Editor: Mrinali Jadhav Written by Writer Yoshita Kumar

How? Thea wondered, what would’ve happened and how does this date circle back to October when they’ve been talking to each other for a year.

Thea sat inside her room, the darkness of the night swallowing her doubts while giving rise to new ones. Time was running out and she had no idea how to prevent Sam’s death when she didn’t even know how he died. In doubt whether to tell Sam about the date she saw or not she chose to just inform him to run away with Anand and not wait for a few days to get transferred.

Meanwhile, she started searching for any living relative of Sammuel Knight. Time was running out of her hands and any thought of Sam dying gave her chills. Sam’s POVAnand looked at me worried while I hastily packed my stuff inside a suitcase, taking all important documents.

“What are you doing?” I did not answer “What are we planning?.. And why are you so scared? Nothing is going to happen, I won’t let anything happen to you!” his voice rose by the end of his sentence because I was too occupied to reply.

I did not notice when Anand had gotten up from the chair next to my side of the bed and stood right next to me restricting my movement. I looked up to him while bending towards the clothes set on the bed, the white shirt crunched in my hand at the worried look on Anand’s face, jaw clenched, forehead creased and eyes watery with anguish. 

I sighed and stood up and held him by his shoulders “We have to leave this place today, we don’t have time because I know those people will not let you get away without getting what they want” I paused and Anand came to a realisation I knew him enough to understand what he was about to say, “No, you are not going for a self-sacrifice, you know they are going to take the property and then kill you.

I am never letting you willingly dive into death, not on my watch.” It was ironical because I did not have my watch, I did have a watch but it wasn’t the one that I’ve worn since the day I started working, a gift from my father which I had left as a remembrance for my mother back at home. Home, we could go home! My heart thudded with hope but how would I get Anand’s documents ready in such a short time.

I came out of my planning when Anand held my hand in his, the grip soft and comforting opposite to the turmoil of my heart. “I could run away, far away, a place they could never anticipate, never to return.” My breathe hitched at the thought of never seeing him again, I couldn’t do it, especially not after I realised that I loved this man however wrong the world might think it would be, for a man to love another man. I could do it, I know I could love him till my last breathe, I knew now why I never looked at women even when men of my age went around boasting about the time they had with beautiful Indian women, from Kolkata to Delhi. “No” I said with a heavy breathe. I closed my eyes composing myself, mentally calculating the plan I made and a way to convince Anand.

“We could leave for England, you and me, I heard a fellow officer mentioned that the ship from Bombay leaves for England on 25th October, if we leave today we could reach there on time and get your emergency documents made.” I paused to look at him and in my heart I knew he would never agree and I was right.

“I can’t leave my country just because my own family is trying to kill me, that’s absurd and I can’t specially go to Britain, not the country of my oppressor.” “What about me?” I whispered with a cracked voice, I knew I would lose him, in no way he reciprocated my feelings and I know the love for motherland is superior to all of our love. 

“You can come with me where I go. We can go down south, there’s only a limit to my brother’s connection and if I leave he will have the property and I don’t think he will be stupid enough to search for me after a few months” he said and I weighted his idea. I had lived in this country for 4 years now, I could live here, and anyway they are going to keep me as long as they want to. I nodded and Anand hugged me tight taking me by surprise but I let that feeling soak in.

By the end of the night we ready to leave. It got dark, 8 in the evening my clock displayed, we were going to leave by a carriage which was going to take us to Jaipur. They reached the carriage and sat inside. Three hours later Sam heard Anand sigh from relief but Sam himself couldn’t push away the eerie feeling he had from the past few hours and he was proved right when they reached the check post for Delhi seven hours of travel. It was still dark, 3 in the morning, the check post was dead silent only 2 guards on duty, one of them asleep.

They crossed the check post and decided to take rest for a few hours before moving. Sam was tired but his intuition was warning that something wasn’t right. By dawn he knew what was wrong because when he came out of the washroom he saw an unknown hard built man holding Anand by his throat while Anand gasped for air before going limp before Sam’s eyes.—–Thea looked at the clocked it was 4 in the evening, nine hours after her conversation with Sam and she had finally located someone from Sammuel’s ancestry Sammuel’s Great Grandnephew’s Son, Charlie short for Charles Sammuel Knight from his step brother’s side of the family.

Thea hoped that she could at least find something given that the man’s middle name was from his great uncle who supposedly died before his step brother was born.

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