Jager - A Preview

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Jager



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Jager

Akansha Panwar



Notion Press5 Muthu Kalathy Street, Triplicane, Chennai - 600005

First Published by Notion Press

Copyright © Akansha Panwar 2013

All Rights Reserved.

ISBN: 978-93-83185-19-1

This book is sold subject to condition that it shall not by way

of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold or hired out, circulatedand no reproduction in any form, in whole or in part (except

for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews) may be

made without written permission of the publishers.

This book has been published in good faith that the work of

the author is original. All efforts have been taken to make

the material error-free. However, the author and the publisher

disclaim the responsibility for any inadvertent errors.



To all of those who believed that I could soar above the ordinary.

Thanks for all your love and support.





“It says: ‘Home Is Where the Heart is’,

But what a shame,‘Cause everyone’s heart doesn’t beat the same.

It’s beating out of time.”

-Billie Joe Armstrong.



Map of Europe, 2033



Prologue

It was evening and the sun was settingbeyond the hills. Birds flocked to their nests

in groups, batting their wings and staying intheir formation. Taylor was watching all this

happen from his window, as he eagerly waited for his mother to return home. Hiselder sister was in her room, doing herhomework while he had just finished his. Henever dared to disturb her, for she wouldshout at him and threaten to kill him if he

annoyed her too much. He was very scared of her. On the winding road ahead, he saw ablack Royce approaching. His mother hadarrived. He ran to the main door and out ontothe front porch to greet her. She hugged himtenderly and said, “Hello, dear! Did you finish

your homework?” He nodded excitedly andshe walked into the house with him.His sister, Ellen, came down as well and

hugged her mother. Their mother left Taylorand embraced her daughter and they beganchatting about their day. Taylor slowly andcautiously made his way upstairs and lockedhimself in his room. He didn’t want to disturbthem while they chatted. Meanwhile, themother - daughter duo spoke with greatconcern about Taylor. Ellen told her motherthat Taylor had still not made a single friend

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and he had now resorted to bullying the other

children. The mother listened as Ellen toldher about all that Taylor had done to hisclassmates. He had beaten up his partner,hung a girl upside down on the fan by hershoe laces and put chalk bits in another boy’slunch. She told her mother that things had

gone far enough and that they needed to talk to him. No fourteen-year old was supposed toact like that.

“He’s become so much like his father”,Ellen’s mother said, sinking into a chair as

worried as ever. Ellen sat beside her and

put an arm around her, “You and I bothknow that we cannot let him follow father’sfootsteps. Or else, he will just be anotherburden to bear for you”. Her mother lookedat her, smiled sadly and said, “I know, dear. Iknow.”

Taylor was reading a book in his room andthinking about what he had done. He feltguilty about it, but a greater part of him feltreally good when he did things like that.

“No! I must not feed the bad wolf!” hethought.

He remembered the story his teacher had

told them that day, about the two wolfs, onegood and one bad, fighting within us at alltimes and how she had looked at him, herpretty grey eyes full of worry when she said,“The one you feed shall win”. He threw hisbook aside in frustration. He got up and paced

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around the room, thinking “these people, they

don’t understand! The good wolf is the one I try to feed, but it’s always the bad one who steals the food! There must be a way to end this.” He thought hard and long, but came tono conclusion. So, he decided to sleep it off.“All I need is some rest”, he thought.

The next day, he went to school with hissister for a change. His mother had instructedher the previous night to be nice to him inthe hope that he might better himself, or atleast tell her what was wrong. They walkedinto the driveway and sat in her red Mustang.

Ellen and Taylor were quiet as they drove outof the estate. After a while Ellen broke thesilence,” So... How’s school, Tay?”

“Good, I guess,” he replied half heartedly.Ellen sighed and then said,” Look, I know

I’ve been mean to you before and I completely understand if you don’t want to talk to me.But, I’m just trying to be nice now. I want usto be friends, not enemies. We’re siblings afterall. So, what do you say? Truce?” she lookedat him.

He thought for a while and then smiled,“Truce.”

During his breaks, he always sat alone andthis gave him plenty of time to try assessing

what had gotten into his sister, Ellen. It wasn’tnormal for her to be so nice; something wasdefinitely not in place. He thought andthought as to what his sister would gain from

Prologue

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befriending him. Was it possible that she had

found out? Or, did she suspect him? He shook his head and tried to calm down. He thentook out a small diary and opened it. It wasfull of news paper cuttings, regarding therecent kidnapping of some students.

On each side of the article was a picture of

the missing person, taken as if without theirknowledge, for not even one of them hadlooked at the camera and the snaps seemedto be taken from a little way off. He stuck anew article on the side of a picture of a youngschool boy who happened to go to the school

a street or two from his. He never really read the articles for he knew that neither thechildren nor their bodies had been discovered.He was too good for that. He then stuck apicture of a girl from his school, a young girlin the twelfth grade who didn’t even know heexisted. But, like the other victims, she hada hand in his great grandfather’s murder anddisappearance. She often skipped school, soit would not be unusual if she was missingduring school hours; a perfect way to kidnapher without anyone knowing.

At lunch, he cautiously followed her as

she stepped out of school with her friendsto a nearby mall. He followed on, completely unnoticed by her posse and her, and finally found a window of opportunity as she wentto the restroom unaccompanied. He followedher and when it was deserted, hit her at the

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back of the head with a small bat. She fell

flat on the ground and he carried her away and tied her up, hiding her in a small janitor’scloset. He then sent a text message to anunsaved number ‘package at 5th floor’ . In afew minutes, a man approached with a lotof cardboard boxes. He nodded at Taylor and

went into the closet, putting the girl in a boxand disappearing to the parking lot.

He dashed back to school, just in timefor the end of lunch. He was careful not tobe spotted and made his way back to class,pleased. When school was over, Ellen came to

pick him up and he greeted her with a bigsmile. “Good day at school?” she asked him.He sat in the car and said, “I’ve made a

friend”.“That’s fantastic! Who is it?” Ellen asked

happily.“You,” he replied.

** ** **

That evening, he finished his homework early and went to check on his sister. Ashe had hoped, she was consumed in work

with her door shut; perfect. He quietly went

down the stairs of the mansion and cautiously went out the door. As soon as he was outof earshot of the house, he broke into arun heading towards the old forgotten work shed. He entered the little run down shedand looked for his tools and when he found

Prologue

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them, he set them out on the table. There was

a little worn out leather case filled with allsorts of knifes, guns, bullets and hammers. Hebeamed at them with a maniacal smile.

“These are my father’s, you know.” hesaid and turned to his prisoner. She writhedaround in her ropes and choked as she tried

to scream through the tightly bound clothover her mouth. Taylor chucked,” Don’t eventry, miss. You will neither be able to make apeep with that over your mouth, nor will yoube able to break through the rope. He is goodat what he does.”

He then made his way to the door andstopped in front of her.“You’re my father’s prey, so I’ll leave the

dirty work to him this time”, he said and went.

As soon as he went out, another man camein and shut the door behind him. Taylor

walked to the playing area and sat on aswing. All the while he thought about whathe had gotten himself into. It had been only a few years since they moved in and heknew his father hated this place, it was hisgrandfather’s home town and the people there

always hated his father as a child. After a long time, he received a message

‘it’s done. Now, help me cover it up.’ He wentback to the shed and found the man standingaround four black bags.

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The man nodded and Taylor picked up two

bags and said, “Let’s go."“What am I doing?” Taylor thought, “How

can helping my father take revenge fix our home?”

They buried the bags in the woods andcovered up the remaining evidence. They

were about to part ways, when Ellen appearedin front of them. She had a look of pure terroron her face and yelled,” Taylor! What the hellare you doing? And who is this? Explain, orI’m telling mom!”

Hearing this, the blood ran out of his face

and he was quiet. But, the man was quick. Ina flash, he slit Ellen’s throat and left her body mangled on the ground. Taylor screeched andgrabbed the man by the arm aggressively.“That’s my sister, you idiot! Your daughter!”he screamed, sobbing.

“Quiet, child!” he threw Taylor to theground.” You are my only family. I care forno one else”. Police sirens were heard and theman knocked Taylor out, leaving him next tohis sister’s body. A look of horror escaped hiscontrol as he looked at his daughter’s deadbody.

“Sorry, son”, he said and disappeared intothe woods beyond as dusk set in.

Prologue

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Q

11

Taylor stared into the darkness above him.He could see the stars of the night sky

faintly, due to an overpowering light that

came from around him. He looked at the lightand realised that it was flashing red and blue;they were police cars. His vision blurred as heheard heavy footsteps with a strange jinglingsound approaching him. He turned his head

wearily to a man who gently picked him up.

He was saying something to him, but Taylorcould not understand as it was all muffled. Hethen passed out in the man’s arms.

He woke up with a start to find himself inhis mother’s arms. He looked up at her andshe noticed that he was awake.

“How are you feeling, son? It was quite abad bump that you had on your head.” Shesmiled sadly.

He could see the pain in her eyes, eventhough she did a great job of keeping it out of her voice. He was well aware that he was not

dreaming. His father had killed many peoplein the town with his help in the past fewmonths and he watched as his father killed hissister, whom he had finally managed to makehis peace with. His eyes brimmed with tearsas he thought of Ellen and how mercilessly



she was killed. He wished he had stopped his

father, he wished he had never helped him inthe first place.

He surveyed the place and realised thathe was at a police station. It seemed to be

very late, but all the police men were still atthe station. The bottom of their eyes looked

swollen from the long day’s work and theextra stress of this new case in their hands.They all had to work overtime because of him.Just then, an officer came up to the two of them. “Hello there, son. Do you mind steppinginto the interrogation room for a minute? I

have a few questions I need to ask you, don’t worry it’s only protocol.” he smiled at Taylor.“Okay”, he replied and followed the officer.

As soon as he stepped in, he was amazedby the room. It had no windows and lookedarmoured because of the grey walls. He thennoticed the long mirror on one of the walls of the room. He knew exactly what it really was;

watching many crime movies on televisionhad made him familiar with this kind of scenario. As he sat down on the cold metalchair offered to him he thought, “This time,I must come clean about my actions .” But

he remembered the mirror and realised thathis mother was most probably on the otherend, listening. “No, it will break her heart,” hethought again.

“Okay, Taylor, tell us what happened.” theofficer said.

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He took a deep breath and remained silent

for a long time.“It’s okay, take your time.” The officer said

reassuringly.Taylor sighed and said, “I had just finished

my homework and had gone to the park toplay. I was playing in the sand with a stick

when I heard Ellen calling me. So, I wentlooking for her. I had almost reached thebushes near the house, when I heard herscream. I ran towards where the noise camefrom and found her near the park, dead.Before I could even react, I felt a sharp blow

on my head and everything went black.”He couldn’t believe that he had lied, again!He managed to keep the frustration at bay,as the officer led him out. His mother andhim were then dropped home and advised toget some sleep. Taylor and his mother didn’tspeak and went straight to their respectiverooms. He locked the door of his room assoon as he shut it and began pacing aroundthe room, thinking of what to do. He took afew steps and stopped.

“The book!” he thought.He then dug through his bag and found the

book full of news paper cuttings and starteda fire in the berth. Once the flame was bigenough, he tossed the book in and watchedas it burnt to ash. Once it was completely destroyed, he felt calmer. He then sat onthe bed and decided to lead his life as if

Akansha Panwar

3



nothing was wrong and lay down. He was so

exhausted by the whole day’s events that hedozed off in a matter of seconds.

That night he had a strange dream. He sawhimself as an infant, in his mother’s arms,as she and Ellen ran as fast as they could.He looked at Ellen for a long time. She was

young; probably not even an adolescent yet.They seemed to be trying to get away fromsomeone, but he could not see who was intheir pursuit. They finally came across a wall,

which he noted was the same dull grey asthe interrogation room’s walls, and put their

backs against it as they trembled. Finally, hesaw whom they had been running from, theman he wished he had never met; his father.He was approaching fast with a dagger inhis right hand, roaring in rage. He hackedat Ellen, but she was quick enough to dodgeit. He attacked her again and again, as hismother shrieked and Ellen ran around thesmall room. His mother hid him behind an oldcupboard and lunged at his father to try andhelp Ellen.

He pushed his mother away and stabbedher several times and dropped her carcass

carelessly on the floor. Taylor screamed and wailed, but he was mute in the dream. Hethen attacked Ellen and killed her in the samemanner as he had the previous evening. Heshut his eyes tight, unable to bear the sightof their bodies. He heard a twig snap on

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the ground and opened his eyes slowly to

find himself in the woods. He was fourteenagain and he stood in the shadows as he

watched his father scurry around the crimescene where Ellen had been murdered. Helooked closely to see what his father wasdoing and saw that he had placed Taylor’s

notebook (the one he had burnt last night)there. Taylor was shocked. His father wasframing him to save himself!

He remembered what his father had saidbefore knocking him out. “You are my only family”. Taylor felt hurt and betrayed when

he saw his father doing this and hot tearsstreamed down his cheeks as he watched hisfather walk away. His father stopped andturned towards Taylor and he woke up witha start. His jet-black hair was bathed in coldsweat and he was panting. He looked out the

window to see that it was just about sunrise.He rubbed his eyes, got off the bed and madehis way to the window. He saw the birdsflying in groups starting their day, just asnormal as any other. If he hadn’t helped hisfather, he would have had a normal day too.

And Ellen would still be alive...

He wanted revenge, for what his father didto her. She did not deserve to die. Just then,he remembered his cell phone. He neededto get rid of it. He turned his whole roomupside down trying to find it, but in vain. Hesat amidst the mess and thought hard about

Akansha Panwar

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where he had left it. Then it hit him like

lightening; it had been in his pocket the lastevening. Since it was not with him now, it

was either in police custody or still at thecrime scene.

He jumped up and found his way outsidequietly and quickly. Once he was out of his

mother’s ear shot, he ran like the windtowards the crime scene. As expected, it wascleared up. Taylor groaned in frustration andlooked in the direction of the shed. It wasprobably untouched as it was not in theimmediate vicinity of the crime scene. The

police only investigated superficially lastnight, the major scrutiny of the area wouldhappen today. He sprinted to the shed andfound it just the way his father had left it:the weapons in the first drawer, the rope thathad tied the girl still on the floor and underthe table was Taylor’s cell phone. He picked itup and blew off the fine dust layer that hadformed over it.

He shoved it in his pocket and dashedback to the house. Once he had climbed thestairs, he decided to check on his mother.He tip toed to her room and peered in from

the small opening of the door. She was lyingdown and weeping silently. He felt a sharppain in his heart on seeing her like thatand thought about all the bad things he haddone that she did not know about. He slowly

walked back to his room. “One day, she will

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Jager

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Jager - A Preview