Before I start this story, I want to tell my readers that this story will have some conversations written in hindi or bengali. I will recommend my readers, if they know the languages, please read the hindi or bengali part, that would make the conversations more lively. There are some phrases which sound way better in their original language. That is the only reason to include some hindi and bengali sentences in the story. Thank you, in advance.

  Yours, ladyfosbossdiangelo

  So, let's begin!

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  I walked out of the Howrah Police Station with a lot of things spinning in my head. I boarded a rickshaw, and gave the addresses to my home.

  The rickshaw started to move, and gusts of wind lapped at my face. I looked up at the evening sky, So many colours, blue, orange, pink, yellow and many more. My life is also going to have a lot of colours from now on. I thought.

  I closed my eyes. And one by one the incidents flashed before my eyes from where all of this started.

  I was 18 Back then. Before my higher secondary exams. Dude I hate exams. But will mom listen to that excuse? No. So I naturally I have study before my board exams real hard.

  So, that day I was returning from my maths tuition, feeling pretty queasy after solving so many algebras. It was about 9:30 p.m. or a bit more. My bestie Alaka Bose, Oli, as we call her, was with me. Oli has straight black hair, as usual braided down her back. She wore a short kurti and jeans wheareas I, with my ponytailed wavy black hair wore a top and jeans. Usually we come home in a group of 5 to 6 friends but that day one of them was absent and other two, the Ray twins, had already set off for their aunt's place after tuition. So it was just two of us. It was a nice walk. We were talking about our future careers. Oli has decided to take Genetics for her B.Sc subject, then she will do M.Sc and try for a Ph.D ( and yes, for such a brilliant student like her, she's gonna ace it all! ).

  - " Now what are you going to study?" She asked.

  - " Well, never mind, that's a secret " I replied

  - " I take it as you haven't thought of anything" she said with a grin, which was quite true.

  - " Now tell me what's for dinner today?" I said to change the subject. The thing I was thinking about my career is simply crazy. But there's nothing else in my mind. I had even figured out how to make mom agree with that. I am going to take psychology as my higher studies and become a professor or a lecturer at least, and with this cover story I am going to fulfill my crazy dream and once I do that, mom's gotta be proud of me.

  So anyway we were jumping from one subject to another from dinner menu to which food we like and all that. " you know 2 months ago my mum asked me to make some aloo paratha" I said.

  - " You made it?"

  - " well, yes. But when my mother entered the kitchen after I was finished she claimed it was her Biggest. Mistake. Ever." I said and she busted out laughing.

  We were so busy laughing that we didn't notice where we were until a hoarse voice said from behind, "What's so funny missy? Wanna share?"

  We stopped dead in our tracks. I scanned the surroundings and realised my mistake. It was that dark alley way we always tried to pass quickly. There were no house in the surroundings except for some abandoned ones where all kinds of street bullies and bad guys duelt. That is another reason we travelled in groups, and when it comes to this alley, we always hurried to pass the street.

  I considered running in full speed to get out of range but my legs couldn't obey and then it was too late. Some dirty, savage looking men surrounded us. A hungry look in their eyes and smug smile on their faces.

  A cold tingle went down my Spine and I felt Oli shiver beside me. I wanted to do the same but if I show any weakness, firstly, those guys will mark me as an easy target, and secondly, Oli will collapse if I don't keep my "All Ok" attitude.

  -" You didn't answer my question, what's so funny ?" The voice asked again which belonged to a bulky, dark skinned man who looked more like a bear.

  -" The fact that a bear is asking about funny things" I said, glad my voice held steady.

  Bear-man's expression hardened, but he forced a smile " Let me tell you another funny and amusing thing-" now I'm not gonna tell what he said after that not only because that doesn't fall in the category of funny even by mistake, it was so nasty I wanted to throw up, preferably in his face. Instead I said " quite funny, you oversized lump of meat" and spat.

  -" You know you just gave yourself a death sentence " a skinny man with tobacco spit covering his mouth said.

  - " Cowardice " Oli hissed, her eyes full of hatred and fear at the same time. She had much of an experience with men torturing weak woman. Her mom used to get hit by her dad when she was six. That is when her mom left the house with Oli to live their lives themselves.

  Spit-face( nickname for the man with tobacco spit) came closer to Oli " what do you see of cowardice sweety?" He asked and tried to seduce her, pursing his lips in a disgusting way. Oli instinctively shoved him away " Seven of you men are needed for coming after two teen girls, that's bravery, isn't it?" She shouted and tried to back away. But there was no where to go. instead Three Men tighten the circle around her and two men from the both sides pulled each of her hands. Oli started to scream for help. But who will listen? No one was around. I wanted to help, but Bear Man blocked my way. I tried to move past him but he started to pull my hand and bring me closer. I tried to pull my hand free but anything I tried, any martial arts trick, ( yes, I know martial arts)he was far too strong, and the harder I tried the tigher he held my wrist. His Iron grip tore through my skin. He moved a hand through my ass, and tried to unbutton my jeans, I tried my best jerk myself away. Oli was still screaming her head off and my efforts at freeing my hand had made a few grunts erupt from my mouth. The expression of the men caught my eyes. They were enjoying our terror, their smiles had a dark amusement.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Hatred burned my insides, and just like that, my brain was forming a plan. Bear man pulled my hand again and this time I let him. I used his strength in that pull, combined it with my strength and punched him. Okay the punch didn't hit the spot I wanted it to, but the place it hit was even better. The double strenghed punch landed on his throat, striking his wind pipe. Naturally, Bear-man released my hand to clutch his own throat. I spun around and planted and full strength elbow strike, a Yoko empi, on the exposed side of his ribs with a satisfying crack, and sprinted to defend my screaming bestie.With a disgusted and horrified note, I noticed her shirt torn in front of her chest, nearly exposing her boobs. It was easy to release her from them since they still hadn't process my sudden fight Back, just a few strikes on their wrist with the side of my hand, and they stagger back favouring their hands.

  That brief moment of surprise was enough for Oli to recover. She reached for her jeans pocket and took out something I haven't expected her to carry. So it took me a second to understand why she smacked two of the men and sprinted back, challenging them to follow. I can see two of the men missing, probably fleed, but I still had a bad feeling about the other men not advancing, or attacking, accept the two charging Oli, and the way their eyes were flicking like they were expecting someone.

  On the other hand Oli had unravel the "thing" covered in cloth. I understood it then. It was the cloth based garrote used by the Thugees in mediaeval period. A piece of long cloth with a piece of stone tied in a knot at one end of it. But that was used for killing and looting Oli won't-, Oli can't-, no no no gruesome thoughts started spinning in my head. I tried to shake them off. My bookish, intelligent, know-it-all friend who covered her ears whenever I talked about breaking bones or damaging nerves isn't the Killing kind. The most exciting or dangerous thing she had ever done was maybe bunking studies and go to cinema a week before exams and only because her mom insisted her to take a break. That is the point where I doubt how I became BFFs with this girl.

  Though Oli relieved me by spinning the garrote wide to make a makeshift Shield. Whenever the two men tried to attack, they got smacked by the stone in the garrote. But I made a mistake. I waited for the other man to charge which was enough for bear man to recover. And even then if I had charged I would have injured at least three of them, but I waited and didn't realise my mistake until I heard footsteps a second later. I jumped into fighting position just when the missing two men handed weapons to bear man, and spit face took out a small dagger from his pocket. Bear man had taken an iron rod. He slowly hit the rod on his plam and started to advance.

  The other man had also taken out weapons. One of them stick, a couple daggers and the rest chains. There was no time to waste. So I launched into attack just when bear man swung his rod at me. I dodged by an inch, grabbed the rod and swung my right leg at his chest, and then a few more attacks before going to handle the rest four. The other two were still at Oli's side. The next 30 seconds were a blur. I kept dodging and striking and kicking and punching and dodging again, rolling, sidestepping and repeat.

  Then Spit face charged me with his tiny dagger. My insides burned with hatred as my mind did a quick replay of what he had tried to do with Oli. I jumped into karate's fighting position when he aimed to stab. I used Ura-Mikazuki-Geri, a reversed crescent moon kick, kind of an inside-out kick to disarm him. As soon as the outer edge of my foot hit his hand, the impact knocked the dagger out of his hand and it skittered away. I dropped to all fours and weaving my leg through his legs and pulled, disbalancing him. I jumped to my feet and used a knee-kick of Muay- Thai to crack his ribs, and then slammed my body on him to pin him to the ground. My left leg pinning his chest, and my hands locking his arms to the ground. My body well secured in a position to cause him pain and to spare me any injuries from his trashing legs. Just when I lifted my right hand and quickly positioned it for an elbow strike on his throat to break his wind-pipe, something hard yet flexible slashed against my back. Pain flared all over the place, my body twisted in agony. Someone had hit my back with a chain!