Have you read previous chapters? If not I promise you won’t regret!
Recap: Jezebel brings Abhimanyu over to her NGO to woo him. She lies that Saman killed Parikshit with aconite pills. Abhimanyu finds out Jezebel killed Parikshit. In courtroom, Vidur finds conclusive evidence against Arthur. Saman controlled judge's mind to accuse Raman, father of Abhimanyu for Parikshit’s death. Abhimanyu enters the courthouse to find out that his father is proven guilty. He also finds out that Arthur is Saman.
Chapter 5: Place For Devil “Why weren’t you here sooner?” said Vidur as Abhimanyu was down on his knees.
Is there really a life after death?
Or is it just my life that has died?
At least it comes with freedom,
Or maybe my father just lied….
Abhimanyu couldn’t lift his face up. Muttered voices of people leaving the courtroom were overshadowed by the melancholy of misery. Flashes of his father in handcuffs kept stabbing his heart. ‘Aren’t you wrecking yourself?’ ‘All you are is a pathetic, no good, selfish nihilist.’ Kept echoing his ears as loudly as the sound of his sobs. ‘Get up brother’
Dazed by the voice Abhimanyu just heard, he looked blankly everywhere in the room.
“Who is it?” he screamed.
‘Have you forgotten your loved ones lately, Abhi?’
He immediately stood up. He knew whose voice it was. Abhimanyu turned around in profound numbness and cried “Parikshit! You’re alive!”
‘with how things have been, I wish I was’
He could see Parikshit staring at him. Abhimanyu put his hand up and said, “It can’t be true, it’s like you’re here”
‘I am not, but you are Abhi … or are you?’
Abhimanyu knew he was hallucinating. “Such is my life brother, I meet you on the only day I wished you wouldn’t see me.” A loud thud followed as he threw himself on the knees again and said, “I could not save them. I could…”
‘They are not yours to save’ Parikshit turned around, now facing the Lady Justice he said, ‘Remember what father used to say?’
Abhimanyu shook his head “The real monster is not out there, he’s inside. He’s scary and knows no justice. He can only be defeated if you …” He swallowed a lump down his throat.
‘How can he be defeated Abhi?’
“Abhimanyu!” Jezebel cried from the far end of the room. She came running towards him.
“Why are you here?” he said while controlling his tears.
“You have to listen to me. I beg you!” she stood behind him ten steps away.
Abhimanyu stood up. Wraith coursed through his veins. He turned around gently and said, “Is this why you’re here” pointing towards the pill in his hand.
‘How can he be defeated Abhi?’ Parikshit continued asking from behind. Abhimanyu saw she could not hear Parikshit.
‘I can’t lose him again’ Jezebel thought as she stood numb in front of Abhimanyu. His eyes were swollen. He looked as if he has been crying for days. Never had she seen someone in such turmoil.
“I know how you feel Abhi”
“I wish you did”
“I lost my mother when I was a little girl. She died of a petty disease. We were so poor that my father could not affor …” she took a deep breath, took a step closer to him and said, “I was so little that I don’t even remember how she looked. I grew up with a father who kept working endlessly to feed his little girl. I lost the only person I loved. My father killed him. All my life I have paid for his shortcomings and mistakes” She took one more step towards him. “All my life I have lost people because of someone else”
She could see his heavy breathing. ‘I have to calm him down’ she thought.
Jezebel continued, “But I know he did everything because he …” “Because!”
Abhimanyu cut her in between and cried, “Because he what? ‘Loved you’?” he rushed towards her and said, “enough with this bull crap Jezebel!”
Jezebel stood stunned. He looked her in the eyes and said, “You killed my brother, and now my whole family is falling apart. And you came here for what? To kill me?” Abhimanyu was screaming his lungs out. Tears kept rolling out as he stood inches from her. “can a human go lower than this?”
‘tell me, brother, complete the saying, how can he be defeated?’
Abhimanyu instantly turned around and screamed, “Please stop Parikshit! Just stop!”Jezebel’s eyes were wide open as she stood baffled by his reaction.
He turned around again, bewildered whether he had a hold of reality. “Why did you do this to me!”
“I never wanted to hurt you Abhi. Arjun knows who Saman is, he can destroy him. I did what was necessary!” Jezebel said, matching his tone she continued, “You out of everyone in the world know what loss feels like. Wouldn’t you go to any length to bring back your loved ones? Wouldn’t you right the wrongs?”
Abhimanyu clenched his fist. The mental image of his father tormented his mind. “you don’t get to ask that question.” He looked up, into her eyes and said, “Because you’re the one who took them away from me. A person like you can never love someone Jezebel. Hell, you can’t even love yourself, let alone another person. Tell me have you ever loved someone?”
His words hit her like a lightning bolt, as her eyes were all teared up. She knew the answer but could not say who it was. She could just look up into his eyes. “No, you don’t love me. You can not!” cried Abhimanyu.
She could not bear to see Abhimanyu in so much turmoil. For the first time in her life, she was concerned for someone. She wanted to help him as she has never helped herself. She wanted to embrace him as she has never embraced herself.
“I was a fool that I did not see this imposter. I ran away from my family and now …” he took a deep breath. He decided to stop fighting his mind and said, “If only you had an ounce of love for yourself, you would have never allowed that devil to grow inside you, Jezebel. You have become the thing you wanted to destroy. Even if you kill Saman, he will live in you.”
Jezebel could not utter a word. Her tears could not stop as she cursed her fortune. “I can’t defeat him Abhi”
‘Brother, how can he be defeated?’ “Yes, you can’t,” he said as he thought about the real identity of Saman. He smirked and said “My father used to say ‘The real monster is not out there, he’s inside. He’s scary and knows no justice. He can only be defeated if you … if you have love in your heart. A loving soul is no place for the devil’”
He looked down as he tried to let go of all his emotions, crying his heart out. ‘Why couldn’t you come earlier Parik bhai’ he thought. Abhimanyu turned around only to find out Parikshit was gone. He heard Jezebel’s muffled footsteps out of the room. He looked at the pill in his hand and thought ‘I know what to do brother. I owe this to everyone.’
“You are running out of time petty girl” Saman said as he hovered in Jezebel’s room.
Jezebel was playing with her hair. “I know” She smirked at him and said, “l don’t think I want to get Arjun back anyway when I have you”
“What do you mean?”
Jezebel took a gentle step towards him as her heart was beating furiously, “Arjun was a no-good, scum of the earth. He was never a strong, powerful person … you know what I mean, don’t you? I know there must be someone behind the mask, someone manly, someone who truly deserves me”
“Be careful what you wish for human”
Jezebel came closer to him. Her eyes were on the red talisman on his neck. She started panting heavier the closer she got to him. She could only think of Abhimanyu. Jezebel cannot have the death of any other being on her conscience. ‘I have to end this right now’ she thought.
“Now is not the time to be careful Saman.” She said as she stood inches from him.
Saman stood silent.
“I have seen how you look at me. Aren’t you the master of seven deadly sins? Gluttony, wraith … lust?” she realized he was distracted. She had constant eye contact with him, calculating her hand movement to snatch the talisman.
She jolted her hand towards him.
Her phone rang, Saman broke eye contact and moved back as he snatched her hand.
He choked her from his other hand and said, “What did you think you were doing?”
“I don’t care Saman. I have what you want. You can't win, You'll lose!” she laughed but coughed immediately and said, “I am not the only one running out of time Saman!”
He smashed her to the ground and said, “Listen to me closely girl. If you don’t get me Arjun back from the dead in 3 hours, your father and your petty lover are dead.”
Jezebel looked at him with horror. “No!” she screamed.
Saman looked at her phone.
‘Abhi Calling..’
“Pick up the phone”
Saman pressed the green button.
"Hey Jez, I know what to do. You were right. Can we meet at your house in an hour?"
To be continued ...
Maitrish Jain
Final Chapter: chapter 6:
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