"I spy you!" - 59

“So, did this lady utter any secrets to you?” she asked and laughed in a shrieking manner. The noise reverberated in the small cellar room.

Vasupradha now started feeling little uncomfortable. The men, she thought, she could handle. This lady looks very cruel and she could harm me!

Her words were true. Without any warning, the lady moved her whip in the air and Vasupradha felt pain searing through her arm. She smothered her cry of pain just in time. But the effect of pain was collection of a little amount of tears in her eyes. This was seen by the grey eyed lady.

“Ahha, this doll moves and cries. That mean it can talk. Let me make it talk. Give me some room” she said harshly. The two men, obviously reporting to this lady, left the room without a word. “Close the door! And I am warning you. There should not be any reaction from you people if you hear any screams coming out of this room. Of course, not from me... this lovely doll, I mean” she said and moved her hand caressingly on Vasupradha’s cheek.

Vasupradha remembered the cat and mouse game she had witnessed one day. The cat waited patiently in a corner and suddenly had pounced on a small mouse.

It did not kill the mouse immediately. The cat brought the mouse and put it on the ground and pushed it here and there using its front paws. The mouse, by fear or by design, looked dead. The cat was happily looking at the mouse. After some time the mouse moved a little; the cat hit the mouse on its head using its paw but without the claws. The mouse again played dead. This went on for some time. The mouse got emboldened and tried to escape. May be by that time, the cat was bored to play; it suddenly hit the mouse on its head using its claw. The next moment it carried the mouse in its mouth and vanished to a corner and ate the mouse.

Now the grey eyed woman is the cat, so I should play the mouse. I should play dead. But I should not make the mistake of escaping. Probably I should be able to borrow some time. Then I should think of escaping.

More importantly I should find out, why are they holding me here? I am a small fry. How come they were aware that I was here? Many questions started bothering Vasupradha that she forgot for a moment that she is being questioned by the grey eyed lady.

She suddenly opened her eyes with horror when she found cold metal touching her left cheek. The grey eyed lady was holding a 4 inch wide, 1 foot long dagger. The cruelty in her eyes was noted by the lightness of her eyes. My God! What do I tell her? She is bound to hurt me now!

The grey eyed woman looked like an expert in doing such tortures. She now moved the dagger’s sharp edge to Vasupradha’s neck and pressed a little. The pain was very much. Vasupradha saw a drop of blood on the edge of the dagger when her attacker removed the dagger from her neck.

Now my time is over. But now I have to say whatever she knew. She felt a sort of tightness in her chest. Oh God! How any of the spies caught by enemies must have felt! It is a nightmare, I hope it ends soon.

“What girl? Thinking of how to die fast? Without saying anything?” guffawed the grey eyed lady. Oh God, this lady even reads minds! Thought Vasupradha.

She thought of all her associates till now.  And of course, finally she thought of Pushpahaasa! He will never come to know that I love him! I would be dead and gone. But I won’t reveal anything!