The kidnapper who called himself Sashi turned on the camera. “You want to go first?” he smirked.

“Doesn’t matter when you have editing rights,” Mitra snubbed him

He laughed.

“So, shall we talk some facts?” Mitra was strong and cold as she took the first turn.

“Sure,” Sashi nodded.

“Who are you?” she asked for the nth time.

“Someone who has known you for a long time,” he repeated the same answer as before.

Mitra hid her rising frustration. “No, I mean who are you?”

Sashi answered calmly, “Just a nobody. One in the billions of humans alive.”

Mitra could sense a weird humour in his words. “Really? Preaching me philosophy?” she mocked.

“No, I am merely saying that I am nothing special. Not a criminal in the watchlist of law. Not a celebrity. Never been viral on the internet, although the video I last posted has now made me into a viral sensation. Technically, you are the viral sensation. People are more concerned about you than me,” he answered with a smile that seemed satirical to Mitra.

“Why did you kidnap me?” she kept it as casual as she could when she asked.

“To let you know the consequences of your actions, the rights and wrongs you have done; your foolishness and overestimation of the morality of your own self and the people around you. The mask you wear and the real you behind that, I want to expose all that.” An allusive smile played on his lips, his deep gaze piercing her, his eyes saying silently that he was all-knowing of Mitra’s actions and feelings.

Mitra slowly nodded her head, absorbing his words, her face stoic. Her heart burned inside with fury.

Who is he to preside over my actions? What does he even know about me to make such comments?

Trying to keep her face emotionless, she said, “So, you consider yourself a God appointed judge? A vigilante of some twisted philosophy? You take yourself as the one responsible to bring order and justice to people?”

He laughed out loud, throwing his head back. “Mitra... Mitra, I am none of that. Why should I judge someone I don’t know? Why should I even try to know about others? My motif for everything I do is you. I am doing this because it

is you.”

He was eyeing her with surprising honesty in those words. Mitra was internally confused for a brief moment, but she tried to retain her composure.

“You want to ruin me?” she asked, her eyes reflecting her confusion and curiosity.

“No, not ruin you," Sashi said as he shifted in his chair, titlting his head towards her. "More like make you understand what you have done and what you have been doing to cover up your conscience.”

It rang something in Mitra’s mind.

Yes, she had been trying to keep her conscience clean, doing her best to forget some of the worst mistakes she had done as a youngster, acting to the best of her abilities to compensate that and be righteous.

But that was all known to only her and Vishal. It was all very vague and unknown to even those involved directly. It was all years into past and no one knew. Who was this man who claimed he was setting it right?

“What do you mean?” she asked cautiously.

“We will get to it later. I thought you had more pressing questions when you met me.” His gazed at her inquistively with his eyebrows raised, prompting her to refresh her memories.

He was the kidnapper who had abducted a middle-aged woman in the dead of night. No one ever found out the existence or identity of the woman or the kidnapper.

“You kidnapped a woman around twenty days back.” Mitra said it out aloud to get a confirmation once and for all.

“That’s correct,” Sashi nodded.

“I witnessed it and you saw me then.” The scenes of the dark night of the incident flashed in her eyes.

“Again, correct. I saw the horror, fury and helplessness screaming silently, playing on your face, even in that darkness.” His mouth curved into a sadistic smile, his voice heavy with the weight of what he was saying and the humour he found in them.

It infuriated Mitra.

“What did you do to her?” she shot the question at him with contempt, her heart beating furiously, unwelcoming to the one answer she might hear.

He answered with a matter-of-fact tone, “I killed her.”

She had expected it.

His callousness about his actions, the demeaning and sadistic tone with which he responded to her agitated her. The moment she had witnessed the woman being attacked and abducted replayed in her mind. She lost the calm she had been so intent to keep about herself.

Mitra jumped out of her chair, launching herself at Sashi with force, punching him in the face.

He hadn’t expected her to react violently. As she punched him and tried to hurt him with all her might and body, the lounge chair he was sitting in was thrown backwards with Sashi falling on his back along with the chair.

The chains around Mitra’s wrists stopped her from reaching the fallen man’s throat. She landed on his knees, hurting her jaw.

As they both tried to regain their balance, Mitra kept attacking him. Sashi pushed her away violently, throwing her on the floor. He got up hurriedly, reached down to Mitra, pinning her down and restrained her with his strength.

“You know, this is not going to help you in any way. You can only try hurting me, but you will end up hurting yourself. I will simply walk away from this room, but you will be left with injuries on your body, brooding in your own agony and pain, helpless and unable to do anything. If you can restrain yourself and keep your emotions at bay, we might be able to arrive at something worth discussing about and fighting for. Think, Mitra,” he hissed at her.

Tears of anger and pain streamed down Mitra's face as she glared at the murderer. He was equally agitated but held his own. Sensing a hesitation in her, he slowly let go of her hands which her had held tightly till then and then got up from her.

Mitra sat on the floor transfixed, crying soundlessly, getting her wits back.

He was right, there were a lot more answers she needed to get from him. Yes, he deserved to be beat up and even killed, maybe, for his actions. But there was time for that.