Chapter 8
After more than 3 years, they had been able to pay more than half of the money. But in result, Arjun was getting more and more exhausted by the day. But for Saksham and Savitri, he kept this up. His salary was only Rs 30,000 after daily overnights and he would get Rs 5,000 from Savitri's boxed lunch boxes. That added up to Rs 35,000/month. And the total amount they had to pay was Rs 1,500,000. After more than 3 years of perseverance, they had been able to pay Rs 800,000, paying an average of Rs 20,000/month.
Arjun had missed so much during these 3 years. He had sacrificed so much and now….finally. G.o.d had taken pity on him and let him win a lottery of Rs 1,000,000 with which he could finally pay off all the debts. Just imagining his life after paying the entire debt, made Arjun tremble with excitement.
Seeing this scene, Saksham also couldn't help but tear. He knew how much his father had suffered and sacrificed. He always wanted to take this heavy weight off his father's shoulder somehow and now he had done so. Seeing the happiness and excitement in his parents' eyes, Saksham knew he had done
"Cough! Cough!" Saksham coughed loudly.
Suddenly, Savitri and Arjun realized that their son was also there and they immediately wiped their tears and coughed embarra.s.sedly.
"What are you looking at? You still have a school today. Now, go and freshen up. Till then, your breakfast will be ready." Savitri turned, "And you too old man. You also have a job. Go and freshen up quickly."
Both Arjun and Saksham nodded their heads and went to the bathrooms to quickly freshen up.
____________
As Saksham had his breakfast, he took off for the school. In his way, he was constantly thinking about his superpowers.
'Earlier I thought this power could only be used for killing. But now, it seems it has other effects other than killing. But what is the limit of this power? If I say something, would that thing definitely happen? If so, then why didn't those terrorists die when I said their names? Is this one of its limitations? Can I not kill those people because I didn't concentrate enough when I said their names? Or is it because they are very far away from me?'
'When I said Gullu's name, he was in Loni(which is almost at the corner of Ghaziabad). Then, does it mean that I can only do things inside a certain radius? Then, if we take Ghaziabad's end as one point then, from my current location till there, it measures up to around 17 km straight. If we take it as a radius of a circle, then the diameter of a circle will be 34 km, which would mean that the influence of my power would be only within a diameter of 34 km. And in this 34 km, some parts of Noida and New Delhi also come. This is only my guess. The actual radius could be bigger or even smaller than this. I have to experiment to confirm this.'
'And when does the said thing will take place? Obviously, not immediately. If not, then those four bullies and Gullu should have died immediately. But there was a long time difference between the time I used my powers and their death. Although I don't know the exact time of the death of Gullu but what I do know is that the four bullies died after almost about 7 hours after I used my powers. I used my powers at about 2:30 P.M and my dad said that he saw their dead bodies on the road at about 9:40 P.M. So, does my power need about 7 hours to work? Then If I specify the time for the said thing, would it take place at that exact moment? Hmm…but if my power really needs 7 hours to work then the time set for the said thing to be done has to be after those 7 hours.'
In the midst of his contemplation, Saksham suddenly heard an ethereal and gentle voice calling his name from behind. He stopped and looked back. As he looked back he was pleasantly surprised. He opened his mouth and said, "Anitha, how come you are so late today?"
Yes, the one who called was none other than Saksham's childhood sweetheart.