Jyoti Trivedi

Shh.. Don't speak!

Next day.

The sun was shining bright in the sky, but for someone, it was her do-or-die day. A girl who was kidn*pped the day before yesterday had already knocked down a maid and disguised herself as that maid. Rose also changed that maid's clothes with her and put the quilt over her, so that nobody could think about her disappearance.

After taking a deep breath, Rose finally got out of the room. She doesn't know where to go, nor she could do any single mistake. But she was somehow blessed with cleverness. She tried to chose a random path and walked confidently.

She was lucky. After roaming around, she saw the main gate. She was happy from inside. But, she didn't know where to go. She was lucky that maids here use to cover their face, so she was doing. But she couldn't see any maid using that exit gate.

"Now how would I go there? And if someone would ask me about that?"

She started biting her lips and suddenly, someone asked her from behind, "Hey you, what are you doing here?"

Rose's body got stiffened. She couldn't see any maid roaming in that area. It means that the maids don't use this path. She didn't know what to do.

The man came in front of her and asked again, "I am asking something, what are you doing here?"

Rose had no choice left. She poured the glass of water over that guard and started running over the exit. She knew that she would get caught by guards. But she had no choice. As she was running fast, she slightly understood that nobody was following her, not even that guard who interrogated her.

She finally came to the exit. But to her surprise, she saw several men practicing martial arts, including that man who usually used to wear a white suit.

"Oh sh*t! Now they would catch me." Rose thought about it. But she didn't stop running. She tried to run faster as she could. But was surprised her more that nobody was following her. They just paused for a bit and then continued as nothing happened.

For a moment, Rose thought that maybe she got some powers that nobody could see her. But she knew this was just an assumption, she was visible.

After running and running a lot, she saw a road in front of her.

"Thank god, now I am out of it!" Rose thought and happily, she ran. Rose wasn't a good runner. But today, she was running for her life. She got tired quickly, but she didn't stop. She was still confused why nobody was following her. But what she could do. She only has to run. Run run run!

After running over that endless road, Rose could only see gardens and few food stalls in her surrounding. She could see one shopkeeper at one shop, but she couldn't see any other people. On that road, she was the only person who was running. The whole area was empty. Nobody was playing in the garden.

The road was so much cleaner that it looks like nobody has used it. But, she was hungry. She checked her pocket and her luck was in her way. She got some coins also from that maid dress. She ran to the shopkeeper to buy something for her. She wasn't in tension as nobody was following her.

The shopkeeper gave her that thing but didn't charge her for the food. Rose was quite surprised.

Why there is no one on the road?

Why shopkeeper didn't charge me for the food?

Why this road is so fresh?

Why there is no one in the garden?

Why nobody followed me?

Which place is this?

These questions started popping into her mind again and again. But at that time, she wanted to finish that food as soon as possible.

After eating, Rose again started running but still, she couldn't see anything except a few shops and gardens adjacent to the roads. She got tired and sat down on the couch. Just as she sat down, she started remembering her old days, she couldn't imagine what her life would be like if she was caught up by the group of evil people behind her.

She was just 21 and wanted to do something for her parents, who are no more today. Till now, they had only lived in the rented apartment. Rose had a dream to buy a house with her money so that she could gift it to her parents. But now, they are no more. And what's more, she had been kidn*pped and her uncle and aunt are also dead. Now she has no one who could pay her college fees.

But she was determined to buy herself a house even after her parents' death. She couldn't cry for what had already happened. She needed to fix this soon.

She started consoling herself, "If you are getting a tough life, it means you are god's favorite child and God wants you to become tough. So don't give up and fight. Never give up."

To get motivate herself, she kept repeating these lines. Slowly, she started sleeping over the bench. And at one moment, she slept.

..........

Rose's eyes started blinking as she felt so hot. She could feel that the sun was shining brightly all over her body. She needed a tree shelter and she woke. As she opened her eyes, she realized she was surrounded by several guards and the man, wearing the white suit was also present there.

"Oh s**t!" Rose thought. She shouldn't have slept there. That maid would have been woken up and would have told everyone. The man in a white suit spoke, "Hello mam, how are you feeling now?"

Rose gritted her teeth and spoke, "You are not allowed to take me away like this. I would call the police." After saying this, she turned and look towards that shopkeeper, and shouted, "Just call the police right now. I need help."

The man in a white suit replied, "Mam, you are in our master's area only. This road is our area. "

Rose was startled for a bit. Then she asked, "You... You mean that shopkeeper..."

"Yes, that shopkeeper is our worker. Whatever you could see now is our empire only. It's not like we didn't stop you from running because we thought it's a maid. Actually, there is a C.C.T.V. camera in your room. Everyone knows that you are Rose in maid's dress. But we didn't stop you because..."

"Because?" Rose asked in nervousness.

"Because you are free to go anywhere you want. We treat our guests as a god. Whatever they need, we give it to them. We never forced you to stay in that room. You can go wherever you want except..."

"Except?" Rose was impatient.

"Except asking for getting out of this empire. Mam, you should be smart enough to know that this is a very good area. You are allowed to do anything you want. Why would you choose to go out?"

Rose gritted her teeth. "So you guys are allowed me to roam free in the empire? You have kidn*pped me and killed my family. Now you guys are becoming so generous to ALLOW me to ROAM FREELY? Wow!"

The man in a white suit was silent for a while. Then he spoke, "Mam, the sun is on our head. Let's go inside the mansion and talk."

He wasn't requesting, his tone was ordering. Without waiting for Rose's reply, he turned around and hinted to everyone to sit on their respective cars. Rose couldn't help but reluctantly walked towards the car whose door was opened for her. She sat down and the door was closed.

.....

A man and a woman were watching everything from their room. The man was standing and his hands were in his pockets. He was watching Rose's every moment without giving any expressions. His room was filled with Rose's photographs, and there was one big screen in front of him.

On that screen, he could watch everything that was happening to Rose from her bedroom to her running scene. He saw how Rose knocked that maid and tried to run away. He saw her cries. He saw everything silently but his face was expressionless. Nobody could guess whether he was happy or sad.

From that screen, they saw Rose disappointedly sat in the car. The woman, who was standing behind that man spoke, "Sir, I don't think that ..."

"Shh... Don't speak." The man interrupted. He wanted to observe Rose. He didn't want anyone's disturbance. This Rose was his woman, sooner or later.