The disappearing

From where he was standing, they looked like bees buzzing over, jumping and fighting over honey. From his place on the tree branch, Riyaz had the best seat to the drama unfolding below. It was a terror attack gone horribly wrong. And he was lucky to escape. The original plan had been to attack the army encampment and kill as many as these Indian rogues as possible. He had been trained in the act. The team of 5 had practiced the attack infinitely, knew the maps by heart and knew their targets like the back of their hands. The operation had been a success till they had neared the barb wire surrounding the camp.

An unexpected shot had killed Rahim, his best friend. Next to fall was the leader of the squad, Abdul. A sniper was taking them out one by one. The Indian army knew obviously knew of the attack and were well prepared. There was no time to think about that now. As panic set in, the instinctive urge of the human mind to survive took over.

“Run….run faster…Run towards the trees. Maybe there we can hide. The sniper won’t be able to spot us there.” Kasim was pulling him towards the trees.

“Disappear, disappear.” He shouted.

They were almost there when he felt the hand on his arm go limp, and Kasim crash down with a thud. Now it was just him. Why didn’t they plan better? He wished he could disappear into thin air or change his look. But it was too late now. He had to get lost in the forest. He was at the base of the tree when he felt an excruciating pain at in his back. The pain as the bullet cut through the tissue and the veins was horrible. But he couldn’t give up. He had to survive. He had to climb the tree. But this darkness…. He had to…

Up on the tree now, he was safe. The pain in his back was gone now.

“The human body is such a wonderful piece of art” he thought. The bullet was now a part of his body, though slowly poisoning his flesh, killing the blood slowly. He knew he did not have much time.

“Allah hu Akbar” he mumbled. God is great. Instinctively he held up his hand to kiss the holy bracelet on his wrist. The commander had removed all personal items which could be identified but let the team keep holy artifacts.

“Kiss it when you are in trouble, and Allah will bail you out. If not, then this will” He thundered pulling out a long tablet. “Cyanide. Better to die than be caught.”

The bracelet was gone and with it the cyanide. Riyaz lost hope. How could he survive when God had deserted him? But he had to hold on. He had to wait out the night. The search party was out now. They were finding and identifying the bodies. The army dogs were fast, well trained. It wasn’t long before all bodies had been discovered. Riyaz heaved a sigh of relief as soon as he heard the leader of the search team shout 4. But the dogs went on sniffing. As if they had latched on to his scent. They were approaching faster. Panic had now set in. Capture would be disastrous. Not only would the army extract all information about training camps from him but the torture would be horrible. Riyaz latched on the tree, held his breath and waited.

Not far from his hiding place, the barking got louder. The dogs seemed to have found his weapons. The search team was there now. And pulling out the booty. As they pulled out, Riyaz spotted something very familiar and very shocking. It was his bracelet and it was on someone’s hand.

At the very moment the sun appeared. He could see clearly now. The bracelet, the hand. The light was now almost blinding. It was at that moment when it all came down to him. The memories, why they had come to him now, his childhood, his parents, his commander. Suddenly the bracelet made sense, the painless shoulder made sense and life made sense. It was time to follow the light.

“When you are in trouble and Allah will bail you out.” His commander had said. God had bailed him out, saved him from sin, saved him from killing, saved him from being a ghost and saved him from a wretched life. He had no complaints.

It was time to disappear.