"Kimaya?" said a familiar voice.
"Yes?" I asked turning around. I didn't recognize the person immediately, but I suddenly realized who it was.
"Mr. Singh?"
"You remember me," he said with a smile. "You can call me Aakash though. No need to be so formal, I'm good as a friend."
I chuckled and nodded.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"Well, I was just passing by and I saw you, so I thought I'd say a hello. What's the party about?"
"Oh! My book...my dream just came true. My first book was published. It's on Amazon; you can get it if you want."
"Oh my God, that is amazing! Congratulations!"
I smiled and thanked him.
After some more small talk, he suddenly turned serious.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Kim, I need your help. A lot of help. It is very, very important."
"What is it?"
"Will you come with me for a while? I'll show it to you and explain."
"I'm sorry, I should really be going back to the party right now. Some other day maybe?"
He looked me in the eye, and I felt a strange sensation taking over me. Like when I'd gone sky diving. Or dancing. Or talking to people. What's going on? But I couldn't really think.
And before I could analyse anything else, "Alright," I replied.
He led me through a series of lanes, and at times I thought that he was taking too many turns simply to confuse me. I wasn't really sure of where I was when I reached. I was good with directions but this was a part of the city I'd never really seen, and the way was just too muddling for me to remember at once.
We arrived in front of a small building which looked like it was about to fall down any second. He opened the door and led me through a staircase to a little room.
"So?" I asked. "Where do you need my help? Don't tell me you need to fix this room or something," I said, staring at the damaged walls and their worn off paint.
"Of course not. I believe you are in some need of a little rest. You have a little nap, I'll just be back," he said, making eye contact again. I felt myself fall weak again and obeyed him.
He went out of the room and I fell asleep on the tiny bed lying in the room.
The next day when I woke up, I couldn't remember the events of the past night. What had happened? I wondered where I was, and searched for my phone. It was nowhere to be seen. Just then Aakash stepped in.
"Calm down, Kim," he said as he saw me struggle to remember.
"Why am I here?" I asked.
"For helping me out. Now, freshen up."
I followed his orders like a faithful puppy, but I wasn't really sure why. When I came out of the washroom, Aakash was gone again. He came back in an hour or so, with a huge cardboard box in his hands. I stared at the box wondering what it contained. Aakash opened it to remain some magnetic target boards with some sticks which were probably their shooting things, and some real target boards along with knifes. I looked at him, scared.
"Come on princess. We shall start practicing."
I moved forward hesitantly and picked up the magnetic stuff first. We spent almost two days in that tiny room and he prepared me for the job he wanted me to do. We started with the magnetic targets first, so that no one got hurt; and as I got better, he made me use real knifes. I was freaked out at first but he insisted and soon, I was aiming almost like a pro. Aakash was a pro already, of course. I mean, he seems to have a best aim I've ever seen. Soon, my time in the little room was over, and Aakash told me of the job I had to do.
I was horrified.
"Kimaya, you have to kill someone for me."
"No! How can you even imagine I'll do that?"
"Look at me Kim."
I stared at him and I felt like I was losing control again.
"You will do it, won't you?" He asked.
"Yes, I will," I replied, shocked at my own words.
"Good then. Here's a bag for you. You'll find everything you need in it, including a knife. Just one knife Kim. You have to have a perfect shot. Don't get caught Kim, don't let all your effort of two days go waste."
I nodded.
"I see you are ready. So I shall take you to a place and leave you alone there. You can make your way from there. Here's the exact address and time at which you'll find your target, harmless and waiting for his death."
I looked at the piece of paper he had given me, and was shocked.
"I know this place! It is--"
"I know. Don't worry. At the particular time, you won't find more than a single person at that place. And that person, Kimaya, will be your aim. You are his death. Now come."
I went out with him, frightened out of my wits.
"Calm down Kimaya." He spoke softly to me all the way. Finally, we reached a place which I was familiar with.
"I must go now, Kimaya," he said. "I'm sure you can make your way from here. Good luck."
I walked ahead; feeling braver and more confident than before. I knew that I can do this.
I reached the place - a place so very familiar to me. I had been here many times before; for different reasons of course.
And then, I spotted my target. And I aimed. But I missed it. I felt scared, like a prey out in the open. I did the next thing my body asked me to - run. And that's what I did until I ran into a hard surface and collapsed, not caring of what will happen next. Strong arms wrapped around me and I burst out crying. I had no idea what was going on, everything seemed to be such a blur.
"Ssshh.. It's me, Kim."
I looked up, my vision blurred with tears. But I knew who this person was. Vihaan. I sobbed in his arms, finally feeling safe.
"You're safe now," he said, gently comforting me.
As I was wondering what had happened, Vihaan's dad came to us - the person I was going to kill. I stared at him, guilt and panic crossing my face. I was just starting to explain, when I saw someone. Aakash. With a gun in his hand. And before anyone could react, he shot me - on my arm. Aakash took off, and Vihaan screamed, running behind him.
I was bleeding heavily. Vihaan's father tried to stop the blood, but it was no use. I suddenly felt dizzy and then, I guess I fainted. And finally, when my senses slowly started slipping in, I could hear my mother's pleas and tears. "Wake up Kim, please wake up..."
"Mom!" I suddenly said, awakened. I dizzily looked around the room, the same tiny room. I remembered the past events. Aakash. That bastard. I had to get him arrested at any cost. I quietly crawled out of the bed and saw Aakash in the balcony, having a smoke with a man I did not recognize. I inched closer, looking for a way to control him. I didn't think I had any.
Suddenly, the man with Aakash moved and stood up, his back facing the door. I ducked down, so that he wouldn't notice me through the adjoining window. He put something on the window sill. I waited till he sat down, and slowly moved to see what he had left on the window.
I smiled to myself as I realized what he had done. He had left me with a perfect chance. I grinned. Your time is up, Mr. Singh, I thought.
***
"Yes, Mr. Arora. I believe he is absolutely fine. He's fit to go home, you can take him any time you wish from now."
"Thank you Doctor. We can focus on Kimaya now that Vihaan is fine."
"I'll pray that you find her soon, Mr. Arora," said the Doctor.
Mr. Arora nodded and went inside Vihaan's room.
"Good news, Vihaan. They have discharged you. But it is late at night, I'm thinking we'll leave tomorrow morning."
"No way dad! Kim is in danger! We should get out of this hospital and try to help her!"
"But Vihaan we cannot do anything at night!"
"I don't care, dad. I'm getting out of this place right now," said Vihaan, getting up.
"You'll never stop being stubborn, will you?" Asked Mr. Arora with a smile.
"Not when someone's safety is concerned dad."
"Alright, Vihaan. You get ready, I'll sign th
e hospital papers."
Vihaan nodded.
***
"Stay down or I'll shoot," said Kimaya in a smooth voice. She was scared as hell but she knew better than to show her fear. Right now, if her voice went unstable, she knew she would be in soup.
"Put that gun down Kimaya!" Screamed Aakash.
"Uh-uh. Don't try that on me, Aakash. Whatever weapons you have, out. Right now," said Kimaya, slowly edging towards the other person. He had put his gun on the window sill, a big advantage for Kim; and she was pretty sure he didn't have any more weapons with him. Besides, she was sure Aakash wouldn't hurt her. If he wanted her dead, he would have killed her the first time.
"What makes you think I'll obey what you say, princess?" Asked Aakash.
"This," she replied, suddenly forcing her arm around the man and pushing the gun to his head.
"Get away from me!" Yelled the man in Kimaya's hold, trying to hit her and free himself.
"I wouldn't try that if I were you. Seems like you don't care about your life, Mister," said Kimaya, tightening her grip on the gun. The man immediately fell limp, scared to move. Kimaya grinned. Oh, the power of a gun!
"Kimaya let him go."
"And may I know why?"
Aakash stayed silent.
"Your weapons, Aakash. Out with them, NOW. Unless you want your friend here dead..."
"Okay! Here you go!" Said Aakash helplessly, throwing his knife on the table.
"I'm sure that's not the only thing you have on you," said Kimaya, noticing a lump near Aakash's ankles.
"Oh fine," muttered Aakash as he took out the gun, which was safely tucked away in the sock of his left foot.
"Move," ordered Kimaya, pushing the man she was controlling. She picked up the knife and the gun, and secured it in her belt. She next moved and carefully looked at Aakash, not wanting any more weapons with him.
"Damn, I didn't know you're such a detective. That's all I have with me, princess," said Aakash, noticing what she was doing.
"Good. Now, tell me what problem you have with my Uncle."
"Don't talk about that---"
"He's my Uncle!" Snapped Kim. "A word against him and I will kill you both!"
Aakash stared at her like she had turned into the devil.
"Now start speaking. What's your problem?!"
"Your uncle and his profession."
"Profession? What's wrong in being an event manager?"
"No, not that one. I have a problem with him being a psychiatrist."
Kimaya looked at Aakash, waiting for him to continue, her gun still aimed at the other man's brain.
"Look Kim. You wanted to know my problem, I told you that. Now let my friend go."
"Do you really think I'm so generous?" Laughed Kimaya. She could see that both Aakash and his friend were in a position to be easily controlled now. She was not scared any more.
Aakash didn't reply.
"Will you explain or do I fire?" Said Kimaya, her finger on the trigger.
"NO! Okay! I'll explain! Just let my brother go!"
Brother, thought Kimaya. So that's why he's scared. Well, I'm going to use his fear to my advantage.
"You start talking Aakash. Or I assure you, your brother will soon meet God," said Kimaya, with a slight smirk.
"Fine. I'll explain." Aakash finally gave in.
"Start."
"Two years back, when your Uncle was about to give up his profession of psychiatry, my wife's niece went to his hospital. She was very depressed about the death of her best friend. She'd keep crying all day long, and finally, we decided that she needed help. I am a psychiatrist too. I tried making her understand, but it was of no use. I dare say, I'm not such an excellent one. I just did it for the sake of becoming a doctor. I was never really much interested. At that time, your uncle was one of the best psychiatrists in town, and we decided to take my niece, Naina, to him. Her best friend was like a sister to her. She committed suicide under the pressure of studies and Naina could just not handle that. Naina became suicidal herself. We found her with sleeping pills and blades every other day.
I went with Naina to the hospital. When we reached, we were taken to Dr. Arora's space. It was a nice one, calm and serene; perfect for a psychiatrist. I remember your uncle's soothing voice. He spoke to her in a manner almost unimaginable to me. After two appointments, when Naina refused to calm down, he decided to give her an anti-depressant. But Naina never took any. She flushed them down, threw them away. I don't what exactly she did, but I don't think she ever had any of those anti-depressants.
On the fourth meeting, when Naina's condition showed no signs of improving, Dr. Arora felt that there was something else that she had hidden away, deep inside her. He tried a lot to make Naina speak, but when nothing worked out, he finally decided to hypnotize her.
And that one session revealed everything. Naina and her best friend had been eve-teased by some boys the night before the suicide. The boys were aiming at Naina, but to save Naina, her friend pushed herself forward. Naina's friend couldn't take the amount of abuse and humiliation she went through - and she committed suicide the next day. Naina spent all those weeks thinking that she was responsible for her friend's death. She kept her feelings to herself, the humiliation and pain cutting through her every second.
Your uncle was furious at this. He wanted those boys arrested. The revelation calmed Naina down a bit, and she soon regained her senses. Her anger took over the pain, and she decided to get those boys punished. Mr. Arora started filing a case about it. But unfortunately, one of those boys was my cousin's son. I was horrified, I wanted him punished too. But I had promised my cousin a favour years ago. And he asked me to do it that time. I protested, but ultimately, I gave in. I helped my cousin out. We started sending death threats to your uncle to make him stop the case. He was stubborn to do that at first, but when we threatened his family, he quietly obeyed.
But now, he was starting to get braver. One of our spies saw him go to the police station once. We freaked out, and decided to so something fast. We decided to hit on our easiest target. And you, Kimaya--"
"I was the best hold you could have on Uncle," finished Kimaya.
"Yes...” Replied Aakash.
"You should be ashamed of yourself! What sort of man are you? Not only did you shield a crime, but you also cheated on your niece! How could you?"
"Calm down princess; you'll pull the trigger!"
Kimaya suddenly remembered that her hand was still holding the gun to Aakash's brother's head.
"Oh you don't worry about that Mr. Aakash. I'll take care of that," she said.
"So now that you know the whole story, let my brother go."
"I'm not foolish, you idiot. You both are coming with me, right to the police station."
"What did I do?!" Protested Aakash's brother.
"Nothing - don't worry I'll tell the police that," said Kimaya. "You can at least be a nice brother and comfort Aakash in his days in the prison, right?"
Kimaya tugged on the man's shirt and made him walk. Aakash silently followed. Kimaya realized that Aakash was never the mastermind behind all this. He was not that bad at heart, or he would have killed her by now. There were no casualties in this case till now; it was only blackmailing. And Kimaya intended to put an end to that too.
They went down the stairs of the building, and Kimaya ordered Aakash to show the way out. This place was still pretty much of a maze to her.
"Beware," she said. "One wrong move of yours and your brother is dead."
Aakash nodded and slowly led them out. Just as they were getting out, Kimaya tripped. The gun flew out of her hand, and Aakash picked it up.
"Too bad, princess," he smirked.
"Let me go!"
"I'm not so kind hearted."
"Keep her tight," said Aakash to his brother. "I need to get out of here first."
Aakash turned around and started walking, before coming back to Kim for a minute.
"You know, I'
m wondering how my cousin's son would have felt when he did all that. I think now is a nice time to try it out. You controlled me for so long, now it's time to control you a bit, isn't it Kim?"
"Don't you dare!" She screamed.
"Ssshh... Don't worry princess, I won't hurt you."
"Let me go!"
Aakash moved towards Kimaya menacingly, he came so close. And as he moved to do something wrong, a hand caught him.
"That was a damn wrong move, Singh."
And before Aakash could respond, a hand struck his face.
Kimaya looked at the person who had appeared like a shadow from behind Aakash. A smile of relief spread across her face. Dad! And then she noticed someone else -Vihaan. She sighed in relief, happy that he was alright.
And as Aakash stared, he was rewarded with another slap across his face.
"Shame on you!" Screamed Mr. Verma. "How dare you!?"
Aakash's brother left hold of Kimaya, scared. Vihaan came up to her and hugged her. Kimaya felt protected. Her dad was here. And so the person who had become a true friend to her over the months. The police stepped up and took hold of Aakash and his brother. Mr. Verma caressed his daughter for a few minutes, and then left with the police for some legal procedures. The police was going to talk to Kimaya the next day.
As Vihaan led Kimaya away, she noticed tears in his eyes.
"Why are you crying?"
"It's all because of me that all this happened. I should have never involved you...”
"Come on Vihaan. I'm glad I could help. But Aakash is only a little coin in the game. The real person is probably his cousin, I believe."
"Cousin?" Asked Vihaan, confused. He obviously had no idea about what Aakash had told Kimaya.
"Long story," replied Kimaya. "Let's go home first."
Chapter 11
Two hours later, Kimaya was finally done with her long story. Everything that had been happening with her from the past few days - the little room, the shooting practice, Aakash and his brother - everything.
"So that's how he could easily control you. He is a psychiatrist himself," commented Mr. Arora.
"Yeah," replied Kimaya. "But uncle, is it possible to hypnotize that easily? I mean, all he had to do is look me in the eye and there - I'm as good as a little dog."
"That's what I thought. Don't worry, you'll get over it Kim. This sort of thing happens when a person feels low about himself; he starts feeling others are better and does whatever the other person does or asks him to."