Anandita didn’t think much of it as she made her way to her classroom. The message always haunted her in the back of her mind. She thought that it was just to trouble her.
A week had passed by and Anandita lived with the fear that something or someone might attack her. But, as a few months passed by, she thought that it was indeed a prank played on her and she was immune to it.
Her doubts always went to Bryan.
Every day, after school she would haul herself home exhausted. She felt like she had a big weight on her shoulders. She could not admit about her being bullied to anyone. She had no friends to confide it into. Her parents would complain to the school authorities but that could intensify her being bullied. Her sister was too small to understand.
Her only friend was a senior who passed out of the school five years ago. They had met at a personality development class when Anandita was ten years old and Tamanna, her friend was fifteen.
The year ended and everyone was either spending vacations abroad or at a relative’s place. Few decided to stay at home for the summer holidays as they were expecting relatives from outside.
Another academic year started with the start of monsoons. Mumbai saw heavy rains for the first week of monsoons. It rained cats and dogs. Though she disliked the monsoons, Anandita was happy. This was her last year in school. She was in her tenth standard. She would be getting rid of all her school mates by the end of this year.
Few weeks passed by and everything was normal.
One day after school she dragged herself back home. She was exhausted from the walk to her place. She kicked her shoes off, threw her bag on the sofa and went off to get changed. Her mother was on her tail to keep all her things in place. “Are you a two year old?” her mother asked, “how many times have I told you to keep your things in place? Later, when you are in a hurry, you will tell me to search for it.” “Yes Mother,” Anandita said in Old English, “I will keep all my belongings in their rightful place after I finish with my luncheon.” Saying thus, she offered a small courtesy to her mother. “Drama Queen,” her mother muttered as she entered the kitchen.
Anandita smiled at her mother and closed the door of her bedroom to get changed. She had her lunch and felt sleepy. Just as she was thinking of going to bed, her mother said, “Don’t you think of going to sleep right after having food, young lady. It affects your health in a bad way.” ‘How does she know?’ Anandita thought. Heaving a sigh of defeat and abiding by her mother’s rules, she searched for something else to do.
Just as she was about to switch on the TV, her younger sister, Tvisha came up to her and said, “My program is starting now. I want the remote.” “No,” Anandita retorted. “Yes,” Tvisha said again, raising her voice a little. Their mother was sleeping in her room. She got disturbed and came to the front room. “Anandita, give her the remote,” their mother said with a stern look, “you can watch later. Or she will torment both of us until the end of time.” Anandita had to give her the remote her sister.
Tvisha gave her elder sister a grin of victory. ‘You are evil,’ Anandita thought. Nevertheless, Anandita sat through the program with Tvisha. Just as Anandita took the remote in her hand, the electricity conked off. “Dumb luck,” Tvisha said, loud enough only for Anandita to hear.
It was raining heavily. ‘Probably, one of the poles fell due this rain,’ thought Anandita.
The raindrops falling furiously on the roof of her window sounded like bullets.
With a mug of hot coffee in one hand and a book in the other, she settled down in one corner of her bedroom. She had her favorite blanket handy. Wrapping herself in the cozy blanket, she took a sip of her coffee and continued reading the book from where she had stopped. The murderer was going to be revealed. She was just getting to that part when her landline phone rang. She didn’t bother getting up assuming that her mother would pick up.
After a few seconds her mother said, “A call for you, Anandita.” Anandita was surprised. She never got calls from anyone because she had no friends. No one talked to her. No one spoke to her. Even if anyone did, it was because they wanted some work done from her. Her friends were all seniors who have already passed out. Assuming that it was one of them, she went to the phone.
There was a lot of disturbance in the background. She couldn’t clearly identify the voice of the speaker. “Be there on the third floor of the school in half hour. If you don’t come, you will face dire consequences.” Before Anandita could ask who the caller was, the caller cut the call.
First, she laughed it off as a prank. She did not tell her mother what the call was about. Her mother also assumed that her daughter was becoming social at last. She was happy for her daughter.
Forty five minutes had passed by since Anandita got the call. The landline rang again. She was engrossed in the book. She picked up the phone absent mindedly.
“Didn’t I tell you to be here fifteen minutes ago?” the voice cracked. And then again there was nothing. This time she was frightened. ‘Who was that?’ she thought, ‘What do they want to do with me?’ She didn’t have time. She had to leave as soon as possible, before there is a mishap. She said a hurried, “Bye Ma,” to her mom and left.
The rain had stopped. She had to walk fast and carefully so that she wouldn’t step on puddles and make her clothes dirty. She reached her school which was a kilometer away from her home.
Anandita entered the school gate for a second time. As she put foot into the school, everything was deserted and there was a screeching silence. She almost regretted coming here. She realized that it was just a prank that was being played on her. She was about to turn and leave when she heard people talking and things being moved. She cautiously took step after step and reached the landing of the first floor. It was dark. She went around the floor to check whether there was indeed someone.
At first she did not spot anyone. But as she walked by many closed classrooms, she saw one classroom at the end of the corridor which had its lights switched on. She opened the door to reveal a group of three boys. They had their back towards her. She sensed something creepy and wanted to turn around and run home. But, her luck wasn’t probably on her side; because just as she turned around to leave her dress got caught in the knob. As she was letting her dress free from it, she felt someone’s presence next to her.
“Look who’s here, finally?” said the voice. Anandita identified the voice as the same as the one that she had heard on the phone. “Who are you?” she asked, wanting to sound bold; instead her voice came out as a hoarse whisper. She was scared. She didn’t know who it was behind the black mask. All she could see was his green eyes staring straight at her.
“Feeling bold, are we?” asked another boy with the same kind of mask covered over his face; only making his eyes seen. As he went out of the classroom, he pulled Anandita with him. His grip was very strong. She knew that she was in deep trouble. She noticed a tattoo on his right wrist. He pushed her, with a lot of force, against a wall. Her head had started bleeding. She fell to the ground but she hadn’t lost consciousness. As she was about to get up, someone hit her on the back with a bat. She fell straight on her face. She heard a series of laughter fading. Tears were falling furiously down her cheeks. Her blood was boiling with anger. They had gone leaving her there- wounded for life.
She couldn’t stand up. They had broken her back. She tried to sit up against the wall. Even through the blur of her tears, she saw them walking across the corridor to the other end. “What did I do to deserve this?” Anandita screamed with all the strength and courage she could muster.
Anandita had had enough. Students all across school have been bullying her for years. Some tripped her. Some other would call her names. And the rest would just laugh with them instead of supporting. She did not stand up for herself all these years. And now, when she has a broken spine and is hardly able to stand, she has become so gutsy and so angry.
The third guy came to her with anger written all over his face. His head gear had moved up so the scar, which was the shape of ‘X’, was seen on the right side on his forehead. “How dare you open your mouth in front of us? Let alone screaming at us,” he spoke with gritted teeth. By the time, the other two had caught up with him. “You will be punished,” the guy with the tattoo said. He put his hand in his pocket and took out a blade- a rusted blade. They had planned to completely torture her. He took Anandita’s right hand in his, held it tightly and cut right though her wrist. He did the same with her left hand. She was writhing in pain. He dropped the blood covered rusted blade to the ground. She cried, she screamed. There was no one to listen to her screams. “Why?” she sobbed, “Why are you doing this to me? What wrong have I done?” “Your only mistake is,” the guy with the green eyes said, “that you were born. Your very existence irritates us. We wanted to finish you off. But we wanted to have some fun with you first.” With that, she had another blow on the back of her head with a rod. She fell to the ground unconscious. They left her there, assuming that she was dead. The guy with the scar threw the rod aside making a loud noise and the three of them ran.
As they ran out of the school premises, the guy with the tattoo noticed that his hand was full of Anandita’s blood. He panicked. What would he do? Where could he wash his hand? As he was about to exit, he spotted a tap that supplied drinking water. He ran to it and washed his hand clean. As he did so, he leaned on the counter.
She was lying there in a pool of blood in the school's corridor.
Her eyes were open but they had no life in them. She gradually closed her eyes. As she closed her eyes, she had a serene smile on her face as if she was happy to be there. It was almost as if she knew that her end was near. Her wrists were bleeding where they were cut. Her head was bleeding because of being beaten by a bat. Her clothes were completely soaked in blood. Yet, she was smiling. She was happy because she probably knew that her dying would solve all the issues in her life.
Suddenly a phone rang shrilly which made her open her eyes wide open in shock. The first thought that came to her mind- "Why am I still alive?" When she tried to lift her arms, she saw the wrists that were badly cut. She looked around to see herself drowned in her own blood. She knew what had happened to her. She remembered every single detail. The only thing she did not know was who was he? And why had he behaved with her that way? She didn't know but she was going to find out.
First she had to get herself cleaned up. For that she would have to get up.
It had almost been an hour since she was trying to get up. She heard voices below. So she tried to call someone for help. “Help, help” she whimpered. But, her voice wasn't strong enough as she had lost so much blood. Moreover, no one seemed to be bothered to come upstairs. She wondered why.
She could not get up but she finally dragged herself up to the beginning of the stairs. She wanted water. She tried to call for help again. “Water. Water. Wat…”she fainted and fell. As she fell, she rolled down the flight of stairs and was lying there. Now there were additional wounds. Her lips were bleeding now. She didn’t have any strength left anymore.
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