The confession

Blood-curdling screams bestrode the whole space, some did it out of fear, and some did as they thought it would reach the police patrolling team.

The spooky voice spoke again, “Let me repeat to you all, they can’t neither find me nor you, we are beyond their reach. your sounds won’t reach afar this. So don’t waste your energy my lovable assets.”

It was a forewarning to everyone there.

Sweety and Preash who were initially rebelling against Elango, and tried their best with GOD, didn’t dare to speak up against the spooky voice.

Raja the silent spectator howled “My leg, my leg” his cry dominated.

“So funny,” GOD said.

“Take care of my assets. I don’t want to hear any screams.” Said the spooky voice.

“Yes, boss.” God behaved as a bombastic person from the arrival of the spooky voice.

Raja’s cry out of pain shook everyone around.

As all were experiencing different kinds of pain in various degrees after their arrival, it wasn’t new for them, yet it added some kind of extreme fear within them when one among them shouted of unbearable pain.

They didn’t have any idea why the other person was screeching; it was up to their imaginative power to determine the vision of reality. The smells around didn’t allow them to imagine any good there.

“THUD, THUD” The creaking sound of the footsteps moved from one side to the other, and a growling dog too moved with those footsteps.

Gomathi the young girl who realized that she was somewhere far away from her uncle and Ezhil blabbered, “I shouldn’t have left my home. I shouldn’t have.” She regretted leaving her loved ones.

Sudalai the old man spoke after listening to all those cries. “What would they get out of me? Even my own family doesn’t want me anymore.”

“Don’t worry, nothing will happen, you are safe here,” Arivuchelvi said.

“Safe. Do you know the meaning of safe?” Sweety puled. She struggled to speak yet she voiced out against Arivuchelvi.

“Do you hear the pain he is enduring? Kill us, it’s enough. Stop torturing us”

“Oh, my Sweety beauty, why are you overreacting darling.” GOD’s goading provoked both extreme fear and anger within Sweety.

“Who are you dammit? What did I do to you?” Sweety yelled and questioned GOD.

“How much time should I repeat my Sweety beauty, I am GOD. Never ask me the same question again. It’s boring.”

“Be silent,” Preash cautioned Sweety in a slow voice.

“Why should I be silent? Anyhow they are going to do whatever they want. Why should I be silent?” Sweety fumed.

“Because you don’t have any other option, so be silent baby.” Said, GOD, displaying his maniacal laugh.

“Hello, Raja, are you ok, can you hear me.” Preash enquired about Raja’s state amidst Sweety’s scream and GOD’s drivel.

The place became silent, symbolizing eagerness to know Raja’s state.

His cry was audible to everyone around, he was trembling out of pain.

They waited for his response.

“He will be ok,” said Elango.

“How do you know that?” Preash asked politely in a quavering voice.

“I know, I am telling you I know” Elango shouted.

As time was passing Preash was regaining his true nature slowly.

All of a sudden, when a person is put into a horrible situation, you can’t expect much from them. In that case, it’s all about why and what. Why I am here? Why me? What went wrong? Dominates the mind. It was the same for Preash too.

He accepted his present reality and tried his best to be calm. He knew it was out of his control. He was going through an emotional roller coaster yet, he tried again to know Raja’s state.

“Raja, Raja,” Preash called

“Yes,” Raja replied. It was his first response after the terrible pain he suffered.

“How do you feel Raja?” Sweety asked out of concern

“I don’t feel…I don’t feel my legs,” Raja replied

“What?”

“What?”

“How?”

“Why?”

So many shocking reactions and queries were thrown at Raja.

Raja replied with a mournful smile. “It’s better than feeling that terrible pain”

Everyone around Raja opted to be silent, they didn’t even try to comfort him. They were neither in a position nor in a mindset to do that.

“Both the legs or single” What did they cut off? Left or right. GOD asked and laughed.

“Shut up, you idiot.” The old man yelled at GOD

“I don’t feel both of my legs,” Raja said controlling his tears.

“We are tied up, aren’t we? It would be a result of lack of movement.” Preash said. He wasn’t sure but felt something more horrible had been carried out yet he tried to give some hope to Raja.

“The man injected something forcefully, I felt extreme pain at the beginning, but now I feel numb,” Raja said.

After a pause Raja began to speak again “A piece of advice from my side, please don’t shout and yell at them, I made the same mistake when I entered this space.”

“Did you?”

“Yes, I did, I tried, I thought my friends were playing with me. In the beginning, I thought it was a prank.” Raja said with great regret.

“That’s what I and Elango are saying from the beginning. You didn’t listen to us.” Arivuchelvi said.

“So Arivuchelvi, are we next” Preash asked

“I don’t know. People come here, scream, cry, and all of a sudden, they are taken away from here. I don’t scream, I don’t question any, so I stay here without any worry” Arivuchelvi said, it was as simple as that for her.

It wasn’t a believable truth for any. Preash couldn’t digest it upon hearing Arivuchelvi’s confession. For him, she felt like an innocent person without any awareness of what was going on around her. She was a person of fewer thoughts. Preash felt she and Elango were brainwashed victims of some psycho. Have been they intoxicated? Was his greatest doubt.

“Can you do me a favour?” Raja asked hesitantly, his words trembling.

“Raja, do you think anyone here can help you? Everybody needs help?” Sweety said

“Raja, what favour do you want us to do?” Preash asked.

“How will you help him? You were strangled, we are tortured. Did anyone was able to help? That’s the reality here in this abdominal place. Don’t give him false hope Preash.” Sweety said in a sombre mood.

“Not here. A help which you have to do when you people get out of this place. If you can, please.” Raja cried.

“We all can get out of this mess,” Preash said

“Is it possible, can I see my Ezhil again?” Gomathi asked for hope and it was given back in words by Preash.

“Yes, you will meet your Ezhil.”

“Please, I beg you don’t give false hope.” Sweety reinstated the same thing again.

“How?”

“How can we get out of this?” Elango asked softly.

Preash ignored Elango and asked Raja to not lose hope.

“When I came here, there was a lady, fighting for her life and her child’s life. She screamed and begged more than us. She begged for her child’s sake. She was dragged from here. It is not a place for mercy. Even a child wasn’t spared.” Raja said

It was a shocking truth for many, it made them decide their destiny too. On the other Preash didn’t stop there.

“How did you come here? Do you remember anything?” Preash asked

“By car, no sir, by flight, no sir, no sir by ship, no, no sir by auto.” GOD mocked them. But he was ignored by all of them.

“I don’t remember Preash, I couldn’t recall, that’s what I am thinking, but I couldn’t recall,” Raja said, hiding something within him.

Everyone volunteered,

“I too couldn’t,” Sweety said

“Me too,” Preash said

“Yes, I too don’t remember, but it’s better to be here in this place with you all, rather than being in that hell,” Elango said.

“Yes, me too bro, I am happy here,” GOD said

For Elango and GOD, the most horrible place felt better than their home, it was a shocking revelation for others.

How can one feel happy in this pathetic situation? Was the query for everyone around. 

Yet no one questioned them.

“I was with my uncle and Ezhil. My uncle took us to a hilly area and asked us to hide in the dilapidated building. He said he will come soon.” Gomathi said and started crying. “He didn’t come back.” She cried.

“He too said the same to me. I too waited but he didn’t come.” Said Arivuchelvi.

“This is what it feels Preash when someone close to you gives you hope and then shatters it,” Sweety said

“I am not giving fake hope Sweety, I am not.” After a few seconds of pause, he said. “Everything begins with hope Sweety.”

“We have been kidnapped.”

“But why? We don’t know the reason.”

“Why are we kept as a hostage? We don’t know the reason for that too.”

“Why only us? Do we have similarities between us? We don’t have any idea.”

“Who is the kidnapper? The one amidst us.”

Preash listed a few questions and answered them himself with so much pain.

“Isn’t GOD, am I right, the kidnapper is one among us?” Asked Preash.

He felt one among them was helping the spooky-voiced person who visited at certain intervals. He had a strong feeling that Elango, GOD, and Arivuchelvi were intoxicated. So, he felt if that was true, there was a possibility for escape. He planned to provoke one among them to help with their escape or remove their blindfold.

GOD didn’t even care about Preash. He wasn’t interested in speaking to others in many instances. His focus was mainly on Sweety.

“Sweety, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen; I am falling in love with you,” GOD tried flirting with Sweety.

Within a fraction of a second, she reacted to him. “What?”

“Am sure this fellow’s eyes are tied up too, am hundred per cent confident,” Sweety said in an irritated tone.

“I think, he is under the influence of drugs Sweety, so just don’t respond,” Preash murmured 

“Isn’t it, Oh! Oh my god. How do you know that Preash?” Sweety was driven by waves of thoughts.

“Preash, please, can you do me a favour, please? I couldn’t bear this pain, I know I will be taken away soon, please.” Raja pleaded for help; he felt his time was nearing.

“I will. Tell me, what should I do?” Preash asked. He didn’t want to disappoint Raja. But within him too, the space for hope was shrinking

Raja cried he wasn’t able to speak, he couldn’t control his emotions. The suppressed emotions so far flooded in various tones. He spoke simultaneously, but no one was able to understand.

They waited until he stopped.

He finally finished off by saying “I didn’t do it purposely; I didn’t do it purposely.”

 Preash was as confused as everyone around, but he didn’t aspire to know Raja’s words. Everyone was in a horrible situation; he knew if he too opened up, he would end up blabbering his sorrows like Raja.

But Elango on the other hand went into an investigation mode. “What did you do? What didn’t you do purposely?”

Raja’s weeping sound was the response. Elango didn’t stop there, “Did you kill somebody?”

The final question shook everyone. More than the question Raja’s silence triggered multiple thoughts within them. The way he howled and his cry was an indication of regret.

Elango said, “I knew from the beginning. I knew. Who are you? Who are you, man? Why did you do that?”

“Who are you, man? Why did you kill someone? How could you do that? Oh my god! Am I with a killer? GOD couldn’t bear the fact. For the very first time, he reacted consciously.

GOD’s reaction was a surprise for everyone there. For Preash it was a shock.

“Can you tell my mom that I am sorry for everything? Tell her that I miss her. Please, I beg you.” Raja cried.

“Say to her that whatever she wants is in her home. Tell her to look under the cage.”

Cage? Were you living in a zoo? Elango repeated

“Who is your mom?” Arivuchelvi asked

Raja didn’t reply for some time. All waited without uttering a word. Most were lost in their memories.

“Who is your mom Raja? How will I find her?” Preash asked. Even though he couldn’t think beyond an escape, he asked it for Raja. He knew whatever may happen to Raja or any of them.

Finally, Raja spoke in a steady voice somehow controlling his emotions.  He was ready to accept whatever comes his way. All he was wrapped up in was regret and angst. He recalled his life.