Chapter 3
Two unknown friends and a shadow
Louis sees Conroy standing in front of that mall. Seeing him, Louis gets out of the car and goes straight to Conroy. Seeing him leaving, they all also start going to Conroy.
Louis tells Conroy, "I guess you knew we'd be back here, so you didn't come with us, you just stood here waiting for us." Then Conroy laughs and says, "Yes, you are right. Anyway, I don't know how many people tried to get out of here but all of them could not get out, so I knew that you too would not be able to get out."
Then Kraven says angrily, "Alvis, this is all your fault, it's because of you that we are all stuck here. Now you will be the one who will get us out of here". Hearing all this, a look of worry appears on Alvis's face and he says, "I mean, even before us, some people like us were trapped here and couldn't they also get out of here? If you know anything you can tell us, Conroy." "No," Conroy says with a big smile on his face. And as soon as he says this, he starts running from there into the forest towards the mall. So Alvis also runs after Conroy. Now seeing Alvis, they all also start going after Conroy. After sometime suddenly a person appears in front of Alvis. He was sitting on a tree and comes straight in front of them. The condition of its clothes was much the same as that of Conroy. Instead of red, he was wearing a black shirt and blue pants. He looked to be about thirty years old. There is a long mustache and beard on his face. He says in his serious voice, "What happened, why are you all running after my friend together?"
Then Alvis tries to ask for help, like a dying man asking for help. In a deep and hopeful voice, he says, "Maybe your friend knows something that can get us out of here." .Will you help us with this?" Then that person laughs and says "Hey! He doesn't know anything. If he knew anything, he would be running around here for a bit. My name is honcho. We are both trapped here". Just then Conroy is also standing there behind a tree and listening to them. He comes in front of them all and says "Hey man Honcho, you don't even let us have a little fun. What was the need to say all this?". Then Amelia says angrily, "Here we are all dying and you are having fun". Just then Honcho says to Amelie "Hey! do not be angry. We understand your problems and it has been a long time since we have been living here, so we do not feel afraid here. That's why he was joking with you." Then Alvis says to Honcho "Leave it all aside, can you tell us why we can't get out of here?" Honcho says, "Look, if we knew anything about all this, wouldn't we both just get out of here?" Just then the sound of hunger comes from Alvis's stomach. Alvis feels a little shy and sits on the ground. Hearing that voice, Honcho smiles and says, "Come with me, I will take you to the place where we both have kept a lot of fruits". Then Louis says, "Let us all stay here tonight and then go out from here tomorrow morning." Kraven says "yes we should stay here tonight". Honcho says "So you guys are coming with us?" Then Amelie says "Yes, yes we are coming. Then they all go after him. Honcho says, "Now the darkness in this mall will keep increasing because night has started falling. We are used to this darkness, so if you have problem then turn on the torch of your phone. They all do the same. Honcho takes them to the third floor of the mall. There is a path on the side of which a board is written "Toy Shop". Those people move forward on the same path. Further there is a big room, Honcho opens the door of that room. As soon as that door opens, a strong aroma of different fresh fruits starts coming. It is very dark in that room because there is no window there. Smelling that fragrance, Amelie takes a deep breath and says, "Wow! It smells so good". Then Louis smiles and says, "Yes, you are right Amelie, this fragrance shows how fresh these fruits are". Craven says, "Brother, I am so hungry now that anything will do. Then they all pick one fruit each from the box lying there and sit together and start eating the fruit with pleasure. Honcho and Conroy are also very happy. Honcho tells Alvis with a smile on his face "I feel really good today, you all are with us and we are eating fruits together". Alvis says, "I am also feeling very good because I also eat alone in my hostel many times. Then Louis says, "Honcho, if we get out of here, we can sit together and eat dinner every day." Hearing this from Lewis, Honcho's smile disappears and Conroy says, "I think this mall is a different world in itself." Hearing all this, Craven's throat becomes heavy and he says crying, "This is all Alvis's fault, neither would he have brought us here nor would we have been trapped here." Then Honcho says, "Leave all this, I don't think you guys are going to sleep now, so to pass the time, we play games outside this mall, you guys can pass your time by playing them". None of them are happy after hearing about the game. Then Honcho tells them all, "If you guys get so discouraged by now, I don't think you'll ever be able to get out of here." Then Amelie says "Honcho is right. Playing games will calm our mind and we will be able to think with a cool mind. So that we could get out of here". Then Alvis laughs and says, "Both of you are right, we should think with our cool mind as to how we can get out of here".
Then Conroy says, "I'll be bored here, so I'll come with you." "Then let's go play something," says Honcho excitedly. Then they all start going after Honcho and Conroy. They come down from the third floor and come to the first floor. Then they go to the toy shop and he says, take the things from here and then we will go out and play. Honcho then hands them some wooden bottles and takes an iron ball himself and gives a ball to Conroy. Then they all reach outside. It is a little brighter there because of the light of the moon. There is a lot of peace there and the wind is blowing slowly. One feels very relaxed in the cool shade of those trees. Then Honcho stands at one place and says, "First of all we have to freeze this girl's bottle and this is the first game we have to play", interrupting Honcho, Amelie says "Hey! This is bowling bowl, we know everything about it. So we should first keep all these bottles properly". Honcho says "You all have played this before". Then Kraven says "Hey! But how will we play in such darkness? Then Louis says "Hey! A little is visible. We should start playing. Then laughingly he says, yes, I just don't know about this Alvis Nube. Then Alvis says, "By the time you heard the name of this bowling bowl, I had already played it twice". Then Kraven says "Yes, yes we will find out soon". Then Alvis laughs to himself and says, "It's a big thing for him to just hold the ball." Then they all start collecting those bottles. First of all, Honcho takes that ball in his hands and throws it towards those bottles and out of the ten bottles kept there, seven bottles fall. Alvis asks Honcho "Have you ever gone out to this mall and played this game?" Honcho says "No I never played". Then Kraven tries to hold the ball but is unable to hold it. Then Honcho laughs and says, "Alvis was right, you catch the ball, this is a big thing". Alvis looks at Honcho in surprise and says "How do you know". Honcho says "I overheard you while you were talking to yourself". Kraven angrily says "Hey! So this bowl does not have those three holes through which the bowl is held. Everyone there starts laughing and Alvis says "No problem, bring it to me". Kraven then hands the ball to Alvis and looks at him like a hunter looking at his prey. Then Alvis takes that ball in one hand and throws it towards those bottles and nine of them fall. They all praise Alvis and Craven says "Wow! It was really a good shot". Then Amelia says to Honcho, "Honcho, tell me one thing, how did you come here and get stuck". Alvis says "Hey! Yes, I forgot to ask this thing". On this matter, Honcho says, "There is another great game which we all can play in which we rotate a bottle and the one whose mouth comes to the table will tell us a secret". Then Conroy says "There are other games, why do you want to play this game so soon". Then they all start thinking. Honcho tells them all "Hey! Why are you all thinking so much? You all are some kind of thieves, dacoits and robbers that you have to think so much. Then they all say yes to this game. Honcho grabs a bottle and says "let's get started". Then Honcho spins that bottle and all of them are holding their breath as to who will get the mouth of that bottle and they all start thinking their own secrets in their mind. Then the bottle starts slowing down and their breathing starts increasing. Then the mouth of that bottle falls on Amelie. Amelie says "Hey! No, I did not want this to start from me. But okay, let me tell you that when I was in 10th class, I cheated in my boards and got very good marks". After Hearing this, everyone there starts smiling. Alvis laughs and says, "This is a secret. Everyone in our college is like that". Honcho again starts spinning the bottle, this time it stops in front of Conroy. He says, "My secret is not very big, except that I once saved my friend from falling into a ditch". Hearing this, Kraven says "Hey! Brother, don't praise yourself , you have to speak some wrong thing done by you." Honcho says, "Whether it's good or bad, it should be a secret", and saying this, Honcho spins the bottle again and this time the bottle appears in front of Elvis. Alvis says "Let me tell you a very big secret. Gradually, in most of the groups of boys in our hostel, a girl's number started getting added and they used to tell everything to that girl like notes of any class, any important paper and I used to know all this. Was. And then one day suddenly that girl's number gets switched off. Then Alvis laughs and says, "Did you understand anything?" Then Craven says, "Yes brother, you were that girl and you were having fun with all the kids in your group". Then Amelie says "Alvis, you don't leave your friends too?" Then Alvis says "Hey! We can joke only with friends". Then Honcho says "Come on, I'm spinning the bottle again". Now this bottle again comes back to Amelie. Amelie says, "No, now it is not me, I should come on someone else on whom I have not come even once". Agreeing with Amelie, Honcho spins the bottle once again and this time it lands on Honcho. Alvis says to Honcho, "Please tell me how you two got stuck here". Honcho says, "That's why I started this game. Once both of us were coming towards our respective homes after working from a shop, then I saw this mall and I walked towards it and then we are in front of you. Alvis says "You have been here so many years so why hasn't anyone come looking for you yet". Then Honcho says "I was the only child in my family and my mother died in my childhood and my father left me in an orphanage". Alvis says "What happened to your mom?". Honcho says, "It was about that day that I had a toy of a pigeon made by me of my choice and my mother saw that toy and she started asking me to give it to her but I did not do so, so she took a toy from her." Had kept the knife. By the time she started threatening me with that knife, my father had come there and while trying to take the knife from her, my mother got hit by the knife in her neck and then she died. In the midst of all these things, suddenly the sound of someone running very fast is heard and they all become alert, just as there is peace in a noisy forest due to the sudden arrival of a lion, similarly there was peace in that place at that time. It happens. Then, breaking the peace, Alvis says nervously, "It's not just me who heard the sound of running, maybe we all heard it, right?" Then Louis says "Yes we all heard that voice and we should see who it was". Then Honcho looks down and says in a low voice "You are new here, you should not be in such a hurry to learn everything". Then on the other side of all this, a child is playing with his ball in a room but suddenly it gets lost and the child starts crying and then he falls asleep and he keeps doing the same thing again and again in that room. The ball is lost but then comes back. And there is a boy in the other room. One who gets up from his bed, eats food, then studies, then goes to sleep and keeps doing the same thing. In its third room there is a boy who wakes up, eats food, goes to work, spends time with his wife and goes to sleep again. They all keep doing their work again and again.