Episode 36
"Yes, Sir. You are a very powerful man. You have contacts with both politicians and bureaucrats in AP. If an important person from your state requests the police department of West Bengal, the local police is bound to act. You might wonder why we cannot do it ourselves! Of course, we can and we will if we don't get any help from the police. The problem you know is that the local police are hand in glove with those criminals.
If we take any action, they will turn the local police against us. As the agency is extremely dangerous, I am pretty sure that there is a big probability of bloodshed and loss of lives. As a matter of policy, we don't want to create a situation, where we are forced to eliminate state forces. That's why I am asking you for this favour."
"Okay, okay! I will definitely do this for you with pleasure. I will call the finance minister of my state, whom I know personally. I will seek his help. Don't worry about this. In a day, this will be fixed. I will call you when the matter is done."
"Thank you very much, Sir! Good night!" Roy disconnected the call.
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When Archana craned out her neck to look at the clock, it appered to her that her head was made of ton of bricks. The clock showed 3 min 10 second. That was the time Archana would survive until she did something. The face of her children appered in her mind, and suddenly she seemed to have heard a frantic call of, "Mom" from her son. This call had suddenly energised her. She had to live. She made up her mind, and she had no more hesitation in doing something which she wouldn't have done even in her worst nightmare.
In their good time during the early period of their marriage, once Rajan had brought a DVD which contained 5 movies. Rajan said they were horror movies. Archana loved to watch ghost movies. She thought they would be some ghost movies. The movie "Wrong Turn" was definitely a horror movie, but it was not a ghost movie. It was a movie about a tribe in West Virginia, who were cannibals. They were trapping humans and tearing apart their bodies to eat them. Archana couldn't tolerate the movie for more than 20 minutes or so, and she had to leave. The scenes of cannibalism made her puke several times.
But, at this critical juncture where there was not much of a gap between life and death, she got inspiration from the movie Wrong Turn -- which once she thought was abominable -- and tried to tear off a large chunk of flesh from her left forearm with full force. Though the flesh was not torn off, the bite made a deep incision. At last, blood gushed out copiously. But, she didn't stop at that, and used her jaws to give two more forceful attempts.
Without canine teeth, it's never easy to tear a piece of raw flesh. But, this time a lump of flesh came out. The excruciating pain didn't perturb her. She spat the chunk of flesh with force. The salty taste of her own blood didn't make her puke. The throbbing veins in her forehead swelled considerably. Her pupils were extended with anxiety. However, she was extremely pleased to watch the gushing flow of blood from her forearm.
She staggered towards the table. The table was hardly 3 ft tall. But when she tried to climb on it, it appeared to her that it was like the Mount Everest. After a valiant effort, she succeded and went towards the left portion of the jar, positioning her left forearm in such a way that the blood could enter the left scale easily. The blood from her left arm was flowing like a river.
It didn't take much time to fill the required amount. The left scale went down and the right scale went up to a range where Archana could enter her two fingers to lift the key. Archana took a look at the giant key. She had never seen such a big key in her entire life. She heaved a sigh of relief. At last, she had done it, she thought.
Archana quickly looked at the clock. There was still 55 second left. Archana got the key. A sense of satisfaction appeared on her face. She jumped from the table, and that proved to be a very bad move!
She hadn't realized that the level of the poisonous gas had reached such a level that was even too little for a lion to jump. She was standing just because of the miraculous voice of her son in her ear. That gave her a strong motivation to live. So far, her strong will had surmounted the asphyxiating effects of the deadly gas. But, the jump had taken a vital amount of remaining oxygen level in her body. She landed on her left tibia on the hard floor.
An instantaneous reaction of, "Oh, Devuda," came from her mouth. From the severe pain, it appeared to her that the bone might have been broken. But, pain was not a thing that she could afford to pay any attention at the moment. So, completely ignoring the pain, she tried to get up. But, she was surprised to see that she could not do it.
There was no energy left in her body. Though, there was no one in the room, it appered to Archana that a very powerful person was choking her throat. Archana, rubbed her eyes, and she was taken aback to see that it was none other than the Lord Yama who was choking her. In Telegu movies, she had seen the Yama many times. The golden crown, the huge moustache, the fearsome big, red eyes, the two threatening horns and all the other traits that the Yama had were present.
Archana had always been a religious person throughout her life. She had always feared the Yama, as she knew that he was the lord of death, who would decide her place after death. She had always feared the hell, as she had heard plenty of scary stories avout the torture that the Yama metes out to the sinners.
"Oh Lord Yama, why are you here? I don't want to die now. I have two children who desperately need me." Archana pleaded.
"Well Archu, I am afraid that your time has come. Death is a hard reality dear. Don't you know every birth or death is predestined? No matter how much powerful the person is, no matter how much wealth he has, he cannot escape death."
Archana knew that, but she didn't want to die. So, she pleaded,
"I have a lot of pending things to do my Lord. My daughter is totally dependant on me. My son loves me so much that if I die, he might also die. Please give me at least two more years."
Yama guffowed so boisterously that Archana's whole body shook in fear. Yama said,
To be continued on Friday night
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