The Scarred One – Part 2

This is in continuation from the Part 1 of this story – The Scarred One

As morning was approaching Sha Aniv’s men picked up Amirah and took her to the banks of Indus and threw her in the raging river. That’s the last Sha Aniv and his men had seen of Amirah. 

As Amirah kept sinking in the Indus and slowly losing her life, she wanted revenge. She was not ready to die and move to the other side, as yet. She wanted to stay here and seek revenge. The body was battered and the will to continue to live was receding. The gushing water would not allow her to float and the wounds and bleeding was making her feel weak. Amirah’s soul was slowly leaving her bruised body. But it carried the bruises with her. At that moment the soul had a black mark. A sign of the wound and the battering the soul had to endure and a reminder of the revenge it was seeking. When the soul was free from Amirah’s body, it split into six parts and was travelling to find a body to reside. The six pieces of soul all carried that mark with them. And would show prominently on whichever body it resided from thereon. Over the next few hours six children were conceived in different parts of the world. All had a mark on the right cheek and extending from the side of the eyes to cover the forehead till the right eyebrow. The mark would continue from one life to another till Amirah had her revenge

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The morning after the night’s incident had an eerie silence. A weird feeling was engulfing Avinash. Maajid’s mother came to provide for lunch in the afternoon. Avinash had seen her around, but this was the first time she had got him lunch.

Maajid and Rahima were not to be seen. He did not think about it and chose to ignore the eerie feeling that was becoming overpowering. Slowly he fell asleep. In his dreams he saw the events of that evening and night when Sha Aniv had raped and murdered Amirah. But in place of Amirah he visualized Rahima. When he saw Amirah sinking in the Indus he woke up with a scream. He was sweating and felt exasperated and was shaking. How? When? Where? What a dream he thought. It was late evening by then. He decided to go for his evening walk to take in some fresh air and shake away this eerie feeling.

The shikara was waiting to take him ashore or wherever he wanted. But as soon as he sat down the boats-man started rowing and taking him away. Avinash did not realize immediately, but eventually it dawned he was heading to an unknown destination. In his stay here and many sojourns, he had never come to this part of the lake. The lake was getting narrow and the topiary was hanging low. The evening sun could barely reach here. It felt as if he was in a forest. He turned around to see the boats-man and tell him to get him out of here. He was pleasantly surprised to see Maajid. But as soon as he turned he felt a thud on his head and Avinash passed out.

When Avinash opened his eyes, he was startled. His head was heavy and had a splitting headache. He realized warm blood trickling on his neck from somewhere in his head. His shoulders were aching, as his hands were tied to branch of a tree and his shoulders were carrying the branch. The branch was tied to the ceiling, so that Avinash was forced to stand. His legs were tied apart to the windows on opposite sides of the room with a long rope.  And he was stark naked. He had an excruciating pain in his groin – a stone, the size of a fist, was tied hanging to his testicles. His is mouth was dry, he could not gulp, he could not shout. His mouth was stuffed with a rag. It was dark outside. He realized he had passed out for at least a few hours. Any swing in the stone would pull his testicles make him scream in agony. 

He looked up and with blurry vision, he saw Rahima sitting on a chair in front of him. 

‘We have to talk, or you would never know what you died for’ spoke Rahima. Her voice was coarse and tired.

Same thoughts were running through Avinash’s mind – ‘What have I done to deserve this?’

‘I will remove the rag from your mouth and if you scream I will chop off your testicles and your body will never be found’ Rahima said with authority.

Avinash let out a big sigh as the rag was removed from his mouth.

Rahima continued ‘Avinash the first day I saw you coming into our houseboat I knew there was something creepy about you. I hated you the time I saw you. As if I knew for a long time and have hated you forever, from a different time a different life. The day you tried to molest me and hold me close to you, my soul stirred. Your stench, your aura- I hated that. That same stormy night realization dawned – how you as Sha Aniv raped, killed and scarred my soul as Amirah on the banks of river Indus.’

Avinash looked up and saw Rahima, her hair was tied back and the scar on her face starting from the middle of her forehead and going down till her right cheek. Suddenly the mark looked dark and glowing. And it all came back to him as if he had experienced it a few days ago. She narrated the incidents of the night to Avinash the same way as he had seen them in his dream. And the reality of the situation dawned on him

‘Sha Aniv, I have been looking for you for over hundreds of years, through different lives, different places, different forms. And now I have you’

Avinash looked up. His eyes were blood shot. His soul now accepted Sha Aniv. He started screaming and shrieking, like the one he had heard the other night, when Rahima’s soul had the realization.  In his mind he was on the banks of river Indus, he was back in that era. He knew he was paying for his treatment to Amirah. Amirah was taking revenge. 

Amirah tied his mouth again and only a grunt could be heard. Sha Aniv put all his might to rescue himself but the rope was too strong. And the pain in his groin was unbearable. Sha Aniv gave up trying and waited for Amirah to make the next move.  Just then Sha Aniv felt an intense pain in his anus. He let out a loud grunt. Maajid had just inserted a rough wooden wedge up his anus. Sha Aniv almost fainted, the agony was unbearable. As the wedge ascended in his rectum, it sheared the nerves and blood was splattering out. He looked up quizzically at Maajid as if asking – ‘you too?’

Maajid stood there bear chest. He too looked different. 

‘When Rahima had the realization that night, I knew why I felt so much for Rahima since birth, I thought it was only because we were twins. She is elder to me by about two minutes. But it’s more than that, we are soul mates. That night when she was grunting and seemed like gibberish to most, she was calling out for help. She was calling out to me. I too carry a part Amirah’s soul.’ Maajid turned and showed a dark patch on his back. That was now glowing. May be it needed two parts of Amirah’s soul to final have you and take revenge.  Maajid’s eyes the chin and his lips resembled Amirah. Sha Aniv’s heart sank. He realized he would not get out of this alive. The fury and vengeance in those four eyes was palpable. Just then Maajid lifted a knife and brought it straight through Sha Aniv’s face as if to slit the throat. But just then Amirah kicked Maajid and he was on the ground and the knife released from his clasp. 

Maajid was taken aback and almost about to hit Amirah for doing this. But Amirah looked composed and appeased. 

‘Not so fast, not so easy’ she said with a smile.

The grueling pain, blood trickling from his head and now the warm blood between his thighs oozing from his anus, Avinash wanted all this to end.  He wanted to die. He could hear the voices of Rahima and Maajid from outside the room. It was a heated argument. Maajid seemed angry and wanted revenge, Rahima sounded calm. When they both entered the room, they both looked unperturbed. Maajid removed the wedge from his anus and Rahima loosened the stone. Avinash was feeling relieved of the pain, but he knew he should expect the unexpected. 

Rahima got a bigger stone and was preparing to tie it to his testicles again. Avinash shook his head in disbelief, more so begging to put an end to this.

‘We can let you go Sha Aniv and even let you live, but we want you to do something in return.’ Said Maajid

Avinash was perplexed. What can they want to absolve me and let me live from here. He furiously nodded his headed trying to convey – ‘whatever you want, I will give.’

Rahima untied the rag from his mouth and Avinash gasped ‘Whatever you say, I will do it’

‘Avinash you have been a sex pest from all these years. And I guess in all your lives from Sha Aniv to now or even before that, you must have been the same. We trust all those women who have accused you of misdemeanor. You take your position of privilege to prowl on women at office, home, known, unknown, old and young. This must end. Your looks, money, power or anything and nothing gives you the right to treat women that way.’ Rahima was emphatic.

‘We want you confess all your misdeeds and accusations leveled against you, right now!’

Avinash was baffled, everything was happening too fast, to fathom. He was too tired to fight and too clouded to think. He agreed and they freed him and got his shirt. On Avinash’s mobile camera, Maajid started recording the confessions. One by one, every woman, every incident and every act. When he finished Maajid send that video to all of Avinash’s contacts. And destroyed his phone. They took him back to the house boat and dumped him in his room and locked him inside. 

 Within few hours the video was viral and it was on all news channels across India and abroad. The siblings – soulmates had successfully broken Avinash’s persona. His stature and position was in shambles. In the next two days – all his contracts were cancelled, multiple cases were lodged against him and the nation now wanted revenge. On the third day, Avinash’s body was found floating in the Dal lake with his wrists slit and a suicide note in his room. However, the investigators could never find out the reasons for the injuries on his head and anus and the swelling in his testicles.

From that day on, none of Amirah’s soul was ever born with a mark on its body, the blemish was cleansed.