A leap of faith

Reality check

"I made your favorite food today, come change your clothes quickly and have your dinner" Ayush's mom said as she took his bags from him.

"And what took you so long, I have been worrying like hell?" Ayush's mother said while giving him a tight hug.

"Mom please, I am fine and really tired and I am not hungry as I had something on the flight. I have an assignment to finish so I will be working on it. I am going to go to my room to work on it Mom, you can also go to sleep now" said Ayush retreating towards his room. At the back of his mind he was also worried that the loosely made bomb on his hand may go off if not handled carefully.

"You look tense Ayush, is everything alright ?" asked Mom.

"I am fine Mom, but yeah I do need to get to work, catch you later" saying so Ayush closed the door.

Can you build a bomb from a watch - Ayush performed a quick google search. The results more or less indicated it was possible and not too difficult either. Ayush did some more search about explosives and detonation. Everything Dia's father had said checked out.

"Babe, I am in trouble, I need your help" Ayush spoke into the phone as soon as Elina answered the call.

"Hey sugar sweet muffin pie, when did you come back to town" said Elina in a chirpy bright tone.

"Eli, listen I am in trouble, you gotta help me out" said Ayush.

"Okay but why do you sound so scared bro?" Elina sounded kind of offended by the fact that Ayush was not exactly calling for some night time love chat.

"Eli, you remember Dia?" asked Ayush.

"Dia Who ?" Elina sounded confused.

"Eli, come on, it was all your idea to prank Dia and now you forgot who she is?" Ayush sounded angrier.

"Hold on, you mean that Pony tail Dia girl who like disappeared overnight, yeah I do remember that dumbo, what about her?" Elina seemed to finally remember.

"Eli, you won't believe what happened tonight. I was on my plane back from Delhi after the Math Olympiad and ..." Ayush narrated everything that had happened so far.

"You are shitting me" Elina started laughing

"Eli, does it look like I am shitting you. Should I not be sleeping and resting after such a long day instead of calling a friend who it seems does not seem to care that I AM IN TROUBLE HERE" Ayush almost shouted the last few words into the phone.

"Hey, calm down sugar boy, no need to shout at me, it was you who did whatever you did to Dia ok, I had nothing to do with it" Elina started sounding defensive.

"Can't believe you would turn out such a bitch Eli, I trusted you, I thought we were there to watch each other's back" Ayush couldn't believe his girlfriend would turn away so quickly at the first sign of trouble.

"Mind your language sugar boy, I ain't your mommy to bail you out of your problems, so why don't you go and ask your daddy instead" saying so, Elina disconnected.

Next Ayush decided to call a couple of other friends. It was already 1 AM. Time was flying by.

Ayush's next bet was one his best buddies Kushal. Kushal finally picked up after 3 rings.

"Hey Kushal, I am in trouble bro, I need your help".

"Bro, do you even know what time it is, let's talk tomorrow morning, I am really tired" said Kushal.

"Kush, you don't understand, this shit can't wait till tomorrow man, I need your help NOW" shouted Ayush.

"What the hell, ok, go on, what's the matter bro?" said Kushal still sounding half asleep.

So Ayush once more narrated the whole evening's proceedings.

"You are pulling a prank on me, aren't you?" said Kushal sounding half concerned and half irritated.

"Kush, bro, is this a time to play a prank and not get some sleep. No man, I am dead serious, Dia's father is out to kill me and he's an ex commando officer from the Indian army and maybe he has a gun and god knows what else. This watch bomb on my hand feels heavy and I am shit scared bro and I need your help to figure this out." Ayush was almost crying by now.

"Ok, bro listen, This shit is heavy. I think you need to go to a police or something. Did you talk to your mom and dad about it. Listen this has blown out of proportion and we can't handle this anymore man. Sorry, but I don't think I can get pulled into this or help you. My mom and dad will kill me if they find out I have anything to do with the ~dumbgirlfails~ gang. Also, in all honesty the prank was yours, and I had nothing to do with it. And please don't name me anywhere, because everything is done from your laptop and Instagram account so you cant prove or tie me to this anyway." Kushal said quite seriously.

"I can't believe I trusted you as my friend Kush" said Ayush sounding like a guy who had just woken up from a very beautiful dream only to realize he was in a shithole.

'Whatever Ayush, you anyways went too far with Dia, it was your fault and perhaps you will have to deal with the consequences yourself" said Kushal.

"You are a traitor and deserve to be punished" Ayush said slowly clenching his fists.

"Easy boy, topping the class doesn't make you our king. So go take care of your problems and don't call me back" saying so Kushal disconnected the phone.

Kushal and Ayush had been friends for a very long time. Naturally getting ditched by Kushal was a very big shock. He sat in vain staring at his computer not knowing who else to call at 2 AM in the night. If Elina and Kushal did not stand by him, then no one else would. Ayush felt hungry and decided to get some food first. He went to the kitchen and cooked himself a double Maggi and sat down to gorge the noodles with a bottle of coke. Finishing his snack Ayush decided to get back to his computer to plan out his next steps.

The phone buzzed to announce a notification on Whatsapp. It was a message from Karmaditya. "You have 3 more hrs, tick tock, tick tock".

Everything makes sense at 3 AM. Ayush realized he was completely out of options. Karma was tracking his actions figuratively and literally. At 6 AM Karma would remote detonate the bomb. He had to wipe everything before that and only hope that Karma would forgive and let him go.