DEAD FISHES

I couldn't sleep that night, his words bounced in my head; I couldn't stop thinking what would happen if my family suffers like the kid's. I really thought about doing something but decided to let that thought go away because the next day was important for me. I am 24 and apparently it was my age to get married, the next day we were supposed to meet Shalini's family, for our marriage.

I saw her for the first time that day; she was beautiful, more beautiful than any other person I had ever seen in my lifetime. Fortunately our marriage was decided on our fist meet, I was happy, my family was too. For the first time it felt like everything was going all right. We left her house at late evening, we nine people in our large car. On our way back home, my sister Radha, my both brothers, my sister in law Neelam and mother Laxmi were busy teasing me when I saw something that sent chills through my spine, it terrorized me, from top to bottom, that image horrified me and left me shaken. The car kept going, my family kept giggling and that terrorizing scene went past grabbing all my attention, and petrifying my soul in a snap of a second. The gory scene was lying just on a footpath of a street, people walked around, past it without being shocked, maybe for them it was normal but my stupid brain! It scared me out of my wits, my thoughts had changed, I wasn't happy, I wasn't thinking about Shalini, my brain wasn't at its place.

I saw two corpses, of two kids, one was a little girl of about five and he second was of the kid who has visited our office the earlier day. Blood all over them, clothes torn up the girl was probably raped, there was blood down her thighs, the kid's intestines out falling out of this abdomen which was cut using a knife probably. Two little kids, they were left there bleeding to die probably. I could hear his words inside my brain, maybe we are demons, and I realized that humanity has died long back, I could've helped him, and he didn't deserve to die on a footpath with his intestines out. The earlier day he would've roamed around hungry, under the unforgiving sun asking for help, but poor kid, had to die along his raped sister. I could've helped him; he wouldn't have at least died like that. I never got the chance to even know his name. The people outside the gates are powerful and we just some motherfucking puppets and slaves and insects, living the way they want us to. I asked my father to stop the car, as soon as he stopped it, I got off the car, my family was surprised they asked me 'What happened?' 'You forgot anything?'

Slowly I walked towards the corpses, feeling heavier with every step I took. Soon the corpses caught attention of everyone in the car, Ramaiya hopped out of the car, my nephew and niece had a good view on the terrible scene from the car, everyone was confused and disgusted.

Ramaiya recognized the kid and watched me walk towards it. It was stinking but I couldn't resist, I bend down and held up the kids body in my both arms, started walking towards the car, when I was just besides the car I told them to leave and that I'll be late. I walked past the car, Ramaiya stood their shocked, my younger brother Sashi hopped out of the car too, my father drove the car away, and my brothers followed me for nearly 400 meters when I reached a cremation land, I put the kid down slowly making sure the hard surface doesn't hurt him.

Ramaiya sat on a bench in cremation land and got lost in his deep thinking, I started walking back when Sashi asked, "Can someone tell me what is going on? Who is this kid? Why has brother carried him all the way here?"

"We have sinned Sashi, we have sinned!" Ramaiya answered with his voice breaking.

I heard those words and left for the girl. I carried her the same way and brought her to the cremation land, put the siblings besides one another, gently put logs of wood and some cow dung cakes on their corpses, I lit it. I cremated

them.

It was dark already when the bright yellow fire roared, Ramaiya was still lost in his brain holding his head with right hand, Sashi seemed confused. The temperature started rising, I could feel the heat of the fire inside me. Then out of nowhere some words came out of my mouth, "I will avenge your death, I will avenge every innocents death that happened in the subcontinent of Bharat under the Roha domination! I won't let any more innocents die; I won't let people lose their loved ones anymore under the Rohas! I will bring the change, I will change the world. This is declaration of a war!"