Please Save Her

Please save her...-2

“I am tensed because they refused to accept the money”

CHAPTER 5

“Kannappa, this is the third day you are at home. Is everything alright at the office?” his mom keeps his favorite filter coffee on the table. “Anyway, you won’t speak to me or anyone and you wouldn’t even eat. You seem very in a trance-like state” she sighs. She walks closer to him and hushes, “Is this some secret mission? If you say, we will stop worrying. Oh, wait, if it’s secret, you wouldn’t say it outright. I am an i***t. What if your dress or our home is bugged? Wait, I think you lost your job, you nonsense” she raises her voice. He looks up, stunned. She winks and raises her thumbs, signaling she understands that he is under an operation. He sighs out of relief. He wouldn’t have to cook up reasons now. Seconds later, she slips a paper with the words ‘how is my acting?’. He couldn’t resist but flash a genuine smile, nodding.

*

Sitting on the couch and getting back to the trance-like state after increasing the volume of the news channel, talking about the r***s, he slowly closes his eyes, folding his arms tight to his chest.

“Kannappa” his father’s voice wakes him up

“Appa, what happened?” he asks, getting up, giving him the place to sit. “what happened to your test results”

“Kanna” he takes kannapa’s hand in his. “There will soon a day when I will forget this conversation” he sighs.

“appa?!” he breaks away from the hold and grabs his father’s hand as tight as he could, praying that he shouldn’t hear it. He shuts his eyes tight. He could feel his tear ready to fall any moment.

“If I forget something, will you scold me?” his voice breaks, and both hug, tearing up. “Alzheimer’s syndrome, kannappa. I wouldn’t say which stage. I am good enough to remember you but I am not great enough to stay in this stage forever”

“appa, we will look into treatments”

“sure, kannappa, I wouldn’t want to forget anything about you or our family. Let me speak about this to your mom. She would make a ruckus. Can you go out for some time?”

“I will come when you call me” the moment he says, he realizes his mistake. “I am sorry, I will come after an hour?”

“two”

Both nod and Kannappa leaves

CHAPTER 6

“Aman, are you sure to get this book published?”

“Of course, Zea. As the owner of this publishing house, this is my decision”

“How are you calm and confident? As an editor and a public relations manager, I can say that this book is going to stir controversy. This is going to be a disaster.”

“in other words, ‘hit’. It is going to be a hit”

“do you understand? It is controversial”

“don’t you understand? Our publication is dying. We get a maximum of three to four books a year. We need to do this perfectly to get clients. Look at us, we have barely four staff in total, including us. Almost broken machines. And not even one viral story in almost a decade.”

“what if our competitors have done it to shut our place forever”

“phew, Z, you have good humor. No one considers us as competition. We are the worst in the market. Even the worst books don’t come in search of us. Everything started when we published a celebrity’s book. So much controversy. Now I am going to use the same controversy to rise above”

“Aman, you are not understanding the type of controversy. This is about a local giant who…”

“Perfect!”

“Aman, listen, if we publish this anonymous work, we don’t even have an author face to share the controversy from giants. Trust me, only we will be in this”

“start a page dedicated to the author then”

“what are you talking about?! I am saying the reasons why you should not do, you are developing more on the reasons”

“I am serious. We can give the faceless author a page. Are the bank details given?”

“yes, it is given”

“then, why do you worry? They need money, we need our business back on track. We both parties are winning. Don’t be a paranoid TV commercial mom, Z. Business is about taking a chance; not brooding on the possible effects. Am I clear? No ifs and buts. Get back to work.”

“There is no address or any communication address to send the edited piece.”

“I thought you already read the letter?!”

“letter?”

“When I picked the manuscript bundle from the office garden, there was a letter. It read, ‘to the team, I need no edited copies. Just publish it immediately after editing. No changing of concept. I know this piece will get back your business. I want only this title, ‘please help her’.”

CHAPTER 7

“who is this?” Adison puts her phone to her ears, cursing the loud ringtone that woke her up from sleep. The screen flashes an unknown number.

“Madam..” the sarcastic tone of the voice jolts her up from her sleep

“Samara, who is that?” he rubs his eyes and sits right up, holding her from the back. She knows what this means. He is listening. If even a word slips out of her mouth, everything will be destroyed. Well, including her. Her heart races more.

“Madam, I have been trying to reach you. when are you paying the remaining amount?”

“samara, I need to know what is happening” he raises his voice, seeing her starting to sweat profusely

“madam seems to be enjoying the new lie. If you don’t give the money you owe me, I am exposing you Adison, oops, Samara” the voice starts to grow eviler. “you know that I know you more. And your secrets the most. So even if you block all my numbers, it wouldn’t take a minute for me to buy a new one. Like this time. Two weeks and if I don’t get my money, you will face consequences” the line goes dead. Just like her state right now.

“Sam, what’s wrong?” he shakes her

“nothing” she tries to dodge the question, putting her phone back on the table and lying on the bed.

“well, I may have to find it then, just like I found you” he puts his arm around her waist. She doesn’t want this. But she couldn’t resist it. She can’t lie that she gets turned on to date by his mere touch

“you know..” she turns around, puts her hand on his chest, framing her next lie in her head. “when I came here, I was having some money but everything got used up. I tried to pay back everything. But I signed a document without reading it. So to date, I am paying the interest I owe them”

“use my card, pay them off, sam” he inches closer for the things they both missed. Her grip tightens, her hands slide to remove his shirt. His hands are already under her satin nightgown. She has heard exactly what she wanted; to use his card. She no longer has time to be loyal to Rick. If she marries him only she can use his card, else, she will owe him too. It will take another two months to get his divorce done and she doesn’t have that much time in hand. She knows what she should do next.

“Are you sure?” she plays it cool. “then let’s get married, as you said, just for our daughter. Hold on for a minute.” She picks her phone, texts, Ricky, ‘let’s break up’.

“so, only for our daughter huh?” he pulls her on top of him

“also for this” she throws away her clothes. And they both moan through the phone calls and texts of Rick.

CHAPTER 8

“Charan, where the hell are you? get down right now” he hears his sister Maya yelling at the top of her voice from the living room. Her heels knock on the granite stairs up to his room. “it is all because of you” she barges inside his room. “put on your pants, you i***t, can’t you at the least lock the room while m**********g to porn videos?”

“can’t you knock, i***t?” he puts on his pant as she stands turned away from his side. “now tell me, what’s the matter?”

“I lost over two thousand followers on IG”

“so?”

“What so?” he pushes him on the bed. “it's all because you didn’t plan properly your r***s”

“is everything on TV?” he sits up

“everything”

“with my name?”

“no, I just know it and many people understood by description and unfollowed me”

“what description? Are you sure it is not some i********: glitch?”

“do anything, but straighten up the situation”

“I will”

“what’s your girlfriend saying about this issue?”

“she said she will plan more efficiently the next time”

“so, this is why your plan isn’t working properly?”

“don’t blame her. I missed out few things in her plan. For now, I have made her feel guilty as if her plan didn’t work. I will straighten this up. Don’t worry. And, she will come home in some time. So don’t barge inside and spoil our mood”

“good. Keep her in your hands and keep manipulating her mind.”

“I know what to do, noob. Now go stay out of home for some time”

“give me your guest house key. I will conduct a male strippers party”

Chapter 9

Standing in the middle of the 25 million worth of the guest house, Maya keeps looking out, waiting for her friends to come, and already being bored of entertaining her less than 20 guests. The male strippers have started performing. The men and women party have started getting lap dances but without her bunch of friends, she starts to feel nothing but boredom. The hoots, the comments, the threesome, the gang bang, everything would feel nothing without them. She keeps calling them but only their mom or dad keeps picking asking to be left alone. She doesn’t understand. She thinks it to be a prank, as they are pranksters. She still hopes that they would come.

“Fred!” she calls her classmate, as he runs out to attend his phone

“not now Maya, I am busy” he runs outside.

“bloody sucker. He comes to my party to cheat on his boyfriend but wouldn’t have time to answer me.” She mumbles

“Mr. Sundar” she approaches her professor, taking a sip of whiskey in the corner of the room

“Yeah Maya, I gave you marks in all the assignments that you gave and even in those you didn’t. Now if you’ll excuse me…” he tries to walk past her and she pulls him by his collar

“don’t even try to move without my permission, got it?”

“what do you want?” his voice begins to tremble. She loves it when she feels superior. She feels like strip dancing right now. Fear turns her on. She pushes him on the floor and sits on him.

“Tell me, why my friends are not here”

“Which friends?” he seems confused for a hot second and the moment he understands the situation, he pushes her away, laughing. Dusting him, he stands up. She stands up too, furious with equal parts of confusion. “if you still don’t know what happened to them, don’t even call yourself their friend. Everyone knows. Oh well, you should come to college for that some time or the other. Well, nice party” he laughs and takes a step forward. He turns to look at the infuriating confused Maya. “To help your dimwittedness, they were r***d. By your goddamn brother, in front of his girlfriend. Enough details? These people came here for the strippers, not for you. Understand your worth and respect. Everyone knows. It is a matter of time your brother goes to jail”

“YOU ARE LYING. MY BROTHER DIDN’T DO THIS”

“There is no point in being in denial, Maya. Or yelling at me. It isn’t too late to change yourself”