Vigilance (Part 2)
“Wisdom is wasted on the old, and youth is wasted on the young.” ― George Bernard Shaw
Read Part 1 here
Meanwhile, Mrs. Gupta, confident that Anushka wasn’t gonna get up soon, went back to her living room and placed the wretch she had just swung at the poor girl’s head, back to its designated place in the toolbox. Once she was back, she bent down to where Anushka was lying helplessly, making a tsking sound, as if an unaware pet had been put down.
“You poor girl. I wish you’d listen to me. I’m basically your mother’s age. You should LISTEN! TO! YOUR MOTHER!!”
The scream tore through like a crashing wave, reverberating around the small dwelling.
Mrs. Gupta didn’t plan for this, but she wasn’t unprepared either. One perk of having no family living with you was nobody cared what she was up to. There was no one to check on her. No parents or family to have get-togethers with, or to celebrate festivals with, no kids to look after or care for, in fact, no Mr. Gupta. Although, that wasn’t always the case. Once upon a time, a particular Mr. Gupta loved and cherished her. And then, after one fateful night, her life was uprooted with no warning. So here she was, taking care of somebody else’s kid to prevent the same fate.
Okay, maybe this wasn’t a traditional method of ‘saving’ someone, but she was basically driven to the limit. It was about time she took things in her own hands.
While Mrs. Gupta wasn’t the most physically fit, she found she could carry Anushka without much strain. Once inside, she dropped her on the sofa and retrieved a chair from the dining room. She placed the unfortunate girl on the chair and ran off to get some rope she had stored away in the kitchen, which would be enough to restrain her to the chair. After tying her up hand and foot, she cooked the girl some food for when she gained her senses. There was enough time to prepare dessert too, Mrs. Gupta thought to herself giddily, and off she went to the kitchen again.
One hour had passed since the entire ordeal, and unbeknownst to Mrs. Gupta, Anushka was indeed back to her senses. Everything hurt; she was groggy because of the attack on her head, and the surprise element of the offence made the situation very confusing to come to terms with. A few moments after her vision stopped blurring too much, she looked around the place, and found herself inside Mrs. Gupta’s house, particularly the living room. She recognized the living room from her earlier visit when Mrs. Gupta had invited her for tea before moving to the attic. Humming sounds were echoing through the house, which she figured was originating from the kitchen.
This made no sense, she thought, aghast at her own state. Why was she tied up? Why did Mrs. Gupta hit her on the head? It was bizarre and straight out of a horror movie. She deduced that either the woman is crazy, or offended by something that Anushka might’ve said or done, or both. There was no time to waste because Mrs. Gupta was probably still expecting her to be unconscious, and that gave her some time to figure out how to get out of this mess. The hows and the whys could be unraveled later, only if she could manage to escape.
She tried to see if she could scrape the rope laced around her hand and feet on the sides of the chair, but her hands were tied at the back, and it would definitely take some effort to reach the moderately sharp sides. Another thing she could do was scrape through the gap to where she’s sitting on the chair. But that would not provide the rope enough tension to scrape through, she sadly reminded herself. It was chaos and, honestly, quite scary.
If Mrs. Gupta could hit her on the head to the point of unconsciousness, for whatever reason it may be, she was a viable and volatile threat to Anushka’s life. Even if she could scrape the rope enough to tear it, there was no other way to escape except for the main door–which was most likely locked. She forced herself to not go down the rabbit hole of despair that her circumstances had become and attempted to calm down and think of a way to evade Mrs. Gupta and flee.
While the inner turmoil and state of fear continued for Anushka, Mrs. Gupta was blissfully unaware. Her meal was almost prepared, and she was convinced that Anushka would be impressed. Maybe this way it would be easier to subdue the unruly girl, Mrs. Gupta thought to herself ominously. So far, there was no legitimate plan of action that she could meticulously follow through. But one thing she was certain of–Anushka won’t be leaving soon.
As far as outward appearances go, Mrs. Gupta was a frail-looking lady just past her forties. Nobody in their right mind would suspect such a feat by her, of all people. Still, she had to be prepared if questions of the girl’s disappearance arose, which was a definite possibility since she had so many friends here. It was an inconvenience that was avoidable if she had just kept to herself. If only she was a normal, sincere, and timid girl who wouldn’t go out and put herself in harm’s way, all this could have been easily avoided. Alas, youth is really wasted on the young. Perhaps if Mrs. Gupta hadn’t experienced the deadly consequences of not being protective enough, she would never have been this way. She convinced herself, time and time again, that was for the best.
When she met Anushka for the first time two years ago, all she could see was what she lost. In fact, one of the foremost reasons for subletting the place to the girl was the familiarity of begone times. The girl’s age didn’t help either, only solidifying Mrs. Gupta’s stance of forced protection.
Finally, her meal was ready to her satisfaction, and cheerily, she made her way back to the living room to wake up Anushka. To her surprise, she was already up and about, fidgeting with her ties on the chair helplessly. She almost felt sad seeing her so frightened and vulnerable, but couldn’t waver from her resolve.
Deciding once and for all that this was the best course of action, she strolled towards Anushka and exclaimed, “Good, you’re awake! I’ve made some delicious chole bhature for you. You must be so hungry! Tell me, is your head hurting?”
Anushka was dumbfounded. Mrs. Gupta’s demeanor seemed unnervingly calm and collected, as if she hadn’t just hit her on the head a few hours ago, as if she wasn’t TIED TO A DAMN CHAIR, hand and foot. But Anushka had time to consider her options, and she was going to play them out to the best of her abilities.
Gearing up all her strength and confidence, she said, “Yes, Mrs. Gupta. I’m definitely hungry. But please, can you untie me? There’s no need for this. Whatever’s bothering you, we can talk it out like adults and it’ll all be fine.”
Mrs Gupta’s cheeriness was gone in a millisecond, replaced with a deadly contortion. The girl’s foolishness exasperated her and wanted to hit her head again to put some sense into her. But she knew that the only way to subdue Anushka was to make her understand why this was necessary, for her own sake and general well-being.
“First and foremost, I’m sorry for hitting you. I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that. I really wish you understood what a risk you’re taking my not heeding to my warnings. I swear to you, all I want is for you to be safe! And you may be legally an adult, but you’re just a kid! You don’t get it all! You don’t!”
Mrs. Gupta had riled herself up into a frenzy, repeating that she didn’t get it. Anushka played into it and softly asked her, “What don’t I get? What am I missing? Please. Tell me what’s bothering you, Mrs. Gupta?”
Hearing the plea in Anushka’s voice, something broke in Mrs. Gupta, and she started sobbing incessantly. It was heartbreaking to watch for Anushka, but she had to stay on track if she was to get anything out of the lady and break free. After a few minutes of loud sobs, Mrs. Gupta eventually settled, wiping off her tears and snot, possibly ready to talk.
“Many years ago, I had a daughter. Yes. I was married and lived with my amazing husband and beautiful, beautiful daughter. Everything was so good. I used to be a lawyer, you know? A damn good one. And I thought I was a doting and careful mother. How wrong I was! When my daughter was fifteen; she had a nice social circle. She was popular, out-going and a brilliant student. As it happens with teenagers, she wanted more freedom. I was quite strict, but things slipped away from me. She was murdered by strangers just because I let her go to one sleepover! I thought she would be fine. It was all my fault! I let her go!”
She started sobbing again, and Anushka was once again stunned. She didn’t know what to say. But she figured out why this was happening to her. This was Mrs. Gupta’s attempt to protect Anushka from the world’s dangers, a futile and dumb attempt, but a valiant effort. She could talk herself out of this situation if she played her cards right.
“Mrs. Gupta, please don’t cry. I’m so sorry for your loss, and really, I understand where you’re coming from. But I can take care of myself. I’m not fifteen, and I’m careful despite what you believe. I really listen to you when you tell me to be careful of my surroundings. You don’t have to tie me up to teach me a lesson. Please, let me go.”
Mrs. Gupta’s tears subsided once again, and she looked like she was considering. A few moments later, she wordlessly started untying the rope, and soon, Anushka was free.
“Promise me you won’t leave the place after this? I only want what’s best for you. If you’re here, I can monitor you, keep you safe. You’ll be in danger anywhere else. I don’t want to scare you, but I’ll have to lock you up again if you leave.”
Mrs. Gupta was on the verge of tears again, but her warning chilled Anushka to the bone. She knew what she had to do. Yet, she promised and said “I’m not going anywhere Mrs. Gupta. I’ll stay here as long as you want me to.”
This assurance somehow worked on Mrs. Gupta, and she slowly took her to the door. She unlocked it and let her go.
“Go downstairs. It’s way too late for you to be anywhere else. I know you were supposed to go to your best friend’s place, but it’ll have to wait till tomorrow.”
Anushka was shocked that she knew about it, given that she only had that conversation on her phone when home. Suffice to say, this went beyond just controlling her movements. She had been obsessively stalking Anushka since who knows how long, making note of every single thing in her life.
Despite the scary realization that she had just come upon, she concluded it was better to just go downstairs in front of this insane woman and take her chances later. She bid her goodnight and went through the attic door. All the while, Mrs. Gupta monitored her like a hawk.
As soon as Anushka closed the door behind her, she pressed her ears to the door, trying to catch any sound beyond it. She quietly removed her footwear and kept it near the stairs, just a few meters away from the door, and came back to her former position. After a few minutes had passed, she finally heard the door closed by Mrs. Gupta. She was waiting for the right time, the right moment, to escape in a jiffy. If she made any mistake right now, it’d be all for nothing. Patiently, she stood pressed to the door for an hour.
At long last, when she couldn’t hear any creaks or sounds, after much deliberation, she was ready. No matter what happened, she would not back down easily this time, even if she got caught or beat up. She took a long breath and turned the doorknob.
When she turned the knob and opened the door ajar, the tunnel-vision would not let her see anything other than the main door. She sprinted across the hallway towards the door like a cheetah, or at least she felt like one at the moment, and opened the main door with a spare key she kept in her pocket before the entire ordeal. By the time she was done opening the main door, she could hear Mrs Gupta’s door opening. Adrenaline shot up more than ever, and she ran out the main door and into the open like her life depended on it, which was literally the case.
She ran and ran and ran. Barefoot, vision blurred, throbbing head that felt like it might split open, yet she didn’t dare stop. That one second of courage was enough to salvage her precious life.
The End