Breathing heavily, Mitra got up from the floor and sat in her chair, her fists balled up, lips quivering and hands shaking in restrained fury.
Sashi got up, straightened his chair, set the camera back to its previous position with its focus on Mitra and sat down.
"That was some scuffle," he remarked as he made himself comfortable in his lounge chair.
Mitra glanced at the camera once, turned her gaze back to the underwhelmed man in front of her and said, "Maybe you should show your blackened eye to the public. They might find some relief in the injuries I have inflicted on you. Do they know how bad I had hit you when you first attacked and kidnapped me?" Her voice was acrimonious, her words spitting the bitterness she had towards him.
Sashi struggled with the disturbance that had rippled towards his ego. Controlling the slight vexation from the emotional pinch he felt, he let a small, smug smile and said, "They seem to be more worried about the scratches on your face."
"Like I said, they should look at your state instead. Oh yeah, I forgot, you are too much of a coward to show them your face," she sneered at him.
"No. I wait for the right moment always, Mitra. Like now. Which is why you are sitting here across me and not in your home. Had I not waited, it would have been disastrous," Sashi was a speaking in a heavy tone again.
A sarcastic smile spread across Mitra's face as she felt the strongest urge to turn the table on him.
"You think you got me here like you wanted because you planned it, don't you?" she asked.
"Yes," Sashi was confident.
"Wrong, you dunderhead. I am here because I was laying a trap for you. I played you, I was coming after you and I tried to capture you." She spat those words with superiority, a designated power and conviction which only she could feel.
Sashi looked confused. "Don't bluff," he asserted.
Mitra scoffed at him. "Think about it. As soon as you tried to hold me from behind, I sprayed pepper at you and hit you. I kept attacking you and never tried to run, even though I had every chance to do so. I didn't scream, didn't beg you to spare me or didn't call out for others. Why do you think I did that?"
She paused as she studied the realization on his face, a tinge of satisfaction coming in as she could picture the way his thoughts would run then onwards. Then she completed her statement,
"That's because I was after you."
#
The night of Mitra's kidnap.
As she walked into the dark lane leading to her house, Mitra sensed movement behind her. The loud music she played was a mere cover for the conspicious focus she had on her surroundings.
Ever since she had witnessed the abduction of the unknown woman, Mitra had been expecting the culprit to come for her.
A culprit always comes back to the crime scene. A murderer would never prefer to leave a witness alive.
She was his bait. Yes, the police and the whole neighbourhood thought she had hallucinated the whole kidnap. Yet, she believed in what she saw. She believed in herself.
The criminal had just been very thorough and careful in erasing all evidences. She would catch him and prove the crime.
Mitra walked ahead, sensing someone follow her silently. Her peripheral vision had always been strong, so were her instincts. It wasn't just a neighbourhood resident on his way home. It was someone who was purposefully following her.
She pretended to be consumed by the music she played through the headphones. She walked casually, keeping herself calm, all the while slipping her hand into her jacket's pocket where she kept a can of pepper spray ready.
She waited as she walked, waited for the perpetrator to make his first move.
Her heart beat fast as she proceeded. Each second counted for her and time went dead slow as she waited for the perpetrator to make his move. She kept observing his shadow from the dim streetlights and the faint lights that emanated from the neighbourhood houses.
And finally, she sensed him pounce on her from behind.
Mitra reacted, spraying pepper and hitting him.
There was a moment of doubt as a fleeting thought passed her mind. What if he is just a random person on his way home or work and she had attacked an innocent one?
The split moment when she glanced at the man with the dark clothes and scarf around his face, the build and demeanour of his, she felt her gut instinct kick her into the confirmation that it was the same man.
She then attacked him with all her force.
The man was trying to avoid her hits and restrain her instead. Mitra knew that if she succumbed to his force, she would be murdered. She needed to stay strong and cage him instead.
Every time she felt overpowered and hurt, the visual of herself getting killed would flash in her eyes and shewould fight back. Minutes passed, till he finally put her to a forceful sleep with a drug.
#
Present time - back in the basement where Sashi was holding Mitra captive
They both stared at each other, the flashback playing in their memories.
Sashi had multiple doubts rummaging his mind. Mitra's continuing sneer troubled him.
Had he missed something that night? Were there people watching him, waiting to entrap him? No, even if Mitra had been waiting for him, no one else came to stop or capture him. Her boyfriend and the police were searching for her and not him.
"You were working alone," he remarked.
The smile on Mitra's face thinned but didn't disappear.
Sashi gained confidence from that.
He leaned back a little as he rebuffed, "It doesn't matter if you were aware of my plan to attack you or not. No one else knew. You are here and no one else knows this place or me. You failed." This time, he sneered at her.
"Or maybe, I succeeded, and I have every chance to find out more about you and catch you with my own hands." Mitra countered, not backing off.
Sashi lost his cool. He stood up with a jerk, glaring at Mitra, his mind too clamoured with thoughts and doubts to continue the discussion with her.
"We will talk again," he hissed at her. Pulling the camera off its tripod stand, he turned it off and stormed off the room with all the equipment.
Mitra felt her heart lightening with a sense of hope. Her smile deepened.
Round 1 - I win. Score 1 to 0.