"I and Kaalan roamed in the street that night. On the way, I collected some materials, not for any future purpose, I did it simply and a Mehandi cone was one of them.

When we were walking across a street, I saw a man in mundu and shirt dragging a woman who was wearing a pink Saree. We followed them as he took her to an abandoned building. I did not follow them into the building, I could only see their silhouettes from the place were we hid outside the building, behind a bush. The man simply pushed the woman down and I heard her cry as her body surrendered to gravity. In the dim light, it looked like a pink shawl was thrown from the top of the building. She writhed on the ground as the man stood with folded arms on the top of the building. The man waited until she lied motionless and left the place.

I was scared initially but Kaalan insisted on going near her dead body and I couldn't say a 'no'. He dragged me by my arm and ignored my pleas and cries as he smirked. I screamed as soon as her face imprinted deep in my consciousness but none heard, like always.

He forced me to write his name on her arm and I did it, with my left hand.

I couldn't sleep well for weeks after that. Her face kept popping into my head. Her wide open eyes, her bleeding lips and head, bruises on her arms and face...everything haunted me.

 Kaalan came and smiled with his yellow teeth each time her face came to my mind. He laughed at me when I cried and hit my head hard on the wall, each time I accused him of involving me in something that I did not have to.

I read a report which said that the police connected her murder to her husband who was a prison escapee. You remember George?, the man who escaped the prison about a week before Onam and was suspected to kill his wife.

Another year passed by and the next Onam came. Kaalan wanted me to go out that time too. He wanted me to know more about darkness so we decided to go to an abandoned building. It wasn't the first time I saw that building, I had seen it several times on my way to school. It was a really large house with broken windows and doors attacked by termites. But never the less, it was beautiful in its own way. dark and creepy, it always demanded attention.

We were on our way to the building when we heard a thud sound. After a while, a car sped down the street. We tiptoed to the street from where the car came. I was afraid to take each step but Kaalan coerced me into walking while looking at either side of the street for anything unusual.

Through the chirping of the crickets and hooting of owls, I placed hushed steps. I covered my nose as it was hit by a pungent smell. I looked over my shoulder when I heard creasing of a plastic cover, it was a white cat on a heap of wastes. It's golden eyes narrowed and I was about to stop when Kaalan nudged on my shoulder.

I covered my mouth when I saw a lifeless body on the ground. Kaalan pushed me, almost digging hid bony fingers into my body, to go near it and I did.

It was Jalaluddeen's dead body, he was one of the suspected terrorists and his face was thus familiar to me. Kaalan wanted me to write his name on Jalaluddeen's arm but I did not have a Mehandi cone. He made me search the streets for it and we finally found one near a beauty parlour. We trotted back to the place and wrote his name on it.

It would be a lie if I said that it wasn't a guilty pleasure.

I knew that his arms were going to be on news headlines. His arms with my handwriting on it. Everyone in this world cares about their social statuses and everything and everyone wants to be famous so how couldn't I be happy when I knew my handwriting was going to be famous.

I am pretty sure that you wouldn't trust me but believe me when I say that I have nothing to do with the first few escapees. Their escape was either a coincident or they wanted to be linked themselves with Kaalan. However, the deaths after that of Jalaluddeen was definitely because of Kaalan.

Kaalan forced me to write love notes for men , anonymously. Then a few days before Onam, I was forced to write a note asking the prey of the year to meet me at some old building with all the notes that I ever wrote for him at night on the day of Onam.

The rituals were the same until I got the job as a detective in our firm.

Before I got a job at our firm, I used to hold their hands and walk to the edge of the floor or balcony. A simple push and Kaalan promised me to not come until the next Onam. That was the price I got, a promise that he would stay away from me till next year. He never followed it, however.

He would visit me whenever I became an emotional wreck. I still do not know how he managed to know my state. He did it anyhow and he would mock me, abutting each of my insecurities without any grace, reminding me about my faults, repeating about my problems.

After I got this job, I only needed a little blackmailing, a little kick, a push and they were dead.

As for the escapees, the alphabetic order of the first few prisoners must have been a coincidence but that wasn't the case once I was nineteen and started attending Little bells arts and science college. I started going back to my past.

The supernatural humans who abused me, they were rich. Rich enough to pull some strings and help in a prisoner's escape and I made sure that the escapes were in alphabetic order, just for fun.

I simply visited the places, that decolourized my childhood, saying that I was filming a documentary on superhumans, kept some hidden cameras and they were trapped. I actually trapped them for money. I wanted money to move forth with a peaceful and enjoyable college life but Kaalan had different plans.

He wanted my hands to be stained with the blood of criminals.

I helped them in escaping, met them soon after their escape, killed them and buried. I wasn't physically strong enough to dominate them and different kinds of poisons were always useful for me. I would chop down their body and then bury them after pouring kerosene on it.

I still remember my first experience. How the smell and warmth of fresh blood suffocated me but Kaalan kept ridiculing me for my nervousness. On my way to prove him wrong at least once, I became a cold-blooded murderer for whom blood and a dead body is nothing new.

I was actually frustrated when I got the case last year. I know who Kaalan is but nobody else would believe me, I was almost lost but then I knew that I needed to induce some changes in the game.

Think about it, the escapee herself is dead on Onam.

That was what was in my mind when I informed Lilly Thomachan that I, her client, wanted to meet her there but everything went downhill when Arjun and Indran tracked me down.

Arjun thought that she set me upon a trap and they shot her down as they ascended through the stairs. Indran pointed his gun at me. I could see the fear in his eyes and remember Riddick, there is no emotion that can make you weaker than how weak fear makes you.

Kaalan kept pestering me to push him down, I kept telling him that I can't and when he said that he would kill Arjun with his axe, I...

I was pressurized into it.

In one swift movement, I kicked his ankle and he lost his balance. In one ruthless pull and push, he was on the ground, lifeless.

I could sense the disgust and hatred in Arjun's eyes that once held an infinite passion for me. Kaalan then asked me to push him too but I couldn't. I couldn't, not because he was someone too special for me but because I knew that I was someone too special for him. I walked towards him saying that I wouldn't hurt him. He walked backwards with his gun pointed at me, I knew that he wouldn't shoot so I did not falter my steps and said him about Kaalan. His wide-open eyes and shivering footsteps told me that he did not believe me. Just like my parents.

Neither of us realized that he was walking towards the edge until his leg slipped and he fell down.

I ran to the edge of the floor, but he was long gone...

I screamed his name and ran to the ground, each foot step making my heart drop further and further into my gut, it was my name that he uttered last before closing his eyes. I was broken that night and Kaalan promised me that he would never return to my life if I wrote his name on their arms, I did so.

I proceeded with Lilly's body just the way I did with the previous ones,

I am tired of Kaalan, Riddick, I am totally tired."

By the time I completed my speech, every cell of my body felt exhausted. It was the first time that I spoke to someone about my guilt and it felt surprisingly relieving. I was guilty of my co-worker's deaths.

"But not anymore," I stood up and took a Mehendi cone from my bag which was  near the staircase. I walked towards him with a Mehendi cone, slow and careful steps. His eyes widened more and he started cursing at me while looking at the cone in my hand.

I bend down.

It was not only distrust and disgust those were in his eyes, but there was also a pity.

I kissed on his forehead.

"I did not want to hurt Arjun because I knew I was special to him, I will not hurt you because you are special to me,"

I wrote 'Kaalan' on my right arm and walked towards the edge of the building.

"Keerthy, don't do anything foolish, I can help you" I did not look back.

"Keerthy, trust me, I will save you, we just need to visit some doctors, it must be something like Schizophrenia" I fastened my steps.

"Keerthy, for me please don't go" This time his voice was low but there wasn't any hope. I stopped, took the phone from my pocket and send a message to Riddick's aunt.

"Keerthy please," I knew that if I turned and saw his face, I would want to live more, I would give Kaalan a prolonged life. I couldn't, I wouldn't.

"Now that you know Kaalan, I am sure that he will use me to kill you. It's better if I go away... for you, bye" 

I licked my lips and looked down. I took one sharp breath, my heart pounding in my rib cage. I clenched my fists and closed my eyes. I stood on my toes and opened my eyes with determination.

"I don't deserve to be loved, Riddick. I am a murderer." A lot of tears managed to escape my eyes.

Without one last look at the guy who was crying for me, I jumped off.

I could see Kaalan laughing at me from the ground, displaying his set of yellow teeth. His curly hair shining as his head shook and his bald shining. His lustrous axe. His hairless chest heaving up and...

Everything red.

I closed my eyes.

Everything black.

THE END