What The Eyes Don't See

28 | The Source of All Evil

"And then, you sniggered.

"I will never forget that. That wicked chortle, that laugh of derision, that spiteful look in your eyes. Then I realized you had been laughing all along, just hiding it in your hand. You had been laughing at my plight. That was when I felt the itch. It was inside the dress. I was aghast to discover that there was something slimy inside it. You had laced it from inside with something filthy, like tar, and mixed it with itching powder as a bonus. And when I tried to get out of that dress, from the rows of seats in the auditorium, there emerged your friends. There were six of them, all those tall boys who were my bullies. They were there and they hopped onto stage and laughed as I wriggled to get out of that tight dress which had now clung to my body. And as the laugh turned uproarious, all I could think of was how you had betrayed me. And for what? All for a bit of fun?"

Anay's head was hung low.

"Don't you remember it now?" the spirit asked.

"Yes, I do," Anay said meekly. "I remember it now. But it was all just a bit of schooltime fun. It meant nothing..."

"Didn't it?" the entity said with fury roiling beneath its blue eyes. "I ran down several floors to get away from you guys and to the washing area. I think it was the fourth-floor bathroom. I went in and tried to somehow get out of the dress. It could come out only partially. I stood under the shower then and tried to wash the slime off me. My tears and the water mixed with the black tar and clogged the drain. The stains on my skin began to clear but you know what wouldn't go? The stains on my mind. But, wait, it doesn't end there...

"When I was partly cleaned, I heard footsteps at the door. It was a man. He walked up to me as I was in the shower. I tried to step out but he stood in my path and asked, 'Who hurt you?' I didn't reply, but he said, 'Why are you running away? I just want to make friends with you.'

"And then... then he began to force me. He was big and strong and he put my hands on his body. He made me touch him everywhere. He unzipped his pants and buried my face in his stinking filth. He slapped me till I opened my mouth. And then he turned me over. He laughed all the time. Yes, he laughed like the evil villains they show in the movies when they do their evil acts and it echoed in that empty bathroom. I am telling you this, yes. I am telling you all the graphic details because you should know what happened to me because of you. That man held me on the floor and shoved his stinking cock from behind. His filthy thing had the warts of some disease on it. When I did not yield, he slapped me so hard that I saw stars. So that I would not shout, he stuffed my mouth with my own fist. My teeth dug into my flesh and those scars never went away. When he was done, he threw me on the floor like I were a ragdoll, and, then, practically sitting on my face, he said, 'If you tell anyone about this, I'll tell everyone the truth about you. And you have to be here whenever I call. Or else, you know what I shall do.'

"Oh my God!" Anay wept. "I am so sorry. I am so sorry this happened to you. But I didn't know..."

"What did you not know? Do you think you are not culpable? The way you and your friends bullied me, you think that is excusable?" Deep increased his pressure on Anay's thigh and inched upward to his crotch. He squeezed his balls till he screamed in agony. "How does that feel, motherfucker? Keep your sympathy to yourself. It is too late now. I wanted your love and you hurt me so bad. You are a part of everything that happened to me."

"This is not—AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!"

"I hope you are feeling the pain now, Anay Ghosh, for I felt it for three whole days. I was young and terrified. I did not know what to do. The third day was the farewell. I had to participate in the play. I could not back out. I did not want the school to suffer as mine was an important role. With aching body and mind, I donned the fairy costume, put on the makeup and the blue contact lenses on my eyes, and climbed up this frame, ready for my act. This same frame you are on now, you see? Don't you just love poetic irony?"

Anay looked down again and felt his world spin. The dizziness overpowered him, coupled with the floating of the spirit in front of him. His feet dangled, spit fell from his mouth directly to the depths below. A searing pain shot through his body from the ropes that held him at the ankles and wrists. The spirit would soon cut the cords and he would plummet to his death, Anay hoped.

But he went on, "After the play, I saw my molester again. He was in the audience, his eyes shining with lust. I did not know what to do. I wanted to tell you about it, for you were the only one I could think of. I came to you too, but you and your friends only laughed at me again and made some remarks about my costume. I was shattered.

"And there he was, the monster, looking at me with lustful eyes. I turned and ran out of the school compound, still in my costume. I got on my bike and sped away. He chased me on his motorbike. I could see him just behind me. I lost direction and then the only way left to me was the highway. Pausing only for a moment to think, I turned toward the highway. And, there, as you know, I was hit by a speeding truck.

"But, no sir, I did not die immediately. He dragged my runover body into a ditch by the highway. He tried to bury me, but the mud was hard and did not yield. He smashed my legs with a stone and hid me in the bushes. He probably thought I was dead but I wasn't. I stayed like that for two days, Anay. In those two days, all I thought, more than the bastard who raped me and murdered me, was about you. I thought of how callous and merciless you were, and whether you would ever even think about my death. All I wanted in my dying moments was for you to feel my presence somehow. And maybe that's what kept me back in this world."

There was a moment of solemn silence. In that moment, the being looked almost human with its downcast face, belying the notion that sorrow isn't an emotion for ghostly spirits. Also, in that moment, Anay could not feel his own pain. The sentiment of Deep's grief was so profound that his bodily pain seemed like nothing in comparison.