Blast From The Past - The Incident

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Catch the previous chapters of the story here :

1. Chapter One
2. Chapter Two
3. Chapter Three

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The Incident

The next day in college was uneventful,Mr L was normal as usual as if nothing had happened the night before, i tried to play along but kept my distance from Mr L.I had decided not to come out to him in college, his reactions were unpredictable and a scene was something i wanted to avoid, so i marked the coming Saturday when we had a off from college as the D Day.

The weekend finally arrived. We had a tuition class together i thought i will talk with him after that. We didn't have any fixed time for the class, it was a lab session, so we were actually free to come and go at anytime only requirement was to complete the experiments at the end of month. Mr L and I usually used to sit together and share the apparatus, that day also we were on the same table doing an experiment. I was thinking telling him something like 'I am gay' out of the blue seemed very illogical so i was waiting for a way to ease it into a conversation, Mr L only gave me a break, "You wanna call it a day and end this i am not feeling like to continue anymore"."Sure why not, what do you wanna do then i have time till evening ?" i asked.

We decided for a movie. There was neither any good English nor Hindi movie on, so we settled for a regional Malayalam one.The movie was titled 'ChanduPottu', i had suggested the movie with an ulterior motive in mind.The title refers to a type of bindi worn by women in southern parts of india which basically is like a water colour which solidifies after putting on the forehead. But the movie was not centered around women it was actually about a guy who was more in touch with his feminine side. After watching the trailers i had thought it dealt with homosexuality and that was why i had insisted L to go for this movie, but later i found out the guy in the movie although had feminine gestures but was straight and the reason for his girlish nature was shown as lack of a father figure in his life.

As we were proceeding for the ticket counter, Mr L said, 'I am a bit short of money what you say we take the seats downstairs which are cheaper ?', I gave him an approving nod and we approached the separate counter for the cheaper tickets, it was located in the basement of the theater complex and to control the crowds the ticket lanes were fitted with Iron railing from roof to the floor, it almost felt like being in prison. The place was looking deserted today and kind of creepy , I asked L "You sure the counter has opened i can see no one around, looks empty." Mr L dismissed me with a waving hand and asked me to follow him. I was feeling as if something was not right and my fears were going to turn into nightmare.

Mr L was walking in front of me and then suddenly i heard noises from my back, it was as if 3-4 guys were coming our way i was relieved thinking that at least someone else was here. 4 guys came from the back and i felt someone grabbing hold of my shoulders in an attempt to stop me from moving further , at the same moment a guy rushed past me and pinned Mr L against the iron railings. It happened so fast i didn't know how to react and just a gasp escaped my mouth as i was also pinned to the railings. I just couldn't get my head around what was happening it was when Mr L said "What the f*** ? what do you guys want ?" i came back to my senses.The first thought that came to me was these must be Mr L's friends playing some joke on us, but when i saw a sharp looking knife in one of the hands i realized this is no joke.

I could feel the railing piercing my chest and tried to shake the Big guy who was holding me down but all effort in vain.I could see Mr L also trying to fight off his way to freedom with no success. "Check him" the thug who held me down ordered, hinting at me. I felt a pair of hands inspecting my back pocket and retrieving my wallet. It was basically empty apart from some Rs 10 notes for my ride home back in bus."This is freaking empty man" the guy announced after checking the contents.I was still telling myself this is all just a joke and somebody will put this cruel joke to an end soon, but the events had just begun to unfold.

I could notice the third guy checking Mr L's wallet only to find nothing again. The group of 4 was getting furious with no result of their hunt. Mr L was still trying to get loose, and he got a chance to shake the guy on him loose and give him blow in the guts with his elbow. Watching this the other two crashed hard on Mr L, Mr L felt to ground and they were kicking him mercilessly, i started screaming and yelling but no one was to around to hear them this was a closed basement and the only exit was around the ticket counter to other side of the railings. "You bloody guys don't have anything of use, you have wasted our time now your friend is going to pay for it." said the guy who was pinning me down. I was feeling helpless not able to help Mr L in any way suddenly i felt some thing cold against my chest.


To be continued...