What The Eyes Don't See

29 | The Unbearable Truth

Then Anay slowly found his voice. "What will you do with me, Deep?"

The being raised his head. There was a shadow of a smile on that featureless face. "You took my name!" he exulted. "Finally, after all these years, my name came upon your lips. That makes it all worth it!"

Anay groaned, blood flowing out of the corner of his mouth. "How can you possibly think all this was my fault?"

That made Deep come back to the present. Like a large bat, he flapped to where Anay was, and said, "If you cannot see that yet, it's sad. Terribly sad. Especially for what I am going to show you next."

Anay felt his heart freeze. What could come that was more horrible than this?

The entity turned a whole hundred and eighty degrees and swooped down to the floor with the force of a heavy gale. He flew past the sad lean body of the unfortunate Kautuk. Anay felt a pang on seeing his body. How many more would have to die for this nightmare? What else was to come?

The being disappeared at the back of the auditorium. When he returned, there was something in his arms—a limp body that he cradled like a baby. He sailed back to the stage and laid the body down on the ground.

Anay could see the face of unfortunate person. He was an old man with overgrown hair and beard, but his body was emaciated as if he had been sick for a long, long time. The spirit stooped over his old person's mouth and, lowering himself on him, breathed air into the mouth. As he did that, the old man suddenly gasped and came alive, blinking his eyes at the surroundings.

The spirit moved back and came flying up to the ceiling to Anay. Down below, the man stirred into consciousness.

With a chuckle of glee, the spirit said, "Here is how you gain your redemption. That lowly worm down there, he is the man who raped me. The man who caused my death. I could have killed him in one stroke, but I have not. No! I tortured him to the point of death for all these years, but I kept him barely alive so that he could suffer the agony for the rest of his days. I kept him hidden in the same spot where he had cast away my body. But now his time has come. I shall release you now, and you shall go and kill the man. Stab him in the heart, slit his throat, strangle him, I don't care. Just take the living breath out of him. Show me that you care enough for me to seek my revenge."

Anay was shocked. "You are asking me to kill?"

"Yes! This is what I want. You bullied me to my death. You stole away my life, which could have amounted to something. Instead, you got to keep living and you got it all—riches, fame, love. And I died with nothing! Prove to me now that you care."

"But he is a living man! How can I..."

"He is no man!" the spirit thundered. "He is the devil incarnate. How can you call him a man? I am asking you to do a righteous deed."

"Deep! It doesn't work that way. That man is a bastard, I agree, but there are systems in place. We will hand him over to the law. We cannot—"

"Enough of your nonsense!" the being screamed. Possessed by an additional spurt of energy now, he flapped away again to the corner of the auditorium. When he returned, he had another limp body in his arms.

This time, Anay did not have any doubt who that was.

Breathing life into the body just as he had done for the old man, the spirit ascended and said, "You get to save one of them. Whom do you choose?"

On the ground, Shanaya blinked open her eyes and screamed when she saw Anay dangling from the ceiling above.

***

"Oh, no, Shanaya!" Anay screamed. He shook so hard that there was the danger that the frame would snap and he would fall away to the ground. "You motherfucker! You don't lay a hand on her!" His bellowing voice of rage reverberated from the walls of the auditorium.

Shanaya tried to say something, but no words came out of her mouth. She struggled with her mouth open in a silent scream, and the more she did that, the more freely the tears flowed out of Anay's eyes. He had put her in this state. If anything could have killed him at that moment, it would have been his guilt.

"She won't be able to speak," gloated the spirit. "This decision is only yours to make. Kill the bastard who raped me or kill the girl you love. I give you a choice."

Anay thought. He could not think of killing. How could he just put a weapon into living flesh and tear it apart making its life ooze away? That thought made him sick to the bone. But, if a choice had to be made, if there really was no way out, then he knew whom he would kill. Maybe if he shut his eyes hard and brought to mind all his own sins, he would be able to plunge a knife into the heart of the man who had outraged another's modesty.

"Are you sure you know?" the being said as if he had telepathically understood Anay's mental wrangle. "I know what you think. You think the choice is easy. You think you will kill that bastard, for he is the lowliest of worms anyway, and ride with your girl into the sunset. Don't you? But let me tell you, Anay, the sweet man of my dreams, the choice is not so easy. Look. Look closely at that man down there."

That was when Anay looked. He looked really close at the face of the man. He saw beyond the man's heavily overgrown beard, the wrinkles, and the blackened wounds on his face. And then he lost his living breath. He screamed out:

"DAD?"

***

Dear readers,

I cannot explain how difficult it was to write this chapter. But, being the teller of this tale, I had no option but to hold my heart still and keep writing.

How do you think things will end?

Keep reading to find out!