Truths doesn't have a complete form. But when the bits are put together they reveal a world unseen.
~Yaris.
_______________________________

Honk. Honk. Honk.

The roads overflowed with vehicles stuck between the mixed-up lanes. Impatience wheeled every breath. Rising decibels of horns earned some cusses and foul gestures from the white-shirt man standing in the middle of the intersection.

"It's almost past office hours but the road is brimming like a weekend shop square parking lot!"

His eyes followed to track down the packed vehicles to eventually land on the most irritated man on duty. The torch in his hands kept dancing to his trained tunes, dismissing the vehicles at once in a direction to build another within the blink of his eyes.

"It's been seven minutes already and we are officially getting late, sir."

His eyes ticked to the tiptoes of his smartwatch. His freshly brewed caffeine-tinted eyes narrowed as he paraded the lanes that offered nothing more than a messy sight. In a moment, the wheels rolled. But his relief died a sudden death when the halt happened even before its half-turn.

"That's it. I'm out."

He clicked his tongue as he leaned back. Slowly relaxing the tension with his finger presses on the throbbing temples, he began nudging his knees like a tabla. Ruffling his crinkle-cut hair, he leapt on his toes.

"Keep in, Vimal. Don't prove to the public that patience is never for khaki men."

For a moment, the urge to escape widened in those eyes, and then he clipped his earlobes as a gesture of apology. He then secured the escaping seat belt with a click.

"Sir, may I friend a few questions?"

"Unless they aren't too expensive, you can."

A smear of joy brought his weary eyes to life. He then looked at the brown sheet the documents clothed, as they rested in the backseat.

"Are we in a police vehicle?"

His sudden interrogation made him shake his head to the side.

"Are we accompanying any other sarkar wale?"

He repeated his jittery shakes. Getting the tip of his icing berg he began to move to the edge of the seat.

"Ohho Vimal, let's not get formal. Just speak your mind. Between do you mind some cookies?"

He pulled the biscuits from the hexagon metal box. Handing a pair to him, he smelled the mild buttery sugar whiffs that heightened with the cool air the vents huffed.

"Thank you, sir. Just curious. Do you crave sugars more between meals?"

"I'm proud that I'm free of diabetes and pressure. Of course, little bites keep me going."

He crunched the golden cookie, almost a quarter, to chew it in his so-called little bites. He bobbed his head as his tastebuds towered to relish their dose of glucose. Ridden by his contagious expression, he took a bite.

"What is the plan, sir?"

"For?"

"I'm a bit serious. We know what's on our plate. It's very tough to keep it hidden for long."

Dusting off the bits of cookies that stuck to his lips, he glared at him. He then rolled the vent temperature to a few degrees down.

"They say the heat is not good for the heart."

"Seriously sir? You say this-"

"Do you think the one who killed the victim is the actual suspect?"

His nitpicking voice broke halfway down his gut. Maybe his mind ran a vague race but he shouldn't be weak.

"One who did it is the murderer. That's what the law states."

"Exactly. That's why we must not alert them with all our pieces of information. We do have multiple mice that spill more than they should."

His grunts grew stronger. In an iffy blow of ambush that coloured his face to shades of carmine, he closed the lid of the cookie box to shove it in a push.

"Thirteen cases. Timed well."

"On the record. Yes."

"Wha- Alright. Multiple civilians. Above all not even a single clue. What's the intent here then?"

His hands opened an imaginary key that his words turned.

"To catch the one who drives the desire. They send the vulnerable to be picked by the vulture when they hide safely in the terrain."

A palpable depth of introspection thickened the pep talks. His hands kept tapping to pick his next bits more carefully than before.

"Why can't we bait the weak?"

"They get us nothing, Vimal. Not always does the plant know the tiger is the top tier. As far as it seems, tigers don't need them."

"Then how would you get the rats out? What's the say for the meet?"

He then slowly turned the steering as the traffic moved. This time it wasn't for a quarter or so. As he wheeled the steering, he was made to hit the brake. All of a sudden a bike from their right snaked to the left as diagonally as it could.

"Shoot. A gross fallacy!"

"That's right, Vimal. You got it."

⚫️⚪️⚫️⚪️⚫️

⚠️Warning: Dark Content ahead⚠️

"Why did you do what you did?"

Her pupils dilated to shrink as her memories raced while her chaotic lids choked for words.

Confess or confuse. Combust this shit.

Her inner demons kept crawling in her veins. Shutting and shuffling her as they streamed. She had the answer, yes. But she couldn't give it straight. Or maybe she shouldn't.

"Sometimes you never know what you do and why you do it."

Her words echoed in through the closed windows, making her knead her palms as she fists.

"You were guilty every time."

"Yes. I don't deny it. But I wasn't alone. Nor was it my choice."

Don't fall prey. Shut up.

She didn't listen. For once she felt brave as her breath went in and out with no pause making her chest swell.

"But the choices aren't far."

"The path is. That makes one pick what's more affordable."

"Killing for money is affordable?"

He slid his pointers on his thick knitted beard knotting them like his queries. His stare was plain. Very plain enough to make her weak on her knees.

"Have you starved?"

Her shift in tone made him let out a iffy laughter.

"Then you don't deserve to judge me."

"Oh. I didn't mean to-"

"I have starved. No water not food straight for seven deadly nights under a dilapidated roof. I have starved  for empathy. Not just once, everytime someone came in to rob me. Hitting me everytime I begged. I have watched my greens fade in a fleet of fate. I have let myself die a terrible death inhumane enough. You, sitting here, posh and all. You don't deserve anything from me."

Her quivering hands banged the table. She knew she was breaking. Her rolling pupils were caught between many things her heart denied to beat for. She was heavy. Perhaps a bit more than every wrongs put together.

"Sorry. Uh- Rathi."

Her tears stirred his gut to sour his senses. Gulping down the taut words, he slackened his tone.

"We are here to help. Just that- Huh."

At once he felt helpless. Slapping his forehead he looked at her narrowed auburns for anything that could help. She hooted her heavy heart as she volunteered.

"Hey, hey. Ara gets his nuts loose sometimes. I'm sorry that he was such a bother. No one deserves such a fate."

"Here comes the sugary robbery. Ah! I'm sick of this."

"I know I seem to ask too much. But, can you confess than confusing us?"

Her palms grew moist than her eyes. Clearly, she wasn't ready to be read this clean.

"It's ok if you don't want to. You have a choice to make here."

Stating that she tapped him to wither his tensed hold cramping his well built muscles. They could sense a thick cloak of silence adorned the air. They sensed she wasn't anything that was normal in its any shade. They moved far, giving her the space.

Seal a deal. Damn, we don't have all day.

The treacherous thoughts picked again. But her hands kept kneading her bones as though she needed something from them. Her eyes lost miles away. In deed, it's the pain. Her pain. This time, it did get different as it woke her heart, than leaving a knock on her brain.

"Pain transforms everything. Even the water becomes killing cold after all. I still remember it fresh."

"Scars stay-"

She rose her hand to cut the interruption from the bird. Her eyes lost its coldness and she sought this ember for solace.

"At the age of fourteen, right after that man died, I was abducted from my tiny hut which meant the world to me."

"That Man?"

His voice implored as his stare bore deeper beyond his lips.

"So called father. One whose ambush I was to follow."

More whiffs of storming breaths exited her nares, making them flare more than they usually would.

"Oh heavens! He too was-"

"Yes, a murderer."

Her cues did cut her silvery guesses. Her feathers stood strictly appalled as if bitten by a sour cat.

"It explained all his sudden disappearances and turmoil in every place we went."

Tears took their turn to stroll, but she was strong. It had been a scar that she would carry fresh in her every sense. Gulping down the irks, she sighed.

"When I woke I was in a boat. Far away from the world I knew. Home. School. Few caring mates. All of a sudden I was alone amidst the salted oceans."

Her browns went bereft, reflecting her barren self. Like she was being read, the little bird held her hand with her gentle claws.

"I was angry, anxious and scared. I... uh-"

"And you met Samaran there?"

He swirled his arms on the table, letting some sturdy stir of air birth an orb. Her swelling eyes paused as her heart feathered upon the dusky boy whose sapphire eyes brightened as his lips smiled. His creasing forehead was dancing with those curly hair. The ones she never got tired of ruffling.

"Hmm. He was my moonlight on those darkest nights."

"What happened to him then."

Her eyes welled again. The orb went blurred than it should. With a quick swipe, she cleared her tears, only to be assaulted by the stench of rotten rags, which churned her stomach. She looked around.

No! This can't happen. Nooooo!

She wished to run rather than get to witness that day. The day that snatched her everything making her wander the streets akin to the unquenchable thirst parched her heart.

"Pick what you want. Your training starts tomorrow."

She readily recognised that putrid voice. It never stopped haunted her nerves to make her morbid. As she neared the table staring at the man of her mares her legs went limp. She then looked behind, there were a few more children as frightened and pale as she was. Their eyes looked as though they battled two worlds. Time was bidding a cunning farewell to the point they were reaching.

Nothing will be easy anymore.

"Move soon."

A loud thrash of metal trembled the air. Her knees felt dragged as she heard the cries of the person before her.

Pick some stupid thing. Don't try to be a hero.

She nodded silently. She knew this fancy prison had a price to pay.

None is a guest. You are either a survivor or a martyr.

She also knew martyrs never see the sunset past that day. His inked swirls on the thick skin would ripple the veins beneath as his cunning ebonic eyes devour their cries. His treacherous parched lips would drink in their pain.

"Should I repeat?"

His demand was palpable as he sleeked his shaggy moustache

"Nooo."

The loud thrash on the gentle face of the boy who stood in front. Everyone screamed the worries that pierced their heart.

"Samar! Ahh- Samar!"

Her tender hands were clutched in an elephant grip that her four feet strength felt miserable to escape from. She bit him. But his slap hushed her. Her crimson face reddened, but his menaced eyes roared his dominance, silencing her cries.

"You sure?"

"I. said. No."

Those words woke the demon. But his azure eyes remained calm akin to the deep oceans before the storms. His curls stood stuck to his tears as he clutched the multiple-sewn patches of his white loose shirt.

"You accept death?"

A piece of metal teased his chin. But he stood tall.

"What a sweet boy for a hero?"

Crackles of scary laughter hooted the dock. Some men began throwing covers, pebbles and ropes on him. Nothing could settle even a pinch of fear in his being. The moment his little rosy lips curved up, the devil hit him on his head. Before he could be hit again, he began to run.

"Samaaaar!"

She dug her nails deep on the thick arms that held her with all her might, to loosen his caging hold. With a little triumphing energy, she ran.

Please live, Samar.

She kept repeating it. Before she could steal a chance, she saw him being crowded by four muscular men and the fat curved rim of the dungeon ship, that housed them.

Noooo-

"Annaaah, please. Give me a chance. I will speak. Anna-"

She held their arms, begging for him, her alms. Her heart kept blurting everything it found. She needed him to live. She needed him to see every dawn holding her hand.

"Radhi, you can't change the past."

"Past? Samar?"

"Fly high, Radhi. Be the butterfly."

His whispers woke her from the slumber. But before she could find a way, he gave it off. Once and for all.

"Samaaaaar!"

If her yells would bring him back, she would yell a thousand lives. If she could, she would willingly trade her life. But she knew she had no choice. Her heart stopped as she realised the grief. He gave up. He did steal her hopes. In a fleeting moment, they were over.

"Get in and keep low. Martyrs aren't for here."

She stepped aside as pushed. Looking at the place where he stood for the last minute, her heart raced. Pumping out the very last ounces of her hope, love and faith, it turned morbid giving everything to the waves that kissed him her unforseen goodbye.

TERMS:

Sarkar wale: It's a general Indian term of Hindi origin to denote government officials or officers.

Anna: A Tamil word to denote an elderly man regardless of his age.

QUESTIONS:

1. What do you understand from what has happened to her?

2. Will she come back strong?

3. Is the scene realistic or need a rewrite?

With riddles,
🧩..Yaris..🧩