The Devil's Harem

“Mom, what did you guys do before?” Alex sat on his favourite bean bag as he asked his mother who was in the kitchen.

“Before? Before what?” Martha peeked from the kitchen and asked, “What are you talking about?”

“I mean before your life here in Elenor, before all of this...” Alex said, looking around the house.

Alex had just returned home from Ullu. But he was alone. George and Matthew had decided to stay back in Ullu. Alex tried his best to find out the reason behind it, but it was of no help. But George was in the worst of his moods, something Alex had never seen before. Even Matthew was not his usual playful self. Alex wanted to try out Matthew and find out what was wrong with his father, but he was in a serious mood, talking on his phone all along.

So without any explanation, Alex was made to board the flight back home with other employees of AR. But this also got him more curious. Curious about what George did before.

“Why are you suddenly so curious about it?” Martha walked in with two glasses of juice and asked.

.....

“Something has been bothering me,” Alex took the glass from Martha and said, “I asked the same from Dad, but he avoided it...”

“... I just want to know what kind of work he was into before coming to Elenor? Was it something shady? Something dangerous?” Alex carefully asked, trying to choose his words right.

Meanwhile, Martha was left stunned hearing Alex for a while before breaking into giggles, “Have you gone crazy? Oh my god... I can’t believe you... hahaha...”

“I...”

“I mean, what crazy imagination you have? Something shady? have you seen your father? Do you think your father, that scary little cat has the guts to do something of that sort?” Martha looked at Alex, amused.

“You never know. Maybe, Dad is in a difficult situation and had to hide it from you,” Alex said, “Believe me, he was not his usual self in Ullu. I didn’t see him for two days straight until we were packed up, ready to leave. And when he was finally in front of me, Dad looked annoyed and flustered as if things had gone totally wrong for him.” Alex tried to make Martha believe him.

“Enough, Alex,” Martha was serious by now, “What’s gotten into you? Earlier, you said something about your father having an affair. I took it as a joke and didn’t really put much thought into it. But now this? Are you sure you are not being overly sceptical of your father?” Martha asked.

“I... That... That was really a joke, but...” Alex tried to explain.

“Let’s leave it at that. I am not really in the mood to talk about it,” Martha interrupted Alex and stood up, “I have some work to do. So if it is not something very urgent, you know...” And saying so, Martha walked inside her room.

“Shit!” Alex cursed as he rubbed his temples.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Shit... Shit... Shit...” thumping the ground with his bare hands, a man cursed, ‘Who was that son of a bitch?’

The man was none other than the hunched old man who went there to kill Jessica. Right now, he was sitting in a shaking corner of a stinking boat, cursing Alex. With his whole face covered in bandages, and clothes bloodied red, his life had crumbled, crumbled by a week, little boy. After the unexpected turn of events, covered in pools of blood, he tried to crawl his way from there. But before he could even gather the energy to stand on his feet, he was surrounded by a group of men in black.

They injected him with something, and by the time he woke up, he was in a lightly lit room. No one else was in the room, but he could hear whispers and chatters outside the door.

As he got the hold of the situation, he found his legs tied to the chair while his hands were handcuffed behind his back.

“Eehh...” The man tried to break free, but it was no use. Instead, he ended up making unwanted sounds, alerting those outside the room. e.co

Hearing the noise, a few of the men standing outside walked in, but luckily the man was quick to react, and with his head rolling to one side, he acted unconscious.

The three men walked inside and checked the man’s restraints. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, they nodded toward each other and took a step back.

“I kind of feel pity for him?” One of the men said, looking at the hunched, old man.

“Why would you feel pity for this scum?” the other man asked.

“I mean, look at him,” the first man tried to explain, “The old man is probably in his sixties. Look at his punctured face. It’s worse than Indian roads. I am sure he has no kin. Had a chance to such an easy bounty. He could have made a lot of money. But all he got was a slit throat and a life ahead where no one can hear him...” the first man said, shaking his head, “Don’t you think it’s a pity?”

“I don’t know... I have heard that Indian roads have become better,” the third guy said, shrugging at his colleague’s remarks.

“I meant, isn’t it a pity for this guy?”

“Oh well, I don’t really care as long as he can write,” the man said, “Let’s go... You just got bit by the snake, and I am in the lead.” the third guy was not very keen on talking about this old fart. He pulled his colleagues with him out of the room to finish the game of snakes and ladders.

As soon as the door closed, the old man opened his eye to peek and, finding no one around, he sat straight up.

“Sixties? Fuck you, bastards... I am only thirty-five. Do you think I want this punctured face and hunched back? Huh...?” The man said, grinding his teeth in anger. But suddenly froze in his words. All he could hear was some mumbo-jumbo that made no sense. Words wouldn’t just come out right out of his mouth. As he twirled his tongue inside his mouth, he could not feel a thing, to be accurate, he could not feel the tip of his tongue. That last kick of Alex’s struck him right at his chin when he was still talking, and it ended up cutting his tongue in two.

“Whaa... Huu... Wh....” The man could not control his emotions. Struggling to break free, he howled in anger. He did not care if those men outside heard him or not. He just wanted to break free and crack that skull open of the boy who got in his way and made his life miserable.

“Agghhh...” finally, the legs of the chair broke off, and the man fell forward. The man had used much of his strength, and as he fall, the impact once again opened the wound on his neck.

Hearing the commotion, the men from outside rushed inside the room. Inside they found the chair broken and the hunched man standing in front of them. They had no time to comprehend what happened as they hurried toward the man to constrain him again.

The first man in black hurried toward the assassin at full speed. He bent forward a bit and, like a spear, wanted to impact straight into the assassin’s stomach, but the assassin was quick. The hunched man had already picked up one of the broken legs of the chair. As soon as the man was about to hit his stomach, the assassin twirled and hit the man’s head with the wooden leg. The hunched man took a couple of steps forward while the man went still.

A few minutes back, the man was happily talking about how he was ahead in the game of snakes and ladders. But right now, he stayed bent behind the hunched assassin with saliva dripping out of his mouth. The hunched man pulled the leg away, and bloodied nail pulled out of the man’s skull, sending him flying to the side.

“Huuh... caaa,” the hunched man eyed the two other men to come forward towards him, but the two of them, seeing the brutality, took a step back.

But the hunched man was still brimming with anger. Without wasting another moment, he dashed towards the two of them and jumped. While in the air, he swirled his leg and launched a kick at the two men. The one who found the old man a bit sympathetic leaned back, avoiding the kick, but the other was hit hard on his face.

The man hit the wall behind him and crashed to the ground. The hunched man did not spare him another glance. He glared at the last man standing and slowly took his steps forward. Scared, the man continued to fall back at the same pace, trying to avoid the predator. Sweat dripped down his cheeks, and his vision became blurry. Everything was going smooth and peaceful moments back, but the tables turned against them in a moment. Now two of his colleagues were lying on the ground, alive or dead, he did not know.

Finally, the assassin stopped, so as the man. They continued to stare into each other’s eyes before the hunched man smiled. With a hunched back and bloodied clothes, the old man looked like the gholem from the netherworld.

Finally, the man’s attention turned towards the hand reaching out to grab the hunched man’s leg. His colleague was alive.

“Crack!” But before he could celebrate the news, the hunched man lifted his leg and smashed the head of the man on the ground. Blood splattered everywhere and painted the walls, as well as the man standing by the door.

Horrified, the man gave up any thought to fight the hunched man and turned around to run, trying to save his life. He did not have much hope of survival, but he tried. Surprisingly, the old man did not follow but stood rooted to his spot.

“Ugghhh...” the man groaned in pain. He dislocated his thumb and pulled his hand out of the handcuff. Looking at his shaking hands, the man touched the wound on his neck.

‘I will find you and fill your body with holes,’ the man vowed, ’till then, this Ashraaf won’t step in the sacred land.’

* * * * *