The Narrator
Two days had passed. It was nine days since the disappearance of Sergio. It was still pouring outside the bus in Campamento Del Bosque De La Muerte.
9:30 a.m
The children kept themselves entertained by talking. The girls were talking with each other about shows that they had seen on Netflix. Some of them were discussing their favorite characters from the show 'Friends'. Others were talking about '13 Reasons Why'.
The only person who loved 13 Reasons Why among the boys was Kirt Heinrich. He initially didn't like it. He used to hate it when other people discussed the show. But after watching the show he binge-watched it in three days. He fell in love with 13 Reasons Why.
In general, Kirt didn't like T.V series - though there were exceptions - because he thought that they demanded a long-term commitment, unlike movies which demanded a short-time commitment. Kirt liked13 Reasons Why because he found the show worth his long-term commitment. After he finished watching the first 2 seasons of 13 Reasons Why, Kirt never found any other show worth of commitment like 13 Reasons Why, except for a few Spanish ones.
On RTV España (Spanish Netflix), Kirt loved the T.V show Sabuesos because he found it humorous and because there was a dog in that show. Any show or movies with dogs, Kirt watches it. That show was about a genetically-modified talking dog (initially engineered to commit evil against mankind) that befriends an aspiring detective and solves cases with him. Also on RTV España, Kirt found another show that he thought was worth his commitment - 'La Caza: Monteperdido'. It was a series about officers from Spain's Guardia Civil who were investigating the mysterious disappearances of two girls, Ana and Lucía, in Northern Spain. It was a psychological thriller, ending with one of the police officers going crazy at the end of the show.
Besides these shows, Kirt never found any other T.V series that were worth his time commitment.
Francisco Adelante was with the girls upstairs, trying to join them in their conversation. Francisco Adelante was obsessed with Stranger Things. He was so crazy about the show that whenever he meets someone, he would behave like a salesman hired by the makers of the Netflix series Stranger Things. Stranger Things was all that Francisco Adelante talked about, much to the annoyance of the people around him. He would always ask his friends if they saw a new season or episode of Stranger Things. Open his YouTube channel, and you would find hundreds of fan-tributes of Stranger Things that he made. Francisco was trying to talk with the girls about Stranger Things, but they just ignored him. They found him weird.
Not many people in the class liked Francisco. They thought that he was a guy without self-respect who would suck up to girls. The class' opinion about Francisco was that he was "the guy whose best friend is Siri."
10:30 a.m
Felipe was on a helicopter which was carrying him to a helipad in Santa Cruz Department. That day was the day of his transfer. The helicopter he was on was one of the remaining helicopters of the Bolivian Army that survived the flood which followed the collapse of the dam La Madre De Princesa Irene.
As the helicopter flew over Eterezama, Felipe stared down his window and saw how the areas he was flying over were flooded. A lot of huts were washed away. Cars were floating here and there. People were moving around in boats. The flood's impact on the villages was severe.
Felipe's eyes fell on a group of people trying to board a boat below the helicopter. When the last person got onto the boat, it capsized. Then everybody resurfaced from the water and tried to board the boat again.
After looking at the ground below, Felipe shifted his thoughts towards the work that he had to do upon landing on the helipad in the town Las Conchas in Santa Cruz Department. The loud sound of the helicopter's rotor blades was heard inside the cabin.
Tuka Tuka Tuka Tuka Tuka Tuka
As soon as he landed in Las Conchas, Felipe had to board a jeep to the site of an accident that happened on the day the storm began.
When a woodcutter went to cut wood in the forest, he discovered some mangled pieces of metal amidst mud brought down by a landslide near a hill. That discovery made headlines in some of the local newspapers in the regions near the rainforest.
Felipe had to investigate that discovery.
11:30 a.m
The sound of Bollywood music blaring through the speakers could be heard from the room right across Shifaly's room in the building.
Being a best friend of Avanthi for ten years, Shifaly knew that that room was occupied by Avanthi because she could identify the song that was playing. Avanthi loved Bollywood music like many Sri Lankans and she was crazy about it. After the fight with Shifaly, Avanthi had moved to that room, on request made to Miss. Dayani.
When Shifaly walked through the corridor, she thought of knocking on the door, but then remembered the fight that they had. She sighed as she stopped herself from knocking on the door, and just walked away. Shifaly felt very sad and heavy as she thought about the argument that severed their friendship.
Shifaly felt like her stomach was upset. That feeling was not because of a problem in her stomach. It was the deep emotional hurt that she felt after losing her best friend Avanthi. That feeling stung her. It was a bitter feeling. It felt like as if she was operated in her chest without anesthesia.
Shifaly tried to hold back tears. She tried for a while but was overwhelmed. When tears started streaming down Shifaly's eyes, she ran back to her room and shut the door.
Avanthi who was busy combing her hair, with the music on, felt like someone was at that door. She too was sad that she broke off her friendship with Shifaly. She thought perhaps Shifaly was at the door, seeking to reconcile. When Avanthi opened the door, wishing that it was Shifaly, she saw that there was no one there.
Sad, Avanthi returned to combing her hair, after closing the door.
Shifaly was crying heavily in her room. Avanthi had broken her friendship with Shifaly after Shifaly in a fit of anger told her to. She was crying with a mixture of emotions: remorse, frustration, and pain. She was deeply remorseful of fighting with Shifaly. She was frustrated with herself for stubbornly continuing the fight that day because of ego. She was pained because of losing a friend that she had known since kindergarten. She was grieving. As she was crying, Shifaly put on her headphones and played some music from a CD that Bernita Beatriz gifted her. She hoped that the music would make her feel better.
The song wasn't helping change Shifaly's mood.
It made her feel even sadder and depressed.
The song just made her cry harder, bringing memories that Shifaly had of Avanthi.
As she cried, Shifaly began to think of how Avanthi and Shifaly used to run around holding each other's hands when they were playing in the rain, in kindergarten. Sobbing, Shifaly began to think of how Avanthi was with her when she had her first heartbreak. Shifaly began to think of the times she and Avanthi used to watch horror movies together when they had sleepovers together. She thought of how they hugged each other whenever both of them freaked out at a scene.
"These things won't happen anymore, won't they? Once you crumple a paper, no matter how much you uncrumple it, it will never look like how it was before it was crumpled" thought Shifaly as she cried, hugging her pillow.
As she was crying, somebody knocked on the door.
Thinking it was Bernita Beatriz, Shifaly said, "Go away!"
Shifaly was wrong. It was Avanthi who knocked on the door, seeking to reconcile with Shifaly.
When she heard Shifaly say "Go away!", Avanthi walked away in sadness.
When they fought, Shifaly and Avanthi had exchanged some of the ugliest words that they never thought they would say to each other. Anger and ego took the worst out of them that when they were filled with anger and ego, they lost themselves. They said terrible things to each other.
The crying wasn't helping. It never gave Shifaly a feeling of release.
After a long sob, Shifaly washed her face in the washing basin of the toilet. She wiped her face with a white towel and took a look at her tear-soaked eyes in the mirror.
That was when someone slid a newspaper down the door.
When Shifaly went back to her bed, holding polaroids that she had taken with Avanthi, her eyes fell on the newspaper that was slid under the door.
Wiping her eyes, Shifaly lifted the folded newspaper and unfolded it. She wasn't able to read it because the newspaper was completely written in Spanish. The only foreign language she knew was French, which she studied in her school. The Spanish language was quite different from that of the French. She couldn't understand a thing, except for the meaning of one or two words here and there which looked similar to french words.
As she glanced through the front-page article, a picture that was included in the article caught her attention. It was the enlarged picture of someone on an illegible, worn-out identification card. As she looked carefully at the picture, she realized who the person was.
She pulled out the passport that she found in La Paz from her bag. She examined the picture on the passport and compared it with the picture in the newspaper.
Both pictures were that of Mícheál Súilleabháin Frainclín Ó Gallchobhair.
Both pictures were those of the man whose passport she found in the hotel at La Paz.
04:30 p.m
The rain had stopped for a while outside the bus in Campamento Del Bosque De La Muerte. The area was dark. In his capsule, Kirt sat on the bed with a guitar that he found on the bus. He felt like singing. With the guitar in hand, he strummed a few chords that he knew.
He then looked at the rain droplets on the window, and then looked on the bed. He was thinking of a song to play.
Strumming the guitar a few times, he found a melody. He began singing the song that he wanted to play. It was an old classic.
After he played the first few notes of its melody, he smiled. He then continued playing the intro and started sing verse 1.
Thunder rumbled and it began pouring once again.
As he saw rain pelt the window, Kirt continued singing 'Let Her Go' by Passenger. The song he sang and played on the guitar suited the vibes one could feel in that weather.
Timothy, who could hear the song from his capsule, enjoyed it.
06:30 p.m
Felipe's helicopter had a snag and had to land on an abandoned helipad in the Amboró National Park (Parque Nacional Amboró) earlier that day. They had been waiting for about seven hours. The pilot had made a distress call immediately after making the emergency landing. It seemed like help would only arrive at 2:30 a.m next morning.
06:45 p.m
Avanthi was nowhere to be seen that day.
None of the staff was there at the dam (La Abuela De Princesa Irene) because all the staff had gathered in one of the officers' houses for a birthday party. The dam's premises was dark. The staff that had gone to the party that evening, at 4.30 p.m when there was daylight, forgot to turn on the lights. The dam and its surroundings were lit only by the veiled light of the full moon in the thickly cloudy sky.
Shifaly had just finished eating dinner and had returned to collect her bag when she found a note placed on her bag. She lifted the note and read it:
"Dear Shifaly,
I am really sorry about what happened between you and Avanthi.
Hmmm. I know how it feels like being misunderstood. People always do that to me. I tried many times to prove to others that I'm not a bully. They always think I am like that. What to do? Many many times I tried very hard to show people that I have changed. They always think that I am a bad person.
You know what Shifaly? You like adventures don't you? I found a secret hangout place downstream from La Abuela De Princesa Irene. I think it's like an old, dilapidated fort that the Spanish built. You would love to hang out here.
Do come, Shifaly. I know how you're feeling after everything that happened between you and Avanthi. Believe me, I've gone through worse. But I promise you you'll definitely feel better after taking a walk outside.
To come to this place, you must walk on the trail that we walked on while visiting La Abuela's office. Do you know that old tree where we all saw that old trail which was being reclaimed by the forest? If you walk down that trail, you'll reach the fort. I'll be there by 9:30 p.m. Leave when everyone falls asleep at 10:00 p.m. I'll be waiting for you.
Yours Sincerely,
Your Good Friend,
Basura Samarasinghe"
After she finished reading the note, she just folded it and put it in her bag. Shifaly then thought for a while about the contents of the note.
She thought that it was very sweet and considerate of Basura. He had been comforting her over Avanthi for the last two days.
Even though Avanthi's words of caution came to the back of her mind, Shifaly allowed them to dissipate.
It was a slow fade when she gave herself away. Thoughts invaded. The choice was made. She decided to give herself away to Basura's words.
She decided to go to where he called her.
That night, Shifaly put on her bag and hid as she waited for everyone to go to sleep. She looked at her watch frequently as she saw Radeesha, Miss Dayani, and the others go to sleep. Avanthi wasn't to be seen anywhere.
Shifaly reasoned that Avanthi might have been in her room.
When she thought that everyone had gone, she gently crept towards the common-room.
That was when her eyes suddenly caught sight of Mr. Seneviratne sitting on the sofa. Upon noticing him, she slowly crept back to her hiding spot and waited.
At about 9:55 pm, she finally saw Mr. Seneviratne go up the stairs.
She heaved a sigh of relief and tiptoed to the door. Avanthi's words of caution came to her mind one last time. She just ignored them, as she shut the door behind her and ran out of the building.
Shifaly was afraid as she walked alone on the trail towards La Abuela's office. She kept looking for that tree from where she had to walk down the old trail. The stories that Adesh told her the night before the storm haunted her.
As she walked alone that night, a chill ran down her spine and the hairs on her skin were raised. Her heart was beating heavily. She was afraid: afraid of the dark that encompassed the moonlit forest; afraid of the sounds of bats; afraid of the full moon itself. A full moon is considered the day when spirits arise in many cultures. Shifaly was terrified. She increased the pace with which she walked.
After fifteen minutes, she came by an old, abandoned trail that led into the thick rainforest. She was near the tree Basura told her about.
Just as she was thinking about whether to enter the trail or not, she heard the sound of leaves being crushed behind her.
She looked back and saw that there was no one who was following her, or so she thought.
Taking a deep breath, and a full look behind her, she walked into the old, abandoned trail, pushing her way through the branches that obstructed her path.
She was breathing heavily and felt her blood rushing as she walked through that trail. Numerous times did she look at the ground where she walked on, being careful to not step on a serpent that was meandering through the forest floor at night. The forest was dark. Only a tiny amount of moonlight from the cloud-veiled moon managed to penetrate through the tiny spaces in the thick canopy.
After a long time, she stopped somewhere in the middle of her walk, sighing. She looked at her watch. It was 11:40p.m. She had been walking for a long time. She thought about how far she must have been from her classmates, from her teachers, from the building, from her phone that she forgot on her dressing table, and from Avanthi. She then took a look around her. She heard strange noises in the forest.
She hated every moment that she spent on that old abandoned trail.
"It must be abandoned for a reason," she thought.
If walking on the trail was scary, staying at one spot on the trail was scarier.
So, she continued to walk down that old, abandoned trail.
After a while, the trail began to lead her closer to the river. She could hear the noise of Princesa Irene flowing. The sound's audibility increased as she walked further down that trail which took her closer and closer to the river's banks.
The dam La Abuela was releasing a lot of water, as an emergency measure to relieve stress on her embankments. That was the reason why the generally calmly flowing waters sounded differently that night. They sounded like they were raging because the dam began to release a lot of water and for that reason, the part of the river downstream from the dam had a strong current that night.
After continuing for a while on the trail, she finally reached the spot where she saw Basura standing.
"Phew! That was a long, creepy walk," Shifaly remarked with a chuckle as she walked towards him.
Basura just stared at her without smiling.
She smiled and asked, "Where's the fort?"
Basura didn't say anything.
Basura looked at her and walked and closer and closer.
Shifaly continued to smile but as Basura came closer and closer, her smile morphed into an expression of confusion. Shifaly asked, "Basura, are you okay?"
Basura didn't say anything.
Then, Shifaly began to feel that something was fishy. She saw that Basura still kept walking towards her with a stare.
She decided that it was time to run.
She ran.
Trying to run away, she ran into Agash and Malindu who had crept up behind her while she was looking at Basura.
Before she could run into the forest, they caught her. As they held her, she screamed.
Malindu quickly put his hand on her mouth. Since her mouth was stifled, even though she screamed at the top of our lungs, her screams were inaudible. Seeing Basura come closer and closer, she bit Malindu's hand. He yelped in pain before slapping her across the cheek. Shifaly lost consciousness for about thirty seconds after being slapped. While she lost consciousness, Agash put a handkerchief on her mouth.
Then the duo dragged her towards Basura.
While she was being dragged, she gained consciousness and began struggling in the strong grip of Malindu and Agash. She couldn't escape from their tight grip.
When they brought her close to Basura, they pinned her down on the ground.
Basura came very near her after she was pinned down.
He squatted beside her.
Shifaly's eyes widened in fear.
She began struggling under the grip of Malindu and Agash, who tightened their grip on her arms as she struggled.
She didn't know what he was going to do.
Different thoughts of what he could do ran through her mind.
She was vulnerable, away from protection. Undefended.
Her heart was beating quickly. She was breathing heavily.
Suddenly, yelling "[Explicit] girl!", he stamped her stomach. He then did the same thing five times, causing Shifaly to spit out blood.
Shifaly writhed in pain as he did that. She tried to scream, but the handkerchief on her mouth stifled the yell. Shifaly was crying in pain. He had stamped her stomach with all his might.
He then kicked her once again and stamped her feet. After stamping once, he just kept his feet on her feet, firmly crushing it tightly. He bit his lower lips as he crushed Shifaly's feet.
She cried in pain as he did that, while he was yelling, "Scream! [Explicit] Scream! [Explicit]" as if he was gaining psychological gratification by torturing Shifaly.
Tears of pain streamed down Shifaly's eyes. She regretted fighting with Avanthi over being friendly with Basura. At that moment, when it seemed too late, she realized that Avanthi had been right all the while long.
Basura then punched Shifaly on the face.
Shifaly's nose started bleeding.
The blood from her nose stained the white handkerchief that Agash covered her mouth with. The white handkerchief was already stained by the blood she spat when Basura stamped her on her stomach.
"Do you know what you [Explicit] did to me?" he said as he continued punching her face.
"Because that [Explicit] Ms. Dayani saw me hitting you, she caught me with alcohol", he then continued after rising and placing his boots firmly on Shifaly's fingers, crushing them. To increase the pain, Basura stood on Shifaly's hand with both his legs, crushing them with his body weight. Shifaly screamed in pain. At one point, even Agash and Malindu felt sympathetic towards poor Shifaly.
After that, he slapped both her cheeks with both his hands.
"You [Explicit]! That [Explicit] Dayani told my parents and the principal and they took me out of every [Explicit] sports team I was in. The incident is on my record and I need to mention it whenever I fill out a college app. [Explicit], you ruined my life and you will pay!" he yelled.
He then burst into a frenzy of kicking and hitting Shifaly, causing her to bleed through her nose, ears and through the lacerations on her skin.
Exhausted from beating her, he stopped for a while.
Panting, he took a knife from his pocket and leaned over her.
"Do you know what happens to those that ruin other people's lives? They lose theirs," he said, bringing his knife close to Shifaly's wrist. He then continued, "We have ample reason to tell everyone you committed suicide, after being overwhelmed by the loss of your friend. I wanted to kill you from the day that you got me grounded. I observed you and realized that you're someone who was naive to trust anyone whom you forgive. So I hatched a plan to win your trust so that one day I could kill you! I know you were stupid enough to believe me."
He slapped her once again.
Seeing the blade come close to her wrist, Shifaly screamed, but the handkerchief prevented her screams from being heard.
Basura pulled up her long-sleeve and placed the knife's edge on her wrist.
Shifaly could feel the cold metal of the knife's edge touch the skin of her wrists. Feeling that dreary coldness, Shifaly began to say her final prayers.
Just before Basura could cut Shifaly's veins, a rock came flying and hit Basura on the head. The rock hit him just before he could apply pressure to cut through Shifaly's veins. As soon as the rock hit Basura, he let go of the knife, which fell beside Shifaly's hands. Shifaly's veins narrowly survived untouched, by an inch.
Before he could look in the direction from which the rock came and hit his head, two more rocks of the same size struck him down. He fell to the side.
Malindu and Agash unintentionally let go of Shifaly and rushed to help Basura.
As they let go of her, Shifaly grabbed her bag, took off the handkerchief that covered her mouth and ran.
Basura got up, holding his head which was bleeding because of the three rocks that were thrown at him.
"Catch her!" he yelled. The three boys began to chase her.
Just as Shifaly began running towards the forest, she saw someone run and charge at Basura.
Basura, Malindu, and Agash were shocked to see who it was.
Malindu and Agash stopped where they were. They didn't run after Shifaly.
Shifaly couldn't believe that it was Avanthi.
Screaming, Avanthi ran with a pen in her hand and stabbed Basura in the abdomen with it.
As the pen was jerked into his abdomen, Basura screamed in pain.
Then Avanthi looked at Shifaly and shouted, "Run Shifaly! Run to the boat near the bank! Go away!"
Just when she was saying that, an enraged Basura took his knife.
Before she could look at him, Basura furiously slashed Avanthi's throat.
The hot, sharp, and painful sting of the blade tearing through her throat was felt by Avanthi who was shocked at what had just happened.
Soon her ears started ringing and she felt like she was out of breath. She tried taking in a deep breath, but the breath didn't reach her lungs.
She continued to suck more air, to no avail.
She could feel the throbbing twinge of the wound caused by the slash.
Through her mind's eye, Avanthi saw memories of her life flashing before her. She saw the smile on her father's face as he held her after she was born. She saw her mother carry her, and sing lullabies to her. She saw herself when she first learned to walk. She saw herself first learning the alphabet. She saw herself meeting Shifaly for the first time. She saw the moments they had together. She saw all the joyous memories that she had until then.
As blood burst out from the gory laceration on her throat, she twirled around the blood-soaked forest floor. She stared at the trees around her. She saw Shifaly who looked at her in shock. She saw Malindu and Agash who were overwhelmed by the feeling of witnessing murder and death for the first time in their lives. She then saw Basura who was panting with the blood-stained knife in his hand and the pen stuck in the place on his abdomen where she had jerked it in.
Avanthi then gripped the wound, in vain, hoping to dam the flow of blood. Her clothes were soaked by the blood which poured out of her slashed neck. She gasped for air once again. Slowly, the pain from the wound disappeared as it became numb. She stopped twirling and hobbling and finally fell on the pool of her own freshly spilled blood.
With her final strength, Avanthi pointed her finger in a direction and mouthed the words "Run! Shifaly!"
Soon her arm lost its strength and it dropped.
Lying on the pool of her own blood, Avanthi started twitching.
The blood from her severed blood vessels had flowed into the trachea that was cut open after the slash, drowning her in her own blood.
After some final convulsions, Avanthi's body laid still on the pool of blood.
Her eyes were open, as her corpse lay amid blood. Avanthi died.
Shifaly moaned.
"No Avanthi, No!" she screamed as she sobbed uncontrollably. "Oh No!" she cried. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She lost her friend before she could even get a chance to reconcile with her.
As Avanthi died, Malindu and Agash stood in shock.
Basura was trying to jerk the pen out of his abdomen. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't.
After giving up trying to pull the pen out of his abdomen, he looked at dead Avanthi and then stared at Shifaly who had witnessed the murder of her best friend.
Then, Basura pointed his finger at her and commanded his aides, "Idiots, catch her! If she lives she will get us in trouble with the Police!"
The trio ran towards Shifaly.
Shifaly dashed into the forest to escape them. She could hear the sound of the river near her, as she ran in the direction Avanthi told her to run. She ran to escape the boys who sought to slay her.
While she ran, she felt the heaviness of grief weighing her down. She just witnessed the death of Avanthi, when she should have been the one who died. At that moment, Shifaly regretted not reconciling with her friend when she was alive. Shifaly regretted cutting friendship with Avanthi. Shifaly regretted not listening to Avanthi.
The words that she told Avanthi days earlier (when Avanthi was teasing her about Theshana's proposal) haunted her: "Avanthi I have a feeling that, if you ever die, you would die because of me." "Avanthi did die because of me. She sacrificed her life to protect me", Shifaly thought.
She hated herself because Avanthi died before they could ever reconcile.
After running through the forest for a while, when she looked back, Shifaly saw that the boys were still pursuing her. Basura had his blade in hand, intending to slay Shifaly.
Ahead of Shifaly was the riverbank, and tied to a pole on the bank was the boat Avanthi told her about.
Before the boys reached the bank, Shifaly ran across the bank and got onto the boat. After getting onto the boat, she hurriedly tried to untie it before the boys came near her.
Exactly when Basura neared her and put his hand on the boat, trying to climb on to it, the boat was untied and forcefully carried away by the river. Basura let go of the boat and began drowning in the water
Seeing Basura in the river, Malindu and Agash jumped in to rescue him because Basura didn't know how to swim.
By the time they had jumped into the river, the boat had gone far away because of the current.
Basura sunk. The other boys never resurfaced again after they jumped into the river to rescue Basura.
The three of them were pulled underwater by the undercurrent of the river, doomed to die a watery death.
Shifaly was safe from the three, on the boat, carried downstream by the raging waters. It began to rain.
The rain washed away the blood from the wounds that she had incurred while she was tortured and nearly murdered by Basura.
Her energy was drained out because she ran a long distance, trying to escape from Basura, Agash, and Malindu who were all swallowed by the river after they jumped into it.
Her stomach still hurt after being strongly stamped by Basura's feet.
Shifaly thought about what had transpired before she got onto the boat and began feeling the emotional bite of the fact that she would see Avanthi no more.
She began feeling dizzy. She felt her vision blur. She began losing control. She fell on the boat.
She passed out.