Strangers & Secrets

by Jai T J

Oh, I woke up the dragon. “What?” he said looking at her flaring nose and widely dilated eyes below her cringed forehead.

  “You are obviously expecting something otherwise why would a guy who is no way related to a woman sacrifice his sleep to drive her to her home at morning 4 AM. I’m not interested in relationship or friendship in that manner. What do you want?”

  “You are not my friend either, and I am not interested in signing up one of your farewell friendship NDA too. I am doing it because I wanted to give people what they want. I am not expecting anything in return. I don’t care if you hate me or the whole mankind but I just wanted to do something meaningful or bring changes in others life. If you don’t want me around you, just tell me instead of condescending every minute” It was the first time he raised his voice to her. He anticipated her to shout back.

  “Okay” She said in an extremely soft spoken-tone.

  “FYI, I’m not bringing you to your house. Hiran texted me to bring you to the stadium, and he has some surprise for you on your sweet birthday” His anger reflected in his frustrated voice.

  “You couldn’t find help?” she asked ignoring his spoiler.

  “What?”

  “You said you wanted to do something meaningful. Only people who are going to die happily say that line”

  “Why do you care about when I am going to die?”

  “It’s not caring, its curiosity”

  “You know what? Your friends said so many things about you. I am beginning to doubt those things. I understand you had a very disturbing past, and I am sorry those things had to happen to you but you can’t assume everyone around to be same and treat them like some –”

  “Don’t talk to me like you know me. You know nothing about me, absolutely nothing about me. You won’t be even sitting next to me if you know even half of me”

  “Oh, I doubt that”

  “Keep doubting it” She said and thus transforming their journey for next half hour into painful silence.

  They finally reached the venue Hiran texted him. The main gate was kept open, and they both went inside. He brought her to the west side and searched for a particular seat under his cellphone light. He made her sit on the reserved seat on the edge of the balcony according to the instruction, and he sat one seat away from her. They both searched for Hiran.

  “Where is he?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. My part is over when I brought you here”

  The bunch of floodlights at the top of the pole on the opposite side turned on with a loud whoomp. The next pole on its right also turned on and then followed by the light on her side. One after another began to turn on. The searchlights around the corner of the ground and the one on the retractable roof too, whirling around, shooting the light like a giant disco club.

  A high-pitched whine came out of the giant speakers followed by the tapping sound.

  “Hello, High five. You don’t know how much you are to me in my life” The voice echoed throughout the empty stadium. “I can’t say anything but to thank the universe for bringing you into this world. Wish you many more returns of the day. Happy birthday, high five”

  The lights turned down all at once making the ground much darker with its sudden absence. Devin was the first to see the movement in the middle of the ground. It was extremely dark, and he saw a match stick like tiny flaming torch floating around with a pair of legs under its shade. Suddenly the fire went off behind what appeared like a table and everything became darker once again.

  Boom – An exploding sound echoed inside the arena. He saw the fireball reappear on the other side of the ground. This time it was moving faster and growing larger. Before he can comprehend, the fireball traveled toward where they were sitting and exploded into a huge sphere of bright blue balls of sparkling fire with a crackling noise.

  “Oh, shit” Devin shocked by the display firework blasting very close to where they were seating and rose from his seat. He felt something grab his arm. He tried to pull his arm free as the next course of different colored balls exploded to his right. He saw a shiny metal cuff locked to the base of the chair with his wrist. When did this happen?

  “Yuleika, open it”

  She stood up, blinded by the extremely calculated work of her friend and walked near the balcony, holding the rail she admired the explosion of colorful huge spheres in front of her face. The red colored one brightened the whole stadium. The one with the clapping chirps came very close to her. Then the whistling one followed by whining twin. Each one was unique in its sound, pattern and the color but all blasted at the same spot, very close to where she stood. Looking at the firework bursting right in front of her face raised an unexplainable excitation in her.

  The thumping sound now speedened, combining multiple propulsions at a time making the combos of different color works. She leaned forward, holding the rails meanwhile Devin pushed himself on the chair, jerking his head on each explosion.

  Hundred or more than that, he wasn’t sure. He sat there as the blinding marbles of light flashed in front of Yuleika. Finally, the blasting sound began to slow down and stopped completely with the ringing sound reverberating inside his ears.

  The lights above their seats turned on and Hiran came from his left.

  “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!” He said with a cheering voice.

  “Thank you. It was beautiful” Devin noticed the watery eyes of her.

  “What happened? Why are you crying?” Hiran asked wiping the tears off.

  “It’s nothing. It just reminded me of something from today’s work. It’s OK”

  “Hello” Devin sang-songy. “Is this how you people treat when someone tries to help?”

  “What was that?” Hiran chuckled looking at his handcuff.

  “He was quite mad at me. I wanted him to stay that’s why” She went near to him and unlocked the other end from the chair but not his hand off it.

  “I can’t walk around with this. Unlock this too”

  “You are angry. Relax then I will release”

  “I’m not angry. I’m just extremely frustrated with you”

  “You know I told him that you will comply whatever he asks. Maybe this is what he wants I guess” Hiran said with a raised eyebrow.

  She tilted her head, questioning ‘Is that so?’ with her eyes. Devin brought the hanging end of handcuff and locked it on the same wrist like a bracelet.

  “You know it’s been a very long time since I have seen you like this. Please surprise me like this. Don’t change again”

  “I will Hira. I just want to finish my work then I will be your same high-five ”

  His smile turned abruptly into a deep frown.

  “What?” She asked.

  He hesitated and didn’t want to reveal the news on her day. “You first sit down”

  “I’m stronger when I stand”

  “High-five, not today. We will talk this tomorrow”

  “It’s already tomorrow, tell me Hiran” Her voice was fierce.

  “The result was negative. We couldn’t trace or connect it to anything. All we scraped is your fingerprints” He pulled out the gold chain with Hindu god pendant which he borrowed from her and handed it to her.

  “So?” She asked with a disappointed expression.

  He shook his head. “You have to let it go. It’s a dead end”

  She stood quietly.

  “Everyone involved was already dead” He said in low voice. “Others were misinformed. There is no trace left. That’s it, high-five. That’s it”

  Devin couldn’t understand the context, but he fathomed the emotional involvement in it when he looked at her face. She kept her eyes down and when she looked at her friend again, her eyes were bordered with water.

  “Thank you for this” She waved her hands toward the arena. “And thank you for your work and everything. I think I need to go home now”

  “Yeah, sure”

  “No, I need to distract myself. I’ll go with him”

  “WHAT?” T
hey both appalled together for different reasons.

  “Are you for real?” Hiran asked

  “Why me? Am I your fidget toy for your enraging anger?”

  “No, you said you can handle dark secrets. I will show you a percent of who I am and I will see if you can stand next to me after that”

  “You don’t have to do this” Hiran said holding her hand.

  “No, I do. How long am I gonna delay my judgment with the absurd assumption? Let’s open the box and see with our eyes” She looked at Devin for the first time after coming to the stadium. “Come on, Devin. Let’s just get this over with”

  They both traveled in silence. She occasionally instructed the directions on the way. Series of streak from street lamp passed over her face as they traveled in the stretched flyover.

  “Don’t hold back, ask” She said after an hour of travel.

  “I am sorry?”

  “Questions are overflowing out of your mind. Ask me, I’ll try to answer”

  “No, no. That’s fine. I’m more than OK with awkward silence” He concentrated on driving through the empty road. “Although little prologue before getting into what appears to be a one-way road might be helpful” He said. “So any last minute warning before we reach where ever you are directing me”

  “You remember the time we met at the cemetery?”

  “The only time I went in my entire life. It’s hard to forget it. What about it?”

  “I was working on a case – investigation”

  “Yeah, I remember the highlights”

  “It wasn’t someone else’s case. It was my case actually”

  “You mean? Your... ah”

  “Yes, Him. I am searching for him”

  “In a graveyard?”

  “Since you skipped the story before, it might be a jump start. The guy who got jailed in that case was not actually him. I went under investigation to find out the real him with everything I had but it turns out to be a dead end”

  “Even your friend couldn’t do it? He has a powerful network and if you could just give a piece of information, his department might solve the whole puzzle”

  “That was the problem. I couldn’t tell anything to them” She pulled out the gold chain and held it in front of her face. It swung back and forth to its sides on the movement of the car.

  “Why not? You wanted to do it yourself?”

  “No, I don’t know”

  “What do you mean you don’t know? You obviously held back yourself. There must be something”

  “I mean I really don’t know. I don’t know anything about who did that to me”

  “What?”

  “I remember every fraction of events occurred around me that day. To put in your words, I remember ‘the shockingly detailed’ parts of that incident. But one thing I couldn’t get to remember is him”

  “You don’t remember him?”

  “I can recall the level of binding pain I was experiencing but I don’t remember who or how many inflicted that to me. It’s always a plain canvas of flesh and I tried to map it with every possible face I could but it’s just didn’t fit”

  Devin listened to her intently, surmising the hidden hint of he might be one of the faces.

  “This is the only actual link between him and me” She said looking at the hanging pendant. “And now all I got is this trail of my past vanishing right in front of my eyes. Sometimes I feel maybe this whole thing didn’t happen to me. I tell myself It’s just everyone around me is trying to play a terrible prank or something. Because of this, I began to suspect my judgment and now I don’t know which is real. Whatever I told you happened to me might be another lie created by the influence of newspaper headlines, ICU nurses’ sympathy or my friends’ concerns. I don’t know which is which but everything goes away when I look at this only evidence that screams at me that he is somewhere there wandering in the broad light, and I am here in this darkness” She ripped open her burka, removed it and threw it in front of her.

  “Sometimes different visions come to me. They all look very real to me and I don’t know which one is true either. Most of the time I just feel, it all happened and sometimes not”

  It was the first time he saw her getting emotional. “Relax Yuleika. Calm down” He handed over the water bottle.

  “Yes, that’s all I got to do now for the rest of my life” She took from him and leaned backward, looking outside the window as the lights passed over her face.

  Devin realized the emotional complexity in which she got tangled. He thought maybe she is missing her friend – Mia. The sweet, caring friend which even he admired in his first visit. He didn’t know much about her apart from the hunky cop guy. He wondered who else she got for emotional supports.

  “It was actually my mistake” She said after a long silence.

  He looked at her. “Everyone kept saying that. The TV debates, the human right activists, psychologists, and everyone. I think it was my mistake”

  “Please stop talking”

  “Oh no, I am not gonna. He was pretty mad but I think he was mad at himself than me”

  “What?”

  “To think of that, He... He couldn’t do it actually. He forced himself”

  “You mean like impotency?”

  “Oh, no he did it eventually but before reaching there he struggled a lot” Her voice cracked. Devin glanced at her face but it was still her fashionably neutral expressions.

  “Maybe I should have helped him. You know -”

  “Oh, please stop talking. Don’t make me gag your mouth”

  “No, think about it rationally. If I have helped him maybe this entire thing might not have happened. I wouldn’t have to go through all these things. My life would have been better, his too I guess. I am not being judgemental but I don’t think he could get any kind of girls by the way he looked and that stinking smell”

  “If we eliminate the possible variables which are extremely handsome, filthy rich or married in that case, he has absolutely zero possibility to have sex with a pretty girl in the city. You can’t control the body’s need and at the same time, you are prohibited from blaming your culture too so what else option he had. Maybe I was his once in a lifetime opportunity, the exotic fantasy to his raging hormones”

  Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it. He looked at the burka lying around and felt like using it to stuff it in her mouth.

  “OK, I'll stop that. Answer me this at least”

  Despite the turmoil of her emotion and vulnerability, he admired her ability to read his thought.

  “Imagine you are extremely hungry and I bring your favorite, delicious cream filled cake in front of you and I say you should not eat this cake until the time comes. Until then, you can look at it, smell it or whatever you can without touching it but you should not eat it. What will you do?”

  “Are you blaming the culture now?”

  “Oh, I don’t think anyone in this country has the right to do that. All I am saying is this city is filled with such delicious cakes wandering around in high waist jeans and crop tops. You can’t expect the starving animal to stay in the cage, can you?”

  “So what? Is this all because of the young youth and their fashion choice?”

  “Yeah, let’s go with that. It’s always easier to blame the victim, and they won’t do anything with their emotional stupidity. So it’s safe to join the stronger force”

  “You mean stronger or stupider?”

  “Hard right. I mean take this right” She said pointing at the turn with the subtlety of pun.

  “You know for the first time in very long time, I feel like the matured one and that too sitting next to you. I can’t believe you could become such vulnerable when you lose something” Devin spoke this time.

  “What is the current speed of your car?”

  “What?” He gawked at her.

  “How many times you shifted to the second gear? How many signals did we cross and in how many of them we went straight? A motorbike cam
e behind us for 17 minutes. What bike was that? How many were in that and what was the number on its plate? I am not vulnerable. I am just open-eyed”

  “So all this bunch of stuff you asked before. Is this your character analysis test of me or something?”

  “Right. Not this one, the next one near that street lamp. We are almost there”

  Chapter 25

  HOME SWEET HOME

  “This is where you live!” Devin appalled, catching the glimpse of the second story of the building over the trees on the pathway.