"Hey, wake up, kid."
hearing someone call him to wake up, not to the sensation of hanging by his hand in a bloodied room.
but to the soft sense of a bed.
He opens his eyes to see a clean new roof.
From the corner of his eyes, he saw a man wearing a clean white dress.
Jishnu sat up on the bed and looked at the man.
The man in the white attire looked like an angel, with a face that was around his 40s, which suited him.
But after hearing his voice, he knew this man was no angel but a devil in human skin.
as it was Philip in his librarian uniform.
"Where am I?" Jishnu asked as he tried his best to act calm and not lash out at him in anger.
Seeing the calm demeanor of the child, Philip was surprised, but he did not let it come into his act.
"You're at my house; I saved you from them."
Philip said.
(You are the reason I was kidnapped in the first place, you fucker.) Jishnu thought to himself as he showed a frightened face, remembering that incident.
Jishnu was not a great actor but could control his emotions well.
"Don't be scared; you're safe now," Philip said with a concerned face.
"Am I?" Jishnu said as he pulled out all his acting skills he ever had at this single point in his new life to survive another day.
seeing the scared face.
"Alex did his job well; now it's my turn," Philip thought with a wicked smile.
"Yes, you are safe now; don't be scared," Philip said as he came before him to pet him.
but seeing Philip's hand come to him
Jishnu avoided it without even needing to act, as deep inside he felt fear for this unknown man.
"It's better to fear the unknown than face it recklessly when you're weak."
Jishnu knew this well and did not want to face or struggle against this man, who was unknown to him.
"He might be scared,"
seeing jishnu retracting his head backwards Philip thought.
"I need to take it slow; only then can I milk this cow," Philip thought as he retracted his hand.
"Kid, you should take some rest; your wounds are quite serious, mainly your hands that were ripped open when I got you." He said this to Jishnu as he stood up.
"There is some food and water here you can eat when you feel hungry," Philip said as he pointed at a table where a close pot and two upside-down plates were set up.
On the side, there was a big barrel of water.
"Oo, I forgot the doctor said you need at least 2 weeks of rest, so don't jump around the room, just stay on the bed."
Hearing this, Jishnu understood that he was trapped here for the next two weeks.
"It's time to go," Philip said as he moved to the door.
but he suddenly stopped before the door and turned back.
"Oh, by the way, my name is Philip Larkin; what's your name?" He asked as he was one step away from the door.
"Jishnu"
Jishnu knew that Philip knew his name and was just asking for the act.
"Okay, Jishnu, get well soon," Philip said as he closed the door on his way out.
The moment the door was closed, Jishnu started to count.
"1...2...3..."
"4...5...6..."
"7...8...9..."
"10..."
....
...
...
...
....
"300"
When the countdown hit 300, he rushed to the door.
He tried to open it, but it was locked.
"Fuck, I need to find a way out of here," he said to himself as he looked around to see a window.
He moved towards it and opened the window to see a scene different from his village, where the only tallest building was the orphanage.
but here it was different, as if.
"I am in a city," Jishnu said to himself as he saw the rushing market and many more people dressed in clothes he could not imagine in the village.
just like a fantasy story based on medieval Europe.
Some even had swords around their waists.
"I can't escape from here."
After realizing where he was, Jishnu understood that he couldn't escape without a proper plan.
He rushed through his mind to make a plan that would help him escape.
His rush of thoughts stopped when he felt a stinging pain all over his body.
He looked at his body to see bandages rap around his hands, stomach, and chest.
"I need to rest; I can't go on with his body even if I have a plan," he thought as he moved to the table where there was some food on it.
After eating the food, he laid back on the bed.
working out new plans in his head.
AFTER A WHILE
Jishnu sat up on his bed with his hands pulling his hair.
"Fuck, even if I escape from here, they will find me before I step out of the city."
Jishnu was in a dilemma because even if he escaped, he would be caught again, and his death would be guaranteed.
He moved to the table where the barrel of water was and drank some water.
and laid back on the bed again.
"My only way out is to know what he wants from me, but it's still not a good plan because if he turns out to be some psychotic man who experiments on children, I can only take my chances."
Jishnu thought as he lay on the bed.
AT NIGHT
Philip returned with food for both of them.
and sat at the same table as Jishnu.
When they were eating, Philip started to casually talk with Jishnu.
But Jishnu did not talk back because, first, he was an introvert, and second, this man was the reason he was in this situation to begin with.
Like that, for two weeks, Jishnu was trapped inside the room in the name of recovery.
Every day Philip returned to the room with food and always talked with Jishnu, who was always quiet.
In the meantime, Jishnu started studying and understanding Philip's character.
"A carefree, easy-to-annoy piece of sh*t that always tries to find the easy way out of all problems" is how Jishnu understood Philip's character.
Not only that, he found out that Philip hates both his work and someone he calls an "old man."
when Philip returned and sat with him to eat.
jishnu asked
"Mister, when can I go home?"
suddenly hearing this caught Philip off-guard.
as he choked on his food.
"Wait... cough... what?" as he drank some water to push down the food.
"Mister, as my wounds heal, I was thinking, When can I go home?" Jishnu asked as innocently as he possibly could, which was further enhanced by his unique eyes and golden hair.
"Okay, hmm, no, no, you cannot." Seeing the cute face of Jishnu caught Philip off guard, and he nearly broke the act, but he instantly regained it again.
"Why not, mister?" He acted as innocently as he could.
"Because I said so," Philip replied with an irritated tone.
But seeing the naive child he had kidnapped, who was nearly crying,
"Sigh. "I can't let you go home because the bad people that I saved you from are still roaming around searching for you, and if they find you again, all the hard work I did to save you will go down the drain." Philip told a made-up story.
"And why do you want to leave here?" he asked.
(I got you, bastard.) Jishnu spoke in his mind, as he wanted this to happen. He knew he couldn't escape from here and that he would be caught again, which would result in his death.
The only way out was to give him what he wanted.
"Because I want to repay you, mister," Jishnu replied with an innocent face that had the hidden fang of a wolf.
Hearing it, Philip was nearly happy and wanted to jump around, as this is what he wanted—for the kid to say it himself.
"Why do you want to repay me?" Philip acted confused by the sudden answer.
"Back in the orphanage, Sister Mary said that we should always pay back our debt or we will not get to meet God when we die as he will be upset."
with innocent acts that Jishnu put with random kind bullshit he dumped out.
"Okay, but why do you want to go home?"
"Because Sister Mary said that we can only make money when we become adults by working, but I am just a child, I don't want to make things harder for Mr.
"No, you're not making anything difficult for me and don't need anything in return, but if you insist, why not work for me?" Philip said his heart was beating excitingly as his hard work for the past two weeks was paying off.
"Really, I can work for you, mister," Jishnu said with excitement.
"Yes, you can," Philip said with excitement.
"But what work does Mister do?" Jishnu asked.
"I AM A LIBRARIAN AT THE LIBRARY OF ZIRO."