Avanthika & Lucia

Havelock Road was deserted at that time of the night. Lucia knew that there would be no single soul in sight. Ootacamund was a sleepy town where people retired to their beds at 9.30 PM; she  was the only one walking on the street. Wrapping herself with a jerkin and a shawl, she adjusted the scarf around her face, with the exception of her eyes. Those honey-coloured eyes were enough to entice anyone. Her jet-black curly springs of tendrils were tied into a ponytail. She wore no accessories, as she wasn’t a sucker for ornaments or jewellery. Her saffron coloured tank top, paired with blue jeans, complemented her bronze skin tone. She just had a black leather clutch with her. Nothing else. She did not even have her stylish iPhone 8, which she had used to flaunt to her friends.

As she walked, her eyes wandered hither and thither. She didn’t want to bump into anyone, accidentally. She wanted to liberate herself from the suffocation she was subjected to, for a year. She craved her independence. She wanted to embrace serenity with open arms. She wanted back her own positive self, which she had painfully lost. Her timeless cravings and unattainable wishes were the only reasons for her journey to Ooty. She wished to escape from the bustling city life and a ruthless relationship, which had led her to do things that she’d never done.

She had suffered in the hands of her so-called boyfriend, who gave her nothing but sorrow. His insidiousness had seared through her nerves and made her commit blunders.

She needed peace. Her heart longed to wash away her sins. Slowly she made her way to Snowdon Road. Her eyes captured a few hotels and eateries. Entering a three-star hotel, she booked a room to spend the night. She needed time to think about her next move. ‘A good night’s sleep would do wonders,’ she thought and instantly drifted into sleep on the cozy white bed.

*****

Avanthika stayed in a simple yet elegant cottage house in Sheddon Road. Though Ooty was her hometown, she moved to Chennai along with her family to pursue a course in archaeology. She loved her native place and paid frequent visits. Her father had built the cottage as a homestead for tourists. That was years ago. It had been functioning as a tourists’ haven until Avanthika expressed her desire to convert it into a retreat for her. A loving dad, Mr. Vaidhyanathan had the cottage renovated according to his daughter’s desires. Since then, she had paid three visits and stayed in the lovely wooden cottage house. Never once, she had ventured into her ancestral house, which was situated in Lovedale. The house had been locked since their departure to Chennai. Vaidhyanathan was waiting for a good deal to sell the magnificent house.

Though Avanthika had visited Lovedale for a reunion with her school friends, she did not even look around her family’s precious property. Not even the endearing garden around the house could take the 28-year-old to it.

“Akka! Please sweep the steps also, mud from the postman’s shoes has dirtied them,” she requested the maid Kalyani.

 “Okay, Ma, I will sweep,” came Kalyani’s polite reply.

Seating herself on a swing chair, Avanthika opened the envelope, which the postman had given her. It was a letter from her father.

‘Ufff! I wonder why Appa still writes letters to me. Can’t he send me a message through WhatsApp?’ she thought sulkily.

She rocked back and forth, as she read the letter. The paragraph after the initial pleasantries startled her. Her father had written about their house in Lovedale.

“Our house in Lovedale has been my pride. Though I haven’t received a good deal to sell it, I earnestly wish that the house would be maintained properly. It has been abandoned for many years. You have paid three earlier visits and you didn’t even think about the house. Please do visit it. Ask Kalyani and Ramayya to clean the house. There aren’t many things in it, just some furniture in the hall and the living room. I am sure you’d be struck by nostalgia if you visit it. God knows, you might find something that would be useful to you.”

Though Avanthika deeply detested the idea of visiting the old worn-out house, something struck her like a thunderbolt. Immediately she made plans to visit the house in the evening.

“Kalyani akka, we’re visiting our house in Lovedale today. Appa has asked Ramayya and you to clean the entire house thoroughly. Also, I have to retrieve something from there,” She spoke hastily.

“Okay, Ma, we will go.” She paused. “What do you want to retrieve from there?”

“It’s a time capsule which I’d buried when I was a 21-year-old.”

“What is a time capsule?” asked Kalyani quizzically.

“Never mind, it needs a lot of explanation. Just be there at 4.30 PM.”

“Okay, Ma.”

*****

Avanthika never expected to find an iPhone 8 in the place where she’d buried her time capsule. She was awestruck by the sight of it.

“Is this the time capsule, which you spoke about, Ma?” asked Kalyani innocently.

Avanthika was too dumbfounded to answer her. She found that the phone had 50% charge and the SIM was intact. She also found a few missed calls and SMSes. Curiosity overpowered her and she pressed the Messages icon.

Where are you Lucia? Why aren’t you attending my calls?

The work is done Lucia.

Will you please attend my call?

There were no more messages. It was from a contact named Douglas. The same person had also made the calls. The messages were received the previous evening. Avanthika could not believe that someone had buried an expensive iPhone in the same place where she had buried her love letters to her ex-boyfriend, Roshan, clippings from newspapers, a few photos, and a personal diary which recorded the period of her depression and healing, as a time capsule.

 “I don’t know what to do, Kalyani akka. This phone does not belong to me. How did someone bury this in our garden?” Avanthika began ranting.

“Perhaps someone found it no more useful,” replied Kalyani.

“No! No one would be so insane as to bury an iPhone. I don’t know who this Douglas and Lucia are.”

Avanthika vowed to solve the mystery of the buried iPhone soon. Suddenly, all hell broke loose when the phone began to ring around 6.30 PM, when she was resting in her own bedroom. The display flashed ‘Douglas’. With shivering hands, she attended the call.

 “Hello,” she said carefully.

“Where the hell are you, Lucia? Why the fuck aren’t you attending my calls since yesterday?”

“I..I..” Avanthika began stammering. Though her mind screamed at her to reveal the truth about the phone, her abundant inquisitiveness prodded her to lead the conversation and know more about the caller.

“Okay, listen. I don’t need any of your explanations. There's a lot to be said. I have murdered Robert with a kitchen knife. A series of stabs. That’s it. He was gone. He struggled for a few moments and then died….”

As Avanthika listened to the horrifying murder confession, she moved towards a table and brought out a notepad from one of its drawers.

“….I have buried the body in the dumpyard behind that house in Velachery. You know that house, right? I need you here right now, so that we can plan our next move. The chapter of Robert is closed. The next in the queue is Vishnu.”

The caller ended his speech there. Silence prevailed at the other end. Avanthika’s hands were busy noting down all the details about the murder.

“Hello? Lucia, are you there? Did you listen to me?”

“Yes - Yes, Douglas..” Avanthika whispered.

“Douglas? You’ve never called me like that.”

Avanthika’s heart thudded against her rib cage. “There are police around me,” she continued whispering.

“Police? Did something happen to you? Did you get caught?”

“No. I'll call you back later.”

“Okay, I can understand. Meet you at my house then. Bye.”

Avanthika ended the call. Her limbs were shivering and her forehead was covered in sweat beads. She plopped down on a chair beside her and contemplated the event.

‘Oh my God! This Douglas has murdered someone. Can I believe it? I have just listened to a murder confession from the murderer,’ she thought, but there were many unanswered questions swarming through her mind.

‘Who is this Douglas? Who is Lucia? Why did she bury her phone in my garden? What is she doing in Ooty when the caller is expecting her in Chennai? Who is Robert? Why was he murdered? Who is Vishnu? Why is he going to be murdered? And why the hell did I find the phone in the place of my memorabilia?!’

Setting aside the riddle, she decided upon something, which would provide her the required answers. “Police!” she exclaimed and dialled the Police Control Room.

*****

The next day, every newspaper in India flashed the headlines “Most wanted assassin Douglas held”. The news report explained how Douglas had been a contract killer to Purushothaman. Lucia was Douglas’ girlfriend. Though she was not involved in any of the murders, she had dated him, despite knowing that he was an assassin. The news report further stated that Lucia was absconding. Police were on a lookout for her.

 Avanthika was elated for two reasons. The first one was - she had helped the police in catching a most-wanted assassin and the second one was - her identity was not revealed to the media and not a word about the buried phone was written. The phone was not anymore useful to the police in finding Lucia. She had abandoned it purposely. However, her choice of the burial place indicated the fact that she was somewhere in Ooty. Avanthika wished that she would be nabbed soon. She also felt sorry that she couldn’t find her original time capsule which had contained a huge portion of her soul. She visited the garden once again and dug the place around the button roses. Her time capsule had just vanished!

*****

Wherever Lucia went, she could see her posters stuck on the walls with a caption ‘Wanted’. She covered herself in a burqa whenever she ventured out. She was staying in the same old inn where she had booked a room for a single night. Circumstances forced her to stay in the hotel under the identity of ‘Ayisha’. The staff at that edgy three-star lodge, which was also a home for escort services, didn't check her identity proof. She thought she could regain her peace of mind by running away from Douglas but her world came tumbling down by his arrest and a nationwide search for her. She assumed that a large tip-off might have led to his arrest, but she never suspected her buried phone. That was the reason, which made her visit Avanthika’s family house in Lovedale once again. To her surprise, the house had undergone renovation and it was painted freshly.

Fear pounded in her heart as she thought about the prospect of her phone being discovered and being the prime reason for Douglas’ arrest and her own dejected state. She looked around to make sure that no one was following her or spying on her. Though she had chosen 6.30 AM as the time to visit the house, she still feared that she might be caught red-handed. As she neared the garden, another fear gripped her. She couldn’t remember the exact spot where she’d buried the phone.

'Oh my god! Where did I bury it? I should retrieve it fast. I am running out of time. Someone might discover me.'

Then she found the pink hue of button roses. She began digging the mud slowly. But the phone wasn’t there! She felt petrified. Yet her inner voice told her to move farther and dig. She listened to her heart, moved to the other side of the roses and began digging. Halfway down, her hand hit something hard. She pulled it out with all her strength. Well, it wasn’t her phone. It was a rectangular metal box with a latch. She opened it and rummaged through the contents. It contained a leather-bound diary, some letters & photos, and a few newspaper clippings.

‘What the hell are these? Where is my phone?!’

Half-an-hour later, she gave up her search. Realization dawned upon her. Someone had discovered her phone.

‘He or she must have attended Douglas’ call pretending to be me.’

‘Maybe this memorabilia would tell me who the person was.’

Picking up the metal box, she stood up and dusted herself. She came to the Lovedale Road and boarded a bus to Coimbatore, intelligently hiding herself in the burqa.

*****

‘So, it is Avanthika,’ thought Lucia, as she read the letters that Avantika wrote to her ex-boyfriend. Resentment overflowed in her as images of Avanthika discovering the phone and complaining to the police flashed before her. She was filled with vengeance. She read the rest of the letters with gritted teeth. Her displeasure increased in having discovered Avanthika as the one who had ruined her life.

‘After the hullabaloo about my search dies down, I will find this Avanthika and kill her.’ Lucia’s Douglas-induced murderous streak came to the fore. ‘Let me read her personal diary to know more about her.’

As she opened the first page of the diary, a photo of the then Avanthika was pasted on it. Walnut skin tone, fish-shaped eyes lined with thick kohl, silky hair tied in a ponytail tail, and perfectly aligned jaw line, were her distinguishing features.

‘She looks good, but that wouldn’t deviate me from my mission of murdering her,’ Lucia thought wickedly and continued to read the diary.

As she kept reading the pages of Avanthika’s life, her episode of depression, and her healing, a mesmerizing emotion enveloped her. She was enchanted by the way in which Avanthika had expressed herself. Joys, sorrows, problems, deaths, heartbreaks, successes, and failures were wonderfully portrayed by her. Lucia’s anger began to abate gradually. She lost herself in the maze of words, which Avanthika had woven intricately.

Avantika’s advice and quotes were erasing her negative thoughts. It was like reading one of Sylvia Plath's journals. She wished that she could taste those words, chew them and digest them. She could feel something dying within her and that something was resentment. The poison that had flowed through her body disappeared before she reached the last line of the diary.

After she closed the diary, droplets of tears fell from her eyes. She couldn’t control her emotions, even though she was sitting in a crowded bus.

'It has been a long time since I’ve cried. And it feels good now. Thank you, Avanthika, for everything.' Her thoughts began to fill with empathy for Avanthika who completely changed her life within the pages of an old diary.

*****

Months later, Lucia joined as an English teacher in a school in the dainty and picturesque hill station of Valparai. Detached from every material thing, she began to live a peaceful life. She carried Avanthika’s diary wherever she went. She meditated upon it whenever she felt remorseful.

Lucia’s buried iPhone led Avanthika to discover Douglas and end a series of assassinations, while Avanthika’s diary eliminated the venom from Lucia’s life and changed her completely. They had helped each other, unknown to each other, with their buried items.