029 Kidnappers

Days passed one by one. Mom continued getting bigger and bigger. So dad arranged a maid.

The election was finally declared. Dad's boss, Johny Vargheese declared his candidacy. This created big news in our area. Because dad's work in the past five months had made him pretty famous. On top of that, dad used many other tricks to make it news to attract public interest. I will explain them later if anyone is interested in boring political tactics. Anyway, dad's actions added a bit of pressure on the other contestants.

As usual, dad had gone to work in the morning. Mom was in the kitchen doing something and the maid had left as her morning duty was over. I, Doodu and Anu were on the bed. Anu was playing a children's cartoon on mom's mobile phone and we were all watching it. Doodu was on her left shoulder and I was on her right. Doodu had grown up a lot in the last few months. He was already bigger than me. But he still acted like a puppy. Dad always blamed Anu for spoiling him.

The ghost girl, Priya wasn't with us. Today morning the clock stopped running. It was an old-style pendulum clock that needed key winding every few days. Dad forgot to key it and so it was dead. Every time the clock stopped, Priya would be locked inside. So we played inside the room so that she won't be lonely.

I heard someone ringing the doorbell and mom went to talk to the visitor.

At first, they were talking normally. But then suddenly their voice raised.

"Since you don't want to listen when I am asking politely, I will do it the hard way." I heard the stranger's voice from outside and I was alarmed.

"I am not lying. Just listen..." Mom was trying to explain something to the stranger.

"I have nothing more to talk to you. Where are your kids?"

"Why do you want to see my kids?"

"We are taking them away. You and your husband can think about it and contact us later." The stranger replied.

"Kidnappers!" Anu exclaimed.

I was also shocked. I wracked my brain. In my previous life, there were indeed some talks about a failed kidnap attempt. But I never knew the details.

Anu suddenly got out of bed. She forcefully dragged me out of the bed and pushed me under it. It took me a few seconds to understand what was happening. By the time I understood what she was doing, I was under the bed.

"There she is." The stranger came into the room. He was followed by a burly man. Mom was trying to stop them.

I was scared and didn't know what to do. My entire body felt limp.

"Stop there. Do you know the consequences of what you are doing? I am a pregnant woman and my children are preteens..."

"Ya ya ya... Don't worry. Nothing bad will happen as long as your husband agrees to give me what I want." The uninvited guest replied. He was a man in his twenties.

"There is nothing like that. You are wasting your time and risking your father's reputation." Mom tried to convince the man.

"We both know that's not true. Johny is nothing but a pawn in the hands of your husband. If the current situation continues, my dad will lose. So tell me what your husband is using to control Johny and no one will get hurt." The invader threatened.

I peeked from below the bed.

A young man was talking to mom. He had a gun in his hands. Anu was in his hands. A burly man was behind him. He had a long metal pipe in his hand. Mom was standing against the wall. She was truly scared.

Doodu was calmly standing on the side while watching every move of the guy who was holding Anu's arm. I looked at his calm squinting eyes. It was the eyes of extreme rage, waiting for a moment to strike.

If only the ghost girl was here. I looked at the clock.

Strangely, the clock was trembling. It was swinging left and right on the nail. She was trying to get out.

'What do I do?' After the initial panic, I calmed down and started thinking. Only then did I notice the mobile phone that was dropped near me when Anu was pushing me under the bed.

'Should I call the police?'

'No. That will take a lot of time.'

'Should I call dad? He is somewhere nearby.'

'No even that will take time. What to do?'  My brain was heating up.

In my previous life, the kidnapping attempt failed. So, if my guess is correct, Priya broke the clock and came out. She then saved everyone. She had once mentioned that breaking the clock was the way to free her.

So one option was to do nothing and wait for Priya to break the clock and save us. But there was a small chance of my presence changing that future. I couldn't take that risk.

"Take your phone and call your husband." The invader ordered.

"Yes. yes... Please... Please calm down. We will do whatever you say. Just point that thing away from my daughter." Mom was begging him not to point his gun at Anu.

"Where is your son?" He asked mom.

"He is with our dad," Anu replied before mom could answer.

"You left your baby with your husband?" The man was suspicious.

"Alex has gone to meet my parents. My parents had disavowed me after I married Philip without their permission. So I am not welcome there." Mom instantly made up a lie on the spot. But what she said about her parents was true.

"That's not good. Kidnapping him would have been a lot easier as he wouldn't run away." The invader made a poor joke and laughed.

"No. He poops a lot. Do you know how to change a diaper?" Anu started a serious conversation with the invader.

"Fine. Call your husband. I don't have time to babysit. Once we get what we want, we will leave." The invader didn't want to drag this on.

"I... I can't find my mobile phone." Mom started looking for the phone.

"Don't stall for time. Get the phone and call now." The invader was getting angry.

Mom desperately looked for the phone. "Anu, where is the phone?" Suddenly she remembered and turned towards Anu.

"There it is." The burly fellow, who was silent till then suddenly noticed me and the phone under the bed.

"Interesting! It turned out that the little girl and you lied about the boy." The burly man laughed as he took the phone from me. He didn't bother to pick me up. Mom was shocked to see me in the reach of the enemies.

"Huh! This little fellow was taking a selfie." He commented as he checked the phone.

"Kids these days... Wait why are there emojis floating on the screen?" He turned the phone towards the invader.

"What emojis? Wait... That's not a selfie. That's Facebook live you, idiot!" The invader screamed.

I smiled.

Just a couple of minutes before, I turned on the phone and started a Facebook live, broadcasting everything that was happening at our house. Mom had hundreds of followers and so within seconds, there were dozens of people watching. Just before the burly man grabbed the phone, I changed it to the front camera.

'Crack...' The burly man folded and broke the phone with his bare hands.

"Don't... You dumb shit! How are we going to delete the video now?" The invader roared in anger. It turned out that the burly man was really dumb.

At the same time, the clock was shaking even harder.

"You... Delete that video now." The invader roared toward   mom. He was now scared.

"Yes. yes... My computer is outside if I can..."

"Go. Your son and daughter will stay with me."

Mom nodded and ran out. The burly guy followed mom. Once mom was outside, the invader eased up and removed the gun from Anu's head. He was worried about the video. He continued murmuring insults at the burly man.

At the same time, Doodu slowly moved closer to me. I do not know what he was planning. But I had another plan. I sat up and murmured in his ear. "The clock will fall down at any moment. When that happens, steal the gun and pass it to mom. Do not worry about us. Elder sister will take care of us."

Doodu nodded in response. 'Wuuu... wu wu...' He said something to Anu. I did not understand what he said.

'CRASH...' As if to prove me right, the clock fell down with a loud noise. The invader was shocked and he turned around.

That was the distraction Doodu wanted all along. He rushed forward like a bolt of lightning. He jumped up and bit the hand of the invader that was holding the gun.

"Aarhhh..." He screamed in pain as he tried to free his hand.

At the same time, Anu ran forward. She grabbed me by my cloth and rushed out of the room. While being dragged out of the room, I saw a form coming out of the broken clock on the floor.

Priya was finally free.

She was wearing a white dress. Her eyes were red like blood and her nails were long like claws. Her canines were long and dripping blood. She had long horns coming out of her head and a red tail with a pointed end. Finally, she took the form Anu wanted for her.

"What happened?" The burly man rushed to the room ignoring me and Anu.

Mom was following him. But once she saw us, she took me, grabbed Anu's arm, and ran out. Within seconds, we were out of the house and running away. Soon after, Doodu came out of the house and followed us.

'Bang.. bang... bang...'  Bullets were continuously fired inside the house.

Before we ran too much, we met up with villagers and neighbours who were rushing to the house. They came with jeeps and other vehicles.

"We saw the Facebook live and came running." One villager explained as he helped mom to get inside the jeep.

Everything after that was handled by the villagers.

We were all sent to the hospital. Mom was eight months pregnant. So everyone was extremely worried about her. Dad heard about it and he met us at the hospital. The police went to our home to arrest the kidnappers.

At the hospital, mom got thorough medical assistance. I and Anu were left with Lakshmi aunty. Because dad was in no shape to take care of us. He was terrified and completely out of his mind. So Lakshmi aunty took us with her. Also, Anu needed help from a psychiatrist to take care of the trauma.

[Will continue in the next chapter.]

___________________________

Please vote and comment.

Thank you.