The Message

The church bell rang thrice when Michael started running from church across the beach jumping over boats and nets.

peter,"do you think we would just let you go..after you have betrayed us with the cops"

Micheal stops across the fish market where his elder brother Peter is beating someone up really badly so that his dress is soaked with blood..

Peter gives a signal when a few boys come in, tie him up and carry him to a boat.

Michael breathing heavily looking at this...when peter turns to look at him wiping the blood from his face..Michael ran again..

Jasmine puts the masala applied fish into the frying pan..the fish starts to get roasted filling the room with the smell of fish.

Fernandez walks in,stops at the doorstep and inhales the smell.

Jasmine,"you are early today"

fernandez,"the smell of your dish brought me here"

He looks around the house.

Jasmine,"stop fooling around"

Fernandez,"where are the kids?"

Jasmine,"i dont know"

Fernandez closes the door. Keeps the bag down. Walks towards her, hugs her hard, kisses on her neck and turns her towards him. She lays her head on his chest and smells him.

Michael runs across all the streets, and stops at a house. Slowly walks towards the gate. Jumps if. Walks towards the window and peeks in..isaki, an old man with bald head kneels down and prays to god crying moving his head up and down...he then stops crying.

isaiki,"micheal,the day has come..today is the day...be ready"

Michael starts to run looking back at the window...he runs towards the abandoned temple..

Sofia,"What will happen if your mom finds out about us?"

kishore,"i am afraid of your brother who will think his best friends has betrayed him..and your father will never even looks at me"

sofia,"you are too good for our family"

Kishore,"the whole village teases me for not knowing who my dad is..my mother says he is dead..and does not wish to talk about it..even in the certificate she uses a made up name.."

sofia,"after you get your job..lets get out of this village"

kishore,"i just passed the written exams..in 10 days i have to attend to attend the physical tests..i am too afraid"

sofia,"shall i give you something to make your fear go"

Kishore closes his eyes...sofia leans towards him..slowly comes near him..his breathing starts to increase..there is only a inch gap between their lips..she breathes her air into his..she takes his hand and takes it towards her chest..

She moves away hearing the sound of someone coming....Michael jumps between them..stops and looks at them with a smile and runs again..

Jasmine,"I missed you".

Fernandez taps on his pants pocket.

fernandez,"a little more money..then we can start the treatment"

Jasmine,"with the time i have,i want you to be with me and not out in the sea"

Fernandez, "my watch has stopped running and so does your time"

Jasmine, "you are out in the sea making money, Peter who is the eldest should take the other two is making money out of nowhere. He doesn't tell me how. I surely know it is bad...Sofia left her studies to take of my. The younger one Michael keeps praying in church for me to get well..i know I am a burden."

before she could speak any words he bends down kisses her on her lips and tastes her. There was a tug war between two tongues. She then pulls him and kisses him hard..he picks her up and places her on the kitchen slab. Pulls her towards him and as he moves down..

Their youngest son walks in pushing the unbolted door.Jasmine pushes him away and pretends to fry the fish..Fernandez pretends to search for something that he missed..

Michael doesn't even notice to care for them..he searches for something all around the house..he keeps searching it until he finds it..a small bundle tied to it..he opens it to find some coins..he keeps it in his pocket and walks away..

when he was about to walk out..

Fernandez,"What was that?"

micheal,"this is for god.."

Fernandez,"what?"

micheal,"this is to keep mom safe,"

and he runs out towards the church.

There are two or three candles lit around the house..a gaslight has been lit where everyone seated around it with their plates filled with food.outside it started to rain..

except Fernandez who has got an extra glass of booze.

after two glasses of alcohol has stirred his emotions,he would cry telling the story of how he lost his brother and father in sea to the srilankan army. that he never saw their body except the bullet holed boat which was found days later at the shore.

He would often tell that is why he had three children..if he had one,he or she will be alone,when he had two there will be a fight and when there are three,there is a balance and they will take care of each other.

he would often advise his children not to become like him ,being in sea all the time..catching his life in sea until he returns home.. but to study well and change or bring what was lost to their tribe.

sofia,'mom..latha aunty said she would recommend me for my work at the factory.. if i go we can arrange the money for the treatment soon mom...shall i go mom...please.."

Fernandez sips another glass..it started to rain hard..

Fernandez,"do you know darling..that factory is making the fish die..do you know that..it is killing our livelihood.."

sofia,"latha aunty says some people who hates the factory spreads such kind of rumour"

Fernandez,"do you know what the doctor said about your mother?"

he drinks full glass in a full swing..lightning strikes bringing a heavy sound of thunder..Michael and sofis closes their hard..

Fernandez,"the factory may be a cause for your mothers disease..not only her..there are more like her.."

peter,"sofia..you and micheal just go to school and study well..i will take care of the money for mothers treatment"

Fernandez looks at him and doesn't speak a word..

few years back,during the eve of the christmas,when everyone at the house were at the church for the midnight mass,when fernandez was at home looking at their youngest daughter who was two years old..he never drinks,but his friends made him to,on that day..so he got sober and lost conscious.when he woke up,he sees his wife crying in the corner,sofia is holding Michael and crying.peter runs inside home and slaps fernandez till his hands ache..fernandez doesn't know what was happening..peter throws him out of the house..fernandez walks out looking at people standing around his house..he feels something was wrong..he shakes his hard..wipes his eyes..runs back to the house to find the little one..there is nowhere to be seen...then he knew that his child is missing until now..that guilt made fernandez drink every day..

people starts to speak that bought curse upon the family..fernandez became alcoholic..Jasmine has a severe illness..peter joins the drug mafia..sofia left her school who was first in her school..Michael became obsessed with god"

Jasmine,"i don't need your money  peter..until you tell me how you are getting it"

peter,"what is wrong with you mom”

Jasmine,"i dont like you working for that smuggler kumaresan"

peter,"he is a good man mom"

Jasmine,"do you know that he uses people like you to do his killing and drug stuff.."

Peter,"it is not you think mom..just a work at the cargo..unloading goods..that's all.."

Jasmine,"your grandfather worked for him..shot dead at drug trafficking..i rather be dead than getting treatment with that money".

there was silence in the house..except the sound of the rain..

micheal,"mom..do you believe in treasures"

Jasmine started laughing..

micheal,"mom don't laugh..today i went and saw what was in isaki's house"

Peter,"who asked you to go to that  old madman's house?"

micheal,"he is not madman..he is my friend'

peter,"everything is the same"

Jasmine,"what did you see?"

micheal,"a treasure map that he and grandfather made and grandfathers compass"fernandez drinks another glass whole..

micheal,"he says that god showed him a way to find out the treasure..and he is leaving tomorrow..and asked me to come with him to find the treasure....and if we find it,we can use the treasure to take care of your treatment"

Jasmine,"no one is gonna go anywhere..i just wanted you to care of your mom"

Jasmine coughs..coughs again..

micheal,"he also says that something is gonna happen tomorrow which will change all our lives.."

Jasmine couldn't control her cough..she coughs hard until she bleeds..she spits it out and faints..

Fernandez is sitting with Sofia and Michael on the bench..Peter is waiting near the doctor's room..doctor walks out informing peter that the operation has to be done soon..the tumour spreads faster than they expected..he asks him to start arranging the money for the operation..

Michael pushes away Fernandez and runs towards the church..

Michaels keeps running towards all the streets wiping his tears from his eyes to get a clear vision..he notices Isaki walks towards the sea with his bag in hand..

isaki,"it is time...it is time..."

There was mass being conducted and Father starts to recite verses from the bible..Peter runs inside the church kneels down in front and starts praying to jesus..

midnight striked..a man who was covered in black mass walks inside the church towards the altar...he was struggling to breathe..his legs starts to crumble..the people seated stood up looking at him..father stops his speech..peter stands up looking at the man..the man falls down dead under peters leg..crowd starts to get panic and runs out..

Peter looks at him and looks back at Jesus and runs out..he keeps running out until he sees isaki getting inside the boat.he ran towards him and got in..he breathed hard...looked back..

micheal,"i will save you mom"

peter takes his phone calls kumaresan

peter,"i will take up the job"

kumaresan,"you said you didn't want it earlier"

peter,"when should i leave"

kumaresan,"you know the risk right?"

Peter looks at his mom lying down with tubes all over body..

peter,"will be there in 20 minutes"

and he cuts the call..before peter walks out..

peter,"sofia..take care of mom..will be back with the money"

he stares at Fernandez and doesn't even tell him anything and walks away..

early in the morning,susairaj wakes Fernandez who was sleeping on the hospital floor with her daughter sleeping   on the bench..he asks the nurse to look after her..

he goes with susairaj..

sofia wakes up to the sound of the news telecasted in the tv,which keeps saying their village's name..that there been an accident at the shore in a ship named SAVIOUR which was carrying the oil..the oil spill has caused damage to the people's livelihood and dead fishes are floating near the shore and fisherman are banned from fishing until the oil is clear.

Fernandez heard all the news from susairaj and felt helpless to help with her wife's treatment..susairaj brings Fernandez to kumaresan..

Kumaresan tells that if he helps him to unload a cargo from the ship and keep it safe until the oil is clear,he would pay a ransom amount for his wife's treatment.he agrees without hesitation and gets ready along with five people.

Sofia looks at her mom sleeping and runs towards Kishore's house..Kishore is nowhere to be seen..she then goes to their meeting place near the abandoned temple.as she walks searching for him all over the place and at least finds him crying near the steps.she walks towards him..

sofia,"is everything all right"

Kishore doesn't even look at her face..but keeps crying..

Sofia,"what happened?"

Kishore keeps crying..

Sofia,"Did your mom find out about us?"

He stands and looks her in the eye..

sofia,'what did she tell?"

kishore,"your father is my father"

her feet start to shake..her heart starts to beat faster..she loses her grip and falls down..

AFTER MANY YEARS..

a fisherman rows his boat near the shore..as he enters near it he can smell a strong foul smell..he closes his nose..as he comes closer he can see the water now turns to black with dead fishes,birds and mammals laying all over..even some human skeletons too..

jumps from his boat through the black sluggy liquid walks towards the street across all the dead fishes in the shore..adjusts his masks covering his nose from the polluted air..

He turns around to see if he is not being followed by sea pirates..he sees a big rusty ship named SAVIOUR crumbling down into the sea..

as he walks he could see the dogs in the streets have mutated to something else without skin..

He walks through the abandoned houses,fallen factory..broken boats..and reaches the end of the street..he walks in towards a broken building which once was a church.

he looks around seeing people coughing and covering their mouths..some of them are making something with the fire which looks like a rat being roasted..

a woman comes near him.

women,"what is it that you want?"

fisherman,"is Jasmine here?"

a fisherman walks towards the altar where the woman points her hand at..

there was an old woman laying down at the feet of an angel statue..

a fisherman walks towards her..

fisherman,"Jasmine?"

She slowly wakes her up from the blankets and looks at him.

fisherman,"this is for you?"

she takes the letter from his hand and starts to read it..

fisherman,"while i fishing deep in the ocean near an abandoned island,i found this letter in a bottle"

the news from the letter

"HELLO MOM..THIS IS MICHAEL..IF YOU ARE READING THIS..I WOULD LIKE TO TELL YOU THAT I FOUND THE TREASURE MOM..NOW I AM STUCK IN THE STORM..I DON'T KNOW IF I EVER WILL BE ABLE TO COME OUT ALIVE..IF I SURVIVED I WILL COME AFTER YOU..JUST HOLD YOUR BREATHE A LITTLE LONGER"

NOTE-if someone finds this please deliver it to Jasmine of nandapuram village.

her teardrops fell on the paper..she looks at the fisherman..

Jasmine,"I need to find the others"

fisherman,"what others?..who?"

Jasmine,"the family i lost on that day"

Jasmine slowly gets up..

Jasmine,"valli?...valli?"

a woman in her 50's comes near her..

Jasmine,"Michael is alive..we have to find others..wake everyone ..it's time to move on..we have a long journey ahead"