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Thriller: The Ultimate Choice

Discussion in 'Stories (Fiction)' started by Tamrakshar, Jan 25, 2020.

  1. Tamrakshar

    Tamrakshar Platinum IL'ite

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    Right, may questions are yet to be answered in the story.
     
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  2. Tamrakshar

    Tamrakshar Platinum IL'ite

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    Episode 18

    "It's just 15'. But, there is a condition. The condition is that you can't run. You have to walk your normal steps. That means you have to take around 15 steps. If you walk quickly you can complete the things in less than 5 seconds. Ain't that easy?" Again, there was a hint of exuberance in the Joker's voice.

    Archana tried to visualize the situation, and she didn't utter a single word. So, the Joker continued,

    "So, only 5 second of pain. I assure you it's nothing. You can do it without any trouble."

    Archana remained silent. The Joker continued,

    "The sensation of pain is nothing but a malfunction of your brain. If you control your brain, you can defeat it."

    "I don't get it." Archana blurted.

    "Okay, I will explain in simpler terms. You have nerves in your body. They send various kind of sensations when your skin touches something. For example, when you touch an ice cube, your nerves send a signal to your brain. Your brain is trained in such a manner that it interprets it is very cold. This interpretation is completely man made. You are trained from your early childhood that this sensation was cold and it was bad. So, you immediately withdraw your hand from the ice cube. But suppose, if you were trained that this sensation was good, you wouldn't have removed your hand. Similarly, you have to think that the sensation of burning is good. You can even think that it's even heavenly.

    Haven't you read the Ramayana? Haven't you read about Sita's "Agnipariksha"? You are a devout Hindu. I am sure you have read about that, and you believe that. Don't You?"

    The Joker asked Archana, and it appeared that he would not take no for an answer. As a matter of fact, Archana was a firm believer, and she believed every word written in the Ramayana. So, she nodded her head affirmatively.

    "Good", the Joker seemed to have been pleased with the answer. He continued,

    "So, how do you think how Sita could overcome the sense of pain? Do you think it was some kind of blessings from the God? No it was not. She had trained her mind in such a way that she could control her brain, or should I say how to interpret the sensation of so-called pain? She could programme her brain in such a way that pain was interpreted in a positive way. That was the one and only one secret behind her success to pass the Agnipariksha."

    Archana was awestruck. She had never thought in this way. No doubt, she thought many times about the Agnipariksha. How could a living person stay inside fire without being burnt into ashes was the question that came to her mind several times. But, Archana knew Sita was not an ordinary woman. Her extraordinary piety gave her extraordinary powers.

    The flow of thought traversing in Archana's mind was cut short, as the lady standing beside the Joker piped up,

    "There was no extraordinary power in Sita except for the fact that she trained her mind to overcome pain. She was in the fire for only 5 seconds. She was standing on a platform, but the people didn't see that. Within 5 seconds, the platform was pulled down, and she landed in the safe underground room. But, the people thought that she had vanished inside the earth."

    "So, they are reading my mind again! How come?" Though this question occurred in her mind, she put it aside, as the situation was to grave to ponder over that issue.

    "So, what have I to do?" She asked the most important question for her survival. The Joker seemed to have been content with Archana's reaction. He calmly said,

    "You don't have the luxury of training your mind like Sita, as you have to appear at the test right now. All I can do for your help is to tell you the thumb rule of winning pain for this test. Think something else when you walk on the singeing coal. Your untrained nerves will disturb you enormously, but you have to turn a deaf ear to them. Can you do It? Please remember you have no other option but to pass the test. Otherwise, you know what? Ha ha!" This time the Joker's words sounded really cruel.

    As soon as the Joker signalled, 4 masked men came down from the lift with a big drum. Very quickly, they put down singeing coals on the raised ceramic platform. Everything happened so quickly that Archana didn't find much time to compose herself.

    "2 minutes! You have only 2 minutes to start the job. Your time starts now." The Joker announced sternly.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    "Sixteen days have passed, and you are saying you couldn't trace him. What are you doing?" Suresh fumed at the officer in the local police station.

    "Sir, we are trying our best. We have alerted all the states. The moment some positive inputs arrive, we shall act swiftly." The young, handsome policeman wrung his hands as he explained. Suresh was a very successful businessman who was known to have a lot of hobnobbing with influential politicians in the state. Rajan was his college friend. He was awaiting Rajan's arrival in India. They had a big plan to start a joint venture. When he knew about Rajan's abduction, he became mad in rage. He left no stones unturned to find Rajan. Both Rajan and Archana's families totally depended on Suresh to find the two missing persons.

    "What are reports from the airports?"

    "Sir, we have received inputs from both airports and railway stations across the country. Neither Rajan nor Archana could be seen to go anywhere. I am sure Sir, the kidnapper had taken them by car."

    "Hmm! What do you think where could they have kept them for so long?"

    "That's the million dollar question Sir. We are having inputs from our sources. So, far no one could throw any light on this mystery."

    The next episode will be published on Saturday night
     
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2020
  3. Mistt

    Mistt IL Hall of Fame

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    @Tamrakshar As a theist, I believe in Sita as a goddess. So, it wasn't a big deal for her in passing that Agnipariksha. Now, I came to know how atheists see the same thing differently. Honesty, I liked that positive approach of train our mind to take control of brain according to situation and thanks for describing that Part in the story.
    Finally, rescue team introduced and looking forward to read how they are going to solve this mystery.
     
    Last edited: Mar 19, 2020
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  4. Tamrakshar

    Tamrakshar Platinum IL'ite

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    All the characters and dialogues in this story are fictitious. Yes, the rescue operation has been on
     
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  5. katchibinanda

    katchibinanda New IL'ite

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    Great work! But, I have a question. From the dialogues of Joker it looks like he was present at the times of both Draupadi and Sita! How is it possible? How he can say such things so confidently?
     
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  6. Tamrakshar

    Tamrakshar Platinum IL'ite

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    Oh Kathi! Does this weird joker guy look normal to you? Don't take his irritating rantings too seriously.
     
  7. Riverstream

    Riverstream Bronze IL'ite

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    Superb narration. At last you have brought the rescue mission. That is great.
     
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  8. Mistt

    Mistt IL Hall of Fame

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    Hi Riverstream,
    I remembered you and thought of you will relax after reading Wednesday's episode.:)
     
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  9. Tamrakshar

    Tamrakshar Platinum IL'ite

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    Rescue mission is not going to be easy, that's for sure. Anyway, thanks for your feedback.
     
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  10. Tamrakshar

    Tamrakshar Platinum IL'ite

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    Episode 19

    "Do your best. If you find them, I will give you a big prize." Suresh left the police station with a lot of frowning on his forehead. It was not as if he only depended on the police. Actually, he had scant respect for these khaki-clad guys, whom he thought were worthless. Suresh could never forget the favours he received form Rajan. He would never have passed the exams with flying colours, had it not been Suresh writing the papers by his side in the university. He was extremely glad that Rajan had agreed to join hands with him.

    Therefore, he himself had engaged the best private investigative agency in the country, the Ravenous Eagles. While coming back from the police station in his SUV, Suresh rang Somnath, the head of the Ravenous Eagles in Southern India.

    "Any updates? It's been ten days that you have taken the job!" The tone of Suresh was business like.

    "A good news Sir! We are closing in. Can't tell you at the moment, as the news is still unconfirmed. Please, have some patience. I will call you." The connection was cut from the other end. But, at last, there was a hint of smile on Suresh's face. He rang Rajan's elder brother.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    400 meters! Rajan's experienced eyes quite easily assessed the perimeter of the squarish ground. That meant he had to run 4 km nonstop!

    "Oh God! Please help me!" Rajan knew it was an impossible task for him to accomplish, and he didn't want to be beaten either.

    Rajan thought that 1 km was the most he could run at a go. He was highly apprehensive of being kicked by that heartless animal. So, after two and half rounds, he started to feel butterflies in his stomach. But, he himself was astonished to see he felt no shortness of breath or any cramp in the leg even after 5 complete laps.

    "How come?" He wondered! Was the God helping him? He was glad. He completed 8 rounds without any hiccup. The animal like guy was announcing the rounds with a lot of disdain in his voice. He made it very clear that he didn't enjoy the fact that Rajan was finishing the job flawlessly.

    But, during the middle of 8 round, Rajan started to feel a lot of discomfort in his body. Suddenly, his legs started to revolt, his lungs started to collapse. He was huffing and puffing like a steam engine. He was praying to the Almighty to give him enough strength to finish the task.

    "You have successfully completed 9 rounds. That's incredible! Here comes your last round."

    The Bengali guy announced this with no cheers in his rude voice.

    Rajan was happy to know that. But unfortunately, his body was not cooperating. Rajan didn't understand that it was not the God, but it was the continuous hard work of a fortnight that was paying the dividend for him. But, his body was not prepared enough to run 4 km nonstop. He needed a break of at least 10 minutes.

    Rajan's legs showed red flags after the half-way mark in the last lap, and Rajan fell on the ground like a lifeless object. The failure might have given him a bad taste in the mouth, but his exhausted body got a new lease on life. He stayed on the ground motionless for 5 minutes. He would have loved to stay like that for few more minutes, but the masked Bengali appeared on the scene.

    "You have failed!" He announced, this time cheerfully.

    "Water! Can I get some Water?" Rajan was having the thirst of a desert. Even a drop of water at this moment seemed to be priceless to him.

    "Water? Ha ha! Yes, you can have a little bit of it. But, you will receive 10 extra kicks for that. Do you accept?" The masked guy showed the bottle he was holding in his hand. He might have masked his face, but a sinister smirk could be felt in his voice.

    Rajan's body was worn out, but his mind was not. Rajan quickly looked at the bottle and estimated that there was not more than 50 ml of water in that run-down, dirty bottle. It appeared to Rajan that the bottle might have been picked from a bin, and it was filled with water from a puddle. Rajan had been a hygiene-freak for the last so many years. He would have puked to see it in a normal time. But, he himself was shocked to notice a dramatic change in his attitude.

    "I agree. Please give the bottle to me."

    "Ha ha!" The masked guy handed the bottle in Rajan's hands.

    Rajan didn't take more than perhaps a nano second to open the bottle and pour the content in his one thousand-years-of-thirsty throat. Even this 50 ml of dirty water seemed like ambrosia to him.

    Rajan's happiness didn't last for more than 5 seconds. A heavy kick in his butt again brought him back to his time of agony. From the 9 more kicks that came in no time on his buttock, chest, head, arms, legs and even in his groin, it appeared that the Bengali guy might be an expert in martial arts.

    After the harrowing nonstop running, this was too much for Rajan to withstand. He was writhing in pain, and started crying loudly. This made the Bangali guy to stop for few moments. He, too, was sweating. He opened two upper buttons of his blue denim T-shirt, and said,

    "Oh! Did the kicks hurt?"

    "Yes, very much! Please don't beat me any more." Rajan tried to touch the feet of the Bengali guy to plead mercy.

    "Wow! What a cute gesture! My heart has really melted. But you know what?"

    "What?" Rajan asked eagerly.

    "The word mercy does not belong to anyone working in this hell. I am sorry sweetie!"

    The guy kicked 10 more times on every parts of Rajan's body to fulfil his words.

    Looking at the sorry face of Rajan, the Bengali guy said,

    "When I whistle, you must start running to complete the last round. Any more breaks, you will again get 10 more kicks. You have only 30 seconds to compose yourself."

    ________________________________________

    To be continued on Saturday night
     
    Last edited: Mar 21, 2020
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