STORYMIRROR

Rutuja Pawar

Fantasy

4.6  

Rutuja Pawar

Fantasy

Cogheart!

Cogheart!

23 mins
404


“Are you sure you could take this job?” Mr. Patel asked

The seriousness in his voice was making me think twice, but I was not gonna give up this opportunity.

“Yes Sir!” I replied firmly.

“Good,” he said with a smile, “This is your advance, rest after the job is done”

I took the cheque. Holy Moly! I gasped at the amount written on it. My eyes not leaving it once.

“So…anything more you want to ask?” Mr. Patel broke me from my stance. I nodded my head.

“Everything should go according to the plan. The public shouldn’t know that our only son is lost” the lady standing on the right side of Mr. Patel turned toward me.

“Yes, Mrs. Patel, no one will know,” I said.

“Good. Now leave” She said rudely.

Other times I would have just stood up to her till she ran out of the room but I can’t risk it now, because the money which they were paying me can suffice four generations of mine.

I turned towards the door, just to crash into someone.

“Ouch!” I stumbled back. What the heck did I stumbled upon, a metallic slab?

I looked up, a hand ascended down towards me, I didn’t take it and got up on my own. I peeked at Mr. Patel just to see him smirking, and then I looked at the annoyed face of Mrs. Patel which spoiled all my mood.

I looked front, just to meet a beautiful pair of hazel brown eyes, the lightest shade you could ever possibly think of. Just like a cat!

“Well, thank you!” He said softly.

“What I-” did I just said that out loud, I smacked my face, this is so embarrassing. If someone saw from outside, they would just see a tomato standing in front of the brown eyes Greek god.

Hope I didn’t say that out loud!

Mr. Patel cleared his throat. Everyone turned their heads towards him, except the brown eyes who were looking right at me.

“Sam, come here my child,” Mr. Patel said cheerfully. Mrs. Patel too smiled at this instant. Wow, it’s just been few minutes since I saw her and I thought she never smiled in her life until now.

“Ananya, meet my brother’s child, Samarth Patel, the charming and smartest of our family” Mr. Patel cheered up while slapping Samarth’s back playfully.

“Oh stop it uncle” Samarth giggled. His voice was so soft, way too softer than anyone can ever have, it was both surprising and soothing to the ear.

“He too will accompany you!” Mrs. Patel said loudly. I nodded

I looked at both the men. Now that I properly saw them, both of them had a few similar features, which I guess has passed on from the family, the same shiny smooth hair with a bit of freckle on the bridge of the nose.

“Ananya…….ANANYAAA-” Mrs. Patel screamed in my ear. Oh my god, this lady, just gives0 her some snickers.

“Yes, Mrs. Patel” I answered back confidently.

“I said you can leave, your job is done, and make sure you do the work and then show your face or-” she pierced her eyes.

But I was not going to stay quiet, I reacted by folding my hands and looked straight into her eyes, challenging her, her mouth opened again to say something.

“Ananya!” a voice called, “See you tomorrow at seven, make sure you sleep early” Samarth said to break the silence.

Mrs. Patel took the cue and went towards him. I turned towards the door and turned back to see them all laughing and giggling with each other. I met Samarth’s eyes and he winked.

He wInKeD?! What the heck! Be professional Ananya.

I slammed the door behind me but the smug look on my face didn’t leave me once.

Hope some miracle happens and he doesn’t come tomorrow morning.


Well, let’s just say I jinxed myself and he came! Godammit!

I was on a seaport, with a massive cruise waiting for me. Well, last time I checked this wasn’t a party?

I saw a guy lifting few boxes and falling to the ground by its weights crushing him. He looked at me and all of sudden turned the other way.

I looked at Sam, he was busy talking to the ship’s captain about something, and I took this chance and went towards the helpless guy.

He was wearing a full orange jumpsuit, with a black belt tightly tied on his waist, his stature petite but his green eyes as fierce as it can be. A bushy beard lining his jaw, seems like he never got a chance to trim it. I saw the name on the badge he was wearing – Taru.

“Excuse me, excuse….Mr. Taru” I tapped his shoulder. He quickly turned my ways with wide eyes and jumped back. To give back a spontaneous reaction, I held both my hands up, showing I meant no harm. He calmed down and slowly walked towards me.

“Sorry mam!” he replied with a mick voice.

Sorry for what? “You can call me Ananya”, I allegedly put my hand forward, his eyes met mine, telling me thousands of different things but I was not able to understand what this man had gone through. He brought his hand to meet mine but instantly put it back, regretting it. I looked at him confusingly.

“I guess your work is done, ay?” a voice sounded from behind me. I got startled but a handhold me down – Samarth.

I was shocked at how much Taru was afraid of Sam. He shooed Taru off which made me angry.

“He didn’t deserve that!” I shouted at Sam. He stepped forward.

“When you kill a whole family and burn down a whole neighborhood, yes, I guess he deserves that then!” Sam said harshly. His smooth voice spouting venomous words and this much hatred towards a person made me seriously wonder about Taru.

“So….he is a criminal?”

“Yes!”

“Then what is he doing here?”

“You know uncle, kindness is in his blood, he forgave him, but I could never…because, what he did, is something which I could never forget, because it is embedded in me as a horrific past” Sam’s eyes became distinct as if, every fragment of that memory playing in its head like a movie. I wanted to console him but I couldn’t.

“Ahem…so what did you want to do to him?” I brought Sam back from his past.

“Kill him” he replied carelessly.


It was seven in the evening, I looked up at the sky, it was so beautiful and majestic. It was this prahar when sun and moon interact with each other, speaking and consoling each other, that it’s their time and the other one should take some rest.

I guess rest is necessary for everyone. After this mission is finished I am going to take a long vacation with my parents. It’s been months since I met them, the workload has been so high that even they can understand.

I took a deep breath, inhaling the smell of the ocean. I missed this.

I heard some footsteps behind me. I instantly turned back, just to find it was the captain. Who was I expecting? Samarth? Jeez, give it a break.

The captain was talking to someone on the phone, intensely. His eyes turned towards mine and he gave me a forceful smile, I returned it.

He continued on his phone.

Speaking of Sam, the words still revolved in my head, it’s like he looks innocent from the outside but it’s not like how he is from inside.

Everyone in here is hiding something. Something which they are all not telling me. Something really important.

I returned to my cabin, just to find a girl sitting on my bed and staring at the wall. A blank wall. I guess what I said was true, everyone here is crazy!

She heard me closing the door and jumped like a barbie from a spring. Well, she was kind of looking like a Barbie. I can tell she was not an Indian.

“Hi!” she waved her hand tremendously. I giggled at her cute gesture. I waved her back.

“You must be Ana...Ananya” she struggled to spell my name but never mind, can’t expect her to speak pure Hindi. I nodded.

“Myself Maya, I am from Hawaii” ah thought so! I hugged her to end the awkwardness between us and then she told me the struggles she faced at the airport.

She had a bubbly and charismatic personality. She wasn’t anything like me, she was tall, heck tall, might be 5’9 or something, with long blonde hair and blue eyes. She introduced herself as a navigator and geographical aid, in short, our guide.

We had quite a vibe and I was starting to like her. I think we had few things in common – likeness towards nature, books and food. Well, that’s what made us quite close to each other.

We were busy talking to each other when someone knocked on the door. Sam stood there tall, his white shirt tucked in his black trousers and his black blazer handing from his shoulder, his left-hand bend towards the door frame, and his whole body reclined towards the left. His eyes not leaving me once. Looking at this, Maya started to wiggle her eyebrows. I jerked her away.

“Seems like you are having fun,” Sam said in a goodie voice but I could sense a bit of playfulness in that.

“Unlike you, I am focused on my work,” I said challenging him

“Oh, and what is it that I am not doing?” he smirked.

“Minding your own business,” I said

Maya started laughing loudly and I joined her. Sam as much as he looked annoyed, joined us too.

Sam came inside with Taru trailing behind him, carrying a tray containing three glasses of water. He handed each one to us, I looked at him continuously, hoping I could get his attention but his attention was somewhere else, of course towards Sam. I tried to talk to him, but then I remembered all the past crimes he did, and I let it go.

He trotted from the cabin as fast as he could and then I looked at Sam again, he too was looking at the blank wall, was there something which I was missing that is there on the wall? Seriously these guys!

“Pssst!” Maya nudged me, I looked at her, “Are you friends with Taru?”

“Well we barely talked and then Sam told me he is a criminal, so I guess the idea of friendship bounces off!”

Maya nodded in affirmative.

All of sudden she clapped her hand to bring our attention to her, “I have an idea, why don’t we play-”

A tremendous jerk pushed me off from the bed, I stumbled on the floor, Sam grabbed me tightly.

“What the heck? Security! Captain!” Samarth started shouting. The panic in his voice was obvious. Maya cuddled the pillow and hid under a table. I looked at her and tried to calm her down, but I was barely calm myself. I tried to stand up, but the waves were hitting way too hard. I looked out of the small window the cabin was having. The water level was increasing. We were sinking!

Samarth was trying to grab me but I didn’t let him catch me. I have to do something. We can’t just stay here. I opened the door and I guess this was the first mistake I did on this journey. The water gushed in.

“uggghhh..uggh…how did it..ahhh.. filled…ughh… this much..uggh!” I tried to swim but I couldn’t, the pressure of water and the suffocation were making it hard to move forward. My vision was slowly getting blurry. My movements were being jerked. Shit!

Slowly, my body was losing its capacity, I was not able to see where Maya or Sam, either of them were. My body was getting heavier and I was sinking on the floor. My lungs were filling up with the water. My eyes automatically got shut.

And then everything blacked out!


Get up Ananya! Get up!

Ahh! I gasped. Water spouted out of my mouth, my head hurting ten times more than any after hangover. I saw Sam sitting beside me with a relief look on his face. He hugged me tightly which made me breathe even harder.

“Are you ok?” he asked hurriedly.

As if I am okay after all this!

“I don’t think so! The durability of your cruise is the same as my hair clip” I said sarcastically.

He smiled. “I am glad you are ok” he forwarded his hand towards me and I took it.

I saw Maya and Taru together collecting supplies that has come along with the waves on the shore. Looking at me, Maya came running and hugged me. I could see, she got a bruise on her left hand. It was scratched. I tried to touch it but she kept dodging it.

I could see Taru looking at me and then turning his head away as if he was disappointed about something.

“But how did it happen, Sam?” Maya asked.

“Samarth” he replied.

“Sorry what?” Maya asked confusingly.

“It’s Samarth for you” he said, “Sam is only for close people” and then he looked at me.

Ugh gross! But I can’t hide that smile on my face.

“Well, it looks like the ship hit something, just like in titanic” Sam explained with gestures.

Wow! “Then where was the captain?”

He shrugged.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” I grabbed Sam’s collar, “listen jerk, I don’t care, I just want to complete my mission, and get home as soon as I can, and now because of you, my mission has changed from finding your brother to getting out of this…out of this..”

“Island” Taru said while gathering supplies.

“Yes, island!” I said annoyingly.

Sam grabbed my hands and took it off from his collar and then clenched it. “Your mission has not changed” he said firmly, his eyes boring into mine.

“What do you mean?” I asked, my right eyebrow-raising spontaneously.

He looked at the forest which spread wide apart after few miles of the shoreline. “I am affirmative my brother is somewhere here”

I was not able to understand what was happening and I didn’t question it any further because there were tons of questions and I had given up asking Sam because rather than answering he would just smirk and flirt with me, though I can’t deny I kind of like it. Oh god, what I am saying!

I was so hungry though. I looked at Maya. She was sitting on the shore busy on her phone.

“Hey” I patted her head. She was becoming like my little sister now.

She smiled and put the phone away.

“You tried calling for help, S.O.S something?” I asked her. She shifted a bit as if inviting me to sit beside her. I joined her.

“No signal!” she shrieked. I laughed. As expected, this island is cut off from everywhere.

“Do you by any idea know where we are?” I asked her as she was our guide. She nodded her head, “kind of”.

I was surprised, I was not expecting this. She took out her phone and then she opened up the gallery and showed me the map of India.

“W

e took the cruise from this port-” she pointed at the edge of Thiruvananthapuram. “And then we headed straight ahead towards the depth of Indian ocean-” I was fascinated by how much she was keeping in the account, if I was the guide, I would say we are lost.

“And then according to the natural phenomena which occurred, whirlpool, we were drifted far away” oh so that’s why our ship sank.

“Then we fell unconscious, and I was not able to navigate, but now the only thing we have to look out for, are there are any tribes over here, on this island, if they see any intruder they might directly kill us”.

I started acknowledging her for her given info when our sister’s moment was broken by a narcissist jerk! “Now what Sam?” I asked annoyingly.

“I thought princess wanted some food, so I found her some” he put forward his hand, I didn’t take it and got up on my own, Maya went ahead leaving us both alone.

“I am not princes. I am a queen” I corrected him.

“What’s the difference? he smirked.

“Princess needs someone to do her work-”

“And-“

“Whereas, the queen is capable of doing the job herself”

His smile faded away, and now it was me who was smirking. I deliberately crunched his toes. “Ouch bi-”

I raised my eyebrow

“Queen”

Now that’s better!


After having a wholesome meal…wholesome meal? My foot! Few berries and nuts which they found on the shoreline was our dinner.

The fire crackling ahead of us was making everything more melodramatic. Ugh! Why did I come here? I should have taken another mission, a mission which was meant for me, but I went for a higher one, thinking I could do it, you dumb!

“You can do it!” Sam said breaking me from my stance.

“What?” I asked surprisingly, did he read my thoughts?

“I said you can do the recipe another way round too, like add rice with curry or curry with rice” he said in a serious tone.

Maya disagreed and stood firm on the fact of adding curry on the rice whereas Taru was not saying a word in this and looking at the fire crackling distantly.

God, did I do some sin in my past life, that I stumbled upon these idiots?

I got up, ignoring their conversations, and leaned across a huge rock. My eyes drooping even after all this, guess I was tired after all.

Samarth stood up too. Oh, not again. I allegedly closed my eyes and then sleep took me, on the whole, another level.

~

“What are you doing here?” she looked at him angrily.

He looked up but didn’t say a word.

“Taru, I am asking, what are you doing here? Did he force you to come? What did we agree upon? And you are doing the same mistake over and over –“

“We have to find him,” Taru said while looking at the stars, he continued, “we have to find him before anyone else does”

Maya was now bubbling with anger, “do whatever you want then if Ananya comes to know about this-“

“She will help us,” Taru said calmly.

Maya looked where, Ananya and Sam both were fast asleep, in each other’s arms on the nearby rock, “how are you so sure?”

“Instinct!” Taru said smirking


AH! My back hurts so much. Perks of sleeping on a rock. I shifted a bit, just to find a moan coming from my right. I turned my head a bit to find... to find…Oh my god…this jerk!

“Sa-“I didn’t know why but I didn’t want to wake him up, he looks so peaceful when he is sleeping. My eyes began to observe his distinct features, his long eyelashes, full lips, smooth hair, and soft skin-

“Well thanks again and good morning my queen,” he said in his morning voice. Oh no, I just didn’t. Why do I do this every time? Do I have some kind of disease or is someone controlling me. I am pretty sure that Maya has fit a transmitter or something, and controlling me secretly.

I got up at once and he lost his balance and fell on his left side. So cute! No Ananya snap out of it!

I rushed where Taru was there and said loudly, “I am hungry!” he didn’t even budge.

“Excuse me, I said I am hungry!” he still didn’t answer me. Fine! I studded out on my own to find something, I kept on walking along the shoreline, it was best to explore the island now. I stumbled upon few rocks but that was obvious.

I was not able to find Maya, she might have been a good company. I went a few steps more, keeping in mind I don’t go too far away from them. The island turned sharply at a corner, and the water was way laid back than any other place, the canopy was denser here, huh? What is that?

My eyes were caught by millions of colorful shiny things lying on the sand. Are you kidding me? A smile spread on my face realizing what they were, shells! I and my dad used to collect them a lot. I carefully went towards them, making sure I don’t break any, and I don’t get hurt.

I saw Maya following me, I waved at her and told her to come over here fast. Even she was in awe. Anyone would be astonished.

“Wow, so cool!” she exclaimed.

I beamed. I began to go deeper in finding shells. I picked one up. So beautiful. It was so shiny, it was as if nature has sprinkled some glitter on it. Blue and white stripes covered it. It was hollow and smooth from inside. I kept the shell in my pocket.

“Hey what are you guys doing?!” Samarth shouted from another side. Ugh, always the hindrance! We walked toward him, Maya went running.

But something made me stop, something caught my eyes. Someone was watching us. I looked at the forest which was spread far and wide. Greenery filled its every gap, I wanted to explore inside but I can’t! I minded my own business and was walking, again to hear a rustling sound. I looked back at once just to find my eyes fixated on the creature which I didn’t even know existed!

~

The afternoon breeze was hitting the trees making them wave as if they were dancing on the sun’s rhythm.

Fauna huddled near the pond, drinking water peacefully. Enjoying the laziest afternoon. From carnivorous to herbivorous, everyone was present, they forgot all their nemesis, worries, and were enjoying the present moment, which humans rarely do.

A small squirrel-like animal, with his tail having that of seven colors of the rainbow, came running on two small hind limbs, while his forearms were in the air. His full black eyes observing everyone. He reached the pond where everyone was gathered.

They are here. He screeched.

Who? One of them asked.

Humans! The squirrel-like animal replied.

Everybody gasped. A human couldn't come here, in 'Navavirya'. Navavirya has been protected from intruders, especially from humans, for thousands of years. The magical energy from the island kept it hidden from the intruders, for others it was just a large rock which the sailors had to avoid. Then how did they come here?

Are you sure? Another animal of the same species of squirrel-like animal asked.

Yes! I even met one. Near the shore. I was this close to getting caught.

Everyone remained silent. Even the breeze stopped. Everyone was thinking or rather was confused about what to think of this situation.

I think we should report it to him. 

Agreed.

Yes, he will know who they are.

Yes!

Everyone returned from the pond to do their task. While the squirrel-like animal stood there, aghast because he knows this is something more. A bad omen!


I kept quiet about what I saw. I didn’t tell anyone. Heck, even I doubt if anyone would believe me. Who will believe me, if I said to them, that I saw a squirrel-like animal but he was not a squirrel at all, and he was stuffing his mouth with shells instead of nuts, and in the go, he ate some too. Yes, a shell-eating squirrel! They are going to believe this, isn’t it? Stupid!

Taru saw me walking back towards the camp, I guess we can call it a camp, because they had tied my saree, which I brought for the party at cruise, like a tent. Stupid but creative men.

He looked at me with a questionable look.

“What?” I shouted. He shrugged and went back on his work.

I saw Maya has found a sketchbook of hers, so she was busy drawing. Whereas Sam was busy fidgeting with his phone as if hitting it hard is going to bring the signal back.

I approached him. He looked at me and quickly hid his phone because he too know how quirky his idea was. I smirked. That made him angry while knowing that I knew what he was doing.

“Enjoying here PrInCeSs?” he stretched the princess word. Now it has become a habit, instead of getting angry with him, I laughed and he joined me too.

This man was getting on my every nerve but I was starting to ignore this. I sat inside the saree tent, and then he joined me.

“Nice taste in color” he said while pointing at the saree.

I nodded. I didn’t say anything. It must be around two in the afternoon, and I felt so sleepy, that I yawned. He looked at me and smirked.

“Has anyone ever told you how cute you are?” he asked while sliding a hair strand from my face and tucking it back behind my ear. My insides started to churn at this small gesture.

“Has anyone ever told you how annoying you are?” I answered back to make it even.

He laughed, and slide his hand over mine, I took my hand back, this made the scenario from awkward to more awkward.

“I…should check…outside,” he said while getting up and patting his trousers.

I saw him flex his shoulders more while giving out a huge yawn. Every back muscle stretched giving him a wider look.

He turned back, “if you want you can take a nap, I will wake you up afterward”. He put one hand inside the pocket of his trouser and one hand rubbing his nape. Oh is this happening for real? Mr. Samarth Patel is blushing! I tried not to giggle, but he noticed and quickly ran away from the tent.

I fell flat on my back and covered my face, it must be so red now I can barely imagine. Thank goodness Maya was not here.

This feeling has aroused in me after so many years, the last time this feeling came was when I was in my 12th grade that too was for a short amount of time, and until I found out he already had a girlfriend. But this…this is different I can feel it. I don’t know what my mind is going through but I can just say…I like him!

~

I jolted up in a sweat. I checked my hands and legs. Everything in their place. I checked my face too. Yeah still pretty. Then why I was feeling something was different. I looked around, the tent was gone, and it was replaced by a huge…bird nest?

And I was heck-

Where am I? I was 150 feet above the ground. As in 12 stories high building. And this was no building, this was a tree, oh god. I tried to move, but the nest was so wobbling.

“SAMMM….MAYAAA…TARUUU” I shouted but there was no response, other than the chirping of birds, which was getting closer every second. I could see few birds approaching me, and they were getting closer.

Wait for a second! They were not birds, from as much as I can say, they were like ‘giant bird’, as in dinosaur times but ten times more. I screamed.

“HELPPPP! Someone just helps…” I had to do something. Though they looked magnificent they were nowhere near birds apart from their wings and beaks. They had four legs each excluding wings, and their body was not at all covered with feathers, their skin was seen clearing, but the color of the skin was different, one was red the other one black. Their eyes gauging forward and backward and were the size of a tennis ball.

I tried to move back only to come at the end of the nest. Oh shit! There was nothing which I can use against them! Oh god, save me. I don’t know why I pinched myself in this situation when I know how realistic this is.

The black one swift beside me, making me lose my balance, I wanted to grab the branch, but my arms were not reaching and I fell from the tall tree, like a physics problem in JEE, where a ball is thrown from a height only to land at the ground with some velocity, hope people will use my example too, at least I will be remembered that way.

I closed my eyes to satisfy myself that this was not going to happen, that I was not going to die, that Samarth will be down there to catch me, and then we will find his brother together, and then I will go to my parents for a whole vacation.

But then I looked at the ground and the reality hit me hard, I was going to die, I could see the birds swiftly coming towards me, maybe scavenge me after I die. Tears welled up my eyes. That’s it, this is it! I clenched my fist and screamed. Only to get hit with something and then everything went blank!

~

Wake up! Wake up!

This was the same voice that woke me up when I drifted off on the shore. I tried to get up but my head was throbbing hard. I slammed back on the softest bed I could ever imagine. A hand came on to my head.

I opened my eyes, just to find the squirrel-like creature I encountered sitting beside me, waiting for me to wake up. I screamed and then shifted far away from him. The creature screeched as if saying something, but I was not able to understand anything. I looked around, I was in a cave, the sound of fire crackling making me soothe a bit.

The creature looked at the entrance of the cave.

I saw a silhouette of human carrying something ten times bigger in size than that person and walking towards us. I clenched myself but I didn’t show I was scared. As he came closer, the first thing I noticed was his eyes. His light grey eyes.

“You must be here for me,” he said in his deep voice, which echoed inside the cave. The creature jumped on his shoulder and whispered something in his ear whilst the man nodded his head.

I was so confused. He squatted in front of me and came right down to where I was sitting. He observed me and extended his hand forward. I didn’t take it and sat there clutching my hands to my foot.

He croaked in his deep voice, and what he said next made my entire body wake up from the shock slumber,

“Myself Mahesh. Mahesh Patel. The lost son”


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