Highway to Damnation

by Arun Hariharan "Raayan"

“Am I walking away from something I should be running away from?”— Shirley Jackson, “The Haunting of Hill House”

The battered brown Honda sedan raced down the desolate highway between Jaipur and Ajmer. The night was cold and moonlit, with only a sliver of light illuminating the lonely road.

Inside the dilapidated car, the interior was as unkempt as the exterior. Empty beer cans and burnt cigarette butts littered the seats and floor. Ranjeet Singh, 38, looked exhausted as he chain-smoked cigarettes in an attempt to stay awake. His eyes were bloodshot and his face unshaven, giving him a dishevelled appearance.

As Ranjeet drove, a sudden thudding sound stirred him from his nicotine-induced haze. Irritated, he pulled the Honda over to the side of the highway. Cursing loudly in Punjabi, he stepped out of the car, pistol drawn. After scanning the dark roadside, he walked to the back of the car and angrily banged his fist on the trunk. Silence followed, but then the banging sounded again from inside. Furious now, Ranjeet popped the trunk open, ready to confront whatever lay inside.

A middle-aged man in a black suit and tie was crumpled inside, his hands and legs bound. He looked up at Ranjeet pleadingly through the gag over his mouth. Ranjeet ripped out the gag in frustration. "You're irritating me - don't make me shoot you, bastard!" he yelled, shoving the pistol barrel in the man's face.

"Please, listen, I just need to move my legs and have a smoke. I won't cause any trouble," the man said calmly, nudging the gun away.

Ranjeet was taken aback by the man's composure. Grudgingly, he cut the ropes binding the man's hands and feet.

“Thanks,” murmured the man in a hoarse voice. “Can I have a cigarette please?” he asked in a pleading voice.

Ranjeet scowled, however lit the man a cigarette.

"Jai Sethi" the man replied after a long drag. Ranjeet laughed harshly. "I don't need to know your name. You're just a package I need to deliver."

“Just one last request... can I sit in the front. Promise...no trouble. You can shoot me if I do so” said Jai.

Ranjeet wearily agreed and jabbed his pistol into Jai’s ribs. "Now get in the front seat and no funny business."

As they drove on, Jai made occasional small talk, which Ranjeet mostly ignored. After an hour, Ranjeet, following the location pin of his destination on Google Maps, turned down a dirt road leading deep into the forested foothills near Kishangarh. As the car rolled to a stop in a moonlit clearing, shadowy figures emerged from the trees.

A deep voice called out, "Bring him to me." Ranjeet nodded to Jai muttering "End of the road for you." Jai stepped forward serenely. The voice ordered him to kneel. Ranjeet approached the figures, demanding his payment of Rupees 100,000. A duffel bag landed at his feet.

Ranjeet opened the duffel bag to check. But as he unzipped the bag a whiff of smoke was released from it. He suddenly felt drowsy and then his legs gave way below him as he dropped down in a faint.

When he got up, he had a splitting headache and squinted his eyes to study his surroundings. He was lying on a table.

Jai’s face was looking down upon him with a sinister smile. So were 3-4 other figures whom he could not discern too well in the dim light. Ranjeet struggled to get up but realised that he had been secured tightly to the table with thick leather thongs.

The figures crowding around the table started muttering some kind of eerie incantation in chorus, in what seemed like Sanskrit. Ranjeet was truly scared now and tried again to get up, but in vain.

Suddenly, Jai pulled out a knife and plunged it into Ranjeet's chest!

Ranjeet screamed in pain as blood blossomed across his shirt. The shadowy figures closed in around him, revealed now as a group of men in black robes, their faces obscured by hoods. Jai retrieved the knife and stood over Ranjeet.

"You have delivered yourself well, sinner," Jai intoned. "Your sacrifice will please our righteous God."

Ranjeet realized in horror he had been lured to his death. The money had been bait, the businessman a ruse. As he choked on his own blood, Ranjeet saw the flash of Jai's blade descending yet again. It slashed across his throat, releasing a crimson fountain before everything went black.

The robed cultists encircled Ranjeet's lifeless body and began their profane rituals to appease their malevolent deity. Jai raised his blood-drenched arms in praise, having offered up another wicked soul for eternal damnation.