Chapter 2: The Fireball (Part 2)

Read Part 1 here.

[CONTD.]

Devika turned and found the girl who screamed: She was looking at her and so were all the other people who were a moment ago dancing.

“Holy shit!” cried the man with the goatee. He was looking down at her; a startled look in his eyes. “Who... What are you?”

Devika looked around and found hundreds of pairs of curious eyes looking at her but she could not figure out why. Then she realised the place was suddenly appearing to be quite bright. She turned back to find the source of the light but every time she turned she felt as though the light was exactly behind her.

She heard a few girls shriek when she looked down at herself and found the source of the bright white light. She was glowing!

All Devika could hear were a distant commotion, people murmuring, and a faint rustle of footsteps as few people started running away. She looked at her hands and found them glowing bright white light. She could figure the silhouette of her hand against the light it was emanating.

The other people present at the club could see a lady giving out white light. She stood at one place, staring at her hands and whole body as though she did not understand what was happening to her; but surprisingly, she did not panic like the rest of the people.

Suddenly the light became brighter and gradually it continued to get brighter till the people began screaming in pain as the heat generated seemed to burn their bodies. And then, all the suffering came to an abrupt halt.

The eye-witnesses saw a happening night club with a joyful and energetic crowd celebrating and waiting to welcome the New Year. One moment, there was the club with the music that could vaguely be heard from a distance, and the next, in place of the club was a ball of fire which engulfed the whole club with an ear-splitting noise. And in the next moment, all that remained was a scarred carcass of what was once a place to dance and celebrate.

*

“Get up! Get up, you!”

When she opened her eyes, she did not understand for a few moments where she was. Then she saw a familiar face leaning over her, making a distorted face and shouting, “Devika! Get up! We have a show, remember?”

Devika rose, rubbing her eyes and looking around. She was in her room all right, but there was still something that was bothering her.

“Er...” she looked at her roommate, “Shreya! When did I return last night?”

Shreya was applying a lotion to her legs. She stopped midway and looked at her, frowning. “How come you don’t remember? You weren’t even drunk!”

“I wasn’t?” Devika smiled, foolishly. “Then why is it that I don’t remember anything?”

Shreya resumed applying the lotion to her legs and said, “Oh, it’s stress! It’s nothing! You were fine! You came in at about 1 o’clock and slept off! Where were you? Happy New Year, by the way!”

[TO BE CONTINUED...]

Chapter 2: The Fireball (Part 1)

RECAP: What happened in Chapter 1: 'Beauty is the Beast'? Read here.

[THE STORY CONTINUES...]

It was the night of 31^st December and Pumpkin Club was one of the most happening places to hang-out in the city. The sound of loud music could be heard from a distance.

Devika walked towards the club as if in a trance. Her memory escaped her. Though she did not remember what happened a while ago or why she was walking towards the club, her mind felt inexplicably light. She felt very fresh and a sense of clear intent overcame her. She walked forward very confidently, her eyes straight and gaze fixed upon the club building. The blinking letters: ‘PUMPKIN’ reflected in her eyes and face, but she hardly blinked.

She heard a whistle but did not stop.

She heard a whistle again and ignored it.

“Wow! Hotty!” someone said, and this time Devika turned to see who it was. She saw a group of young men standing in front of a black Scorpio with cans of beer in their hands. They were all clad in black leather jackets. The one who spoke sported a goatee and had spiked hair which had streaks of yellow.

Devika did not say anything, nor did her expression betray she felt offended or angry. She just stared at them blankly.

The man with the goatee crushed his beer can, smiled shrewdly and said, “Hey, hotty! Wanna join us?” The other men laughed.

Devika did not feel the urge to respond. She turned her back and continued walking again.

“Wanna dance, eh?” cried the man with the goatee again. “Mind if I join ya?”

Devika did not reply and continued walking.

The man with the goatee turned to his friends and said, “I think she wants it one-on-one!”

His friends laughed as though he had cracked the joke of the millennium.

Goatee man gestured at his friends and walked ahead to join Devika. He caught up with her and said, “Glad you agreed to go dancin’ with me!” He held his hand out and as if mechanically, Devika held his hand and both entered the club like a couple.

The music inside the club was so loud that one could not even hear one’s thoughts! Devika looked around at the several people who were dancing to the beats of one of the several versions of Kolaveri Di, the song of the year!

Goatee man held her tight and pulled her towards the dance floor. Devika did not resist. It felt as though she was meant to dance now... or at least she needed to be there among the several other people going crazy over the loud music. Devika walked down to the dance floor but she did not dance.

“What’s the matter, baby?” said the man with the goatee looking at her curiously. “You don’t wanna dance?”

Suddenly someone screamed: “OH, MY GOD!”

[TO BE CONTINUED...]

Who screamed? Why? 'The Fireball' continues here.

Chapter 1: Beauty is the Beast (WRAP-UP)

THE STORY TILL NOW

On the way to celebrate New Year Eve, Devika, an upcoming model, suddenly encounters somebody or something stalking her.

A thousand years ago, in medieval India, having been accused of being a witch, a woman, Hema, is being paraded towards a wooden pedestal where she would be burnt alive. As her ugly daughter, Aruna, comes to her rescue, she is brutally butchered in front of Hema’s eyes in apprehension that she, too, is a witch.

Hema addresses the king and pledges that she would take revenge and curses the people witnessing her inhuman slaughtering. As she is set to fire, Hema disappears in a strange gush of red light and reappears in the middle of a deserted forest. There, she creates a time portal through which she sees Devika, a thousand years into the future. She crosses over to the other side of the portal and reaches out to Devika.

Read the complete chapter here: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4 and Part 5.

COMING UP NEXT

Unaware what has happened to her, Devika walks towards the night club where a large crowd has gathered celebrating New Year Eve. With an astoundingly light head, Devika enters the club...

[NEXT: ‘THE FIREBALL (PART 1)’]

Click here to read 'The Fireball (Part 1)'

Chapter 1: Beauty is the Beast (Part 5)

Click to read: Part 1   |   Part 2   |   Part 3   |   Part 4

[CONTD.]

“You have no idea what you have unleashed, King!” said Hema to herself. “My curse will extend over a thousand years from now!”

Hema looked through the time-portal as Devika held a strange object to her ear and said, “Hello... yeah, yeah, I’m so sorry... Oh, don’t ask... I’ll be there in five minutes... Five minutes, I promise... Yes, see ya!”

Then she applied lipstick to her lips. She was searching for something else in her bag and she appeared to be disconcerted.

“Where the hell is the mirror?” she said.

“Huh! Right behind you!” exclaimed Hema, in a sly tone, excited.

Devika seemed to have heard her. She hesitated a moment and looked back. She looked right through the portal into Hema’s eyes and Hema saw a gleam in her eyes which thrilled her more. She saw Devika’s pretty face and her perfect get-up. “Beauty, there you are…” she said in a hushed voice. “The special one!”

Devika could not see any portal; she thought she might have imagined something and turned back again. She began walking away running her fingers through her hair.

Hema raised her hands and began chanting a spell fanatically. She could feel her own excitement as her spell began to work. The portal changed colour and a strange sucking sound began to be heard. “It’s happening!” she thought.

The portal materialised in Devika’s time and she could hear the sucking noise behind her. She stopped abruptly, waited a while and then turned back quickly.

Devika stood staring at a whirlpool of lights of different colours in front of her. Amazed at the sight, she dropped her bag and a can of pepper spray.

Out of the whirlpool, emerged an ugly looking lady whose eyes were blood red. She held her right hand out to Devika’s face, and then, everything became dark.

[COMING UP NEXT: NEW CHAPTER]

Read the wrap-up of Chapter 1 here.

Chapter 2 begins here.

Chapter 1: Beauty is the Beast (Part 4)

Click here to read Part 1.

Click here to read Part 2.

Click here to read Part 3.

[CONTD.]

As the crowd watched eagerly, the flames of fire slowly rose up and began teasing Hema as she screamed. The crowd began a collective cry of cheer:

“BURN, WITCH! BURN!”

The king and his soldiers watched with elation as Hema burnt. But their confident smiles slowly faded as the witch’s scream slowly transformed into laughter:

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH... HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!”

It was no longer agony, it was ecstasy.

“What the hell? She’s laughing?” cried a soldier, puzzled.

Suddenly there was a flash of very bright red light. A globe of blood-red light engulfed Hema in the fire, making a strange wheezing sound. There was a collective gasp from the crowd, several soldiers dropped their weapons out of shock and the king stopped smiling. Everyone except the king took steps backwards from the burning wooden pedestal.

As the red globe of light suddenly burst into nothing after several moments of curious and anxious wait, the wooden pedestal came apart and burning logs flew everywhere hitting everybody standing on the ground. The people screamed in fear and started running away from the pedestal.

“Oh, my God! The witch... She’s gone!” screamed the soldier who had handed over the fire to the king. He stood staring wide-eyed at the bundle of half-burnt logs and the empty scarred wooden block to which Hema was tied.

“She’s a real witch,” mumbled the king, but everybody else was too taken aback to hear him.

*

Hema reappeared in the middle of a deserted forest in the same gush of red light. Unable to keep balance, she fell down as soon as her feet touched ground. She stood upright with effort, groaning in pain. She looked down at her hands and saw burn marks on her forearms. She extended her arms in front and screamed. As she screamed, the wounds began healing themselves. In a few moments, her hands were normal again.

She sat down and took several deep breaths. Then she stood up again, looked around, shut her eyes and began chanting a spell. She extended both her hands in front as though trying to reach out to something. She chanted the spell for some time and then opened her eyes.

A mirror-like portal had materialised in front of her through which she looked curiously:

She saw very clean pathways and strange looking contraptions moving around. The contraptions looked like giant beasts with eyes that blinked. There were several beasts which surprisingly moved in somewhat order.

“The future!” cried Hema.

She continued looking through the portal till she fixed her gaze upon one particular beast which moved along a narrow and deserted unnaturally clean pathway. Suddenly the beast stopped and a part of it split open and two human beings came out of it: Devika and Siddharth.

“Oh!” cried Hema as if in thrill. “These are not beasts. They look like some kind of lifeless meat suits used as vehicles.”

She looked as Devika, a thousand years in the future, kissed Siddharth, said “Goodbye!” and he went back inside the car. Hema’s gaze fixed upon Devika and she smiled cunningly. She was the one!

[TO BE CONTINUED...]

Upon seeing Devika, a thousand years into the future, what does the witch do? Read the final part of 'Beauty is the Beast'.

Chapter 1: Beauty is the Beast (Part 3)

Read Part 1 here.

Read Part 2 here.

[CONTD.]

As Hema gasped and screamed, “Stop! Aruna! Stop! What are you doing?” the king gestured to one of the soldiers.

The soldier drew his sword, walked up to Aruna from behind and without delay, chopped her head off with one fine strike.

Hema stopped screaming. Her mouth remained open. She did not blink. She saw her daughter’s head fall off from her body and hit the ground painting the ground red with a splatter of blood. The body, too, fell, struggled helplessly for a while and then became still.

After a moment of pause, there was a collective cheer from the crowd that stood watching the episode.

Hema glanced at the king with fire in her eyes. Before the cheer died away, she screamed addressing the king, “King! You rotten sinner! You have no idea what you have done. And this shall not pass forgiven.”

“Shut up, witch,” shouted a soldier at her. “How dare you talk to the king?”

“I dare! Oh, yes, I dare,” she said pounding with rage. “You killed an innocent child who was trying to help her captive mother.”

“She wasn’t innocent,” spoke the king. “She was chanting a spell.”

“She was a child. She does not know any spell, you fool!”

“Do not try to convince me you are not a witch,” said the king calmly.

Hema breathed heavily as he looked into the king’s eyes with fury. “I am not,” she said coldly. “But you know what? When you ruthlessly kill a child in front of her mother’s eyes, she does not need to be a witch to take revenge.”

The king sneered at her, looked at his soldiers and said nonchalantly, “Let’s get over with it.”

Hema shouted before the soldiers could respond, “It won’t get over soon, King! I shall not let this pass so soon.”

“Only if you’re alive, witch!” said a soldier and carried a burning wooden stick to the king. The king held it and sturdily walked towards the base of the pedestal made of logs.

“This fire cannot kill me, you sinner,” screamed Hema at which the king scoffed. He held the burning stick at the base of the pedestal and set fire to it.

“What has happened to me shall happen to you too, King,” screamed Hema as the fire rose upwards. She could feel the eager anticipation of the crowd waiting for her to scream in agony as she burnt. She continued, “You shall have a child—a very beautiful child—and she shall try to save your life thinking you are in danger. She will not pay heed to your words and will plunge in danger to help you... and she shall die!”

“Why doesn’t she shut up?” cried an agitated soldier.

Hema looked around at the crowd. The fire was rising and it was getting more and more unbearable. She shouted one last time, “I curse you all... You shall feel my pang... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGHHHH!” and screamed in pain as the fire touched her skin.

[TO BE CONTINUED...]

Does Hema manage to escape? How? Read Part 4 here.