UNDER THE SKY LANTERNS - PART 35
An original story by Archana Vinod
IN THE CAB
Roli sinks under the weight of the filthy accomplice. His foul breath beats down onto her face and makes her rile in disgust. She puts up a fierce fight but he overpowers her effortlessly, grabbing and twisting wherever he could.
Roli screams in fury and tries to throw him off in vain. In the struggle, her phone tumbles down from her grip and falls down to the cab's floor.
She is in a state of panic. This can't be happening!! The man is all over her, planting hair-raising smooches and violent bites over her face, ears, lips, down her neck, shoulders, down... down...
She shrieks in pain as his teeth cuts into her and makes her bleed.
ROLI: GET OFFF! GET OFFF!!!
Her helplessness and cries of help are unheard as they cruise along an almost empty street.
The accomplice is on fire. He snarls in ecstasy and madly snaps the clothes off her.
ROLI: Arrrghhh!!!
THUD!!!
Roli delivers a rib crunching blow on to the accomplice's chest and sends him hurtling onto the front seat.
He is quick to recoil but she kicks him off... AGAIN! And again! And again! And again!!!
ROLI: YOU bas***d!
The driver panics. Things are slipping out of their hands. This girl is one wild mare!
The front seat begins to come off its hook with each kick.
The driver glances over again and again with no clue of what to do. All what he can do is drive on!
BACK AT CROWNE PLAZA
Siddhant is shell-shocked.
The phone is glued to his ear. All what he can hear is violence in the background - the desperate and frustrated cries of a woman in trouble, the jeers of a ruffian, the roar of a car's engine, the chugging and clickity-clack of a passing train...
BACK TO THE CAB
The car races along a narrow one-way kutcha street. Tall grass and shrubs scrape the cab's sides and closed windows.
A goods train thunders above them on a bridge.
The ravenous accomplice attempts to penetrate her but she discourages him with one powerful kick to his groin.
ACCOMPLICE: (collapses beside her in horrendous pain) Owww Maa!!! Oh Maa!!! AMMAAA!!
The turn of events has the driver fiddling his thumbs. The cab almost loses control.
DRIVER: (panics) Prakash! Prakash, are you alright?
Roli takes her chance and jumps out of the moving car.
DRIVER: Hey!!!
BACK AT CROWNE PLAZA
Siddhant is almost in clueless tears. Is this for real?
SIDDHANT: Hello? (no answer other than the sound of a car) Hello? Roli?
ANAND: What happened?
SIDDHANT: Something's wrong...
BACK TO ROLI
Roli is sprawled across the grass, mud and rubble. She is badly hurt but she hardly feels the pain. Somehow, she must head to safe haven.
She sees the cab stop at a distance. The driver jumps out and stomps towards her.
Prakash the accomplice hobbles out of the car. He can hardly stand straight!
PRAKASH: (can hardly talk) Get her Raman! Don't leave her!
Roli clambers onto her feet but wobbles under her own weight. She struggles to stay on her feet. Her cheeks, elbows and knees are scraped and bruised from the fall.
She is almost stripped to her skin now, her saree slumps down from her waist. But this doesn't bother her at the moment. All what she is concerned about is getting help!
The driver - Raman, draws closer.
Roli looks around frantically. The place is deserted. No houses nearby. Nothing, except for the rail bridge over head and a river bank. She is in trouble. Deep trouble!
To add to her woes, the place is dark. A lamp or two of a dark yellow hue gives her some relief.
It's too far to run! The only way is to stand her ground and fight back!
She picks up the first weapon she can lay hands on. A large stone with a jagged edge!
ROLI: STAND BACK!
The driver freezes to his spot. His eyes take in the details of her weapon'.
ROLI: ANY CLOSER AND I'LL KILL YOU!
BACK AT THE CROWNE PLAZA
Siddhant tries to get through to the police control room. He is frustrated.
ANAND: Siddhant, wait.
Anand picks up his phone and calls up NITIN'. Siddhant just looks at him.
ANAND: (to Siddhant) I'm calling up one of my old friends, Nitin. He's the city police commissioner. He should help us to nail this down quick.
Nitin answers the call.
ANAND: Hello Nitin, it's me Anand. We need your help on a very urgent basis.
BACK TO THE DWIVEDI'S
Jamanlal tries his daughter's phone for the umpteenth time.
JAMANLAL: Why's this girl not answering the phone? She's not usually like this...
Meena is quiet. She would like to calm her husband down saying that Roli is probably busy, but she doesn't believe that either. Something is not right.
Jamanlal is restless now. He paces up and down the hall and tries to get through to his daughter in vain.
BACK TO ROLI
The driver approaches Roli casually. Though the stone did deter him initially, it's not the case now.
Roli waves at him furiously, but he blocks the blow and forces her down.
Meanwhile, Prakash notices Roli's phone in the cab and picks it up. He is dumbfounded to find a call running. Without second thought, he cuts the call, turns off the phone and hurls it far away into a thicket.
Back to Roli - She kicks Raman hard in the gut and starts to scamper away, but a pair of hands grabs her by the ankles and drags her back.
ROLI: NO! NO! NOOO!
As a last resort, she flings a fistful of sand all over him. He reels back with the grit scraping into his eyes.
Roli takes her chance and takes to her heels.
Prakash races after her.
She doesn't look back. Despite her injuries, she hurtles madly across the Kutcha Street determined not to give in.
BACK AT CROWNE PLAZA
Anand hangs up the call.
ANAND: Come on, let's move.
Siddhant hurries out of the hotel with Anand to his car.
SIDDHANT: What did he say?
ANAND: The police are out. They should be there in no time. Best part is that they were able to trace the call to an area close to Gandhinagar Street, there's a freight train that passes by at around the same time you heard it on the call.
SIDDHANT: I think I know that place.
ANAND: Good, let's get there fast.
BACK TO ROLI
Roli tears down the street with Raman on her tail. He quickly gains in on her and pulls her down. She shrieks and throws wild kicks and punches in vain. Nothing deters him as he strips her off ruthlessly.
Her muscles are screaming from all the adrenaline being exploded into them, her heart is about to rupture from the pressure, her vision is crisp and her mind is in a frenzy. In no time, he is joined by Prakash.
But the shattering truth dawns on her like wildfire... this time, there's no escape.
... TO BE CONTINUED
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