The Masked Thief

Ayame Mizuhara:

31st March, Sunday:

The Train had just passed through Ghaziabad when I woke up. All the other travellers were still asleep. It was around six in the morning. The view outside the window was full of little buildings between big fields. The train was yet to reach Delhi.

I was travelling in an air conditioned second tier coach. The trains had bunk beds for journeys over a day's time. I got an upper bed in a four bed compartment. The air conditioning was giving me cold feet, literally.

I took out the mobile phone from my bag pack to pass the time. I had an old fashioned mobile phone, with the buttons and all. It had no internet and nothing interesting besides a boring stock snake game without which, these type of mobiles are incomplete. But hey, atleast it had music storage. I took out my headphones as well.

So, four hours passed by as I listened to music while setting high score upon high scores in the snake game on the mobile. The Sun was clearly up in the sky, now. Almost all the people travelling in the compartment had woken up.

An announcement came on the train intercom, "The Avadh Assam Express shall be reaching the New Delhi train station shortly".

I started getting ready to get off at the station. I could already see the urban scenery of Delhi outside. The train started slowing down. As it did, we arrived at the New Delhi Railway station. I stood up with my bag pack and went to the exit door of the train, waiting for the train to halt. The train came to a halt and the door opened.

Getting off on the very crowded platform in a railway station in Delhi was quite an achievement for me. I mean, its not everyday, when a fourteen year old travels alone all the way from Guwahati to the capital.

The station was huge, by the way. I knew the station was going to be big, but I didn't imagine it to be this big. With the different platforms and gates, finding my way outside was a living, breathing nightmare. After twenty minutes of fruitless searching despite the huge crowds, I found the exit of the station.

As I exited the station, my phone rang. Upon answering it, I heard a familiar voice, which said, "On your left".

I turned to my left and saw Uncle Gogoi himself standing in front of me! He was short in height, but very commanding with his personality. He was around forty years old, a little younger than my father. He had a cross expression on his face when I saw him.

"You didn't see me when I was standing right in front of you. Are you blind Ayame Mizuhara!" he scolded.

"No, I-I was going to call you now", I replied.

His face suddenly brightened up, "Ah, it isn't a big deal".

We started walking towards the main gate of the station. Me and Uncle Gogoi were talking as we went.

He began, "So, missing the old city?"

"Of course. I wish things were different", my reply.

"Me too. You could have stayed there if there were anyone other than your parents back there, who could have looked after you"

We kept on talking about various things as we walked to the Metro Station nearby. This was my first time inside a Delhi Metro Station. In all the time I came to Delhi earlier to visit Uncle Gogoi with Papa, I had never even seen anything like this. The station was really big and it was for me, an architectural marvel. I mean, there was this big pillar in the middle of the entrance of the metro station which was surrounded by brown and violet coloured pillars of smaller sizes with various maps of all route options we could take. Plus, the station was air conditioned. A great respite from the heat outside that day!

We boarded a metro to the Malviya Nagar station on the "yellow" metro line. The Metro too, was air conditioned. A bit crowded though. There was barely any place to sit. Luckily, Uncle Gogoi found two empty seats for us. About forty minutes passed and we reached our stop.

The Malviya Nagar metro station was a part of the underground section of the metro line. This station was a little smaller in comparison to the earlier one, but still had kind of a good feeling in its appearance. Upon exiting the station, we officially entered Malviya Nagar.

We took an auto rickshaw outside the station for the rest of the way. As we went on, I saw buildings crammed besides each other with wires dangling between them. There was also a big market we passed on the way. This place looked interesting. I thought visiting this market in the evening.

A while later, we reached a more quieter lane with even more crammed buildings and local temples around. The auto stopped near the gate of a building complex. This was where Uncle Gogoi lived. I got out of the rickshaw while Uncle was quarrelling with the rickshaw driver about the fare.

This residential complex consisted of two buildings which were separated by an open car parking space in between. I walked around the almost empty car parking area after entering through the gate of the complex. That is when suddenly, I accidentally bumped into someone.

I looked down and saw that it was a boy who looked like he was eight or nine. He had hit his head. I helped him get up. After getting up, he just stared at me.

Then, he started almost nervously, "S-sorry for bumping i-into you".

"No problem", I replied. He was still hesitant to speak.

The boy spoke after a pause, "M-mummy told me n-not to t-talk to strangers".

"In that case, my name's Ayame Mizuhara", I said "What's your name?"

He became a little more confident. "P-parul" he replied.

"Now we aren't strangers anymore" I said with a little smile.

Now he smiled too. A middle aged man came towards us. He looked at Parul and scolded him for troubling him. It was his father. The man looked about in his mid thirties with a small pair of spectacles to decorate his face. His head was balder than the moon. I introduced myself to him as well.

"Ah! so you're old Gogoi's niece. And you say you've come all the way from assam" he said.

"Yes" I replied.

"Well then, nice to meet you. By the way, moving to a new city and new surroundings is tough. But, you'll fit right in here"

"Thank you sir. Nice to meet you too" saying this, I bid the duo goodbye and walked towards one of the two buildings. Uncle Gogoi was waiting for me there.

He asked me that where I've been. I told him about whom I met and his face brightened up in an instant, again.

He started, "That is Jai Sanghvi. He is a fine person. Very friendly. His son Parul too, is very sweet. But, his stuttering problem makes him the target of bullies at school. He doesn't have any friends either. Sometimes I feel sorry for that boy"

What Uncle Gogoi said about Parul made me think as we entered the building...

***

Tuesday, 2nd April:

Two days flew by.

In the span in these two days, I did a lot of things. I went to the Malviya Nagar Market, discovered a decent pizza place in the locality and met the neighbours next door. Turned out, the Sanghvis lived right in the front of where Uncle Gogoi lived.

Uncle Gogoi's flat was on the third floor of the five floor residential building in the complex. I got the room where my aunt used to live.

And no, she's not dead. Uncle divorced her after some disparity in their marriage or something.

Anyways keeping that aside, I had gotten to know Parul a bit since I met him. He was pretty innocent in his nature by my account. I used to meet him in front of our homes by the staircase on the third floor, every evening. His parents seemed happy whenever they peeked into our evening "meetings" as Parul called it.

Today was no different.

It was six in the evening. The dark blue sky was fading into the night. The yellow streetlights had turned on outside. Normally at this time, Uncle Gogoi would go to get some groceries from the market. During this time of the day, I was normally by myself at "home".

I was listening to music on my mobile, when a knock came on the door. I went over to see who it was and found little Parul standing there.

"D-didi are w-we have a meeting t-tonight?" he stuttered.

"Yes we are" saying this, I turned off my mobile and locked the door of the flat before going over to the staircase. Parul was looking a little cheerful today. And that felt like a genuine good thing, since most of the time, he had this blank and empty expression on his face.

I began, "So, how did the day go?".

"V-very good didi. Mummy t-took me to Sagar today" he replied.

"Sagar. The South Indian restaurant?"

"Oh y-yes! The Idlis were so d-delicious"

"Your mother must have given you a real treat"

"What about y-you didi? Y-your Mummy and Appa m-must be real great"

The mention of my parents made me nostalgic.

Amma and Papa were the most loving and caring people I ever knew. But their memory would be insulted to see me grieving in such a situation. So, I tried my best to stay as positive as possible.

"Yes, they were real great" I replied. "They taught me to face any problem in life with a smile".

"But, how can I smile with a problem?" he asked.

"You can. It matters the most when you can do it in the most difficult of times" now I was starting to sound like a motivational speaker. Parul paused for a while and looked at me with a strange expression.

Then suddenly, I heard some commotion. It was coming from Parul's home. I felt a little unnerved for a second, but then I remembered that Parul's mother was at home. Maybe she was doing something totally normal.

I wish that were true.

A scream came from Parul's home. It was Mrs. Sanghvi's voice. Something had happened. Me and Parul quickly ran to his doorstep to find that a thief had broken into his house. His mother had her back against the wall of their apartment.

The thief was wearing a black hood shirt with black jean trousers. The thief's face was covered by a grey colored mask.

Parul ran towards the thief instantly upon seeing his mother in distress. The masked thief stopped and seized him by his hands. This was not looking good.

"I don't want to hurt anyone, so let me go" she spoke in a shaking voice.

"How about not letting you go?" I replied.

"Look, I already had to deal with the gate watchman downstairs, China girl. He is in no condition to even talk now. So leave me be. Last. Chance" she threatened.

I stood where I was. She shoved Parul aside. He fell unconscious as he hit his head on the wall besides. The masked person took out a pistol to shoot at me. I dashed towards her, into Parul's home and pushed it off her hand with a swift roundhouse kick. Now, she cracked her knuckles in a show of intimidation. This was going to be a fist fight.

She came at me with some random punches, which I dodged left and right. I delivered a few good kicks to her in response. When it seemed like I had the upper hand, she dodged a kick and pushed me into a corner. She started punching me repeatedly. I was defending her attacks with my arms, but after a point, my arms had sustained too many hits. She knew it well too, as she prepared to deliver a powerful strike.

Then suddenly, something hit her from behind. She turned around to see who it was. Apparently, Uncle Gogoi was the one who did. He had just returned from the grocery store. He was holding the grocery bag in one hand and an electric anti-mosquito racquet in the other. The masked person was now going nuts with frustration.

Her voice began to crack as she spoke, "You think an old man and a Chinese girl can stop me?".

I sneaked off the corner and to Uncle's side while she was distracted. "When did you learn to fight so good?" he asked me while he was pointing the racquet at her.

"I was the district level Karate champ back home, remember?" I replied.

Uncle Gogoi's disbelief vanished, "Right".

We both had cornered the thief. This was our chance to get her. But then, something totally strange happened.

The masked girl was beginning to vibrate for some reason. She came down on her knees while she was and started crying. Her palms fell flat on the ground.

The floor had started shaking a little.

I walked closer to her to see what was the matter with her. The moment I came near her, the vibrations stopped and she jumped up to attack me.

She hit me right on my face, pushing me right into a corner.

Uncle Gogoi tried to surprise her with the electric racquet. But she saw that coming and dodged it swiftly. She then proceeded to grab his neck.

She looked at me as she had the throat of my uncle at one hand.

I felt too weak to move. We just stared at each other for some seconds.

"Pray our paths never cross again, China girl", saying these words, she let go of Uncle Gogoi and jumped out the window.

I quickly went over to the window moments after she jumped out. I peeked outside the window, and saw a pool of blood splat down on the ground and bloodied red footprints coming out of it.

Looked like she survived the fall.

Parul was still unconscious, his mother was petrified and Uncle Gogoi was still in a state of shock.

But that masked menace, who was she? What the heck was she doing in building? How could she have survived that fall?

I had so many questions...