My new book RED KITE ADVENTURE - for readers of 10+ - is almost done.
............Neither man said a word. Eventually, when they got to a smooth tarred road, they picked up speed. ....... In his panic Veer was unable to think clearly. A jumble of thoughts whirled around in his head. Where were they taking him? What were they going to do with him? He thought of Arzaan up on the hill. How long before someone found him up there? Or would he lie there on that hilltop, frizzled to a crisp, without water or food in the blistering May sun until he died? Veer had visions of Arzaan dragging himself across that dry hill on all fours and dying of thirst.................
*****
............ His
hands were still tied behind his back. Frantically, he tried to pull them free,
but the string wouldn’t budge. Neither could he see a thing with the blindfold still
tied over his eyes. Veer knew he somehow had to get the rag off first. ....................... Veer lay uncomfortably on top of that smelly pile of rotten tomatoes for atleast an hour. First, the van drove slowly ing one filthy edge of the cloth hanging
over his mouth, he tried gingerly to pull it down, gripping it between his
teeth, but he couldn’t yank it down off his eyes. Finally, and by then in an
awful frenzy, he knelt down on the soft thing he’d been dumped on, and rubbed
his face against it, over and over, till the filthy rag fell lower down, around
his neck. His eyes took a few seconds to adjust to the brightness around him,
and Veer breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at his cell for the first time. A
wooden door on his left was the only one out of the room. A small wooden
shuttered window in front of him let in some light, enough for him to see the
mattress on which he sat. The mattress itself was old, torn and looked as if
rats had been living happily in it for years. It was full of enormous holes,
and it stank sickeningly of rat pee. ................This
place was like a garbage dump. There were bits of paper and plastic everywhere,
some rubble, even a pile of charcoal and ash lay in one corner. .............................The place looked abandoned. A terrifying thought suddenly struck
him: if no one ever came this way, he hadn’t a hope of being rescued either. Oh,
boy! He felt as if he was suddenly the only occupant of some distant planet. Lost
and gone forever and ever.
.............he turned his attention to the string his hands were tied with. The kidnappers
hadn’t noticed his blue jacket................felt
his Swiss camping knife in the inner pocket. He always kept it in the jacket, it
came in very handy on school camping trips.
Twisting and contorting,
he finally managed to get the penknife out loose, and it fell with a sharp
thwack to the floor. For a moment he froze, waiting for the men to come
investigate......... he forced
the penknife open, nicking his finger in the process........
Veer
knew the edge of his penknife was razor-sharp. Holding it with his right hand,
he pressed its sharp edge against the rope that tied his wrists together behind
his back. Gingerly and v.e.r.y carefully, he sawed and sawed at the rope..............
Quickly,
and with deep disgust, he removed the remains of the gag from his mouth with
his, now free, hands. Subconsciously, he promised himself he’d never, ever
forget to brush his teeth morning and night from now on. Ever smelt a raw,
fermenting garbage dump? Well, that’s what his mouth smelt like! Disgusting.
Able, at last, to move freely, Veer rushed to the tiny
wooden window, like a moth to the light. With a sinking heart he saw that it
had bars. Now he truly felt like a criminal, locked up for good in a prison
cell! There was no way to escape, he realized. Someone had roughly tied a jute
rope to keep the two wooden shutters closed. Feverishly he untied the crude
knot and looked out................ .........................................
*****
*****
.................And
that’s when Dada saw it.
An
eerie beam of light. It emanated from
behind the crumbling rampart of the higher, inner Fort wall. Thin and just
discernable, it floated high above the top of the wall, its quavering white and
wispy light waving about slowly this way and that. Something white and ghostly
hung below the thin light. Slightly opaque, in parts transparent, it fluttered
and floated about, suspended in midair. The dreaded spirit of the dead
Princess! Dada gasped and choked back a yelp of fright. Clutching the door of the car he managed to
whisper “GHOSSSST!” And he pointed a trembling hand at the floating spectre in
the sky.
Harith
looked back at that moment, and saw it too. Everyone stood and gaped in horror at
the ghostly apparition, frozen in their tracks.
They heard the sound of a low wail, a mournful whine.
The group at the car stood open mouthed as the.........................
*****.
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