Arjun Roy and the Cavern Lord

JINGLE BELLS BROUGHT ME PARTY MONSTER, THE FIRE ONE.  W ait, wait, wait! Before starting, just be sure yourself about one fact, whether you believe in mythology or not? If yes, then this story will make you question about your life and will make you think whether you really belong where you actually are right now. If you do not believe...... by God's grace you are still reading this. I assure you that whatever had happened in those epics is true enough to make you bite your nails. Praise the Lord you are still alive and don't at all talk ill of anything about the supernatural beings or else Lord Indra will blast you off then and there. Now that was a healthy disclaimer. If you are still reading this, I consider you have prepared yourself for the catastrophe coming up. Let's start with a good introduction. Myself Arjun Roy. I was a normal kid like you until the age of 12. Well, after that ........ my whole life went kind of upside down. I used to live a normal life in Bangalore, India.(Why am I writing it as if it is a postal address?) I lived with my mom and dad in our small apartment near Cole's Park. We were like that usual stereotype small happy family. Guess what? I literally experienced a very good Mom - Dad heated argument every single day. And I would really like to say, we were a happy middle class family like most Indians. But something was unusual. Christmas! Not that I liked the festival too much, I didn't celebrate Christmas. But......... the campfire night was coming soon. From the time we were in class 6 we all were excited to attend the campfire night which was only allowed for the students of classes 7 - 10. I don't need to mention all those rules which were to be followed 'cause they were common in every school events. Ah! I just forgot to introduce you to my school. St. Lawrence was the best in city. Our principal Fr. Thomas would proudly brag the legacy of the school "Since 1986." We as the students would proudly say that "We are Lawrencians", with that smirk on our face. We won almost every inter school championship. But I was the teacher favourite student from our class. 'Any job to do? Arjun Roy is there for you 24X7.' Probably that's what the teachers thought. I was their favourite for no reason. I was like that milch cow who cannot deny for a work. Work? Urgh! I had to mind the class for one whole year, bring copies from the staff room, take copies to the staff room, bring chalks, dusters, pins, whatever they could ask for, etc. This was considerably my part time job besides studies. No doubt I was good at studies but please, you don't torture a student with all these jobs if he / she is good at studies. You might be thinking I had a really good friend circle in there? Sadly, I didn't. I had a better "Bully - Circle" than a friend circle. I don't know what was wrong with them as well as with me. They knew I would shape their faces really adorable, but still they came to pick a fight. Sometimes I wondered how was I even there in the school. I have already prepared a list of incidents which could have triggered my rustication. When I was 6 and was studying in class 1, I beat a senior to near death for bullying me. Sounds ridiculous? Even I can't believe, but this is true. Whenever I told this story to someone else, the only reward I got was "Hahaha", and some stupid looks. In class 3 an over the top incident occurred when we were on our picnic. I don't know why they took us to a jungle, a wolf attacked me and I had to poke him in his right eye. That innocent animal became blind. Again ridiculous? It even hurts me but this is true. Oh! A very recent event of class 6, I had to break a statue of Kansa Mama in the Ancient India department of the museum on our history trip. I don't know why but it seemed like he was speaking to me. In a shock wave, I threw it and it ended up shattering into pieces. There are a lot more incidents but keeping that thought aside, and coming back to where I left. It was 24th December, 2019, the last working day of school and the very next day, we were going to have our campfire. Our batch was going to experience it for the first time so it's obvious everyone would be excited. Hoping for a good day and no stupid incidents further to ruin the whole day, I arrived at the bus stop to meet my best friend, Veer Jaiswal. Veer was the only friend of mine who supported me equally as my parents whenever they weren't around. We would fight bullies together, we would go together to the park to spend a good time with each other. The only difference being, he was too much truthful, a leader and really a pretty bad introvert. I mean, even I am shy but not like this guy. In appearance, he was a few inches shorter and a bit tanner. And........ he had a little bigger tummy.(Not that large, just a little bit drizzle on the top.) 'You are always the same,' Veer muttered. 'Always late.' 'Er,' I retorted. 'I am sorry.' 'You are not that late.' He pointed towards my right, 'There comes the bus.' Indian winter is not a cool thing to witness. The fog made the bus look blurred but the headlamps shone brightly, telling us 'We are right there for your service boys.' When finally I caught a glimpse of my not so special bus, the first thing I saw was BUS NO. 17 written in bold letters above the symbol of SLS. 'Was he late again?' Helper Uncle asked Veer. 'Stop teasing me,' I said. 'Or else I will complain to Father that you tease children.' 'Get inside the bus,' he grumbled. 'Stupid fellow, blackmailing me.' With some chuckles and laughs, we entered the bus. A very stupid rule to be followed when in bus, girls will sit to the front and boys at the back. Simion sir sat in the right column and Rashmi mam sat in the left. I could feel the excitement of our batch through their expressions and talks. The worst part of the day, Neerav was present. Basically, Neerav was this bully, who never stepped back, even if he had to realise his status. He was taller than me and had a really crappy face which I was tempted to beat everytime I saw it. He stank like a rotten fish.(even worse than that) He smiled crookedly when he noticed us. 'Here you go,' he mocked. 'There we have our red - eyed brat.' 'Stop calling me with that name.' 'Oh! My folks say that your eyes turn red at moments. Hahaha!' 'Your folks are dumb just like you.' 'Ha! Look at his face,' he said pointing me. 'Where are those red eyes? I don't see anything to be red. Am I colour blind? Hahaha!' 'I don't want to get into any kind of arguments. Stop all this and let me take my seat.' 'I wonder how is he so dumb,' he still continued. 'It must be in his genes. His dad must be -' He couldn't complete the sentence. I got some 'Oh my gosh!' reactions while Neerav lay flat on the aisle. Suddenly I started to feel as if I was on fire. 'Arjun, your eyes!' Veer awed. I looked down at the sleeping rotten fish, 'NEVER, EVER utter a word about my parents.' But something was seriously unusual. My voice! It sounded like five Arjuns were shouting together. From the front of the bus, a voice yelled - 'What's going on?' 'Busted,' Veer mumbled. Simion sir called for an explanation of the whole scene. As I explained the whole thing, he started giving me his usual lecture he used to give a student whenever he/she did something wrong. Good news : Neerav was back to his consciousness. Bad news : we were going to meet Father in his office. Neerav didn't dare to look up at me. He walked at least two metres away from me. I and Veer were mentally prepared to get rewarded with some beautiful polite words from Father. Neerav's cheeks were bright red with a slim streak of blood running from his nose to his left cheek. 'What happened to your voice there?' Veer asked. 'You weren't speaking in your general voice. Your voice was....... heavy and deep.' 'I just don't know,' I replied. 'I don't know what happened to me. That punch, those blood red eyes as you were speaking of.' I was clueless. But this wasn't convincing Father. As we entered into his office, I assumed he would be in a good mood to discuss all that. The school toppers' board hung on the wall with some familiar names. Miss Lina was preparing a list maybe for the campfire. The campfire! No! I wanted to attend that rather than sitting at home with an extra - ordinary boring day. 'Oh! Welcome,' Father greeted us as though he was offering us a blue cupcake with some extra rat poison. 'Take a seat.' Neerav sat away from me with Veer in the middle. 'The havoc which you created,' he said looking at me. 'It's a result of complete indiscipline and irresponsibility. You are now in class 7. When will you grow up and understand things? This is my last warning for you all. If I catch you quarreling again, you will not be allowed to attend the campfire.' Why are principals and teachers so clever? They just know perfectly how to blackmail students. Control! Control Arjun, control! , I thought as I walked out of his cabin. 'Arjun,' Father called out. 'Collect the names of the students from your class who want to attend the campfire. I want the list by 12:00 p.m.' 'Okay Father.' Got it right? That's how it works. The most successful scheme which worked on me.I hated collecting names. What didn't I hate? I hated every work which the teachers gave. Get into the class, give your attendance and then start collecting the names. The whole of first period summed up. Veer and I somehow managed to resist the whole day with the excitement of tomorrow. As I was returning home, I was thinking about the lunch which mom would make. My mom, Mahasweta Roy is the sweetest one. She loves me so much. She is a school teacher........ why? She has got that teacher kind of attitude. She is a master chef for sure. On special occasions, she made me my favourite dish, red velvet cake. These thoughts made me forget my bus stop while Veer jarred me back to reality. We said our goodbyes and I went on to my "Home Sweet Home." Basically, the drawing room was all about the sofas and the television. We didn't even own a cell phone and whenever I asked the reason to my dad, he would say "We aren't allowed." Imagine a life without cell phone in 2019! Argh! Can't explain what I felt like. Another similarity between Veer and me. He too like me didn't own a cell phone. Most of the time he was alone in his home. Karan uncle and Nithya aunty would be out most of the time. Veer once said me that his parents worked for a travel agency near Karwar, so they had to travel a lot. Wait a minute! Urgh! I do this everytime. Straight from my drawing room to Veer's parents. Mom came out of the kitchen wearing her cooking apron. Her light brown eyes filled with love. She gave me a hug. Her hair smelled like rose. 'Oh dear,' she said. 'Go and take a bath, am preparing for the lunch.' I went to my room. It wasn't my room particularly. Dad sometimes used it for his work. He used to prepare his articles every night so in a way we shared the room. My dad, Anirudh Roy, was a....... reporter? Probably. I actually don't know perfectly. But he had told me that he worked for AOS Times. I have never heard this name in the field of journalism but still..... He is a father everyone wish to have, cool and loving. The best thing he did - He would update my music playlist every weekend with latest songs.(Note - Do not think I use cell phone to hear music. It's the pen drive which gets updated) He could never get time to spend with me. I had always desired to go on a trip and spend some quality time with him. As usual he didn't come for lunch. I was all set to go for the campfire. In the evening I met Veer in the park and we made up our minds to stay together the whole event. We figured out our whole ISIS level plan. Finally, with a lot of difficulties of the exciting day ahead, I slept expecting not to get those freaking brainless nightmares which I had been getting for 6 months now. Me and no nightmare? It's equal to Tiger Shroff without shirtless scene. In my nightmare, I was standing in a forest. In front of me was a cavern with traces of water. A figure....... a boy silhouetted near the entrance was kneeling in honour of someone. 'My lord,' the boy said. 'Why do you want to send him there?' 'I doubt him,' a echoing voice said, like the cavern was himself speaking. 'I doubt he might be the one. His actions...... That's why I asked you to send him there. Let's see what happens.' 'But how will it benefit us?' 'Fool! If he witnesses a near death situation, his father will surely take him to Youdh.' 'Sorry my lord.' There was an uncomfortable silence. 'My lord' finally broke the silence. 'Oh! Look we have a guest.' The silhouetted image looked straight at me. He took out an object from his waist which was probably a sword and started moving forward towards me. I tried to move but I couldn't. He yelled in rage and I woke up with a start shivering on my bed. As I told you, Indian winter is not a cool thing to witness. But I wasn't shivering 'cause of that, the voice was too........ sharp and firm. I couldn't see the boy's face but he looked like a warrior. Who were these? Doesn't make any sense. Why was I there? I didn't want to bash my head thinking about the nightmare. Christmas! Finally! The campfire day. Yay! 'Merry Christmas Arjun!' Mom and Dad said together entering the room. 'Merry Christmas mom and dad.' 'You have your campfire today right?' Mom asked. 'I have taken a leave,' Dad said. 'I will be dropping you both.' 'Yay!' By some means, I resisted the whole afternoon. After a good sleep, Dad, Veer and I set out for the campfire at 5 p.m. Dad's Grand i 10 Nios was the most comfortable vehicle I have ever travelled in. He put on my Hip Hop playlist. Classics loaded! In Da Club, Still, Piggy Bank, The Next Episode and a lot more. We reached the school by 5:30. All were dressed beautifully. Veer wore a blue t - shirt with Death Rider printed in huge letters and denim jeans. I wore a purple t - shirt with Demon Inside printed on it and black jeans. Common outfit? Black leather jacket. Teachers were dressed up in a pretty cool outfit. For the first time at least they weren't wearing the same clothes. 'Should we start executing the plan?' Veer asked. 'Yes! Let's do it boy.' I replied. Plan A executed. Are you thinking what was the plan? Well, it was to slickly walk out from the assembly ground to the playground and sit on flag hoisting platform waiting for others to arrive near the bonfire. To my surprise, the teachers had arranged for a dance night. We danced for like two hours. Didn't I say you that Veer and I were just grooving to the track in a corner. Veer wasn't even grooving. He was just shaking his body. I was a bathroom, no, bedroom dancer (you can consider both). Sitting near fire was..... Bliss! What about chewing a few burgers? Our backpacks were full of snacks. Some students were playing guitar and singing songs. I missed my guitar at that moment. 'Should I open another packet of chips?' Veer asked. 'No man,' I replied. 'We already have eaten four packets. I can't inject anymore.' 'Then......' He didn't complete. 'Arjun! Look at the fire.' The fire was blazing. It's flames were rising every second and finally it came to halt. What do you think? That's it? It was at its highest height. And then suddenly an object burst out of it. Students started running here and there. Teachers helped them to a safe place. The creature was huge with a body made of flames. He had a club in his hand. When he roared the ground beneath me shook. His eyes weren't there. The place where he should have eyes was filled with flames. Veer was in too much of shock to move. I held his hand and we started running. 'What is that thing doing here? He has got the wrong address.' Veer shouted so that I was able to hear in that pandemonium. Chills went up my spine when the creature shouted - 'WHERE IS ARJUN ROY?'