The Blood Soaked Ring.

In this world
We walk on the roof of hell
Gazing at flowers.
---Issa

Prologue

The twinkling stars were slowly being gulped by the dark giants in the sky. The sky was slowly and gradually getting covered by the black clouds. As Trisha waited in the pitch darkness alone, her eyes saw just one color that was sanguine, she felt just one thing, the trigger of the gun which she had quietly stolen from her father’s drawer. She was filled with all the gusto, for she thought it was her first step for being a vigilante soon. It was 10 p.m. and she was waiting for Abhay in an abandoned house, miles away from anybody’s reach with fire and blood on her mind. As the gas lamp flickered she sat on the floor lost in the memories of her past which was heavily affected which in turn had caged her, today she was going to free herself from the chains by fire and blood today and this feeling brought a momentary grin on her face.

Trisha and Her Cage

It was 2012, New Delhi was numb. The atrocious act on the girl had jolted each and everybody in India. The news was everywhere, in televisions, news papers, radios, FM’s and even people at every nook and corner talked about the incident. Demanding justice, not only Delhiites but people all over India came out on the streets. Meanwhile, Trisha was seventeen, the only daughter of a well-established high-class businessman in Delhi. Being the only child she was loved and cared for very much by her parents, she was indeed a pampered child. She was born with a sensitive heart and the pampering had worsened her.

As Delhi was burning due to protests, Trisha sat in her house shivering, for the wind, the situation had brought had opened the pages of her past. She remembered the sexual assaults on her when she was 8 years old by a cousin, 20 years old then and his father 52 years old then, sometimes separately and sometimes in front of everybody in the name of family love. She remained numb then because she wasn’t aware that something evil was happening with her, but when she finally realized, the devil was dead and his son had fled country forever, the cause of which she never bothered to find out.

She never shared her dilemma with anybody not even with her loving parents because she had no courage in her or perhaps she just never wanted to, because there was no point in sharing anymore as the culprits were long gone. She kept it all in her heart and without her slightest of idea she had caged herself in a world, a world of hers in which there was only one man who was noble that was his father and all others were fetid for her, a marred world which was preparing silently but precariously to destroy another’s by the dint of its hatred. 

Hatred is an impulse so strong and diabolical that it is nearly impossible to vanquish it until it has achieved what it wants and when ultimately it does it destroys everything in seconds just within a blink of an eye. Meanwhile the incident, rape and atrocious murder of the girl in Delhi had yet again scratched the dormant wounds and silently revenge had befriended her, but helpless she sat there on the couch with fire in her heart. She couldn’t sleep that night, the next day she took off to her college. Inside the cafeteria sipping her coffee with her group which strictly had only girls in it, she overheard few boys talking about the incident.

“I don’t know man, but I think she shouldn’t have resisted, perhaps at least she would be alive today,” one said, throwing the newspaper to another. These words irked Trisha and she stood from her chair and walked towards the boys. As she stood their ready to revile them, they looked at her in a rictus, because she had for the very first time come up to the boys for a talk.

“So what should have she done, not fight and succumb to them? And then what? If at all she had done the same and lived today, what would you sick fucks have discussed about her? Perhaps her expressions, oh! Wait you all would have imagined the situation and jerked off, you all should be castrated right away, somebody give me a gun, I want to put a fucking bullet in these moron's heads and balls and then celebrate, sing and dance over their mangled bodies,” Trisha said to them with an ire that was visible vividly and audible to the whole cafeteria, her frustration and the cage had shown its effects. The boys were taken aback by her reply and left the place without saying a single word; they had seen something that was undeniable in her.

Days passed, seasons passed, months passed and so did years, but her cage remained intact, she sermonized for herself and never let a gape form in her cage, with each day the cage got stronger and stronger. Five years had passed; they had moved to Mumbai, her father had established his major business in the land of dreams. Trisha was 22 now, an age where people fall in love, but Trisha’s heart had already been caged by hatred and vengeance, in these seven years she had brewed a dream to be a vigilante and get into streets fighting men who harassed girls, she had even taken training in martial arts for the same, a strange fantasy of her lesser known to people. She lived with some of her friends in a private flat away from home as she had enrolled herself in a private university which was far away from home. It is strange, Mumbai is one city yet it is always about distances. Perhaps love could have changed her, a guy who could make her understand and accept her with all her blemishes and let his love silently intrude her cage and benignly enshroud her heart with a feeling of care and love and finally free her from the chains of hatred and vengeance.

The door bell rang, it was the second time.

“Wait, I said I’m Coming,” Trisha yelled from inside the room.

As she opened the doors, there stood Abhay, a young guy with a sweet smile which formed two valleys in the cheeks, called as dimples. It was strange that a man such young and handsome was a pizza delivery boy.

“Couldn’t you wait?” Trisha questioned.

“Mam, I am a pizza delivery boy and for me time matters a lot, time equals money for me,” Abhay said smiling.

“Is it so? Who knows? May be your intention was to see the girls, and don’t think I am a fool you definitely had the address and I know people like you do a research before coming here, so that you may hit on some girl.”

“Mam, I think you are pissed off about something, please give me the money and I’ll return,” Abhay said giving that sweet and enlightening smile.

The strong obsession of her had made her rigid from within, sometimes you never know there comes a predicament in life that changes everything extracts out the real you and brings a whole new person. Indeed, there are people who are so vulnerable to predicaments that they change. She had brewed deep inside her that the sweetest man was the smartest devil. Abhay stood there looking at her, she was different from any other girl this thought moved him and without his knowledge he had developed a soft corner in his heart for her, as he left he was driven by an unknown force and he longed to meet her again, know her better and fall for her and make her fall for him, from thereon started a sweet love story.

Abhay and His Sweet Love Story

Abhay started visiting the area more often where she lived, he would wait for her for hours to see a glimpse of her and smile as he saw her. Her innocuous love was pure and endearing. Trisha had silently noticed him and without his knowledge or anybody’s had started hating him more and more. One fine day, Trisha’s car broke down and she was in the middle of nowhere to get help, as she started making a few calls to her milieu which was strong due to her father, Abhay knowingly passed her and halted and turned his bike back to her.

“Mam, Can I help you?” Abhay removing her glass cover of the helmet said.

“No, I am fine by myself.”

“No you are not, and this is a lonely road and you are a lonely girl, so let me check,” Abhay cajoled and opened the bonnet of the car. Trisha didn’t speak anything, but the comment had irked her a lot, but she stood there quietly.

As Abhay checked the parts, he was able to solve the problem.

“You are ready to go now, the problem is solved,” Abhay said.

“Fine, I have seen you at many occasions and it can never be a coincidence, so stop stalking me,” Trisha started whingeing.

“So you noticed me, that’s a great start for me,” Abhay smiling at her with a wink sat on his bike.

“Yes! It’s a good start, but I assure you in the end you shall end up in the infernal,” Trisha grinned.

“Well madam, I expected a thank you but your words albeit I am unable to make head or toe off perhaps suggests that you are not amused, yet I’ll try harder next time, after all perhaps I am in love with you,” Abhay said smiling.

“And madam, you are beautiful,” Abhay rode off.

Trisha was so busy in her purpose that she had actually forgotten that she was indeed very beautiful, looks had merely mattered her.

As he rode off, “Fuck off” was what she said. He left with a beautiful smile and she stood there judging him for his intentions, while his intention was to nurture love in her, hers was to put a bullet on every man’s head, and the first was quite vividly visible to her.

While he weaved dreams she browsed the internet for pedophiles, sexual offenders and rapists who were delivery boys, while he imagined her on her lap, she imagined every rapist in him, she thought he was the rapist who wasn’t caught in a recent crime that took place just a few blocks away from the place where she lived. As he planned to be hers, she planned to steal the gun from her father’s drawer.

A year had passed away; Abhay was now in love with her. He would take the orders from others and go to her place, just see her face. It was Friday, the day was serene, and she was walking alone when Abhay stopped her. As she looked at him fiercely her face reddened due to the ire, he caught her hands and placed a note in her hands and left.

“Please come,” He said as he left. She wanted to end this right there, but she waited till the cage of her vengeance filled and thus she could unleash all of it on him. She read the note and it stated the meeting place, the abandoned house, the timing was 10.30 p.m. and the day was Sunday. Abhay prepared himself for the tryst, and Trisha prepared herself for her vengeance on men by stealing her father’s gun.

Epilogue: The Blood-Soaked Ring

Abhay from the distance saw her car and he was elated that she had come, as his bike approached; Trisha was awakened from her past by the bright light from the head lights that fell on her face. Putting the gun, inside her jacket she came outside.

“Hey, thank you for coming,” Abhay said smiling at her said and Trisha for the very first time smiled back at her.

“You should often do that, you look even more beautiful when you smile.”

Abhay sat on the grass Trisha came up and sat beside him, in front of them was a small stream that was dry for the time being but was clearly formed from the friction of rain, where the water forced itself to flow freely.

“I won’t take a lot of time,” Abhay said looking at her.

“What do you mean?” Trisha had taken the words otherwise, the reason being she was being compelled to take each and every word of a man to be negative by her cage.

Abhay inserting his hands into his pockets, “It means…”

“Stop!” Trisha interrupted by yelling at him.

“I know what is in there, a weapon so that you can place it on my neck and then rape me and I would remain pacified though out.”

“Have you gone mad, No.”

As Abhay stood up and ignored the words of Trisha and indulged himself in his pocket, Trisha slowly took out the loaded gun.

“I said stop, from today everything ends, I am well aware of all your acts….Bang…” Trisha yelled as she fired.

The bullet pierced through Abhaya’s heart as his body flew backwards his hand jolted backwards as a reflex and with it a small piece of paper and a ring flew out too. Everything was clearly visible because of the head light of the bike. As his body finally rested on the ground, Abhay was lifeless, a pool of blood formed and in it was the ring. Trisha was taken aback because she thought he was taking out a weapon from her pocket. She ran towards her and found no breath in Abhay. Tears rolled down her eyes and hastily she grabbed the paper and read.

"Dear Trisha,

You must be feeling weird that I called you here at the first place. it’s because I came to know about all your past dilemmas and thus your rigid habits towards men from one of your friend who had read your diary, so I didn’t want you to get exposed. I know you hate all men and that you also hate me, but I am in love with you. I am not a full-time pizza delivery boy, but a 3rd-year mechanical engineering student on a government scholarship; remember how I had fixed your car. I work as a part-time, because I am not that rich and after my father’s death I had to see my expenses and save some for my little sister, so this ring is not a very expensive stone or metal, but it definitely contains my love embedded in it. I want you to know that from today onwards, I am not going to follow you nor I am going to show up, but I will never give up on you. I shall wait and perhaps one day you may miss me and if you do, don’t hesitate to order a pizza with extra cheese.”

With love,

Abhay…"

As she finished reading the letter, she searched for the ring she ran inside the abandoned house and brought the gas lamp and searched for it. She finally found it inside the pool of blood, as she picked it up she started crying aloud, perhaps something had broken, perhaps for the very first time she was free from the cage. The drizzle had started, it washed the blood soaked ring and on it was engraved, “Stay Strong, I’ll wait”.

As she saw the engraving she lamented and with her even the sky roared, startled by the lighting and thunder, the ring slipped from her hands and down it went towards the narrow stream, the flow of the water carried it away from her to an unknown destination and she rested her head on the mutilated body of her lover, the cage had been broken, love was the intruder now as for the very first time she had realized that she was in love with him too.