ArHi FF - Aftershock: Chapter 9, Pg 26, 23 September

A story set between past and present and a possible dystopian future.


Index

Prologue - Page 1
Chapter 1 - Page 1
Chapter 2 - Page 3
Chapter 3 - Page 5
Chapter 4 - Page 7
Chapter 5 - Page 11
Chapter 6 - Page 15
Chapter 7 - Page 18
Chapter 8 - Page 21
Chapter 9 - Page 26

Prologue

She wakes up to the sound of tens of voices crying and wailing. There would be chaos, strife and misery on the other side of the door waiting for them to be consumed in its dark void but she doesn't know that yet. Her sister scoots closer to her when the noises reach a level that thunders inside the house.

"Khushi, what's going on?" Her sister, Payal, sniffles in a mellow tone. Her hands search for Khushi's and the moment they find them, she grabs them tightly.

"I will go and find out, okay? Stay here." Khushi pushes her sister gently towards nest of pillows. The long afternoon nap extending to late evening after a day of traveling to her hometown hasn't fully managed to erase the tiredness she had collected over a year in boarding school.

She crosses the room in five long strides and turns around when she reaches the door, her hands lingering on the doorknob, to give her sister a small smile as a promise of assurance. Payal had curled herself into a ball and sat in corner, fear clouding her face. Khushi bites back a sigh at her older sister's paranoia and hopes, at least for her sister's sake that everything was alright outside. Payal's fragile state of mind was an undercurrent that ran beneath her skin. She only hoped everything was alright and fixable when she closed the door behind her softly.

She finds her parents, her father's friends and colleagues in living room. The defeated look on her father's face is enough for her to take a step back and take refuge behind curtains.

"There are thirty families standing outside demanding justice, Mr. Gupta. We are running out of answers and also our options." Mr. Jha, their family lawyer waves his hand towards the porch. "The death toll is now hitting five hundred Mr. Gupta. We have, no, we need to do something soon."

"Did you get food sample from yesterday? We need it to get them independently tested by a third party," Mr. Gupta sounds defeated. Khushi could swore she has never seen the man so...lost.

"We have an outstanding bail ready sir." The corporate lawyer mumbles softly, looking away from the people in front of him. Even a sixteen year old Khushi can see that his body language screamed of dislike and fear. "In case, you know, they file a criminal complaint for manslaughter against you."

Mr. Gupta fixed the lawyer with a stare that spoke volumes. The man refuses to look at his employer and continues to fiddle the papers on his lap. However, Khushi's mouth ran dry at the lawyer's response.

"It's not a matter of 'if' but a matter of 'when', Mr. Gupta," Mr. Jha speaks as if the other lawyer wasn't insulting enough. Khushi wants to claw his eyes out. The anger bubbling in the pit of her stomach was slowly seeping through the flesh and bone and clawing under her skin to find a sweet escape. The room falls quiet at his words, its occupants looking for solution to the problem at hand or figuring out how best it is to save themselves. She cannot tell.

"How could have such a thing happened?" Mrs. Gupta, Khushi's mother, asks probably for the fiftieth time, looking at the weary shake of their heads and the sighs that followed. "We have been running this mid-day meal program for three successful years. Not once did we have an issue with food contamination."

Cold settles in Khushi's stomach. Suddenly the problem unfolds without a clutter in her mind. The words she had been hearing for the past few minutes made all the sense. Food contamination, death toll, catering to mid-day meal program and the noise outside their house.

The realization snatched the last chunk of energy in her legs and they turn to noodles. She collapses silently on ground and hugged her legs close to her chest. Her head hits the wall in repetitive motions as tears burns in the corner of her eye. The charity program that her parents had so gently nurtured had turned into their personal hell hole. Five hundred children dead and somehow her family was responsible for the gross negligence. Her mind goes numb with the number of scenarios that ran in her head.

When the first stone thrown at their house shattered the glass, the numbness in her thaws. One stone follows another and within minutes, there were dozens. Everyone in living room scrambles on their feet and run inside when the sound of breaking glass starts coming from different parts of the house. She hauls herself up on her feet and runs to her room hoping Payal hadn't heard it yet. It was a silly defense but she was desperate. She finds Payal wrapped in a comforter and hiding inside her closet. It breaks her heart to see her older sister like this. They are Irish twins, born only months apart yet Khushi had grown to take the older sister role between the two.

"It looks comfy down here," Khushi's voice is gentle as if she is talking to a child. In many ways, Payal is a child. "May I come in?" She asks for an explicit permission. The noises around their house is louder than before and the police sirens add to the already bubbling chaos. She swallows the bile rising in her throat and the constriction the sadness bubbling in her chest, harshly. Payal nods in reply and Khushi slots herself next to Payal after throwing rest of the clothes outside and closes the closet door.

She covers Payal's ears with her hands and pulls her close. Payal closes her eyes and rocks herself to dissolve the now faint noises to nothing. Khushi holds her sister through the anxiety attack that follows and the noises surrounding their house becomes a distant hum.

She wakes up in darkness and it takes her moments for her senses to kick in. She gently untangles herself from Payal and gropes the door for the handle. Finding it later than she wanted to, she tumbles out in a heap of clothes and limbs. Taking Payal in her arms, she carries her sister to the bed and tucks her in. When morning comes, Payal will throw a fit for removing her from her safe place. But that's something she doesn't want to worry at the moment. She switches off blaring lights but keeps the night light on in case Payal woke up.

It's a little after 1 AM and the house is eerily quiet. She works up courage to check on her parents whose room is on the same floor as hers but almost on the opposite side of the house. She pads through the dimly lit hallway, her naked feet squelching under smooth floor. Their door is open and she isn't surprised to see table lights on. Long days were going to be a thing with the situation at hand.

"Dad...mom..." She calls them as a heads up for her arrival. When there is no response, she calls them again. Her voice catches when there is no response from the room after sixth time. She switches on the light and slowly trudges inside. The sight in front of her takes her breath away.

And when the reality sinks, she starts to scream.

Chapter 1:

She taps her finger on the arm of a lush sofa distractedly as her eyes track people coming in and out of the door across the hallway. A woman sighs for the sixth time giving her an impatient look. She stops tapping her finger for few seconds before the nervousness running in her vein picks up the annoying habit again.

Khushi Gupta, visitor name tag is hung from the lapels of her jacket. There are only two of them left in lobby who are waiting for the turn to interview for the coveted position in Raizada industries - the largest fertilizer company in the country. She stares at the company logo hung grand behind the receptionist's desk. A memory splashes behind her eyes with a similar set up but a different logo decorating the hall.

"But papa! It looks so...bland!" A seven year old girl gripes, clutching her father's large hands in her tiny ones. "I know!" She crows when an idea shapes in her head. "We can add some glitter to make it all sparkly and make it visible from...far." She bounces on her feet with contained energy.

"Like from outer space?" Her father laughs freely while few employees crowding the reception area of the newly built Gupta Fertilizers office snigger behind their hand. The young girl stomps her feet grumpily, not understanding the joke but knowing she was just made fun of. She disengages her hand from her father's and runs to her mother and sister who are several feet away. "Ah...Khushi..." Her father covers the distance in two strides and catches his little girl who twists and turns in her arms, annoyed at her father's antics.

"How about this little one?" He says offering his pinky finger. "When you take over this company, you can use all the glitter in the world to make the logo pretty."

Khushi thinks for several seconds. "Okay. Pinky promise." She offers her little finger and the deal is final.

"Ms. Khushi Gupta?"

She snaps her head in the direction of the voice calling her name and forces out a dim smile. "That's me," she smothers an invisible wrinkle on her dress pants, unknown nervousness making home in her nerves.

"You are up in five minutes." The woman says mechanically and offers a tiny nod of encouragement. Encouragement isn't something Khushi needs. She is exactly where she is supposed to be. She absently twirls the ring on her right index finger and waits patiently for the call.

Ten minutes later she is sitting inside a cozy room with warm art work adorning the walls and deep rich mahogany adding additional warmth and an understated elegance to the room. It's just a three second inspection that leaves her grudgingly impressed. The new owners of the building where she once played has done some impressive job with the place.

"Why Raizada industries?" The question comes like an order, a demand in a mocking beguile tone. Arnav Raizada is polite and borderline charming but he is anything but chummy. She likes the way he holds himself back while the other four interviewers are already leaning on the table - towards her.

She was hoping they would ask her this. But when the question is actually presented, she doesn't want to rattle the pretty two hundred word answer she prepared weeks ago after doing a dumpster dive into the media archives. "Because it's the best." She saw him quirk an eyebrow at her response. She sees an interviewer next to Arnav Raizada about to open his mouth and she beats him to it. "And because I am the best." She doesn't smile nor does she twitch. She is relaxed and holds Arnav's stare steadily.

"That's fair," Arnav replies, to her surprise accepting her answer readily. He is known to reduce grown men into puddle of insecurity and stupidity but here he is nothing more than a college senior interviewing freshman on the first day. "Why do you think you are the best?" He doesn't let her off the hook.

"I bring results Mr. Raizada. I have been in this industry since I started my summer internship during graduate studies. My academia surrounds this industry and so does my business school experience. I have been part of planning commission for the government and I have worked with various NGO to help farmers in this country and also abroad. My last job brought me recognition in the field no one gives second thoughts about though it's one of the basic factors for our country's progressive economy." She shrugs, unable to hold cynicism any further. She smiles at the panel and she can see four fifths of the panel is impressed. Of course Arnav Raizada looks blank. She holds his glance and quips, "And because I am the last one to be interviewed today." The moment words tumble out of her mouth the reaction around her is instantaneous. Again there is four fifths of common reaction in the panel with chuckles and snorts while Arnav shrugs. She berates herself for a moment but lets it slide when it hits her that she has technically won over majority. She finds it strange that she was actually looking for Arnav's approval so much that a frown makes way on her face.

Arnav fails to show any expression on his face as he closes the file on her. "Why fertilizer industry?" He asks instead. Khushi's brows furrow. "I mean-"

"It's personal," she cuts him inelegantly. Suddenly no one exists in the room besides the two of them. She knows the intention of question was anything but for general curiosity. He knows exactly who she is and what she answers next will change everything. Including both their futures and the future of Raizada Fertilizer.

"I was first told what Oswald process is when I was six. My father made a diorama, a picture book and lots of hand puppets to make me understand his job. At six it sounded pretty cool. In high school it was difficult to parse the lack of enthusiasm shown to this industry while almost same ingredients were studied by larger populace because it made things blow up. The irony of basic components that both nurtured life and destroyed life, hit me too hard to ignore it. It was an inevitable outcome to opt to study further in the field that made me more philosophical than a standard spiritual book." Strangely, it wasn't her rehearsed answer. Arnav wasn't the first person to ask her about her vested interest in this unglamorous field. She had an amazing answer perfected over the years of bullshitting to people who couldn't care less about percentage of nitrogen in the fertilizer. It was brochure worthy answer but it wasn't just any other person she was answering to. It's Arnav and that changed everything.

Arnav looks exactly the same to an untrained eye. But she sees the tension in his jaw that's subtle and heavily restrained. She watches him from her peripheral view as she glances the others in the panel and smile softly at them.

"Can you start tomorrow?" Arnav breaks the short silence that followed Khushi's response. She restrains herself from showing surprise on her face.

She shrugs in nonchalance that she doesn't feel. "I can look at my office today." She says for a response. The other panelists are shocked and look at the two, wondering what just happened.

"Sir, isn't this..." The man in right most chair starts.

Arnav pointedly ignores him. "Meet me after lunch. We will discuss the rest." He stands up and offers a hand, definitively ending the interview and the hiring that followed. She clasps his hand and shakes it twice. "Welcome to the company Ms. Gupta." He offers in what seems like a sincere tone. She chooses not to believe it.

"Thank you Mr. Raizada." She replies and walks out of the interview room without a backward glance.

Once out in the lobby, she takes out her cellphone and types out a message. I am in.

simply awesome. A different topic and wonderful and dangerous start.

Loved the concept.

loved it.sounds interesting .a unique concept

Ok very out of the box topic..dealing with farming..update soon.

You're a good writer! Great start! Somehow I feel like she's planning some sort of revenge on Raizada!

Very nice ... Looks like a ploy