The boy was seen in the middle of a quiet alley in North Kolkata in the middle of the night. A stick in his hand and various balloons were flying in it. Abinash is wearing an expensive shirt with half the buttons open, a hanging tie, pants underneath, and a coat slung over his shoulder like a towel. As soon as he came and stood in front of the boy, the strong smell of foreign liquor filled him. Abinash asked in a hushed voice,
- Hey, where's the taxi stand in front?
- There's no stand on the back, but let's go to the main road, you'll get an empty taxi there. Otherwise I will call a little further.
Abinash thought that during Pujo, the boy must want a bounty. Remembering that, he said,
- I don't have any money in my pocket, I will go home and hire a taxi, so let's go with you, I won't ask for a reward again.
The boy laughed and said,
- It doesn't matter, you come.
The boy will be seventeen or eighteen years old. Wearing a sando genji and shorts, slippers. Abinash is not very friendly, but it is difficult to find a friend like him if he gets stuffed in his stomach.
- Hey, there was a party given by friends today called Shala Dashami. There was a fight, the bastards got so drunk and hid the car keys and wallets. I couldn't find it. I'll take a look at everything later.
The boy didn't say anything, just smiled.
- What's your name, Ray?
- Fatik
- Are you studying?
The sadness of Dashmi has made the clouds of the sky heavy. A sultry feeling in the alley. The answer came,
- I used to,
- Why! Why not now?
The boy seemed to sigh in the dark.
- The father left at some point. Mother Tao was also crazy. Sometimes before returning home, he would pay, but then he would never come back. I understood that I have to take the responsibility of the sister. I used to work in a hotel, then I got a job. I was teaching my sister. At the end I suddenly found out that my sister was seriously ill. I skipped reading. I used to buy medicine and feed it. Then all of a sudden I heard this lockdown, shut down the factory, cut it. Now let's clean the drain and cut the grass. I thought I would sell a small vegetable leaf in whatever I could get by selling balloons in Pujo.
Hearing these words, Abinash's mind became heavy, if he had money in his hand, he would give some money to the boy now.
- Wait, baby, there's still the story. I realized that this time the pujo is not like before, there is no crowd, there is no joy, and people like us are not sold. On the sixth day I am returning home at night in a bad mood. The roads are empty. Suddenly I heard a horn and a bright light, how a car hit me. At night, near the two Khanna Moors, the slate car. I'm not in it. I fell to one side. And I saw that the balloons fell under the wheels and burst.
So far, sweat has accumulated on Abinash's forehead. On the night of the sixth day, Aninash was driving with his friends. The accident happened in his car. Did the boy recognize him? No, that's not possible, Abinash doesn't take the car away immediately. Somehow Abinash said with a dry throat,
- Then?
The boy smiled again, but this time he did not like the smile.
- It was like last night. When I returned home empty-handed, I saw my sister's condition was worse. It was too late when I came back from the drug store with the medicine in my hands. Sister is no more. On the day of Ashtami, the drum was ringing in the side mandapa, my body was hanging from the roof with my sister's veil in the morning, everyone came to enjoy Ashtami at night and rescued it.
Hearing the words, Abinash jumped up and walked away. He did not speak in fear, according to some,
- I mean ... I mean? Is this fun? What does all this mean?
- You know, baby, it was so hard when the car was going over the balloons, it felt like my little breaths were all coming out. One word after another and the dreams are bursting. Babu was in a lot of trouble.
As soon as he said the words, the boy's balloons started bursting one by one with the same rhythm. With that, the boy's face suddenly changed, as if his eyes were coming out. The balloons burst one by one. Abinash tried to scream, but Parlona, a muffled growl came out of his throat. As soon as the last balloon burst, the boy raised his finger and pointed to Abinash's chest. At that moment, Abinash fell to the ground with severe pain in his chest. Blood came out of his mouth. The alley is lonely, quiet again.
The next morning a young woman was reading the news on the news channel,
"The body was found in an alley in North Kolkata. It is presumed that he died of a ruptured lung. The youth's name is Abinash Mukherjee. Police sources said he was under the influence of alcohol at the time of his death."
Those who have not heard this news today, will hear it again tomorrow. Only the place will change and the name of the youth will change. Because there were three more people in the car that night.
# Collected