Sanskar bend down and placed a hand on the nearest shoulder, shook it roughly, and was greeted by the unturned face of a boy who couldn't have been more than sixteen years old. The snub nose and hollowed cheeks were smudged with dirt, the sunken eyes glazed and unseeing. An unhealthy gray tinged the boy's skin as if he hadn't seen daylight for a very long time. No doubt he was a runaway. Sanskar had an unsettling version of the boy's mother, sitting at the kitchen table sick with worry, staring at her telephone as she waited for a call that might never come. That boy could have been him if he hadn't changed his ways, he realized, and felt a rush of sympathy.
Prithvi- You can't save them all, Sanskar.
Prithvi said, as if reading his thoughts.
Right. Sanskar sighed and shook the boy again who had slumped back to the mattress in oblivion.
Sanskar- I'm looking for a tall girl with straight black hair. Her name is Kamini. Have you seen her?
With great effort, the boy focused in on Sanskar's face. The boy shook his head but Sanskar squeezed the thin shoulder harder.
Sanskar- Are you sure? A pretty girl about this tall?
He raised his hand to his chin in approximation of Kamini's height.
The boy's eyes sharpened and he nodded then pointed up the stairs on the second floor.
Mingled relief and disappointment surged through Sanskar all at once. Part of him had hoped she wouldn't be here, that this rescue mission would be nothing more than waste of his time. The other part of him seethed with anger that she had once again put him in this situation. God only knew what horrific sights lay in wait for them at the top of the stairs.
None of the bedrooms had doors and he could see bodies in all of them. The first bedroom held several people who blinked at him without seeing, shuffling around like rats in the darkness. A boy and girl writhed in the corner, deep in the throes of s*x, undisturbed by his presence.
He found her in the second bedroom, curled up on the pile of rags in the corner next to a gaunt stick figure of a guy with stringy black hair. They were curled up together like a shrimp in a tangle of skeletal limbs. Several emotions coursed through him as he caught sight of delicate features beneath the matted dark hair; shock at her state of dishevelment, anger that she could put herself in such danger, and sorrow that someone he had once cared for had fallen into such a deep pit of despair.
He crouched down besides her and brushed the hair from her face with a tender hand. She stirred and smiled but didn't open her eyes.
Sanskar- Kamini?
He took her by the arm, shocked by the frailty of her bones, and shook her.
Sanskar- Kams, wake up. It's time to go home.
Kamini- Sanskar?
She blinked up at him with sleepy eyes.
Kamini- Come to bed, Sanskar.
Sanskar- Get up, Kams. It's time to go.
He said, his voice sharper than he intended.
Kamini- That's okay. You go ahead without me. I'll be there in a minute.
She said, and fell back asleep.
Sanskar- No, we are going. Get. Up. Now.
He shook her again, hard enough to make her head roll on her shoulders. She roused long enough to take a swing at him then collapsed again.
Fu*k! It couldn't be easy. Nothing was ever easy with her. He scrubbed his face with his free hand, curbing the urge to throttle her. With a sigh, he shoved his pistol back into the waistband of his pants and began to disentangle the stick figure guy from her. The guy groaned and rolled over but never woke up. At least that was one thing he wouldn't need to worry about.
Prithvi- Sanskar, you want to hurry it up?
Prithvi's urgent whisper floated up the stairs. He'd stayed at the foot of the stairs to keep an eye on things.
Sanskar- We've got company.
From the back of the house came the banging of the car doors and hushed voices floated up the sidewalk. Sanskaar paused from his dealings with Kamini long enough to peak through one of the windows. A Cadillac Escalade gleamed in the moonlight. A well dressed young men accompanied by a guy clad in a leather jacket, his hair shaved into a Mohawk, walked toward the house. Dealers, no doubt, came to collect or sell or maybe both. The last thing he needed was an altercation with Kamini's dealer. They always hated losing a customer.
Sanskar- We're leaving, Kams. Right now. Get your a*s up.
He poked her with the toe of his boot. She moaned but didn't moved. He bent down and scooped her up, throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She weighed no more than a child and he carried her easily down the stairs.
Prithvi met him at the bottom of the stairs.
Prithvi- We can go out this way.
He said, motioning toward a door in the living room.
Prithvi- It goes out to the garage.
Sanskar adjusted Kamini's weight over his shoulders and nodded for Prithvi to lead the way.
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Episode-33 Danger?
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