Love And Lies Are Red

16

Abhimanyu stops recording. The video is processed immediately and saved in his gallery. He doesn't open it immediately. He had never thought about the possibility that what if the video did not go viral within half an hour? That is the exact time left for the judgement to take place. He uploads it from an anonymous account. First ten minutes gather some 300 views. It means the views are coming steadily. The factor which gets his video upto 2.8k views within the next four minutes is his face reveal. Abhimanyu has shown who he is to the world. Months of public wait comes to an end but him gaining views seem unending.
5.2k ..
8.9k...
55.3k....
But the video is soon stuck at 56.8k.
He knows he has broken the algorithm but something now hinders his reach. He keeps flipping through news channels for them to talk about his video but all of them are concerned with Arshia being presented in front of the Chief Justice of India. He sighs and then kicks the foot of the desk in front of him. His plan will definitely not surpass. Who is going to watch his 20 minute long video till the end in such a short time? How could he expect the whole nation to do so? He has believed in the supremacy of social media over the media but he was unaware of the shortcomings of it too. His heart breaks at the comments that pour in saying it is fake. The real Abhimanyu is dead. While others strongly believe he is the one and cannot be cooking up a whole story just for views. They even tag news channels in the comments. All this goes on with a rapid pace but his mind is continuously worried about her. He repeats their history in his mind like in the video. He realises that he has immensely fallen in love with her. His thoughts come back to the last heinous event he had done on her 19th birthday....

~

They were fast asleep after a fat meal while she had not even touched her dinner in the lock-up. It was around 2:40 a.m. when Abhimanyu had parked his bike at a distance from their house. Only this time it pained him because Arshia was not sitting behind him. He had a bag of evidences on his back that proved about the relation between Ghanendra and Wasim through their biographic profiles, Rafeen's medical condition due to her past trauma, the records of Wasim Aithwal losing his job on a particular date and Ghanendra's treachery in his office that was in a hidden folder (all thanks to his hacking skills), bank documents showing Wasim's account still active and being operated when he is actually dead but the bank doesn't know it, tax evasion archives along with political scam lists on Ghanendra and lastly, some handmade sketches that he had made portraying Ghanendra trying to force himself on Tasha. He had lost count of the number of times he had emptied his stomach contents while drawing that. He had snapped the pencils in half due to rage after finishing the sketches. All that would be used for a mission that he had come with to their house.

All those months, he had excavated everything possible about Ghanendra!

His sling shot perfectly made a big chunk of glass fall from the window of the room on the second storey. He knew they would have been startled by it but would not come immediately because they were being cautious. Earlier, they had not used this trick to enter their house because they did not want to leave any traces that it could be the work of two. Now he had realised that one could do it all alone too. Just some courage is needed and it is only possible when fear is eradicated from one's heart. He quickly exited that room. Prior to this, he had climbed up the pipeline to their terrace to get some tasks done with the half-filled water tank. He'd vacuumed out the remaining water and replaced it with some bulky bottles of kerosene, about one-fifth the capacity. He made a small cut in the pipe going down the stairs from the tank's base and while the pressure built in it, he tiptoed to the hall and stood there still. Their footsteps were muffled too because they had sensed someone entering their house. Ghanendra and his family were out of their bedroom to search the whole house. Abhimanyu suddenly hid when he saw Ghanendra talking to someone on the phone in Shravan's room.
"What, she is still in the lock-up? Are you sure? Check once. No check again. I know you just did but please", he went on while repeatedly wiping the sweat beads on his forehead. Pragati was clutching onto his shoulders as if they were already inside a fire ring. Only Shravan was at a distance and all were facing in the same direction. Finally, Abhimanyu entered their room with utmost bravery.