Savyasaachi

It was a dark night ...

A lone candle burnt in the corner of the room where a guy lay on his bed with a cellphone in his hand.

He was staring at it for a long time now. As if it would ring any moment or he would get a text message. But it was empty on charge. Twirling it in his hands he started to think,

“Why hasn't he called till now? That dufus Rakesh had said he would call back by 6.”

Now it was 9 and there was no electricity in the whole block.

He was growing anxious. He wanted to get this thing done with and forget about it.

And the more he thought about it, the more agitated and afraid he became. What if Rakesh was caught, what if he had ratted him out? What if the police were waiting outside his room? And they had cut the electricity?

He started pacing the room. He got his cigarette out and lit it absent-mindedly. Each time he was nervous he would start smoking. He had started when his mother had died and a friend had suggested smoking to help him with his anguish. He was 15 then.

Now in med school, surviving 5th term, he was worse than ever. He had gotten a good rank in CET and was forced to choose medicine by his father. He hated it.

The college, the course, the obnoxious, narcissistic seniors who probably had daddy or mommy issues. The hostel was so dilapidated it was hard to believe it was still used by the students. And the stink was horrible.

His room was messy with clothes strewn across the floor, a plate with half-eaten chapati, some cigarette butts and packs in and around a bucket used as a dustbin.

He threw the cigarette into the dustbin and was about to light a second when his phone rang. It was Rakesh.

“What the hell man!? Where are you? You said you would call back by 6!”

“Sorry yaar, was stuck in traffic and the damn phone was dead!” an apologetic voice answered. “Anyhow, I got the thing done. It was no easy task! I will talk to you when I reach in 10 minutes."

And he cut the call.

Rakesh was his best mate since he came to this shit hole of a college.

He was the one who got him through 1st year and what a hell of a year it was! They used to do crazy stuff after college everyday.

Just when he was about to light his second cigarette his roommate Kabeer, an intern, entered the room looking tired. Being posted in psychiatry was apparently not as easy as it is chalked out to be. And a night at the psychiatry ward hearing all those patients threaten him and scream hadn't helped with his sleep.

"Dude! Stop smoking, at least in our room..." Kabeer complained

Kabeer was neither a big fan of smoking, nor was he too bothered by it. Kabeer just did not want him smoking because it had started affecting his health. Almost every other day he had a fit of cough and Kabeer had once walked into the room during one of those episodes.

He picked up his phone and started talking as Kabeer plopped into a chair behind him.

"Yeah Rakesh? OK, I am coming"

Turning towards Kabeer he said, “It’s Rakesh! I’m going up to the terrace!” and walked out of the room.

Kabeer had always wondered who Rakesh was. His usually silent roommate was always talking about Rakesh. He had never met Rakesh personally, but he had a fair idea that Rakesh was a no-good college dropout. Although he was curious and wanted to meet this kid he stay put knowing it was none of his business. His new Nokia started ringing. It was his roommate's dad.

“Hello uncle! How are you?”

“I am fine, Kabeer. Is my son there?”, asked his roommate’s dad anxiously. “I have been trying his cell from the afternoon. It says it is switched off. I wanted to talk to him."

“Oh. He just went out uncle. I’ll go get him. Just a minute "

As Kabeer put the call on hold, he started wondering: Didn’t his roommate just talk on his phone?

Putting that thought aside, he went up the stairs to the roof. On the last flight of stairs, he could hear his roommate talking. He could hear Rakesh talking too, although the voice sounded familiar. They both seemed angry. As he reached the top, he could barely see his roommate in the dark. he couldn’t see Rakesh around.

Kabeer called out to his roommate, “Ajit your dad's call! And where is Rakesh; I could hear you talking to him just now?”

Ajit deflected the question by taking the phone from Kabeer and started talking to his dad.

Kabeer looked around one more time in the dark, confused, telling Ajit to bring him his phone after he was done talking. Kabeer headed down back to his room.

Back in his room Kabeer, too tired to think, literally let himself fall in his bed when something poked him in his ribs. It was Ajit's phone. Checking it, he found the phone was actually dead. Wondering how Ajit could have talked to Rakesh when the phone was dead he drifted into sleep.

When Kabeer woke up, it was 3 in the morning. And the electricity was still out and looking at Ajit's bed, he figured he had not returned till now. He reached for his cellphone to call Ajit, when he saw there was one new message from an unknown number. It was from Ajit saying he would be spending the night at Rakesh's place.

He was about to go back to sleep when there was a knock on the door. Puzzled, he called out, “Who is it?”

Someone in a heavy accent answered “It is Rakesh! I came by to pick Ajit's phone!”

Something was poking his subconscious. He felt he knew something important, that something was wrong but he couldn't recall. All he knew was it had something to do with Ajit's phone and Rakesh.

Taking a flashlight and stumbling over the plate Ajit had left on the floor, he opened the door.

He was confused for a moment. There was Ajit standing in his doorway with a gun in his hand, the barrel staring right at his face.

“What's this Ajit? Where is Rakesh?” Kabeer asked cautiously.

“Ajit? I am Rakesh, you idiot!” answered Ajit in a weirdly-accented voice that sent chills down Kabeer’s spine.

As soon as Ajit had answered, it dawned on him. How could he have been so stupid?

How could he have missed the signs?

The dead phone! Those weird times when Ajit was supposed to be with Rakesh. As far as he remembered all those times Ajit hadn’t left the hostel.

And of course he had not met Rakesh. How could he? There was no Rakesh at all!

Ajit was a classical case of Dissociative Identity Disorder.

And Kabeer did not even think of it even when those symptoms were looking him right in his eyes.

Disappointed and scared Kabeer started to speak.

“Ajit listen to me-”

“Stop taking that loser’s name in front of me!” Ajit barked

Taken aback Kabeer was thinking of a way to address Ajit, when he heard a clicking sound from the gun. His pupils dilated in fear, his face drained of blood and adrenaline started to course through his veins, and before it could have the desired effect, there was a flash of light from the barrel, a wisp of smoke and everything went silent with a loud bang!