Help by Nadeem Alam
I was in middle of an important meeting when I received a call from the same mysterious number. My phone was on silent but I saw the screen flashing. I turned the phone upside down. I had been getting calls from this number for the past one month. Whenever I attend the call, nobody says anything from the other side. I only hear some radio noise and electromagnetic disturbances, and the call gets disconnected. I have stopped attending these calls now.
I have also tried
calling back on this number several times but I always get the same computer
generated response that the number being called is not valid. I lodged a
complaint with the concerned service provider and I was told that this number
is not active. I sent many short messages as well but never got a reply or even
the confirmation receipt.
It was late night when my phone started ringing. I attended the call while half a sleep and said hello. All I could hear was radio noise. A sheer wave of anger passed through me. Frustrated, I was about to end the call when I heard a faint female voice….help. I suddenly woke up with all my senses and started yelping hello, hello, who is this, but the call got disconnected. I dialed back several times but in vain.
I hardly slept for rest of the night and first thing in
the morning I did was to call a friend who worked in a cellular company. With
his help I got the call data record of my own cell number which gave me proof
that I am getting calls from that particular number. Then through another
contact I tried to get ownership information of the mysterious number. I was
again told the same thing that the number is not assigned to anyone and is
inactive. But this time I had undeniable proof. I managed to get in meeting
with a senior executive of the concerned service provider. I showed him the
proof and threatened him of going to court on act of harassment. He told me to
wait and went out for a while. He came back after few minutes and very
reluctantly handed me a chit, and hurriedly walked out of the meeting room
again without saying a word.
Name on the chit was Sumbal and the address was local. I
decided to end this mystery today so I straight drove to that area and started
searching for the address. I had to park my car on the road before walking into
maze of the streets. It was summer afternoon and the area was deserted. I
however found a shop in the corner and inquired about the address. The shop
owner oddly looked at me from head to toe and then guided me to my destination.
I knocked on the door and a small boy appeared with an
inquisitive smile on his face. I asked from him that does Sumbal live here. He
immediately ran inside and very loudly said to someone that there is another
man asking for Sumbal Baji. I felt extremely embarrassed and started searching
for a plausible excuse to be there. After few minutes, a decent middle aged
woman came on door and started looking at me blankly. I very politely asked her
about Sumbal and she with her eyes full of pain and tears told me that Sumbal
was the air hostess in flight which crashed in Margalla hills few years ago.
Before turning back inside she also told me that I am the fifth person coming
and inquiring about Sumbal since the fatal accident and second in this month
alone.
I kept standing there for innumerable minutes before
walking back to my car. I did not know what to do next.
-----------------------------------------------------
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.
-----------------------------------------------------
When I woke up again, sun was shining and the heat was
unbearable. My body ached more than before. I was feeling dehydrated and my
head was spinning. With blur vision, I looked around and tried to recall the
events leading me to this place. I touched my head where I was hit. It was soft
and I could feel blood clots with my fingers. Suddenly I remembered last night
and I felt chills going down my spine. My eyes got wide open and my heart
jumped in my throat.
I was under a
small shelter made of straws and my right ankle was tied to a chain whose other
end was locked around a tree. In front of me was a vast desert. The shelter
still had signs of straw walls on three sides. I desperately started looking
around for the person whose sound I had heard before I went unconscious. I was
lying on ground and could not gather enough strength to get up. And then I
heard her sobbing. It was coming from behind the tree. I did not feel any fear
now. I knew ghosts don’t bother during bright sun light. So I mustered up all
my leftover body strength and crawled towards the incoming sound. I circled
around the tree and there I found a body wrapped around itself like a baby in
the mother’s womb. After reaching close enough, I slowly extended my arm and
touched the body. It shuddered and then opened up like a flower but with a
stench I had never experienced before.
She was still dressed up in her air hostess uniform even
with an apron tied up front. Her ankle was also tied to the same tree. Our
chains were about ten feet long which allowed us to move around the tree. There
was a water bucket placed at one side with some bread pieces under the shelter.
A person would come on camel every third day, check on us, refill the bucket,
leave some bread pieces and then depart.
At first she did not trust me. She would remain jumbled
up at one side and would keep as much distance from me as possible. Physically
she seemed normal but psychologically she was closer to losing her mind. I on
the other hand was mentally fit but physically I needed sometime to recuperate.
The only medicine I had there was time and I knew it can heel every wound.
After few days, she started feeling normal in my presence
and did not sneak away from me. One evening when the sun was setting in the far
west, I saw her sitting with her back against the tree. I inched closer and
also sat near her. She did not move or squeak. I started narrating my story and
she listened quietly. My story was over shortly as it started from her calls
and ended up here. I waited patiently for her to speak. The night had spread
its wings. The temperature had lowered considerably. And when I had lost all
hopes, she started speaking.
It was her last flight before her marriage. Her father
had died few years ago due to cancer. They spent everything they had on his
treatment but he left the world leaving them with absolute nothing. She soon
realized her obligation of looking after her mother and a little brother. It
was not until she got selected for air hostess training that their miseries
began to wane down. After the successful training, she started flying with a
private airline company on domestic and international flights. Relatives who
had initially objected to her work were now stunned to her income. Proposals
started flooding in and despite her reluctance she was engaged to be married
soon.
It was a routine flight till they missed the landing due
to bad weather. The pilot was now forced to circle around and make another
attempt. She was about to sit at her seat near the door when the turning
aircraft wing struck the hill. In the backdrop of loud noise and dreadful
screams, she held the door handle tightly with her arms wrapped around it. Next
thing she felt was the door knocking out of fuselage and flying away. She just
closed her eyes and saw the image of her mother and little brother.
She woke up badly injured in a small room. There were two
men and a woman who were discussing as to what to do with her. She kept her
eyes closed. One man said that the airline has announced that there are no
survivors. They had found her close to the crash site when they went to
investigate the loud bang near their home. They picked her up and brought her
to their home in a bid to receive some compensation. They belonged to a network
of timber mafia who would cut the trees at night and smuggle it to furniture
market. In next few days, they inquired about her family and how much will they
pay for her safe return. When they found out that she was worth nothing that
they decided to wait for the compensation to be given to her mother from
airline and then they can grab that in return for her life.
They kept her locked and heavily sedated. They however
could not wait more. After three months they sold her to some other party. She
was tied to a stretcher and her mouth was duck tapped. She was put in an
ambulance and then brought all the way to this place. Her one ankle was tied to
a chain attached to a tree and was left alone in the desert. The effect of
drugs subsided in few hours. She found her cell phone placed in zip pocket of
the apron which she was still wearing. She would always shut down her cell
phone and keep it there during the flight. She took it out and switched it on
but there was no signal. She turned it off.
Her days here turned into weeks and weeks transformed
into months. In initial days, she tried to escape but was unable to get the
chain detached from her ankle. One thing she persistently kept doing was to
check cellphone signals by switching it on occasionally.
During one night, when
it was cloudy she turned on the phone and saw one bar of network signals. She
almost started crying. Immediately she dialed her mother's number but there was
no tone. She dialed one other contact but probably it was late night hence
there was no response. She also tried to send sms but there was some error in
the settings and then she lost the signal. She kept switching her cellphone on
and off over next few months but no luck. By now her mental state was getting
worse and she could not think straight. It was after another six months when
she was randomly dialing a number during thunderstorm that she found the ring
tone. It was my number though it soon got disconnected but she kept dialing
this number every time she switched on her phone.
She asked me about her mother and brother. I told her
that they both are fine. She was worried as to why she is still here. I told
her that the compensation from airline has not yet been given to her mother.
Her abductors are probably waiting for the same.
We then started planning the escape. She told me that she
has tried a lot but could not open the lock. I instead was focusing more on the
tree. Our chain was about ten feet long and we could move around a bit. I told
her to look for any sharp object like blade or stone or anything with which we
can slowly cut the small tree with which we were tied to. After an elaborate
search of the area, I found a small knife from the straw shed. We then turn by
turn started cutting the tree. We rested the whole day on which the camel man
had to come to replenish our supplies. After working for another two days we
were finally able to cut half of the stem. We then waited for the camel man to
arrive on third day. He was a short and weak person with a petite body. It was
not difficult for me to wrap the chain around his neck and knock him down. With
little help from Sumbal, I tied his hands and threw him in the shed. We then
applied all our remaining energy in pushing the tree down. We got our chains
free from the tree but these were still tied to our ankles. We thought of
nothing else but picked our chains and ran towards the sitting camel and
climbed over it.
Camel would not budge. We tried every trick but failed.
Then Sumbal produced some sound which she had noticed during her over one year
stay here that the camel finally got up from the ground. We still had to move
it in the right direction. I knew the way from where the camel man arrived so I
held its reins like I had seen in movies and started guiding it towards that
direction. After travelling for about one hour, I saw the cell tower in the far
distance.
The compound door to the cell tower was open and its
keeper was sitting outside. I did not waste a second and jumped from the standing
camel and grabbed the old man. I told him in sign language to make the camel
sit. We then all went inside the compound and closed the door behind. I took
out the phone of Sumbal, switched it on. It showed full signal strength but as
I started to dial the first number, its battery died.
I then turned to the old man who was sitting scared in
one corner. I asked him about my stuff but he did not reply. I then started
searching the small room and finally found my bag including my phone from under
his charpoy. Its battery was also dead but I had its charger in my bag and the
generator was on. I inserted Sumbal's SIM into my phone and then made calls to
every Tom, Dick and Harry I knew including media persons, ambulance service,
police emergency and all my family and friends. Sumbal also talked to her
mother as she remembered her number. Within next few hours, the compound was
surrounded by a mob of people and we were securely guided from out of here to
the nearest medical facility. The media had its field day.
Our kidnappers were never found. The person we tied in
the desert shed had also escaped. We were nevertheless fortunate to be alive
and back with our loved ones. I soon married Sumbal. She still has some
psychological issues but I am sure she will overcome these with the passage of
time.
Part 1 Published in The Weekly Mag dated 18 Aug 2018
Part 1 Published in The Weekly Mag dated 18 Aug 2018
-----------------------------------------------------
Other short stories by same author:
Click 👇Love Story 2018
Pay Back
Cinderella
Right Decision
The Missing Bride
Twins
The Devil
Lost Girl
Shadow
It is compilation of 3 parts of Help.
ReplyDeleteA good story for a movie.
ReplyDeleteThanks
DeletePublished in the Mag...
ReplyDelete