Into The Shadows, Aayush Borulkar [animal farm read .txt] 📗

“I knew something was off about him from the start. Nobody can be this perfect,” Nishant said.

“You are what you reveal to be. Always remember this Nishant,” said Vivek with a sense of calmness on his face. Nishant stood there stupefied as to how had they been bluffed. Invited a total stranger into their house and let him turn their lives upside down.

"Guys, I will tell you,” said Vivek to the two men, getting up from the couch, and walking towards Nishant. “This guy right here, is the smartest of the lot, or at least that’s what he thinks,” said Vivek placing his hand on Nishant‘s shoulder. The two men stood there and grinned.

“Vivek enough with the games and small talks already. What do you want from us!?” asked Kaajal.

“And she right here, is the coolest in the group. The unorthodox girl of the group,” mocked Vivek, ignoring her question. “Look at this cool hair colour,” he said, touching her crystal blue streaks.

“Enough with this now! Back off!” exclaimed Abhimanyu coming forward.

“Hero to the rescue, huh,” said Vivek turning to the two men. “Nice. I like that”

“Apne tho cheh log bole the, idhar tho paach hi hai?” asked one of the men.

“Yeah. One them is upstairs, completely passed out” Vivek said pointing in the direction with his gun.

“Usko bhi lekar aaye?” asked the man

“No, it’s fine. Let him rest. Anyway, he is not of much use. Just a meatball, I tell you,” said Vivek cracking in a peal of wicked laughter, and was joined in by the two men.

“Now enough with the pleasantries. Let’s get on with the work then,” said Vivek getting up. “I want everyone to form a circle for me,” he instructed.

No one moved from their place. Seeing this, Vivek took the gun from one of the men with a silencer and shot it right into the couch. The cotton on the couch came flying out. Witnessing the shot, everyone scrambled from their places. They instantly formed a circle and sat at their respective places, scared to death. Vivek took a chair and placed it right in the middle of the circle.

“Now we are going to play a little game,” he said, sitting on the chair. “It’s going to be like a rapid-fire. Simple questions. But the glitch is that whoever gives the right answer gets eliminated. And I have a special task in place for the first two who get eliminated,” he explained. Everyone was confused about what kind of a game this was, but they did not dare to react because they had already seen worst aspects of Vivek’s personality that.

“Okay, then let’s get started,” said Vivek rubbing his palms together. “And remember it’s a rapid-fire, so quick answering okay. Let’s start with Abhimanyu, and then we go clockwise. One question each,” he said in a mysterious tone.

“Colour of the sky?” started Vivek.

“Pink,” answered Abhimanyu.

“Colour of hair?”

“Blue,” answered Nishant.

“This is a?” said Vivek pointing at his gun.

“Vegetable” said Vibha stammering a bit.

“Colour of an apple?”

“Red,” Richa answered.

“Oops. What have you done!?” said Vivek dramatically. “You gave the right answer, Richa,” he continued.

Richa sat spellbound as she was shocked by what she had just done. She didn’t know how to react to this and just sat dumbfounded, as all the frightened faces turned towards her.

“You know the rule now, Richa. The right answer has the wrong outcome. You are eliminated, but on the brighter side, you are selected for the special activity later on,” said Vivek smacking his lips.

Richa stood up from the circle uncomfortably and sat on the couch.

“Okay, let’s continue then, and let’s start with Kaajal now,” Vivek said.

“Opposite of Inside?”

“Besides,” answered Kaajal.

“Inside?”

“Down,” answered Abhimanyu.

“Before?”

“After,” answered Nishant.

“There we have our second victim!” exclaimed Vivek pointing his finger at Nishant. And Vibha, you are lucky to have missed your chance to answer in this round, as we already have our two unlucky winners, and sorry that you did not get a chance to become one of them,” he added, making a puppy face.

“What me!? This rubbish game is beyond me. I am not going to get up,” Nishant said.

“Losing is acceptable, but breaking the rule is not,” said Vivek, nodding disapprovingly.

“Uthao isko” ordered Vivek. The two men came marching towards Nishant and picked him up, while a helpless Nishant lashed out in vain. They picked him up and placed him beside Richa.

“Guys, sorry to inform, but this witty game has officially come to an end. As you all can see, we have gotten our two unlucky winners, or may I say losers, who are going to get a special task,” said Vivek getting up from his chair. Everyone got up along with him.

“But what is this activity about? Could you tell us now at least?” asked Kaajal.

“Yeah, sure,” replied Vivek. He went up to the men and whispered something.

“Okay, the task is simple. The unlucky winners have to accompany this man to my car and take out a sack from the boot and bury it,” said Vivek.

“Bury it? And what is in the sack?” countered Abhimanyu.

“Abhimanyu, you are one hasty young man. Want all the answers at once, huh” said Vivek, signaling the two men to take Richa and Nishant to the car. The two men held them both firmly and pulled them out.

“We will go back to where we were sitting and let them finish their work,” said Vivek going back to his chair. Everybody sat down on the floor, huddled up. As Abhimanyu was about to sit, they heard Richa scream her lungs out, which instantly dried out.

“What was that!?” exclaimed Abhimanyu. “Dare you to hurt any of them!”

“Oh, no one is getting hurt. It’s just that she might have seen inside the sack,” said Vivek, asking him to sit down. “It is just a natural reaction. Please sit down.”

“Are these guys with you, and do they know everything about the sack?” asked Kaajal

“Oh no, these are just local goons. They get paid well, and they don’t ask