We talked, we laughed, we complained and we ate. The food that Zach makes can replace the menu in many of the restaurants, it is simply irresistible. We shared our stories that brought us on the verge of tears once again but none of us wanted to ruin the perfect moment so we drank the tears back and maintained our honest smiles. I was so grateful for that moment because it cleared the haze between us.
When I came out of the house, Stella and Mark were still there. Their lips were gaped when they saw me wearing the liveliest and satisfied smile. I told them everything and Stella began to scream in excitement. Mark and I had to cover our ears. Then they both hugged me. It was a kind of moment that a team shares after winning a game that almost seemed impossible.
Now I am heading to the hostel to tell Miss Jane everything and to write down my speech for the grand finale. I have never been this happy. I feel like my feet have gained wings and now I am flying instead of walking. My heart is at peace. My skin is embellished with the buds of joy. My smile is not dead yet and I do not want it to die. God knows how much I had waited for this moment and now I have embraced this moment completely.
I knock at the door but receive no answer. The door is already opened so I directly walk in.
"Miss Jane, it's me." I announce and drop down on her bed. She is bathroom so I decide to wait.
I drop down on her bed because the pain of my wound is threatening to rise again but I do not forget to pull in a long breath of gratification. I lift myself up to settle the pillow for myself and just when I lift it up, a bundle of pages appear from underneath. I would ignore these crumbled pages if my name was not written on it so naturally I pick it up and begin to read.
"Lisa, I know you do not read my texts, you do not attend my calls so here I am writing it all down on a paper. I hope that Miss Jane has given it to you on time. I know that you are badly heartbroken on your arrest. It was Maya. I strived to stop her could not because I am cuffed by some reasons. I am helpless but I am trying to help you. There is a new piece of information; the person who knows about your father is in your circle. You have to be super careful. Just observe everyone carefully, may be you get a clue. I am doing this job, too, but I have not come up with the name of the right person yet but I am dead sure that person knows you and you know him. Take a good care of yourself.
Zach."
I gasp when I read the letter. He wrote it the day when I was arrested and I did not even receive it. This is not it; there are a lot of letters, letters asking for forgiveness, letters explaining his every act, letters wishing me luck before my quarter and semi finals, letters warning me to stay away from Maya and letters of take cares. He kept on giving them to Miss Jane and she did not even bother to give even a single letter to me. All the way, Zach was trying to guide me! Why did Miss Jane do it?
I can feel it rising within me-the heat, the heat of anger, the heat of curiosity and the heat of doubt. There is a diary, too. I open it and leaf through every page with my frown getting deeper and deeper. There are dates, there are the names of different cities, names of different people and half of these names are written with a tick sign. What is Miss Jane up to?
The sound of unlocking the door makes me jerk. I gather the pages, close the diary and put them in their old place in a flash. She comes out of the bathroom with the towel wrapped on her head.
"It has been so long since we met. How are you? How is the wound?" She rushes towards me. I do not know why but for the first time it feels like she is being sarcastic, like, she is ridiculing me.
"I am good. Well, the pain rises once in a while but I can tolerate that." I chuckle and try to act cool.
She nods. She scans me with her emerald eyes and then looks at her pillow. I know she is full of fear and suspicion but she is not letting the layers of calmness peel off.
"I was expecting that you would come to the hospital to see me." I complain with a super innocent face that melts hearts. I give off the vibes that her visit was the most anticipated one and that her not showing up has hurt me.
"Oh, sweetheart, I am so sorry. I wanted to come but I have got a bundle of work to do. I was so trapped in my work that I could hardly get time to come to see you. I badly wanted to come, though." She sighs. "Plus, I was writing your speech for finale." She smiles.
But I show no response. I keep acting like a sad kid whose Halloween candies have been eaten by his parents.
Miss Jane sits beside me and circles her arm around my shoulders. "How do I make it up to you, huh?" She asks in a whisper and squeezes my shoulder.
"Um, coffee would do but I want the coffee that you make." I grin at her, showing off my bright teeth.
"Okay." She smiles and gets up. She heats the water in the electric kettle, adds the instant coffee in it and then serves it to me in her coffee mug.
"Thank you so much. You are the best." I show my gratitude with the same grin. I can feel the knots tightening in my stomach.
She smiles and unrolls the towel but then her phone bands. She almost runs towards it and picks it up with chaos on her face. Her frowns tell me that something is wrong.
"Really?!" Miss Jane almost screeches at the top of her voice. The tension on her face is replaced by relief. Her eyes are gleaming with joy. This news must be great.
"Oh, my God, I cannot believe this." She places her hand on her chest and lets out a sigh of relief. "And you know what? Lisa is with me!" She exclaims. I stop sipping my coffee. "Oh, yeah, I can bring her. Ah!" Now she is showing off her bright teeth.
"What happened?" I want to quench my thirst of curiosity.
"Come on, get ready. A surprise is waiting for you!" She claps like an excited little girl and then takes out her makeup kit. She blows dry her hair. She removes her glasses and inserts the contact lenses in her eyes; she applies a glittery, red lipstick and adds a pinch of highlighter on her face. She looks pretty. She looks breathtaking.
I do not want to add makeup on my face but upon Miss Jane's insisting I only apply red glitter-free lipstick. I untie my pony tail, brush my hair.
"Just keep your hair like this. Don't tie it again." Miss Jane instructs me and then coats my eyelashes with mascara. "There you go. You look amazing, Lisa." She pinches my left cheek.
I take a look in the mirror and wow I do look amazing!
We settle in the car and Miss Jane begins to drive. She asks me about Zach and I tell her the whole story, well, I skip that letter part. When she hears that Zach and I have patched up, the car almost comes to a halt and her eyes spring out of their sockets.
"Wow!" She exclaims. "I am so happy for you people." She smiles at me and then resumes the driving.
"You know, I should have given him a chance. He wanted to say so much and just acted like a deaf person." I say while looking out of the window. The street lights are turned on now and the weather is clear.
"Yeah, he tried to approach you but he failed. I mean, you did not give him a chance." She chuckles.
"I wish I could smell some people's intentions, life would be much easier." I breathe out a tired breath.
Miss Jane just glances at me and then focuses on the road. The restaurants are beginning to get heaped up with people, shopping malls are no longer vacant as they are in afternoon, the street is full of people and somehow it does not make me feel alone. Seeing them laughing and talking gives me a kind of hope that no matter how hard life beats you up, it still helps you in rising.
"Okay, so here we are." Miss Jane announces while pulling up the car in front of a lifeless building. We get out of the car. I observe the building; it is giving off melancholic vibes. It is so gray as if someone has been constantly torturing it, smashing it and betraying it.
"Come on, let's go inside." Miss Jane taps my back.
This building is scaring me. It is intensely dark inside. Miss Jane turns on the little torch that she brought with herself. We begin to climb the stairs. They are so full of dust and dirt. Dying vines are hanging from the reeling. The wall paint is scratched and that scratched parts look like faces of some ghosts. I have never seen a place this deadly.
"What are we doing here, Miss Jane?" I ask while coughing.
"Just keep following me and you will come to know." She replies in a sprightly manner.
We gain the third floor. Miss Jane leads me to a room. She opens the door and I find Harry sitting there on a chair, lost in his phone.
"Surprise!" Miss Jane announces.
"But I have met him already. He came to see me in the hospital." I say while walking towards Harry.
"You look fit, Strawberry." Harry hugs me.
"You did not tell my why are you here? And where is mom? Is she alone there?" I ask questions in a row.
"Wait a second, girl. You will find your answers." He smirks.
Suddenly, there is that feeling within me that a drastic storm is going to hit this building. This sudden appearance of Harry is full of doubts. I have to be extra careful even though they are my people.
"Miss Jane, take her upstairs. I am coming." Harry shuffles my hair and then exits the room.
Miss Jane encases my hand and leads me upstairs. She stops in front of a door and then turns towards me.
"Your real surprise is in this room. Hold your breath." She leans down and whispers in my ear. Chills run through my spine.
I nod.
She opens the door and as soon as she opens it, my heart beats stop for a while and my windpipe blocks. It feels like the floor has been snatched from underneath my feet.
"Dad!" I squeal with mixed feelings. Half of me is happy to see my father but half of me is shocked to see him in a state like this. He has grown so weak, his mouth is bleeding, there are fresh wounds on his face, his left eye is swollen and his hands are bandaged. He is in a very sorry state. He looks at me and he just gives me a small smile. It seems like it is difficult for him to breathe. He is sitting on a chair and he is tied to it. He tries to get up but he cannot. He is moaning in pain.
I sprint in his direction but out of nowhere someone holds me from behind.
"Darling, darling, you cannot meet him this easily." It is Maya's voice. I wheel my head around and there she is standing with her famous crooked smile.
"Let me go." I struggle to free myself.
"Control, Lisa, have some patience. You will meet him but there is a small price that you have to pay." She tightens the grip on my arms and pulls me back.
"Miss Jane, please help me." I look at her but she is standing so calmly as if nothing is going on.
"Sorry, Lisa, I can't help you anymore. Helping you will be equal to betraying my father." She grits her teeth and clenches her fists. She looks at me with burning eyes.
"What has happened to you, Miss Jane? My father and I are in trouble and you are not helping us. You were the one who has helped me through hell then why not now?" I scream.
She shakes her. "Oh, no, sweetheart, I did not help you instead I brought you closer to hell." She laughs and her laughter is accompanied by Maya's.
This world is a strange place, a very strange place, the people that we hate are our well wishers and people that we love are desperately waiting for our deaths. This universe kept me giving signs about who is good for me and who is not but my eyes remained close and this time the universe has let the reality whip me. It is whipping me harder, perhaps, I deserve it.
"What have I done to you?" I am on the edge of tears.
Miss Jane pulls in a long breath and then rolls her eyes. "Do you want to hear it? So listen, your father is responsible for my father's death. My father was a leader of a gang that smuggles drugs throughout the world. He was your father's friend. But your father had zero knowledge about his activities. Life was good. But one day your father came to know about his activities and called the police. They arrested him and sentenced him to death! I was only thirteen, Lisa, only thirteen. The whole school began to bully us, calling us drug dealers and murderers because my father used humans to smuggle drugs and in the end he would kill them. My brother could not tolerate that bullying and so he attempted suicide. He was nine."
Miss Jane stops and wipes her tears, the smudge of mascara spreads around her eyes but she does not care.
"My mother was near to a nervous breakdown but fortunately she was saved. All this miserable events were absorbed by this girl who is standing in front of you. I lost my father and brother because of your father. From that time on, I promised my dead father and brother that I will take their revenge. I will make everyone taste the same pain. Later, my mother married for the second time and Kristine was born. We did not tell him about our pasts rather I sent her to Auckland so that she can meet you, know you and figure out a way for me through which I can destroy you and that is what happened!" Miss Jane finishes with a sniffle. She is absolutely wild.
I cannot say anything. Her story has shaken me down to the core but her father deserved whatever happened to him. She just needed right counseling at the right time so all this will not be happening now.
"Zach proved himself as a bonus in this entire scenario. Maya loves him and Zach dreams of you. This phenomenon was interesting and I used it to trap you so that I cannot be directly blamed." Miss Jane breaks the horrible silence.
"But Maya joined the gang and through her efforts she made this gang stronger. Chris and Eric were already its members. The gang was doing great under my leadership until you called the police. You have repeated the mistake, now be prepared for what comes your way." Miss Jane smirks. Her warnings drain everything out of me.
I feel like my legs have turned into dandelions being vigorously shaken by storm winds and I can feel small bombs of coldness and shivers exploding throughout my body.
In the meantime, Harry and Eric enter, holding Zach. The color of my body evaporates when I see Harry with Eric. And Zach, his forehead and nose are bleeding. They have beaten him.
"Meet Harry, Lisa, my cousin who has equally participated in this game." Miss Jane's words suck the life out of me.
"Harry?" So many questions are enveloped in my question. My own brother has deceived me, my own brother.
"Sorry, Strawberry. But believe me, it was so hard to live with you and to convince you that I actually love you, yuck!" He gags and everyone laughs except Zach and me.
I break down into tears. My heart feels heavier than ever. The flavor of deception has burned my mouth, my heart and everything.
"We do not have time for this drama. Let's come to the real business." Miss Jane claps and Harry and Eric bring Zach in front of me.
"If you want to save your father, you will have to shoot Zach with your own hands. He proved to be a traitor. And this is the rule of our gang that we do not let the traitor live. Learn some devotion from Maya, she is quietly going to see her heart dying in next few minutes but she is not objecting. If you do not kill him, then I am going to shoot your father." Miss Jane's words fall like asteroids on my heart.
Eric hands his gun to Miss Jane and follows her. Harry gives me his gun and steps aside.
Miss Jane points the gun on my father's forehead and my father has started to tremble.
"Let us go, please." My father pleads in a weak voice. He cannot even talk properly.
"No, not that easily, sir." Miss Jane chuckles. "Come on, Lisa, shoot him or it will not take a second for me to press the trigger!" Miss Jane shouts at me.
I look at Zach with watery eyes. He has been an immune system to me and I just cannot perform this Autophagy.
He looks at me with mellowness in his eyes. He smiles at me, his smile is the most beautiful things about him, and his smile is like a sparkling diamond in this dark tunnel. He has almost captivated my heart and I just cannot shoot him. He has the purest soul and I know he will not leave me alone when I am a mess. But then there is my dad whose love cannot be measured and compared.
"Shoot, Lisa, shoot!" Miss Jane howls at me once again.
I close my eyes, gradually lift my arms, load the gun and point the gun at him, I think of the moments that I spent with Zach, the first time we met, the time when he bought and brought the water bottle for me, the time when he stood like a wall in front of me to save me from Eric, the time when he said sorry in front of a coffee shop, the time when he noticed my small dimple, even I did not know about that little baby. God! I cannot do this.
But then something new strikes my mind.
Zach is standing exactly in front of Miss Jane. What if I shoot Miss Jane instead? But that would be a huge risk.
"If you do not shoot him in next one minute, Harry or Eric can do that for you." Miss Jane says with gritted teeth.
"No!" I screech.
"Ten seconds are down." Maya announces.
I look at my father. He is looking straight at me with helpless eyes and he is constantly shaking his head in negation, signaling me to not to do it.
But I have to.
Apparently, I am aiming at Zach's left side of the chest but I am aiming at Miss Jane's hand with gun. In this way my father will be saved and Zach will run away.
"I am so sorry, Zach." I almost wail so that they all can hear that I am actually going to shoot him. "Run away, Zach." I whisper in a dead voice so that Zach can hear it only.
He just shakes his head in negation.
"You are left with ten seconds only! Do it!" Maya yells from behind.
Let's take the risk.
My gun goes off. The bullet hits Miss Jane's hand and she shrieks when she sees the blood pool exploding out of from her hand. In the meantime, Eric takes out his gun and aims at Zach but I push him away and duck my head so the bullet misses us but it hits a person because we hear a shriek.
It's Kristine.
But she has a gun, too.
"Jane, you should not have done this. Eric, I trusted you, dude." Kristine howls at them in a heart breaking voice but then shoots Eric right on his abdomen and he falls on the floor.
Miss Jane gets up, picks her gun up and aims at my father. Zach sprints towards Miss Jane to stop him, but a thundering sound of a gun is heard and a bullet hits Zach on his chest.
"ZACH!" I screech with a loud note, my voice hushing the other voices and freezing every act around.
I dash towards him, he falls on the floor and my heart sinks. I kneel beside him, pressing the wound on his chest to stop the flow of blood.
I keep shaking him. "Zach, please open up your eyes, please." I tap his cheek hard but his eyes are shut. "Please, Zach, open your eyes." This time my voice cracks and I am crying now.
"What have you done?" I shriek while looking at Eric who is smirking at me while lying down on the floor.
"Let me finish this story, too." Maya takes her gun out and walks towards my father.
"No!" I protest.
"Close your eyes, kiddo." She chuckles and loads the gun.
Kristine runs and holds Maya from behind. Maya struggles to free herself but Kristine's hold is strong.
Miss Jane once again picks her gun up and aims at Kristine. The gun goes off but the bullet hits none. This irritates Miss Jane, but this time she aims at my father. I swiftly get up and hold her hand, trying to snatch the gun from her.
I press and pinch her wounded hand hard so that her pain will suck her power and that is what happens, she keeps hissing.
"Harry, help me!" I plead Harry, hoping that old Harry will wake up and help me.
"Harry, I am your sister, this man is your father. We are in trouble. Save your family, Harry." I try to bring the old Harry back while fighting Miss Jane at the same time.
But Harry keeps on standing there, he does not blink his eyes, his face seems lost. He does not break his silence. He is probably contemplating about something but this is not the right time to think. This is the time that demands only action.
Harry begins to walk towards my father and my heart is drumming faster than ever. He unties my father, puts his arm around his shoulder and begins to walk him.
I smile.
But the sound of thundering bullet leaves me empty, the bullet hits Harry on his lower abdomen, he is about to fall but my father holds him. Two weak souls are striving to save each other.
"Harry!" I screech.
"Run away, dad, run away." He pleads dad but my dad does not run away.
I twist Miss Jane's wounded hand and she shrieks on the top of her voice, then I snatch the gun from her and toss it away.
"You are a devil." I say with gnashed teeth and keep twisting the hand.
"Harry deserves this. He turned out to be a traitor, too." Miss Jane chuckles.
Her words ignite the volcano within me and hot lava drips from my eyes.
"Think about yourself. Who is going to save you?" I get up and kick her in stomach.
"Keep kicking her!" Kristine boosts me from behind and that is what I do. I keep kicking her and she keeps on shrieking.
"Everyone, freeze!" A police officer enters in the room, followed by a group of policemen.
They arrest Maya, Miss Jane and takes out Eric on a stretcher. While Eric is being taken out, I walk beside his stretcher and fasten his hair in my fist and pull them.
"May you die, Eric." I whisper to him but he does not smirk anymore.
Two other stretchers come for Zach and Harry and they are taken to the hospital.
A nurse takes my dad to the ambulance, saying that his health is deteriorating.
"Thank you, Lisa, for your help." The police officer shakes hand with me and then places his hand on my shoulder. "You are really a brave girl." He smiles at me and I smile back at him.
"Thank you, Kristine for your help. Well, you have to come with us now. We need the proofs." The police officer turns to Kristine.
"Okay, sure." Kristine nods with a smile.
But before going Kristine hugs me and I bury my head in her neck. She rubs my back.
"Everything will be fine." She whispers.
"Thank you for rescuing us on time." I say once we pull apart.
"There is no need to say thanks. I knew Jane was going to do that. Thank God, I happened to open her secret drawer accidentally and all plans were there. I booked a seat and came here by flight." She smiles.
I look around the room, the floor is flooded with blood and the gun shells are floating in it and then we exit the room.
It is strange how a night can bring about such huge changes in one's life. A night can infuse a new spirit or it can suck out the soul, it can unleash the monsters or it can conceal them, it can grind your heart or it can glue it, so many changes. But the good thing is, in every way it gives you a hope that this night is not the end, this is not the end of the world.
Author's Note
Uh-oh! I am sorry for treating Zach like this but I really enjoyed while writing this chapter. So the end of the story is slowly approaching.
My finals are around the corner and here I am focusing on my novel :-D That's the best part about creativity, it rises during exams.
Do not forget to vote and comment. Your views are worth it.
Happy reading. Stay blessed.
~Mahvash