he wanted. “How many times have you lied before to me?”

  “You can’t ask questions. You can only guess”

  He flipped his mind over every scenario where she had a conversation with him. He couldn’t remember even one in which she was speaking. Everywhere it was him telling something to her, and she was always on the asking side.

  “First time when you came to my house, you said you wanted to see me for who I really am. That’s a lie. You came in to kill me”

  She shook her head as she walked slowly. “That’s a truth. If I wanted to kill you, you wouldn’t be speaking to me right now”

  He surmised over other aspects. “You said your dad was a secret agent. That’s a lie”

  She paused. Her dark eyes gazed at him as she inhaled deeply. “That’s – That’s a truth”

  “Seriously?”

  “Is that your third guess?”

  “Come on, give me some hints at least?”

  “You are getting really close to one of them. Find out”

  Close to one? The father is the clue I hope. He thought over everything she said about her father. It could be the parents. Both of them are dead she said. “Death of your parent, is that it?”

  “You have to be specific?”

  “Your father?” He said

  “What about my father?”

  “You said he died in some mission. That one”

  “Which part? His Death or his mission”

  “The whole thing”
/>
  She went near the bench at the end of the street. She sat keeping her shoes on top of her lap. Sudden lightning followed by thunder gave a chilling feeling to him. She nodded slowly. “That’s a lie”

  You lie about your father’s death, why? “Then what is the truth”

  “That mission was not his last one. Every mission was like that for him”

  “So what is he doing now?” He asked keeping his hand on the tree next to him.

  “Oh, he is dead” She said matter of factly.

  “Wha... What happened?”

  “I don’t know”

  “What do you mean you don’t know?”

  “It was during a party, two years ago. I was in this party, and he tried to stop the party but ‘accidentally’ by no one's mistake, he died”

  That made no sense to him. “I don’t get it. He tried to stop a party? What do you mean?”

  “It’s a wild-themed party. It’s all animal instinct they said. But one thing was clarified, it was no one's fault”

  “I really don’t understand. What is that party called?”

  “RAPE... I was raped, and he tried to get me out of it but again by no ones mistake he died” She said like reciting a today’s special in a restaurant.

  Devin couldn’t believe her. She already lied about her father’s death and this seemed quite equivalent to that. He wasn’t ready to fall prey for her another fool play. “I can see it in your face. You are lying. Tell the truth”

  Ever since he met her, for the first time he saw something new happening right there, something he long wished. He saw a smile born in her face. Her eyes trailed down but the smile grew wider. She looked more beautiful with that smile in the mixture of moonlight and lightning.

  “You are a smart guy, I hope” She said.

  Her face looked brighter and happier. For a moment, he felt like reuniting with an old school memorable friend after a long time. The white gown and a bright smile were more than enough.

  “It’s true. Think about it, Devin” She said smiling.

  “I’m not going to fall for your lie again” He said raising his both hands.

  “What did you say when you met me for the first time?” She asked tilting her face to her side.

  “I said –” Slowly realization hit him. It wasn’t a lie. His face fell while her smile became curvier. He understood why she felt so familiar to him. He didn’t know her name because they all called her with one name – Daughter of nation.

  “Oh, my god. It was you” He said relieving his shock. “We prayed for you. We protested for you. We held candles for you. We even wrote and sent so many -”

  “Yes, your work with light brought me to live in this darkness forever” She said showing her black burka. “Thanks for that”

  “What are you saying? We wanted to get you justice. Those guys were arrested and got a life sentence. You don’t know that?”

  “Yes, thanks for that too. Those guys were falsely accused and later killed in the prison, making it appear like a suicide”

  “WHAT?”

  “Those are some poor random guys. Thank your god, they all died otherwise you all would be found guilty for that”

  “What do you mean? What actually happened then?” He asked with concern.

  The thunders clapped as she looked at him and smiled.

  Chapter 20

  IT’S YOUR MISTAKE

  “It was a night like this ...” She began painting the past to him.

  Yuleika was walking toward the automated gate as she managed to grab hold of all the shopping bags in her hands. She placed the RFID token on the scanner and walked through it. She searched for the direction toward platform 6. She saw the arrow pointing down and began climbing down the wide stairs.

  She was in a black full sleeved turtleneck with clean red pleated skirt. She pulled back the bags slipping out of her hand as she followed the arrow. She saw few peoples standing at the corner, waiting for the arrival of the metro. She went and stood near the entry mark painted on the floor.

  The count down on the display dropped to zero as the train arrived and the gates slid open. There wasn’t much crowd as usual. Just three guys taking a selfie near the door and few old people on the seats.

  Her phone began to ring as she walked inside. She swiped the screen with thumb and brought it to her ears. One of her shopping bags slipped and fell out of her grip. “Yes, dad. I’m coming” She said holding the phone in her neck. She bent down and tried to grab the bag. It wasn’t easy with her hands filled with multiple bags of different brands. “I’ll call you back”

  The guy in the middle turned his phone and started recording her back as she struggled to get the bag. The other guys tried to hide their giggling noise. She finally grabbed the bag and pulled out the phone. The ding sound came and doors began to slide close.

  Out of sudden, she felt a sudden push from behind. Before she could realize what happened, she was out of the gate and the door closed behind. She turned and saw those three guys were laughing at her and one of them holding his phone in front of his face.

  She felt a jerk in her left hand. Her shopping bags were locked inside except the handle of the bags tangled in her hand. The train began to move slowly dragging her along with it.

  She began to strode along with it. “Hey... Somebody HELP!” She tried to pull her hand out of it. The train accelerated, and she began to run along with it. She shook and yanked her hand again and again. She couldn’t free herself. The train was faster and began to drag her arms in front of her.

  She was out of control. Her legs began to slip as her arms pulled her faster than she could go. She saw a huge trolley in front of her and next moment her body was smashing it. The trolley flipped as she rammed her waist hard on it. Her face flew front as her legs swung up. She did a nose dive on the tiled floor, landing on the side of her face. Her arms dragged her along, making her spin and roll again. Her left arms twisted as her face scratched on the floor.

  Finally, the bag gave up, cutting around her wrist. She glided forward in the motion with the wrist cut, blood bracelet around her left-hand tracing the color on the floor. Her forehead rammed hard on the pillar, making her come to a halt.

  She laid still, unable to move any muscle in her body. Her lips were torn, her forehead began to bleed and the cheeks grew redder with scratches. The tears began to pour and the throbbing pain in her left arm grew slowly.

  No one was there to help her. She tried to push herself up. The pain in her left elbow spiked when she used her hand for support. She sat up, with her back on the pillar and looked around for someone. She saw a couple of her bags at a distance. She pushed herself backward and rose up holding her left arm near her stomach. Only one sandal was there in her leg and the other one she couldn’t see anywhere.

  She removed the one and walked with difficulty in her barefoot. She dragged her legs unsteadily on each step. Her mind wasn’t clear. Her toes to head were filled nothing but pain. She looked around on all the sides as she pulled herself forward. Even the usual security guards were not there.

  She tried to grab her bag. The wounds on her knees, hidden inside her skirt hurt when she bent. She picked her phone finally and called her father.

  “Dad... Can... You... Come?” She said crying.

  “I fell down. It’s hurting so much” Her voice was unclear with the sobbing. The throbbing pain appeared again as soon as she let her arm. She pushed the speaker icon and placed the phone below her ears by inserting into the turtleneck of her black sweater.

  “Come and pick me up, dad”

  “I’m coming. I’m coming, honey. Don’t cry” His voice came in a hurry. “Is there anyone there?”

  “No” She said searching around. “No one is here”

  “Just sit somewhere. Do not move. I’ll be there”

  “Come fast” She said trying to breathe over her crying. She inhaled and exhaled deeply with her mouth.

  “I’m coming. Don’t worry. I’m re
ally coming. Just hold on” She heard the sound of engine revving before the line went dead.

  She wiped her tears and saw the dresses she brought for her father on the floor. She pulled the pale blue shirt out of the bag and tried to tie a knot using the sleeve. After huge trouble, she finally made a loop. She brought the shirt through her head and struggled to wrap it around her shoulder. She inserted her broken left arm inside the loop made by the sleeve and it rested there. She saw the blood swooped across the new shirt she bought for him.