Sophia's Freedom

Chapter 45 : Back from the Dead

I suddenly woke up with a start. I was shivering and sweating as my mind was still unable to clear my memory of the ghastly scene, I saw in the Banerjee residence early this morning.

I saw the door open and Koushik Daa approach me briskly with a worried look on his face.

"Are you all right dear? I heard you shouting Joe's name."

I jumped from my bed and hugged Koushik dada tightly. "Dada, please tell me, he is alright?"

"I really don't know anything right now, honey, but your mom and dad have gone to figure it out. You or your brother might not be aware of their accomplishment, but I believe that they will c***k it very fast. The People of Purulia speaks highly of your mother’s achievements and when it concerns you or Joe, I think, she will even battle the devil to protect both of you." replied Koushik dada.

We stepped out of my room and sat on the couch of our living room. The clock on the wall showed the time as 1:30 in the afternoon. Mom and Dad have been out for a while now.

"Do you want to eat something, you might be hungry," asked Koushik dada.

I gave a nod indicating a yes.

"I don't know much about cooking, but I definitely know how to cook your favorite gazar ka halwa," he paused, looked curiously at my confused face and quipped "or was it mine... I guess it was mine... Do you want to try some...?”

I was not hungry, however, Koushik dada's lame pampering attempt made me agree and I nodded my head indicating a yes.

As I was having the halwa, Koushik dada said "You might want to spend some time in your brother's room. It might make you feel better."

It felt like a good idea. Koushik dada informed me that he will wait in the hall in case l needed anything.

As I entered brother Joe’s room, I could sense a shift from the usually chaotic and disheveled ambiance of the room. His room was neat and tidy, and his bed was properly and tidily made. 

I have never known him keeping his room so well. There was a piece of paper with my name written on it, and a pile of papers neatly rolled up next to that piece of paper.

As I picked up the paper, I found, it was a letter addressed to me. I opened the letter and began to read...

My Dear Monika,

We want you to read this letter because we have found something which makes us believe Joe, Abhinu, and you are in grave danger.

Right now, your dad and I are with Mr. N.N. and Miss Sengupta to make arrangements for your safety and trying to figure out where your brother and Abhinu are, and who kidnapped them.

We want you to know that Koushik will be with you till we return and don't be afraid, you are in safe hands. Koushik and Babul's friends are keeping a constant watch over our house. We have made sure that you are well protected now.

The reason I am writing this letter is to let you know about some facts which has come to the limelight and both of us require to be with Mr. N.N. and Miss Sengupta, to find proof or knowledge about the extent of Mr. Banerjee's involvement in Joe's k********g and the reason why they kept hurting and abusing Aarohi, Abhinu, and Alena.

Aarohi might have told you that Mrs. Banerjee lost a child during childbirth, that was Alena. However, he is not related to the Banerjee family.

Until we can locate your brother, don't trust anyone except the people who were present at our house last night. If you have any pictures or photos of Abhinu both as himself or Sophia, please give them to Koushik he will keep them in a safe place or destroy it. It is up to him to make the final call.

We are sorry that we asked you to lie to Mr. Banerjee. I know it’s against our teachings but at that moment your safety was of utmost importance to us, and we felt that denying Sophia’s existence will help in keeping the situation under control. I am sorry for the reluctant lie extracted from you, but it will help all of us from visiting the cops at the station until your friend is found and that is something you won’t prefer to do.

Don't worry about Nishi Sir... he was the one who asked us to convince you to deny the existence of Sophia or Abhinu. He felt that Mr. Banerjee might somehow be involved in the conspiracy of forcefully transforming Abhinu into Sophia and that he has an accomplice named Abhishek.

If you want to know, what we found out, you can read the rolls of paper kept next to this letter. As an 11-year-old, I know, it would be difficult for you to understand the content, but your Dad and I think this is important and you should know about it.

Be good and stay safe.

P.S. Please read the other letter your dad left for you before deciding to go through the pages.

Love Mom.

I picked up the roll of papers, placed it on the bed, and began to flip through the pages to search for the dad's letter.

My Dear Sweetheart,

I hope you will forgive me after reading this letter.

I know you have suffered enough during the past 4 years. I remember you telling me once about Abhinu and his forceful transition to Sophia. I know you have been telling everyone about it, but we never believed it. I knew you would go to any extent to keep Abhinu safe.

Frankly, I was surprised when you contacted Amy for help. Someone you have never met before but was still able to confide in her about your friend. That takes a lot of desperation.

I hope you remember that after you had a word with Amy, she called someone and then she asked a favor from you in return. Well, the truth was I and her elder brother Amell was on the other line.

When she told me what you said, I asked Amell to keep you out of this, but he knew that you are my daughter and you would go to any extent to protect Abhinu, and for your safety, he told me that there is someone in the house who would ensure that no harm would come to you in that residence. So we finally decided to test you and asked you to find who Helen Harper is in the family.

Aamaya already knew, that if someone would come searching for Helen Harper, it would mean that her brother would come for her rescue, and that's the reason she went out with you to the graveyard.

 There are some things, I feel that you should know. Abhinu's dad is still alive.

Abhinu's dad was assigned a case by the National Investigation Agency. There was a child a*******n and illegal experimentation ring going on in the country and the people involved were very well connected. The agency didn't trust any cops and so they choose an officer from the army intelligence to investigate. He was accompanied by S.P. AdamH who was responsible for cracking open the case.

Before Sujoy Daa started his investigation, he had to ensure the safety of his son and so he decided to keep his son under the supervision of his Sisters family. He had to make sure his son believes that he was dead and so with the help of the brigadier they arranged a fake funeral.

It so happened that at that time there was an attack by some militants around the army base camp and so under the guise of the attack, the brigadier declared the death of the Colonel.

Now, Sujoy daa, could continue with the investigation and was also happy that his son was safe under the watchful eyes of his Brother-in-law. What he didn't anticipate was that his Brother-in-law was the mastermind behind the illegal experimentation ring.

One day during one of Abhinu's matches, Sujoy Daa confronted Mr. Banerjee and asked him to give up his bad habits as well as return Aamaya back to the Harpers. I don't know what happened but 2 days later the accident occurred, where the athletes were killed and Abhinu and Aarohi were placed in a coma.

Sujoy daa would always keep a watch over his child and Mr. Banerjee made him believe that he had given up his bad habits. But what he didn't anticipate was that Mr. Banerjee and his men were actually finding out a way to abduct Sujoy daa.

Sujoy daa was a smart man and is a trained NSG commando, so he knew how to cover his tracks and no matter how much Mr. Banerjee and his men tried, they were unable to get in touch with Sujay daa.

Mr. Banerjee's crooked mind thought of another plan which would ensure that Sujay daa would come out of the shadows. After Abhinu's accident, Mr. Banerjee began to give Abhinu a medicine called benzodiazepines. If a child is administered this medicine, he would get very aggressive, but he was lucky to have a friend like you to keep him safe. Well since you were teaching him martial arts, he was getting mentally strong, and the medicines were unable to affect him, but that day when that boy taunted him about being an orphan, he lost his mind and the inevitable happened.

A month after that incident, he forced Abhinu to dress up as a girl. Mr. Banerjee was pretty sure, that there was someone in the house who would contact Sujoy daa, but surprisingly no one did. A month later, Darika birthday party incident happened, and then Sujoy daa learned from Daniel what was happening to his son, and he resurfaced to take his son away from there, but the moment he came close to the house, Sujoy daa was abducted and was never seen again.

At the time of the so-called death of Sujay daa, I was his best friend, and so I decided to investigate his death. The Agency learned that I was investigating the death of the Colonel and so they approached me and told me everything and told me that Sujay Banerjee has suddenly gone missing and they were unable to locate him. They wanted me to take over his investigation.

I am so sorry darling that I had to make you a pawn in the investigation, but I had no other choice and the only way to keep an eye on the house was through your eyes.

Sujoy daa's investigation was almost complete, so the only thing left was to rescue his son first and then to find out the location of Sujoy daa. However, the agency wanted me to rescue Sujay daa first before trying to rescue his son.

 It took me almost 4 years when finally we were able to find his whereabouts and rescue him. He was in a bad shape and is currently getting treated in Pune's armed forces medical college.

After he was rescued, our plan was to rescue Abhinu, but it seems like, Mr. Banerjee abducted Joe and Abhinu, before we could get our hands on him.

Your mom and I are trying to locate their whereabouts, but until then, you will be safe under the watchful eyes of Koushik.

I hope you will be able to forgive me, after knowing that your friend is eventually being transitioned into a transgender and I didn't do anything about it.

Loving Dad.

After going through this letter I was not sure how to react. I am angry at him. I am not going to talk to him when he returns. I hate him. 

At that moment, Koushik dada entered the room. He saw me sitting on the floor, with the letter in my hand.

He asked, "What happened sweetheart... you look sad... is something bothering you?"

I didn't say a word and gave him the letter, He went through the letter and then said "I think I know what is bothering you... please correct me if I understood you wrong...?"

I turned to look at Koushik dada and then he continued "You might be wondering, you dad knew all about what was happening to Abhinu and still he let Mr. Banerjee perform the surgeries and t*****e Abhinu."

"Hmmm..." I replied.

"See... I am right..." he paused and he began to think about something and said, "Think of the whole situation in this way..."

"What if your dad would have gone against the agency and would have tried to rescue Abhinu and failed... the agency would have removed him off the case because of in-subordination... isn't that right...?"

He asked me a good question for which I had no answer.

Koushik dada continued "Now imagine the after-effects... once your dad is removed from the case, they will get a new officer and I am pretty sure that officer would do the same thing. For him, Abhinu would be another trans kid and in our country, if someone is a transgender, they are always left to rot..."

"At least in the case of Abhinu, your dad is his godfather... your dad would do everything in his power to protect Abhinu." he paused again and said, "Think what I have just told you, and perhaps you will find the reason to forgive him too..."

Saying this he stood up and left the room.

                                                                TO BE CONTINUED...

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