The Revenge

Chapter 10

Mr. John's café was two lanes from dad's office. So, I decided to walk there since I would get fifteen minutes to think over a solution. We climbed the stairs up to Lilly's house and exited to the street from her house's gate. (One way to dad's office was through his secretary, Lilly's house.) We took this route because coming to the road through a manhole would have been very suspicious. Imagine – walking on the roadside peacefully and suddenly, seeing people protruding out of a sewage cover when not even maintenance was in progress. The disgust you'd get. God knows how your day will commence after that.

Walking a few meters, I saw an electronic shop. I got an idea! "Dad! I could tell Sally that we were testing the scanner. That way she would sulk on wrong thoughts!" Dad giggled and appreciated my thinking. Soon, we reached the café and Sally was already there waiting for me. As usual, the bell above the entrance ringed as the door opened grabbing Sally and Mr. John's attention. "Evening John." Greeted dad. "Evening Earhart!"

Sally and I exchanged smiles as we saw each other and I walked towards the table she was sitting on. Dad followed. He took the scanner out of the bag he was carrying and I started, "See, we are on the testing phase for this fingerprint scanner so, we want you to help us too."

"So, I have to scan my finger? Any finger?"

"Yup. I'd suggest your thumb!" And, so she put her thumb. After it recorded the print, dad thanked her and took the scanner. He left us telling me to not be too late. "'Kay dad."

I sat on the chair in front of Sally in a professional manner as if were to discuss something confidential with a curious expression on my face. Sally looked up with her phone screen towards me, "Look I-" An awkward silence – we just stared at each other and suddenly, we laughed. All the curious and suspenseful atmosphere got ruined.

"Okay, So I was saying that I found this article online." She said as the screen flashed and I read it with a disappearing smile – 'Man attacked by strangers admitted to emergency' I scrolled to read it and found a video. As it played, something caught my attention. A man was being beaten cruelly by a group of people. It was the same man Sally's mom took to aid in the morning! I was stunned. Did not know what to speak. Only stared. My eyes widened blurring the video ahead. Sally cut through the silence, "Mom had told me that she described it as a bike accident." "We must tell the hospital about it. And the police too. There's something very wrong going on." I said before she could add anything.

"Y-You sure?"

"I am worried. I get a bad feeling. I hope we could-"

"We should. We must go right now."

And we got up in unison. I told Mr. John that we were heading out for a walk and we stormed towards the exit. "Which hospital did your mom take him to?" "I guess it was Dorinks Specialty." She quickly looked it up found that it was half an hour by car. I thought we could make there afoot by to my dismay, it was getting dark and we would never make it back before late. Now, either my dad or her mom could drop us and so, we tried reaching both of them. Ring-ring. Ring-ring. 'The number you have dialled is not reachable'. Worry edged on our faces and we weren't carrying money either. "Let's run. That is the only option left." I said looking at her. She agreed and so we ran with the satellite map turned-on on Sally's phone for reference. At the end of the street, we stopped. Sally was exhausted. "You know (pant) I am not used (pant) to running so much."

"But it's been barely five minutes."

"(eyeroll) Why do you always ahve to point out that I am weak?" she said sullenly.

"Ugh! Fine. We wait five minutes."

During that break, Sally got a callback from her mom. she explained the situation to her and Mrs Gullivon agreed to take us to the hospital. She was on her way back from her work and was nearby so in ten minutes, she could reach to pick us. While in the car I thought of texting dad about what was happening but, I exited the app thinking I'd explain him everything once we got back since that would be more informative after the consults. So, during the journey, I googled the hospital and saw some articles about the 'scandals' surrounding it. There were a number of them from renowned agencies. And this was yet another one where the real cause was censored. Since, many 'scandal articles' were from the various news portals, I decided to check out who uploaded that article with a wrong reason. 'Man beaten by strangers' I put into the search box and surprisingly, only one post showed up regarding the one yesterday. As if, no one was aware of the incident. So, I opened it and saw that it was posted by – anonymous. What?! It belonged to no portal. I exited the post and scrolled and saw that many articles were posted as 'man caught in a bike accident admitted' with the photo of the same scene we saw him as. And as a cherry on top of the mystery, the latter articles were posted by various news agencies. Puzzled, I turned my mobile off and just looked out the window. But I was lost. Instead of the passing by cars and shops and trees and lampposts, I saw my reflection on the window. A figure looking like me – gazing at me with the same worried expression as mine, seemed a bit funny to me. I let out a small smile and saw it smiling back at me. But, our lips reshaped to sadness as I realised what a mess we would create telling them about an anonymous article stating different from renowned portals.

The car stopped. We had reached the hospital. We got out and walked to the reception and Mrs Gullivon asked for the patient's room. She thanked the receptionist and went towards the elevator. We followed her and soon reached the room named B47 on the second floor. I saw a boy presumably my age sitting in the waiting area for that room. He looked sad and tensed.

While Mrs. Gullivon talked to the doctor, I saw the man hooked with several machines on the ICU. My heart sank as I saw him. The sadness broke as my phone ringed. It was dad. I picked it up and told him everything. He fell silent for a few moments and then spoke, "I-I'm so proud of you Evy. You guys did the right thing. We'll look into it too." "Thanks dad. I am happy to know you support my step." And we cut off. My eyes got teary as I remembered how once in second grade, I had told mom about my fight in school to prove myself right and she had told me not to fight instead of praising me. I smiled.

"Evelyn!" Sally called out from behind. "Doctor said that they did find marks on his body and his head was severely thrashed." I stared and said, "Which means the writer was right. Then I wonder why they wrote anonymously." And we walked to her mom who had just finished her conversation with the doctor. "Mrs. Gullivon, shouldn't we report it to the police?" I asked as we stepped back toward the elevator. "Well, they might have been inform-" she was interrupted by a call from behind. It was the boy who was waiting on the benches. He ran to us and spoke to Mrs. Gullivon, "Are you perhaps the noble lady who brought my dad here today morning?" "Oh dear! He's your dad? I am so sorry for the loss dear. Yes, I did bring him here. We assumed him to be hit by a truck but another post claims to see him being beaten so, we came to check on the situation." His eyes seemed to glitter on the revelation and he begged us to give him an opportunity to repay. But, Mrs. Gullivon is such a sweetheart that she wouldn't accept it. So, in the end, she agreed on the conclusion that he could help her out in her daily chores like gardening, buying groceries etc. to be able to afford his dad's treatment.