Soul Hunting

Soul Hunting

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dark, thriller

• by Author

~~~This story takes off from the ending of "The twisted table." Please read it before touching upon this. Thank you.~~~

Gauri sat at the breakfast pondering her fate. Shyam had violated her day and night without any regard to her mental state and condition. She had not even grieved Dushyant's death.

Shyam took a bite from an apple and said impassively, "You have held up your end of the bargain, you can go home now.”

"Can I stay here for a few more days, please?" Gauri asked in a shaky and feeble voice. The conscienceless surroundings gave her an odd sense of comfort.

"I have no more use for you," Shyam replied brusquely. His words felt like a punch in her stomach. "Gather your stuff. Ram will drop you to your place."

She sighed heavily and rose. Ram dropped her outside her building and left. Distraught and disoriented, Gauri took the elevator to the terrace and jumped down to her death.

The next day while returning from a site visit, Shyam was browsing the newspaper when an article caught his eye and he smiled faintly. He folded the paper and passed it to Ram. The article carried the news of Gauri's death.

Ram exclaimed, "Very nice, Boss!!!"

"Boss, do you believe in good and bad, right and wrong?"

Shyam squinted, looking in Ram's direction and replied - "No!"

"What do you believe in, boss?"

"Nothing." Shyam looked at Ram with a blank expression. Ram knew his boss wasn't in the mood for conversation.

"Let's get back to work. What's the agenda for today?" Shyam asked getting up from the breakfast table.

"Boss, we need to visit the new construction site outside the city. Work is progressing very slowly."

Shyam nodded pensively. "Okay. Prepare for the trip. I will see you down in an hour."

They had barely reached the outskirts of the city when suddenly, there was a loud thumping noise of metal hitting the ground, followed by a screeching sound as the car wobbled and swerved; Ram skillfully maneuvered the vehicle and parked it on the side of the road. On inspecting, Ram found that the axle of the car was broken.

Shyam threw a menacing look in the direction of Ram. Ram shrugged his soldiers and apologized, "Boss, I had just got the servicing done a week ago. I will find a place for you to wait until I get some help to fix the car."

They both walked a few meters and came across a mud-dwelling. The place belonged to a poor potter who stayed with his wife and his six years old son. The potter was working on the wheel when Shyam entered and inquired whether he could wait for a while. The potter indicated a place in the corner.

Ram handed bottled drinking water to Shyam and left to look for a mechanic. In one corner of the hut, the potter's wife was cooking lunch and the child was playing beside his father. A few minutes later, the potter's wife called out - "the lunch is ready."

The potter looked in the direction of Shyam and inquired politely, "Sir, would you like to join us?"

"No, thank you. Please carry on."  Shyam replied gratefully.

He observed the small family of three have lunch, the mother fed the child with her own hands and also took care not to leave the potter's plate empty. She filled his plate, in time, obviating the need for the potter to ask.

After lunch, the potter resumed his place at the wheel with his child beside him. To kill time and for lack of anything better, Shyam decided to indulge the potter a bit. He casually asked him, "Are you content with the meager resources and having to struggle to meet ends?"

"Sir, I manage three meals a day daily for family, and this is my only ambition and goal in life. I wake up with it daily and by day end, I fulfill it and sleep peacefully. I've nothing to lose or worry about."

The potter's response hit a nerve inside Shyam and he wondered what could he possibly take from him? The potter actually didn't have anything to lose or maybe he did.

A while later Ram returned and announced, "Boss, it is all set. We can leave now." On the way back, Shyam narrated his experience to Ram.

"Boss, this is a tricky one. So far, we have dealt with the privileged ones, but this one is different."

An evil smile formed on Shyam's lips as he looked into the vacuum, "perhaps, this is going to be very exciting, Ram. I can take away the only source of his ambition - his wife and child."

A few days later, Shyam returned to the potter on the pretext of thanking him for letting him stay and showered his wife and child with gifts. He gave them clothes and food, enough food supplies to last for the next few months.

The potter protested but to no avail. Shyam would not have any of it. The potter looked in the direction of his happy family and sighed sadly.

The evil smile reappeared on Shyam's face and the potter blanched.

"Why do you have to do this?" the potter inquired earnestly.

"I just want to express my gratitude," Shyam replied with fake sincerity.

A few days later, Shyam again visited them.

"Your child is very bright. You should put him in a good school, he will make you very proud."

"But, we can't afford a good school," the potter's wife offered.

"Don't worry. You people have been very good to me and I like you guys a lot. I will bear his expenses."

Potter's wife looked expectantly in the direction of the potter. The potter nodded quietly.

Shyam arranged for transportation to pick up the child and drop him back home from school.

Ram was enthralled. "Boss, what will become of the potter?"

Shyam flashed his devilish smile in response.

The potter felt terribly hopeless and hardly sat at his wheel. He no longer had to provide for his family. There was nothing to work for.

A month later, Shyam paid the potter a visit during lunchtime. He looked around and was pleased to know that potter's wares had diminished. The potter was no longer working. It was time to play his ace card, Shyam thought to himself.

"I hear your child is doing quite well at the school. However, there is slight trouble. The driver who drives the kid around has suddenly left and it would be difficult to pick and drop the child. Besides, there is too much time lost in travel and the child is lagging behind others in the school because he can't participate in extra curricular activities. It would be good for the child if he stayed in the city, somewhere closer to the school."

Both the potter and his wife were aghast and stared at him in disbelief." We can't let that happen, O' good lord."

Shyam sighed and agreed in unison with them. "I know it is hard - but the child's future is at stake."

A thick silence fell upon the proceedings. And then as an afterthought, he suggested, "perhaps, something can be arranged. I can arrange for a place for all of you to stay in the city. This way, everyone is happy - the child doesn't miss out on school and you all can stay together as a family."

"What will I do there, My lord?" countered the potter. My work is here, my life is here.

"There is another alternative," Shyam spoke slowly and deliberately. "The mother could stay with the child in the city and they could visit the potter every weekend. Best of both the worlds."

Shyam pressed on, "it happens all the time in the world and families make adjustments for their child's future."

"All right, Sir - as you wish.  After all, it's for the overall good of the child," the potter offered dejectedly.

The potter's heart sank as he watched his wife pack bags and leave. He stopped working altogether and spent his days doing nothing, waiting for the weekend to be with his family.

A couple of months passed by and the scheduled weekend rendezvous became infrequent. Initially, Shyam sent a message citing an unforeseen circumstance, slowly he didn't bother with that either. It was one of those weekends when his family had not turned up and Shyam appeared at the potter's doorstep.

The potter folded his hands and inquired about his family, "My lord - where are my wife and child?"

Shyam apologized, "I am sorry, I could not bring them with me. There was a function at the school and the child had to be present."

The potter's face turned into a stone. A single tear escaped his dead eyes and ran down his cheek. Shyam looked in the direction of Ram and smiled.

Ram uttered. "Very nice, Boss."

Shyam waited for the potter to beg to send his family back, but the potter sat in stoned silence. Shyam concluded to himself, "the potter would not live long."

On the way back, Ram inquired, "Boss, do you think the potter will take his own life?"

"Time will tell," Shyam replied somberly.

Shyam waited for a month to pass before his next visit. In this interval, he deprived the potter not only of his family but also from any news about them.

"Ram, let's go check on the potter. Don't be surprised if instead, we find his dead body," Shyam said wickedly.

The moment they stepped foot in his hut, both were dumbstruck. The potter was spinning his wheel and looked hale and hearty. Shyam looked around and was shocked to see earthenwares. The man was working again.

The potter looked in their direction and smiled, "Come, Come in - My Lord. I've especially built a mud chair for you. You have done so much for me, I have to repay you."

Shyam looked suspiciously at the mud chair placed in front of the potter.  

"It is strong, My Lord. It will not crumble." Shyam hesitatingly took the seat. Remarkably, the mud chair stood intact and solid.

Ram was shocked to see Shyam's face. It was f lushed and he looked a bit rattled.

The frail potter looked up at them smilingly and continued, "After your last visit, I thought of giving up my life. My thick brain took some time to comprehend your good deeds, My Lord. I always wanted to provide for my family and you helped me in doing that. I could never have given them all these luxuries. Excuse me, My good Sir,  but you were working for me to fulfil my ambition."

The potter took a cane and gently poked the chair in its center. Shyam looked down with a puzzled face.

The potter continued, "What more could I have asked for? My family was living the best life, I could have ever dreamed of. You are a messiah and I thought you were the devil taking away my family from me."

Shyam realized the earth beneath him was about to give in, but before he could react, the mud chair crashed bringing him down to the ground. He lay there on his bum with his legs splayed and the potter laughed out loud at the sight.

"My apologies, my apologies, My Lord, I didn't realize it would crumble under your weight."

Shyam sat on the ground looking at the potter, pondering to himself, "Was the potter being sarcastic or his innocent self?"

Regardless, the potter was right. He had helped the potter achieve his ambition to provide for his family. If he continued with things as they were now, keeping his family away from him, he would be supporting the potter's dream. On the other hand, if he sent his family back, the potter would be reunited with his family. There was no winning this thing."

Ram stood silently watching the tables turned on Shyam. Despite himself, he let out in the direction of the potter, "Very nice!!!"

Shyam got up and left. Ram followed him.

The return journey was awfully quiet. Ram kept looking in the direction of Shyam. He had never seen the defeated look on his face.

"What happened there, boss?"

"Life!" Shyam exhaled and sighed deeply. "Send his family back to him, Ram."

"Yes, Boss. But, what do we lose here, boss?"

"That's a fair question, Ram. We ought to pay a price. This is what we will do. When you hit the f lyover over the Arabian Sea, you will hit the 150kmph mark. For that entire stretch of 13kms, come what may, you will not reduce the speed even by a fraction. If we don't make it, then so be it."

Ram was stunned for a moment and then looked in the direction of Shyam, who was smiling. Ram perked up at the sight and pressed his foot hard on the accelerator.

"Very nice boss, very nice!!!"

 

**************** The End ***************

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