V woke up suddenly to the sound of the alarm clock: 7 ’o’ clock it said, like every beautiful morning. The continuous trilling of the hardware hit him in the head like thunderclaps and he promised himself that he would throw the nasty thing away for good, but he knew he won’t for the love of it.

The sun shined bright and white. V took a deep yawn and peeled away the curtains to the side. He slid open one of the windows and let the cool breeze in. The bright blue sky painted a wonderful background to the chirping of little birds and the neighbours on the ground floor.

“It’s going to be a great day!”, he said to himself.

He slid the plates in the sink and was about to get his keys when he heard a loud clank outside his door followed by a dull thud. He took the keys and as he opened the door, he saw a woman bent over the stairs trying to pick her utensils. There was milk spilled over the stairs, among some vegetables and money.

Upon hearing the door unlocked, she turned around and saw V looking at the scenario.

“I’m sorry”, she said, “I’ll clean this up. Please I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”

But V couldn’t hear what she said. He looked at her bewitched. Never in his life had he seen a face so beautiful. The copper-coloured skin, long black locks of hair, beautiful arching eyebrows, thin nose and pouty lips. She wore a red top and black track pants and even though the curves weren’t visible under the clothing, he just knew she was perfect. But none of them matched to the beauty of her eyes. Like a pair of black marbles radiating such a sense of depth and enigma. Something warm rose in V’s belly and he knew what it was.

The woman stopped talking when she saw him looking at her without a word and without batting an eyelid. The corner of her lips moved a little for a smile. Her little pearly teeth peeked out for a second.

“Um…excuse me? Mr…?”, she asked.

V immediately took hold of his self and gulped some air. He didn’t realise how long it had been since he saw her. He noticed she was looking at him with her eyebrows raised and a smile.

“Sorry, hi can I help you?”, he fumbled halfway there.

The woman gave out a giggle. “No, no I was saying that I’m sorry for all this. I was just carrying this beaker upstairs and I slipped and the whole thing is now a waste. I’m sorry it had to be your door. I’ll get this cleaned right away.”

V looked at the floor now. There was milk all over and it had made itself a puddle. There was some on the stairs too and it was trickling down to the ground floor. Few vegetables bathed in the liquid and some coins. A woman’s purse sat against the corner, turned upside down.

“Oh no it’s okay. Here let me help you”, V said. He brushed her to climb down the stairs to pick up the vegetables and the money he could find and as he did, he caught a whiff of her fragrance. The riveting aroma almost caught him off guard once again, but he held onto himself and picked the items back to her.

“I think it’s yours”, he said handing over the purse.

“Thank you so much”, she smiled gracefully. “Once again I’m terribly sorry for the nuisance.”

“Don’t worry about it”, V said as he wiped the milk off the vegetables with his hands. “The building staff will take care of it. There you go. You might need to wash these. At least you didn’t get all of them spoiled.”

“Thank you. That’s very nice of you.”

“No problem at all. My name is V”, he said. “I’d shake hands but then you’d have to wash yours as well”.

She gave a bright laugh, “Okaay. That’s a valid point. My name is Gauri, and I don’t mind washing my hands”, she said as she extended her hand.

V looked at her beautiful slender arm. He raised his to feel her hand. Her soft skin felt pleasant on his palm. He fought off the temptation to pull her close to him and have his way.

“Nice to meet you Gauri”, he said taking a deep breath.

“Very nice to meet you too V”, she smiled gleefully now.

“So, I haven’t seen you before. Are you new here?”

“Yes yes. Actually, I just moved in the day before. My flat is immediately above yours. I’m from Calcutta. My job keeps me relocating frequently from one place to another. This time it’s your city, your building”, she smiled.

“Seems quite hectic, your job”.

“Yes, it is. But one’s gotta do what one’s gotta do and I love it. Very fulfilling and peaceful”

“Well as of this morning’s events, even I’m grateful for your job”, smiled V.

Gauri cocked her head for a second and then gave sparkling laugh.

“Oh well. That’s good! That is very good. Say I pour you a cup of coffee? I know it has been such a mess. If you’re not getting late that is? As a token for your help?”

V knew better than to just give a woman what she wants. He knew how to play hard and that for him to land his catch, it must be him to throw the hook and not take the bait first.

“Thank you very much but I must decline for now. I’m heading for my office. But you know what, I will have a cup of coffee sometime later when you’re all settled and everything. And I would invite you for the same. As a welcoming gesture.”

Gauri smiled, her perfect teeth glistening. “Sure, I’ll be looking up on that”.

“Bye”, V said.

“See ya bye!”, she said. She climbed up the stairs and V heard unlocking and then locking of the door.

As V descended the stairs, a bright thing caught his attention. An apartment key. The entire building had similar keys for the main doors. He picked it up. It laid close to where Gauri’s purse was, and he must’ve had missed it before. He thought of giving it back to her but then realized that it must be a spare one as there wasn’t any key ring attached. Just a single key. He placed the key in his pocket as he smiled to himself.

Ravi looked at the screen intently while scrolling on the stuttering mouse. Every now and then he would click somewhere, and the system responded somewhere else. But he was used to the rudeness. Multiple photos of young women were arranged on the screen. Profiles. Business wasn’t as well as expected these days; there were a few misses here and there and that wasn’t sitting well with the higher ups at all. He was browsing the archive section from three years ago when V tapped on his shoulder.

“What’s up?”, V asked.

“Nothing much bro”, Ravi adjusted his spectacles,” Just checking something. Boss’ orders. There was another slip up last night.”

“Why? What happened?”

“Don’t know much. Post delivery the client was found dead in his apartment.”

“And the merchandise?”

Ravi looked at V and shrugged. “Lost at sea, so to speak”.

V shook his head. He didn’t care much about the dead client. That’s a norm anyway. People go over the top and end up at rock bottom. After all the merchandise is only a human and can only take so much before she breaks. Sometimes the tempers rise, and sanity leaves via the backdoor. The scales then tip in any direction.

But the missing merch was an issue. Even though they don’t directly interact with the “managers”, leaving them out in the open pose a threat to the firm. Out there, they start talking and people are smart. Not too long before someone picks up the right trail and ends up at the front doors. Probably with a warrant or worse, license to kill.

V had been in the business for about 5 years now. He clearly remembered his first sale: a young girl 19-year-old college student. She was a shy one, he thought but trusted him completely. After all V was her brother’s close friend. Sold for a solid 10 lakh. Her brother still grieves over her. Since then, V had made himself a fortune. His specialty was young college going desperate women. But there have been children as well. They don’t provide much but money’s money. Every now and then the brother calls V to share the grief and V’s always there to listen.

As Ravi scrolled haphazardly, something caught V’s eye.

“Hey stop stop! Scroll back up. No, a little more. There. Stop!”

V looked at the face. There was no mistake. The arched eyebrows, thin nose and pouty lips and those marvels of eyes. It was her.

“Ah yes there she is”, Ravi said.

“What? What do you mean?”

“Don’t you know? Then why would you point at her?”

“Just a pretty face, I guess”, V diffused the question, “Anything specific?”

“Yeah man. She’s the one that started all this.”

V raised his eyebrows in ignorance.

Ravi shook his head, “See three years ago she was one of our products okay and you know there’s a premium section for those “extra appealing” women. She was supposed to be in there. But then someone in the firm fell for her and placed her bid. That isn’t an issue because he paid the price in full.

“The issue arose afterwards as the client, one of our own, went missing after the night and hasn’t been found since. The firm has tried desperately to look for him, not because they care for the pervert, but because of what he knows, and he seemed to vanish in thin air. His apartment and everything are sealed. This marked the beginning of sudden disappearances and deaths in the business. Sometimes the girls go missing or sometimes the client dies, both of which occurred last night. No one knows what happened, but everyone talks about it. You should know about it bro. Funny you don’t, more so considering you’ve been longer in this game than me.”

“What happened to her?”, V ignored the rest.

“Oh her? The higher ups found her. And put a bullet in between her eyebrows”, Ravi pointed a finger to the middle of his unibrow and pulled the trigger, throwing his head back imitating the impact.

The gloomy hall with its old tube lights and creaky fans added little to the silence that now hovered over V’s head. The only thing audible to him was his own pacing heartbeat. For some reason, he felt anxious. He didn’t know why but he was nervous.

“What did you say her name was?”, V almost whispered.

“Uhh…it is somewhere. Wait. Let me see…ah yes. She called herself Gauri. So, I’m trying to find the girls that she used to talk to while she was here. Turns out many of them who went missing were her friends. That cannot be a coincidence. Hey you listening…?”

V had already left.

It was around 8 in the evening and 2 hours of waiting for her, but V wasn’t tired. Her apartment was impeccably clean. For someone who had just moved in, the organisation was incredibly speedy and well done. He sat on the sofa placing his feet on the centre table. On his right was the balcony barred by sliding glass doors and to his right was the dining table. Every corner of the living room had an indoor plant. A few paintings hung on the wall behind the dining table. Only the wall he faced was empty.

Earlier he hid himself behind the bigger sofa as it sat directly facing the main door. The kitchen was immediately to the left of the entrance. He planned to hide until she went into the kitchen and grab her by surprise and violate the truth out of her mouth. But the wait was too long so he made himself comfortable on the sofa. His 0.32 Smith and Wesson snuggled in his pocket.

Just then the main door unlocked. V quickly jumped off the sofa and hid. There was the locking of door and some shuffling of feet before the noise settled down. He peered from the corner of the furniture. She wore a blue coloured suit with white trousers. Her back was facing him, and he could clearly appreciate the long black hair rolling down her back in the dimly lit room. Despite his questions and anxiety, he wanted to claw at her perfect hips. Soon, he thought, soon.

“I’ll have her for eternity.”

“Oh, would you now?”, she said without turning back.

V froze. No! That’s not her speaking. How could she? Did she read my mind? No maybe she’s talking to herself, but there’s no phone! What is this?! She sounded so direct but no I locked the door on my way in! What is this again?!

V’s hand slid into his pocket.

“Oh, that won’t be necessary dear”.

She stood directly in front of him, looking down on him with a smile on her face. V looked up. No way she walked that much of a distance in a second. What the hell is happening? Is he dreaming? Is this real? She looked pretty as ever but something had changed. He could feel the chill down his spine.

“Get up. Make yourself comfortable. We have the entire night to ourselves. It is going to be a long, painful one.”

V stood up. His legs trembled. What did she say? He couldn’t make out why or maybe he was just in denial. Gauri walked back and leaned against the dining table, never breaking her line of sight. She gazed directly at him without saying another word. Just smiling eerily. The aura around her was scary to say the least.

“Vikram Roy”, She breaks the silence. “Son of Baljit Roy. Only child. No friends. Occupation: sex trafficker. Involved in selling and occasional killing of 1713 women and children. Date of birth 12^th September 1990. Date of death­­–?”, she looked at him and smiled, “well today’s a good day to die. Isn’t it?”

V gawked at her. No one ever said this much about him. Hell; no one ever knew this much about him except himself. Who is she after all? And to top it off a death threat? Sure, she had no weapon, but he could not take any chances. He knew now what had to be done. Without wasting another moment, he drew his revolver in a flash, pointed the barrel and pulled the trigger. A loud explosion filled the room. Before he could look at his target, a searing pain grew in his hand and shot up his arm. He looked at his hand for a fleeting moment: blood. Pulling his hand back from the impact, V gave out a cry: the gun had exploded in his hand and blew his index finger off the limb, injuring the rest.

Gauri laughed heartily. “Hey, I did tell you that was unnecessary, but why do you not listen to me I wonder”.

V grabbed his hand with the other. The pain was too much. He looked at her with blood in his eyes, “Who are you?! TELL ME WHO ARE YOU?!!”

The smile on the woman’s face vanished gradually. She looked dead in his eyes and leaned away from the table. As she did, the room began to change. The darkness behind grew and engulfed the entire room including her. V now stood in complete dark. The only thing he could see was blackness. The only thing he could feel was the pain in his hand. The only thing he could hear was his heartbeat and his breaths.

“Who am I?”, a deep voice boomed in the darkness.

“Listen closely: I am what comes after nothing is left. I am what is left after age has its way. I am what rolls over the earth, the planets, the universe long after they stop breathing. I am the final signature of Time on all its masterpieces. I am what remains when nothing else remains! I Am the Mother of Fear! I Am the Devourer of Worlds! YOU WISH TO KNOW ME FOOL? I AM DEATH! LOOK UPON THY FATE FOR IT IS ME THAT YOU HAVE BROUGHT UPON YOURSELF! “

The voice grew to deafening loudness with each syllable and as She finished, immediately the darkness vanished and what V saw almost made him lose consciousness. The woman stood there or was it a woman now? She was almost 10ft tall, her head almost touching the ceiling. She wore a flowing tattered blue saree, and her skin was black. The long flowing hair now was levitating all around her head. There were lightning flashes all around her and he could swear, for a second there, that he saw multiple arms emanating from her torso. But could he believe anything now? What scared him the most was her most striking feature.

Her face: the woman had just a gnarling smile with a long tongue on her face, rest all was pitch black. The entire energy in the room was terrifying.

V trembled in terror in front of this, ghastly figure. He did not know whether what it said was true, but he felt it deep down that it was. He stood there speechless perspiring and shivering at the same time. Instinctively, he sat on his knees and joined his hands together as if begging to be spared.

She did not respond. Instead, She raised her arm and pointed towards where the balcony was. V slowly turned towards the side and immediately froze from terror. The glass door was closed. The balcony was now larger than what it was before.

There were hundreds of young women and little children standing on the other side of the door. All of them staring at V.

“1713 of them. Did you spare their lives V?”

The deep voice echoed in the room like a thunder. V stepped back, tripped and fell, unable to take his eyes off the crowd. He could see the claw marks, the scratches, the lacerations over the faces of little children and cut open skulls of women, burnt faces, torn cheeks and lips, broken jaws and bruised breasts. He could not believe his eyes. This was not happening and yet it was. What did he get himself into? How did he end up here? What is this place?

Immediately the sky outside tore to a deafening thunder and all the women and the children, who stood like statutes, instantly started shouting and screeching on the glass door. Their cries were relentless, and V shut his ears to the assault. But it was unbearable. He felt his ear bleeding and prayed the noises to stop! The sky grew louder and there started splattering of rain over the windows: it was raining blood!

“HAVE MERCY! I’LL DO ANYTHING! PLEASE MAKE THIS STOP! PLEASE!”

But there was no stopping it. The children and women started to hit ferociously on the glass doors. Their hands bleeding, their broken fingernails sticking to the glass. V knew it was only a matter of seconds before they preyed on him. Outside, the sky burned wildly with the flames covering the atmosphere. Everything was covered in fiery red.

“I BEG YOU! PLEASE I BEG YOU!!”

“Funny how this never gets old”, She said, “funny how it’s the same everyday”.

V heard and couldn’t understand what she spoke.

She sensed the confusion on his face.

“This is not your first time here V”, She said as the face grew into a smile. The teeth were now saw like.

“What?”, V could barely hear himself, “What do yo… what do you mean?”

She turned towards the only blank wall in the room. Slowly the colour started to change. V noticed there was something on the wall, no there were multiple…what is…those are tally marks! One, two, five, there were hundreds of them! All of them in blood!

“Each for every time that you’ve been here”, she said, “That is almost three years now”.

V stood there shocked and in utter disbelief. No this is not happening! It’s all a lie! The gnarling and screaming of the women and children didn’t bother him now. What did It say? Three years? No that is impossible! How could it be? I just met her today…

She came closer to V. He could feel himself imploding in her presence. Despite having no eyes, he knew It was looking directly in his.

“That man who went missing three years ago in your firm V, that was you. And you’ve been living that day since then, on repeat, again and again and again”.

V froze. “No”, he tried to say but his throat clenched somewhere.

“All that you experienced today. All those conversations, all those feelings, every single one of them was tailor made for you, for three years now, by me of course and I have been taking such a good care of you for all those years”, She said as her hand caressed his cheek.

“You sealed your fate that day V. Got yourself a, what do you say, a premium deal when you made the bid. I killed you in this room right here and delivered you myself. Don’t you recognise this? Look outside and look carefully. These are all the poor souls who suffered because you made them suffer. That’s someone’s child, someone’s wife, someone’s sister and someone’s mother. They never got to say goodbye to their families after you sold them. They never could die peacefully either; they refused to come with me. I come to men and women as they want me to. To the dying tree I come as a promise of life in a seed, to the dying river I come as a promise of the rain, to these I came as they wanted me to, in the form of a husband, father, sister, brother or mother, but they refused still. To you I came as what you wanted me to and boy you wanted me for an eternity didn’t you? Now you have me like you so desired. And I have you like they desired.

“Every day you wake up to the same sound. You eat the same food, and you meet the same beautiful woman outside your door. You make the same conversation, and you pick the same damn key. You go to the office and talk the same nonsense with your friend, and you end up in the same bloody place here!

She grabbed his arm scraped his bleeding finger against the wall and scraped it across the previous vertical marks. V cried in agony. The wall was sharp and had glass pieces protruding off the surface.

“There it is. Present for today. Welcome back home V. Shall we start?”

She threw him across the hall like he was nothing. The shrieking cries outside grew deafening with each passing second. She laughed louder and louder. V could feel his head exploding from the sheer pain and the chaos. Suddenly the glass broke, and hordes of children and women rushed into the room. They clawed, punched, kicked, tore and bit into his flesh. The agonising pain turned his eyeballs upwards and as he started to lose consciousness, She grabbed him by his throat and lifted him midair. The crowd below jumping and grabbing at his body.

“Now now, you wouldn’t want to sleep. After all we have just started boy and the night’s still young. There’s still some good news for you though: you’ll end up forgetting all of this. You’ll wake up, meet me outside your door and ultimately end up here again. And then comes the best part, this, right now. The moment when you realize that you have been doing this endlessly for so many years and that you would be doing it forever; I come for those few seconds when you realize this. The helplessness, the hopelessness. That is when you truly suffer. And that is when they truly rejoice.” and threw him back into the horde. 

He couldn’t speak. He didn’t know if he could speak anymore. Prayer was useless here. His voice lost to his thoughts. He couldn’t see anything. He was being tossed and tumbled and tore like a peice of meat thrown to the wolves. All that he existed for was the pain. Unbearable pain. He wished he would be dead. But he already was. Then darkness.

V woke up suddenly to the sound of the alarm clock: 7 ’o’ clock it said, like every beautiful morning. The continuous trilling of the hardware hit him in the head like thunderclaps and he promised himself that he would throw the nasty thing away for good, but he knew he won’t for the love of it.

The sun shined bright and white. V took a deep yawn and peeled away the curtains to the side. He slid open one of the windows and let the cool breeze in. The bright blue sky painted a wonderful background to the chirping of little birds and the neighbours on the ground floor.

“It’s going to be a great day!”, he said to himself.