His Eighth Kill

Chapter- 5 A room for one

"Dinesh?" she called, repeating his name three times before he slid out of the boxes and faced her. He made conscious efforts to avoid the counter when he looked at her. His exhaustion was visible, and dark circles formulated under his weary eyes. He must have cried. 

Moving away from the counter's edge, she signalled him to join her. He walked weakly and stole glances at the half-empty water bottle in her hands, revealing his desperation for it. It was all written on his face.

"Are you okay?"

"Of course not", he replied, standing a few meters away from her and dusting his brown pants. 

"I know this is difficult."He looked disinterested.

"I want your help.."

"I want water."

"That's why I took two water bottles.."

"Where's mine then?"

"Look first, we have to finish one bottle together.."

"Why? Just say that you don't want to share.." 

"No", Myra let out a deep sigh, "We have to save.. water for further use..there is a hygiene issue and everything.. but before that, we need to finish one water bottle.

He appeared frustrated, no longer interested in acting clever and being talked down to by a young girl. His stance revealed his annoyance and his unapproachable attitude irritated her, and this could be because she told that man to chain him to the other wall. She continued, "I'm giving you this bottle.."

His face turned serious. "What's in your mind?"

"Empty the bottle and crush its plastic."

His face lit up as he guessed, "Then we attack him with it?"His straightforward approach brought a smile to her face, and a realisation dawned on her that she hadn't smiled in a long time because the constant anxiety, fear and brooding of being held captive had nearly stripped away her humanity. She would have gone mad if not for the presence of another person in this room. "No, we can't-"

"Then?"

"Crush the bottle into a thin layer. Try to slide in between the knots of the chains and pull them apart... we need to remove our chains first.."Dinesh stood there, a mix of realisation and innovation on his face.

"But it will be difficult.. snapping the plastic to fit in those chains."

She tossed the bottle to him, and he caught it with a swift motion. Nodding, he assured her, his mind a mixture of new courage and ease."I know this will be difficult."

Dinesh held the bottle in his palm and felt a surge of relief. Dinesh joined his hands in prayer, whispering devotion to Lord Ram. After that, he turned back to his side, walking to his makeshift to do something she couldn't understand, and so, first, she hesitated to stop him but eventually mouthed his name.

"What more do you want?" he asked.

Myra searched for words, "There is an opening.."

"Opening?"

His gaze shifted to her, a glint of confusion in them. "What opening?"

"There is an opening in this room..a cavity or pipeline..anything.. that might lead us to the outside." 

"Okay, how does that help? We can't crawl into it and go outside", Dinesh said. 

His hunger was evident. Despite holding onto the water bottle, exhaustion was visible on his face. "Before he caught me, I only ate four parathas. I'm hungry now..we can play detective later-" he turned his back to her. "And I knew about this opening.. nothing new in it. Even if we found the opening, what then? We have no way out."