Olivia said, "Lights off." All the lights in the room turned off one after another. In just two seconds the room was in complete darkness. She sat up on her bed and brought her right hand in front of her face. After clicking a few buttons a holographic image out of the centre of the watch where all the needles were joined. Yes, it was not the normal digital watch people used. It looked like hundreds of years old wristwatch that only showed the time but it had functions much much and much more complicated than the digital watches everyone wore which only showed the time, could play music, could be used for calling, playing games and everything that a smartphone is capable of doing. Most people preferred a watch to a phone but some still carried a phone as a backup.
The picture was none other than the one she took at the Singha Roy residence. The village scenery. She had already realised something was fishy about this painting and had a guess too. But it was always wiser to be certain. As the picture spread before her, Olivia's eyes slid over every stroke of the brush, every dot and line. The painting really was very beautiful but that was not what caught her eyes. The painting looked like it was made using regular brush strokes but someone like Olivia who was in a profession where she had to deal with such things regularly, knew how to look for little details hidden in paintings and differentiate one from the other. In most cases, it was a signature style of the artist while in some cases like this one special messages were hidden in them. As there were various colours and lines involved it was extremely difficult for even a specialised person to decipher the message and even more so for an ordinary person unless she or he has an inborn talent for such things.
It took her three whole minutes to find out all the hidden messages. In the beginning, she only knew that the painting contained some secret message but her discovery even shocked herself. Two screens were projected out of her watch, one that contained the painting and another blank screen. She rested her right hand on her knees such that the two screens were at her eye level. Using her left hand she copied the shapes and symbols on the black screen. As her finger glided on the screen and came to a stop finishing the last stroke, she looked at the image on the second screen unblinking.
A pitcher plant with a star mark at the centre of it was bound by lines running parallel to one another circling it. There were a total of twenty-one such lines. They formed rings that levitated one over the other forming a shield around the pitcher.
It was not just any symbol but a logo very familiar to Olivia. As she closed the screen and looked ahead at the darkness her calm eyes turned extremely cold. It was as if they were the eyes of a dead person. A dark fixed gaze, staring nowhere but still somewhere that no one was aware of. A black hole without an end.
She closed her eyes and when she reopened them the previous spine-shivering dark and cold gaze was gone and it returned to her usual cold and unbothered - by - anything gaze. "Shareen, I've taken my first step to get closer to you. Just wait." She said in a low voice like an executioner slowly creeping closer to her victim. Suddenly her eyes landed on the keychain lying on the table. "Tsk. I need to deal with you first." She stared at one of the three mini figurines in particular and said.
Next day at school.
Since the day Olivia taught that boy a lesson which everyone thought to be because of the taunting remarks he made, almost everyone became a little weary of her. Olivia came earlier than the rest and was lying on her chin at her desk and reading a horror novel. "Wow! You like reading this author's books too?" Anisha asked. Olivia hummed without moving her head. "This is a series. I've almost completed it. Which book are you on? There are eight in all." She said. This time Olivia lifted her head and looked at Anisha's face for some time and said, "Spit it."
Anisha stared back dumbly for some time and said in an embarrassed tone while scratching her neck "Uh, I just wanted to comfort you. You see, previously those people were badmouthing you and now that you've shown how strong you are and that you can't be bullied they're treating you as if you were a dangerous mad animal who harms people without rhyme or reason. Don't be sad. It's better to get ignored than constantly mocked. But if you feel miserable by their hateful gazes you can join our group 'The hated gang'" Anisha gave Olivia a soft smile and said. Olivia could feel how cautiously Anisha was speaking so as not to hurt her. Also what she said was not meant for taunting her but a genuine helping hand of someone who was experienced in facing such things before. And she was also amused by their group name and found it interesting. "Okay. I'll join," she said.