Afternoon - Ranawat Mansion
The old clock in the hallway struck two, its chime echoing through the mansion's quiet corridors. The air felt tense, as though the whole house was holding its breath.
From the main gate, the sound of footsteps grew louder. Aditya appeared in the doorway, his usually warm face stiff with controlled urgency. Beside him walked a tall man with silver hair, a crisp navy suit, and a black medical case in hand.
"Dr. Hans Müller," Aditya introduced in a low voice, "from Zurich... a specialist neurologist."
Every member of the family rose instinctively. Rajveer nodded respectfully, Arjun- his eyes steady on the newcomer, and the younger brothers stayed silent.
Today everyone stayed home feeling the urge to be present in this moment.
Without wasting time, Aditya led the doctor straight upstairs to the master bedroom more of a medical room now- a place none of them entered lightly.
Master Bedroom-
The room was dim, curtains half-drawn, carrying the faint scent of sandalwood. On the large carved bed lay Meera Ranawat, her face pale, eyes closed, breathing steady but faint. Her hair was neatly brushed, a shawl pulled up to her shoulders.
Dr. Müller moved with practice efficiency, placing his case on the bedside table. He checked her pulse, listened to her breathing, examined her pupils with a small light. Then he took her hand in his, gently pressing her palm, then her fingers.
There was no reaction.
He tried again - touching her feet, brushing against her arm - still, nothing. Not a flinch, not a twitch. The silence in the room grew heavier.
Aditya stood by the bed, his eyes fixed on his mother's face, searching for any sign of life beyond breath. Rajveer had his hands behind his back, unmoving, while Arjun stood at the foot of the bed, jaw tight.
Dr. Müller reviewed the stack of MRI scans and reports Aditya had collected over years, occasionally asking quiet, precise questions. Two hours passed like this, the ticking of the clock their only reminder of time.
When he was done, Dr. Müller closed his case with a soft click.
"Gentlemen," he said, looking at Rajveer, Arjun, and Aditya, "may we speak privately?"
The four men stepped into Rajveer's study, leaving the others in the bedroom.
The doctor's voice was calm but carried the weight of finality.
"Her neural responses are... almost absent. She can breathe, her heart works, but the pathways that would allow her to move, react, or wake - they are severely damaged. Compared to other patients, she doesn't even register a physical touch. I'm sorry... but the chances of recovery are close to none."
Rajveer's eyes hardened, Arjun turned away, and Aditya exhaled slowly, like the air had been knocked out of him.
When they returned to the room, no words were exchanged. The others read the truth in their faces.
Kabir lowered his head, trying to control his feelings.
Dev's fists clenched at his sides.
Aryan's eyes watered, he was just a child and when this incident hit him hard.
Meera lay still on the bed, unaware of the storm in her family's hearts.
____________________________________
That night Ranawat mansion lay cloaked in silence, yet no one was truly asleep. Shadows clung to the corners of the vast hallways, and the air felt heavy, almost suffocating.
In his room, Rajveer Ranawat sat on the edge of his bed, elbows on his knees, staring at the floor. The words of Dr. Müller kept replaying in his head like a curse he couldn't shake.
After a long, silent moment, he stood abruptly, grabbed his car keys from the nightstand, and left without a sound.
The garage door hummed open, and the black SUV roared to life. Rajveer drove through the empty streets, pushing the accelerator harder than he should, the city lights blurring past. He didn't care where he was going - only that he needed to get away from those walls that smelled of antiseptic and memories.
Rajveer stepped onto the restless veins of Mumbai, where every horn, every shout, every hurried footstep seemed to belong to a world he had never asked to be part of. The city's neon lights and choking air were nothing but a disguise - a place to hide from memories that clawed at him. Yet, even now, years later, Mumbai felt like a stranger's city... and he, a guest who had overstayed his welcome.
Minutes turned to an hour. His grip on the steering wheel tightened, jaw set, but the mask he wore in front of his sons had already begun to crack. His vision blurred, not from the speed, but from the heat in his eyes.
Finally, he pulled the car to the side of a deserted street. The engine idled, headlights slicing the darkness. Rajveer leaned back, closing his eyes - and then it happened.
A single tear. Then another. And another.
For years, he had been the unshakable pillar of the family. But here, under the indifferent stars, he was just a man who had lost his wife long before her body had stopped breathing.
The night air was cool when he stepped out of the car, running a hand through his hair. He inhaled deeply, hoping the fresh breeze would clear the heaviness in his chest.
That's when he saw it.
Saanvi's pov :
The stench of rust, sweat, and fear clung to the air in the abandoned warehouse.
I stayed in the shadows, my steps silent against the dusty floor.
At the far end, under a single flickering bulb, he sat-Bhavesh Mahatre.
Politician by name. Parasite by nature.
His gold chain glinted as he barked orders.
"Send the girls to the truck immediately. The client doesn't like delays. And make sure they can't scream."
Around him, a few men hovered like loyal dogs, nodding, smirking.
Somewhere behind the walls, muffled sobs leaked into the silence.
My hands clenched, but my heartbeat was steady.
This wasn't anger-it was judgment.
I stepped forward from the shadows, my anklets barely making a sound.
The first to notice me was a guard at the door. His mouth opened to shout, but the sound never came.
His eyes glazed over, the body locked in place as though time itself had wrapped chains around him.
One by one, every man froze-breathing, blinking, trapped between a heartbeat.
Their eyes darted, desperate, but their muscles obeyed only me.
I turned my gaze to the girls, some no older than twelve, trembling, bound with coarse ropes.
A single wave of my hand, and the knots uncoiled like snakes slithering away.
They stared at me, disbelief clouding their eyes.
"Go," I said softly.
A low growl came from the shadows, and a large black dog padded forward-its eyes intelligent, protective.
He trotted past the girls, pausing at the warehouse door before glancing back at me.
"He will lead you home," I assured them.
The oldest girl nodded, clutching the youngest by the hand, and they all followed the dog into the night.
The darkness has consumed me hiding my face from everyone, and even if they saw it ,the second they reach their safe area they'll forget it.
How they escaped?
Who helped them?
No memory!
Now, only Bhavesh remained seated, though his body had long since lost its arrogant posture.
I walked toward him, each step echoing on the concrete.
His pupils trembled, and his lips formed words his throat wouldn't dare push out.
"You took away their freedom," I murmured, leaning close enough for him to feel the chill in my voice,
"but tonight, I will take away yours."
With a flick of my fingers, agony laced his mind-not the pain of the body, but the kind that makes a soul shatter.
I made him see every girl he'd hurt, every scream, every tear.
Again. And again. And again.
His breath hitched, eyes rolling back as if drowning in the visions.
Around us, his frozen men stood like statues, their minds held in my grasp.
"They will remain like this," I said, my voice low and cold, "until they too pay their price."
The flickering bulb above us hummed once... twice... then burst into darkness.
When the light returned, I was gone.
Only Bhavesh's screams remained-echoing through the empty warehouse.
__________________________________
The warehouse's shadows swallowed us as I dragged Bhavesh forward-not with my hands, but with his own body obeying a will that wasn't his.
His feet scraped along the ground, stumbling, yet never able to stop.
We emerged into the cold night air, the street empty, the city's hum a distant memory.
Minutes later, we reached an old, abandoned road-cracked asphalt, weeds pushing through, surrounded by darkness.
No houses. No lights. No witnesses.
Only the moon watched.
I released my hold just enough for him to gasp.
"Wha-what are you?" he stammered, voice trembling.
I tilted my head, studying him.
"You know what you've done to them. You know every girl's name, every scar you've left. Tell me-do you deserve mercy?"
He said nothing. His silence was answer enough.
My fingers moved subtly in the air, and he fell to his knees, clawing at his own throat as if invisible hands wrapped around it.
But it wasn't death I was giving him-it was fear.
Fear so deep it etched itself into bone.
Images flooded his mind again, but now, he was the victim.
In his head, every face he'd sold was now hunting him.
Every shadow whispered his name.
Every gust of wind sounded like footsteps.
"Tonight," I said, circling him slowly, "you'll see their pain, hear their voices, you'll feel like one of them who you did injustice to."
I stood before Bhavesh, the wind carrying the faint scent of rust and rain.
Beside us, an iron pole jutted from the ground, old and stained, but still sturdy.
The kind of place where secrets stayed buried in silence-except tonight.
He looked at it, then at me. His breath hitched. "No... please..."
I stepped closer, my shadow spilling over him.
"They begged in front of you, did you listen?"
"This pole will tell the truth you've hidden for years."
He sobbed, crumpling onto the road, shaking violently.
I stepped back, the air around me rippling as my power lifted.
A poll appeared with a sharp edge, he got lifted from the ground and was shoved on it.
He's mouth got tapped.
"Just making sure you don't scream." With a smirk.
It spikes pierced through the loose flesh of his body-not enough to kill, but enough to make him scream until his throat burned.
He would live until morning.
Until the city could see him for what he truly was.
A wooden board, roughly cut, appeared in my hands.
I pressed the tip of a blade to carve the words-
each letter a wound to his pride,
each word is his crime.
"R@PIST. HUM@N TRAFFICKER. DESTROYER OF INNOCENCE."
When I was done, I hung the board from his neck so it rested over his chest, impossible to ignore.
"Maa Lakshmi ki beti hu lekin Maa Kali bhi banna aata hai mujhe"
("I'm the daughter of Maa Lakshmi but I know how to become Maa Kali too")
"Tum jeso ke liye to ye saja bhi kam hai"
("This punishment is too less for people like you")
I stepped back, admiring the cruel poetry of it all.
A man who once sat in luxury, now shivering in the cold, bound for the world to judge.
The street was silent again.
I turned, walking into the darkness until the night swallowed me whole.
"Now let's deal with others."
After dealing with everyone and everything remaining, as I was returning that's when I saw......
Write a comment ...