7-12-2019
5 hours before the release of the third video
Mitra had been in a state of eternal thinking and anxiety. Sashi had been giving her the cold shoulder ever since she told him that she had trapped him. He was avoiding her gaze, didn't speak a word to her when he came in to give her food and seemed to be more anxious than her.
Should I not have bluffed so much? Did he believe what I told him? Well, I didn't exactly lie to him. I knew he would come after me and I had been waiting for him to appear, so I could catch him. It is a shame I failed to do that. I know I did my best, I know how hard I fought. It just wasn't enough. That scumbag drugged me. Else I would have dragged him to the police station.
As time progressed, her thoughts became more deductive.
What if he thinks I colluded with the cops to trap him? Wouldn't he be scared of getting caught here?
She smiled to herself, it was a good thing that she had scared him for his life. He deserved that amount of fear to make him stay away from her.
But... that posed a problem.
If he thinks there are people other than me who are after him, he would do everything to save himself. If that happens, he wouldn't have any use or purpose for keeping me here, or alive as a matter of fact. He would think of discarding me.
How...? When...?
Her thoughts turned darker as she realized slowly, one after another, the consequences of her bluff.
No, he can't kill me. If he thinks the police would bust him, he would have to use something to trade his freedom with. He would need a hostage. He would need me as a hostage.
Yes, he can't kill me.
But, no one has seen his face. He can just get rid of me and leave this place. No one would ever find out about him. What if he realizes this?
The partial truth she had uttered might end up costing her life before she could make any progress on finding out who Sashi was and what he actually wanted from her. She sat on her bed, conflicted and nervous, contemplating how to escape unscathed from the repercussions of her own words.
It wasn't her fault that she exaggerated her actions and bluffed to Sashi. It was what the situation had demanded from her at that point of time, to instil fear in the person who posed immediate threat to her. She had wanted to make him behave, so he would think twice before hurting her.
She could still feel the way her heart had beat as she had spewed the theory of conspiracy for Sashi to fall for. She hadn't planned on it; the words had come to her mouth impulsively.
Did she regret saying that?
No.
It didn't matter to Mitra what Sashi made out of her claims. She had wanted to look strong, and gain an upper hand on him. She wasn't going to let him stomp all over her. Even if he killed her to get rid of the Achilles heel that would tie him up, she would go down as a stronger opponent and not as a weak woman, a frail captive overcome with fear.
She sat on the bed with no appetite, her mind working around all the thoughts of winning and losing, of the possibilities that could happen in the coming few hours, of life and death. It felt like she was waiting for an explosion that had an indefinite timer on it with no stop button, to blast off.
There was no count of time as she waited. Finally, she heard footsteps outside the room through the echoes of silence.
The door creaked open and Sashi walked in, dressed in a black hooded jacket and brown sweatpants, his camera and tripod in hand. He wasn't smiling like he usually did while coming in.
Closing the door, he stood there for a long moment, looking at Mitra with conflicted emotions.
She could sense some reluctance, sadness and anger in his face.
"What is it?" she asked him, her voice strong with all the mental fortitude she had instigated for herself through the day-long thought process she had had.
"Nothing," he replied softly. "Just thinking of what to do with you."
Mitra felt a sharp pang in her chest, her heart beating with unease. She thrust it aside and smiled.
"And I can bet that none of your options include a positive outcome," she said with spite.
"You'll see." He walked into the middle of the room and started setting up the camera, this time in a different position to cover both of them in the frame.
"Your identity might get revealed if you shoot from there," Mitra observed.
"Not if I do this." He pulled up the hood of his jacket over his head.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Mitra found humour in it. She laughed freely, throwing her head back and clapping once.
As she composed herself to her earlier position, she managed between her gags, "You know, I have started to think that you are taking this as a college assignment to submit for a course on movie making. You keep filming a person, changing the camera angles every time, uploading the videos for public reviews, getting excited from reading the comments. And yet you don't want to reveal your face to the public as if that might make you a celebrity and people would intrude into your privacy. It all fits the situation. Is that why you are doing this?"
Sashi wasn't amused. "My dream has never been to make movies," he answered. "I will let you in on the secret sometime. It might shock you beyond your belief."
He rechecked the camera focus, turned it on to recording mode and sat down in his lounge chair.
Mitra waited in silence for Sashi to start the topic of discussion for the day. He waited for her to break the silence.
The minutes stretched as no one gave in. The ticking of the seconds hand of Sashi's watch became audible enough through the absence of other sounds in the room.
There was no awkward sigh, no loud breath and no sign of the fear each of them had towards the other to break the impasse.
After five long minutes that seemed like ages, Sashi spoke, "You are quite remarkable, you know. I admire you for that."
"I do make amazing impressions on people. That's a strength in itself." Mitra was cold in her approach to his words.
"Tell me about this trap of yours," Sashi commanded.
"I have told you enough about it already," Mitra retorted.
"Not enough," Sashi hissed as he started at her with the gaze of a wolf.