Help (Part-2)

For next one month, I did not get any call from the mysterious caller. Earlier I had traced the caller identity and address, and had been to her house only to find out that she died in the air crash accident couple of years ago. I had visited the airline office and the federal investigation agency to find out about the crash details. I was told that the investigation is still going on, and there were absolutely no survivors. I was though amazed to dig out the fact that many dead bodies were beyond recognition and few incomplete bodies were found. DNA tests were carried out and even small body parts and personal belongings were given names and handed over to their relatives in closed caskets. To my horror, Sumbal was one such person whose body was not recovered at all.

I ran a small business of my own. Lately, I have been distracted with the cryptic calls which had started affecting my business. So I decided to concentrate on my work now and more over I had stopped receiving the calls too. Time passed smoothly without any glitch till one day I saw a news report on tv. It showed family members of the victims of air crash who were demonstrating for nonpayment of compensation by the concerned airline. Beside others, I saw the women whom I had met when I went to Sumbal’s house. She was probably her mother. I saw the same pain and grief in her eyes which I had seen before and it was still haunting me. For next few days I could not get her image out of my mind.

And then after one month and five days, her call came again. It was just ten seconds of radio noise only. It however forced me to do something more for her. So I sought help of a friend’s friend who worked in a security agency. He listened to me patiently and then saw my call data record. He then gave me idea of getting call data record of her number as it will give us her tower location. It suddenly illuminated my mind. I requested his help in getting the same. He promised me to do that but excused himself from further assistance because of his own commitments. I anxiously waited for couple of days and then I received his email which contained an excel file. I opened the file and it contained only five calls in last three months. Three of these calls had been on my number and they all had originated from a tower in interior Sindh. The person who sent me the file called me and told me that some agency is also tracking this number and that is why it is still being kept active and allowed the calls only despite having no balance. He advised me in a firm voice to refrain from any further intrusion into the case.

I was on a bus to Rahim Yar Khan. It was a strenuous ten hours journey but I somehow managed it comfortably due to better roads and good transport facility. The story thereon is different. I stayed the night in Rahim Yar Khan and then next morning I got into a local bus and traveled to Daharki which is a small town of District Ghotki. It was hardly 80 kms away but my ride took no less than four hours. After reaching Daharki, I knew where I had to go due to google map but I had to inquire about the transport which could take me there. I was told that only one vehicle goes there and it leaves at six in the morning. It was already noon so I decided to spend the day exploring the area. I did not find a friendly atmosphere and felt a lot of tension in the air. People looked at me in a strange way and kept their distance. Anyhow, I spent the night at a local sarai hotel offering charpoy only. Next morning at six, I was ready to travel to my destination which I had been dreaming about for the past many months.   

The transport I was sitting in could hardly be termed as a vehicle. It was part truck part bus and part loader. There were 14 people including me stuffed in it along with few goats and lot of hens. It had also loaded many things and one gas cylinder. My only concern other than the smell of sweat, diesel, goats and hens was the gas cylinder which I knew can blow off in excessive heat and mercury here was already touching 40 at six in the morning.

The vehicle to my dream destination started crawling at seven and by midday it reached Ali Bux Mahar Unsani, the last town before the great Thar Desert. It was the last stop of my ride so I got off and started looking for the cell tower. I had two hours before my ride would start moving back. My network was not working at this location but I saw someone talking on a mobile phone at a small tea stall. I went there and asked for tea. I was immediately served with the ready made tea which was already boiling in a pot on stove. It looked like charcoal and tasted like charcoal. I started talking to the stall owner about mobile networks in this area and in his own Urdu and using sign language he told me that only one company has a tower here and surprisingly it was the same network from which I was getting calls. I asked about the location of tower which turned out to be some distance short of the town on the road on which I had traveled. I missed it due to my head tucked down in my knees because of dust and smell.

I tried to talk to other men there but did not get any response. There was no  other vehicle in sight. Driver of my ride had already refused me plainly. There were couple of bikes but they drove off as soon as they saw me walking towards them. So I decided to walk back towards the tower pointed out to me by the tea stall owner which I could now see at a distance. It was on the same muddy track on which I had earlier come. I thought of catching my ride on its way back after inquiring few things from the tower guy. I walked for an hour and reached at the tower location. I was in a bad shape. Desperately looking for water and shade, I started banging on the door of cell tower compound. I could hear sound of the generator from inside as there was no electricity there. After some knocks, an elderly man opened the door and I just zapped inside. I drank lot of water and asked many questions from the old man who did not utter a single word. I was very much disappointed. The old man had already gone back to his charpoy. I was dead tired so I decided to take a nap too. Before coming here, I had told my ride driver to pick me up on his way back from this tower.

It was late afternoon when I woke up. The old man was sitting at a distance and looking at me weirdly. I thought of my ride and rushed outside. The mud track was deserted. The afternoon sun was losing its heat but it was still quite warm. I had missed my ride. I was about to turn back inside the tower compound when the door behind me was slammed shut. I pushed the door hard but it was locked. I kept knocking on the door for next half hour but it did not open. My bag containing clothes was still inside. I had run out even leaving behind my wallet and cell phone. I felt pity on myself for taking this adventure. I sat at the door for ten more minutes before deciding to go to town and get some help.

I had walked half way back when I saw dust rising on the mud track. There was some vehicle coming towards me. I felt a sense of immense relief. I stopped there and started waiting for the vehicle to arrive. From a distance, I could now see that it was a jeep carrying four men with their faces covered. My heart started pounding not because of their covered faces because it was normal to travel in desert with a cloth covering your head and face but I saw two of the men carrying rifles. The jeep stopped near me. Without saying a word, two men jumped out and knocked me down. They tied my hands and covered my face with hood and threw me in the jeep. Soon, it started flying on the desert track. I tried to make some noise and started jerking my body. Initially one man told me to stay quiet and when my protest continued I got hit in the head with something solid and I lost conscious.

I woke up with a throbbing head and pain squeaking every inch of my body. I opened my eyes. I was in a room with my leg chained to something. It was complete darkness yet I could feel presence of someone else too. I whispered hello, hello. There was some movement of chain and then I heard the same faint female voice….help. I again went unconscious.

Written By: Nadeem Alam

Other short stories by same author:
Click 👇
Help (Part 1)
Help (Part 2)
Help (The End)
Lost Girl 
Shadow
My World
Doomsday
Price of Love