The Portal

"He was so desperate. he was weak, but he didn't retreat. he dug the mud hard and moved forward. He had started it hours before. But he was not ready to give up..." Father leaned a little back to the chair and began to resume the story. Me and my little sister gazed at our father eagerly. 

"At that moonlit midnight he found it at last." 

"What was that pappa?" I asked with those curious little eyes. He smiled and replied 

"A portal... A portal to a new world. A portal where he can get back everything he has lost". 

We were mesmerized, eager to find out what happens next. 

"Hey time to go bed... resume the story tomorrow." Mother put a halt. We were too anxious to know more but relentlessly headed to the bed. Our family wasn't alone at that home that night. The city of Mirpur had human animals hiding everywhere. After we have slept, our father woke up with an unusual noise outside. He procured his revolver from the table drawer and headed to the front. Our mother, not seeing her husband in the bed gently came out of the room. She smelled something unpleasant, seeing her man carrying the revolver near the window. She slowly went near him and grabbed him tight. He pointed his finger towards the tree, to a man wearing a cloth-mask, holding a gun. He gestured towards the phone. He wanted her to call the cops, while he observes the guy. She carefully walked toward the landline making no noise. She gently took the receiver, but the man was startled by the sound of a rifle. When he turned around, what he saw was his wife falling towards the ground, bleeding, looking him helplessly. He couldn't think what to do. The guy wasn't there near the tree anymore. He knew there were more of them. He shot through the window pane pointlessly. In the next moment, we ran towards our parents frightened. Four men carrying rifles simultaneously began firing through four of the windows. 

"HIDE UNDER THE COUCH..." Father shouted. 

In the next second, I managed to crawl towards the bottom of the couch. The little girl was too startled that she couldn't even understand what was happening. In the next second, the father covered the girl with his hands and leaned down. And in the next moment, two men carrying shotguns entered the hall blowing the door. All I could see was flashing lights of rifles and bursting sounds of barrels growling. The room filled in smoke, blood, and mess. Through the narrow gap of the couch, I found a noisy boot suddenly stabbing in front of my eyes.

 Ankit jumped from bed. He started to inhale deeply, panting fast. Nila woke up, gazed at her husband in amazement.

"You saw the dream again?" 

"Yes, the same dream haunting me for the past ten years"

"You need some sleep Anki" She kept her hands firmly over his shoulder.

"I cant Nila. I'd been hearing these weird 'beeps' for almost a decade. I... I feel like unknown people speaking in my head again n again" His voice reflected depression and chaos.

Nila hugged him tight. She kissed him softly and gently pushed him to the bed.

"Why? why did they kill everyone and left me alive, to suffer?"

"Everything will be alright. I'm here for you" Ankit closed his eyes, burst into sleep feeling the warm hug of his wife.

Ankit couldn't wake up till ten. He was insomniac throughout the night. Every night Nila used to hear him murmuring some vocals during sleep. 

"Critical", "Drop", "Visitors", "Ventilator" These were the commonly repeated syllables.

When Ankit got up Nila had already finished a couple of sudokus and a crossword from the daily.

"How are you feeling now?"

"Much better"

"Just turn off the stove after fifteen minutes. I'm gonna have a shower " Nila instructed and headed to the bathroom.

Ankit stared at the yellow morning sky for a few moments. He was lying. He was still hearing the vocals and the beeping noise. He had been hearing it all the time since the incident. Nila was Ankit's classmate since childhood. But there were secrets he didn't want to reveal her. 

After few minutes Nila came back. She managed to dry her brown hair up in a cotton towel.

"Anki, Had coffee?" Enquired the woman

"No Nila just in a hangover"

"What hangover, Get fresh up. I'm preparing..." She paused for a millisecond "You forgot to turn the stove off? My Upma !!!"

"There are ten more seconds to fifteen minutes Nila"

"I'd been there for almost twenty minutes Anki" She ran to the kitchen. But she was shocked. Her Upma was perfect. 

"You thought I was lying? "

"Anki... Our clock is not working. The phone is dead." Her face lit with a lite drop of suspicion. "But your timing was intact. It had already been."

"What are you talking about Nila?" Ankit couldn't catch up.

"Are you hiding something?"

"What?"

"You can't escape. answer me"

On either side of the table they sat. Ankit gripped the coffee cup tight. Softly took a sip of hot coffee, gazed at Nilas curious face. Using her face, She commanded him to proceed.

"Nila you have been living with me for five years. We know each other since childhood. But you don't know me well. I... I'm not hearing these sounds only in my dreams. I'm hearing them all the time. You know that beep tone, I'm hearing them exactly single seconds apart. That's how I could count seconds and sometimes, minutes"

Nila went serious. She stared at him, raising her head. "That's impossible Anki. If... If you are hearing imaginary sounds in your head, there is no chance it would be periodic"

"I don't know Nila. I don't know what's happening to me. I thought you will think I'm mad."

"Never in a million years Ankit" She held his hand in hers. "We will figure this out, together"

Her words gave him hope and confidence. "Nila, correct me if I'm wrong" he moved forward "All those vocals I hear all the time, I think they are trying to convey some message. Leave it if it sounds weird"

"Anki... As far as I'm concerned, there is something beyond our senses going on with you. we need to explore it." Her words were firm with determination. "Give me those words"

"What? are you serious?"

"I'm on it Anki. Gimme the words"

"Ok mainly they are... Ventilator, Medicines, Critical, Observation..."

"I want all of them"

"She was much confident in her decryption skills. The daily mail puzzles had given a bulge in her left-brain. She collected all the words. She began working on it letting her husband, fresh up. 

 "Those words can have different explanations Anki, different patterns, different meanings. what I found more appealing is... this one" Nila introduced a sheet of paper where she had carefully drawn some blueprints. What he could see were a few arrows pointing towards different directions. She introduced her idea "It seems like a ..."

"A map?" Ankit clarified

"Yeah looks like one. Everything in perfect match. But... where is it led to?"

Ankit looked straight. inhaled deeply and said "The portal"

"Portal?"

"My father's stories had the depiction of a portal. A portal that gives you back everything you've lost."

Ankit took the sheet, placed it in his hands he managed to assign the directions to everything in the house. His fingers moved through the path as if he travels. It stopped at where it ends. He pointed to the direction.

"I think its there"

"The bedroom? If it was there, then why couldn't we see that so far" Nila was still confused. 

"It's not above the ground, Nila. It's underneath. I have to dig here"

Nila burst into tears. Is her husband out of his mind? Should she support him? She wiped the tear droplets and said "I don't know anything. Do what you think is right." 

The floor tiles were hard. But they acted like pieces of chocolate for his sharp mattock. It pierced through the floor, made it dust and flakes. Each of his strokes were hard and accelerated than the earlier ones. Nila was standing beside, not knowing what to express. as time passed Ankit tore the land down wider and deeper. Ankit felt himself like the guy in his father's stories. Time flew like a fast river in rage. Finally he became tired. Nila with her watering eyes shouted. 

"There is only mud and rock Anki. Come back. I can't watch this anymore" She sobbed.

Few droplets of tears appeared in front of Ankit's eye bags. He threw the weapon away into the half-broken soil, knelt and wept. Nila wanted to scream. But she pressed her mouth hard. 

 It was like a blooming flower, but lightning quickly that a transition came to appear on her face. Through the tears blocking her vision, she managed to see something. The more she stared, the more she couldn't follow. It was dark. But it was glittering.

"Anki..." She called. She pointed him out something near the crack where he threw the mattock. Through the crack, something was visible emitting light. Suddenly the crack got extended to the wall of the pit he made. The soil around a little portion of the wall got engulfed by a dark circle that went bigger. It emitted light. He couldn't see anything. It was whirling with a growl. 

"What's happening Anki? I don't understand anything" Nila shouted. Her wonder knew no bounds.

"I think its happening Nila... I have to go." Ankit had already fallen into his wonderland. 

"Waite Anki, I think something is not right."

"What are you saying Nila?"

"Do you remember what happened after you crawled underneath the sofa?" asked Nila

"Yeah, That's how I got escaped, right? " He paused for a moment, began to recall some of his memories

"Are you sure that you got escaped? Are you able to remember what happened afterward"

 Through the narrow gap of the couch, I found a noisy boot suddenly stabbing in front of my eyes...

... A man carrying a shotgun bent downward. He was checking everything underneath. He couldn't find me. He was beginning to leave. But suddenly I exhaled. He found the dust moving from underneath the couch. He knelt, looked inside, found me. He smiled at me. Pointed the gun on my head. FIRED.

"I was shot. Am I dead??? Then who am I???"

"You probably are not dead. But anytime you may" she said.

"I don't understand Nila"

"Older Ankit doesn't exist. So is older Nila. You still are sixteen year old Ankit Krishna. Your parents and little sister were dead two hours before. Now you are in a hospital bed, in the critical care unit"

 In the bed he was lying motionless.

"The situation is too CRITICAL" Said the doctor.

The doctors and caretakers were too busy. they were trying hard to save his life.

"Check the VENTILATOR, Nisha"

"VISITORS were waiting outside doc, they were asking about the condition"

"Tell he is still in OBSERVATION"

"Get the MEDICINES"

The room was noisy for the past couple of hours. The ICU Monitor produced its "BEEP"s in regular intervals.

 Ankit stood steady. He felt frozen. He couldn't devise a decision. Looked at Nila in vein. 

"The bullet would've pierced through Neocortex of your brain. The kitchen of imaginations. Your brain is now able to process only the recurring vocals. Your imagination would've got stimulated. Using the words and sounds you hear, your brain made up a story, mixing all the essential memories and characters. You get saved, you grow up, we get married, you find a way to fix everything"

"Oh my god whats the reality??? What should I believe" His voice was trembling. He felt like its freezing like snow. He couldn't bear the frigidity. He had to go on. 

"No... Don't go there. That's not a portal you think. Behind that, It's not a new world. It's a veil between your life and your death. You cross it, you diminish from the world" Nila said with an evil smile.

"Be a lamb and come back" She added.

He began to retreat. But he found his steps heavy, his legs hurt. He felt like something wants him to pull him back. He felt it too hard to make a move.

"I won't believe you...." Ankit shouted jumped to the glistening warm hole in front. 

"Doc, the heartbeats are getting critical"

"We are losing him"

Then he could hear more vocals. They were clear. He was flowing like a paper aircraft. The recurring beep sound which was alerting him changed into a single tone without break. It jumped from scales to scales. He felt as if someone playing a lullaby. Now he feels even lighter. He feels like something carrying him in its hand. He gently closed his eyes and managed to enjoy its aesthetics. When he opened his eyes he was in a new world. There was nothing at all. It was white everywhere. He could walk, but couldn't find what he is walking on. It was just one color everywhere. White. When he turned around, he saw a mirror. He seems beautiful and happy. He was amazed when he realized he could touch and hold his reflection.

"It's not a mirror Ankit"

"You look like me. You were a person?"

"I don't know Ankit"

"Who are you then. Where am I now?"

"I don't know anything Ankit. I know only one thing. You chose death"

"No, I was helpless. I was in a dilemma. There was nobody to guide me"

"It's up to you Ankit. According to the schedule, You are gonna have another life"

The mother was crying relentlessly in bed. The nurses stood near her consoling. 

"Is there any problem Sita?"

"Everything seems normal doctor. But the baby feels reluctant to come out"

Ankit couldn't accept anything.

"I want my life back. I don't wanna reborn"

"The baby is coming doc," Sita said

"Ananya please help her"

"Its impossible Ankit. Your old frame can no longer accommodate life. You have to go to your new life-line"

"Here comes the cutie pie." Ananya pampered the baby.

"The baby isn't moving Doctor.." She got alarmed 

"It's not even crying?" Sita went nervous

"Hey I want my old life back. It's not fair"

The reflection smiled and turned back. It walked and quickly got disappeared.

"Hey where did you go. Don't mess with me. I want my life back...."

"I WANT MY LIFE BAAAAAAK" he screamed aloud. 

"Oh, Thank god. The baby is crying" Said the mother

"Oooh little sweety. don't cry baby. See here's your mother" Ananya hander over the baby to its mother.

 A girl was sitting on the hospital bench trying to fill sudoku boxes she found in the newspaper.

"Nila..." Father came near her. 

"Lucky girl... you've become the sister of a baby boy"

"So sweet papa. How is mama?" She was too excited.   

"Mama is fine sweety. You got any name for your brother?"

"mmmm... What about 'Ankit' papa?"

He smiled and caressed her hair. "Your friend's name? why not. He was such a good guy"

When they headed to see the baby, the tubes and monitors were being disconnected from Ankit's body, lying motionless in the CCU room nearby. The Doctor turned off the monitor producing a sharp single beep tone rather than the recurring one.