Episode # 1:- (Something Unusual.)

“Get up, you bitch,” Saraya groaned in annoyance when she heard the pounding on her room door with the usual daily and loud cursing. “Come downstairs and prepare breakfast,” her so-called elder brother—or better to say stepbrother—Austin screamed.

“Coming,” she replied in a loud tone, enough for him to hear.

Saraya lazily got up and did her morning chores. She got ready and packed her bag, because after making breakfast, she had to leave for school. Thankfully, they allowed her to attend school.

She came downstairs and found nobody around. She prepared breakfast for all of them. Grabbing an apple from the fruit basket, she bolted.

Saraya started walking toward her school, which was half an hour away. They didn’t allow her to use the school bus. However, she didn’t mind because being allowed to study was enough.

Saraya’s monologue

What a life I have—a mother with two stepbrothers and a stepfather. My father died when I was around two or three years old, and my mother married another Englishman named Thomas, who already had two sons, Austin, 21, and Justin, 20. What an irony! More than me, my mother loves her stepsons.

Sometimes I wonder why she kept me with her. I think it’s because, in the form of me, they got a free maid. Once I asked my mother why she didn’t love me. In return, I got a slap. From that day, I decided that I’d not say a word.

I’m waiting for the day when I turn 18, and then I’ll leave this hell-hole. I know it’s difficult to survive alone, but it’s better to live on the streets than live with these people. Thomas earns enough, but all his money is for my mother and his sons.

Austin and Justin are the boys’ version of Cinderella’s stepsisters. They never miss a chance to disturb or irritate me. Many times, they lied to my mother, and because of that, I got beaten by her. Whatever I try, one day or another, Thomas or Mom beats me like hell.

I’ve thought about ending my life many times, but then I think, who’ll do my funeral? These people would surely dump my body in a gutter. I don’t have any friends to share my sorrows with. At school, everyone thinks I’m mute because they’ve never heard my voice.

All the students at school avoid me as if I’m a plague. If we look on the brighter side, it’s a good thing because at least I don’t face bullying. Once in a blue moon, I hear students calling names behind my back, but who cares?

I’m waiting for high school to end. When I turn 18 in two weeks, I’m planning to leave. London is an expensive city, and I don’t have money to survive here. So, I’m thinking of going somewhere else.

I hope everything goes well because I seriously don’t want any more problems in my life.

Thinking about all these things, Saraya reached her school. She took a deep breath and stepped toward the school building. She was just a few feet from the door when she heard a voice.

She rolled her eyes at the voice of none other than the school’s bad boy, Peter. Peter is the only one who pests her now and then.

“Hey, mute ugly duckling,” Peter said. Saraya, paying no attention to his words, stepped forward.

Peter came forward and blocked her way. Saraya gave him a blank look and tried to pass from the side, but Peter held her arm in an iron grip.

“How about a cup of coffee in the evening?” Peter asked. Saraya gave him a look.

“Didn’t he just call me ugly duckling a few seconds ago and now he wants coffee?” Saraya thought, shaking her head. She tried to free her arm, but Peter held it tighter.

“Nobody says no to me,” Peter said, gritting his teeth in anger. Saraya became scared at his angry face. Before she could do anything, someone freed her hand from Peter’s grip.

“Peter Wilson, when any girl says no, it means NO,” an angry voice said. Saraya turned to see a man around twenty-three or twenty-four giving Peter a death glare.

Saraya looked at the man from head to toe. She had never seen him in the school. Maybe he came with someone else. She noticed fear on Peter’s face. Seeing him, Peter said nothing and left.

The man turned toward Saraya, who gave him a questioning look.

“Hi, I’m Phoenix,” the man said, holding out his hand. Saraya eyed it warily but, after a moment, held it softly.

“And you are?” Phoenix asked. Saraya pointed to her student card.

“Swa… Saraya Louis,” Phoenix read with a minor struggle. “Are you Asian? Or are one of your parents English?” Phoenix asked, and Saraya raised her second finger.

“One of your parents is English?” Phoenix asked again. Saraya bobbled her head (her father was British). Phoenix realized she hadn’t spoken a word.

“Are you mute?” Phoenix asked hesitantly. Saraya thought for a while but chose not to speak and nodded.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Okay, little girl, I’ve got to go,” Phoenix said, checking his wristwatch. He waved and left. Saraya wondered what he was doing there because he just talked to Peter and her.

She shrugged and walked inside the school building. Suddenly, she felt he seemed familiar. She tried to remember where she had seen him but failed, so she dismissed the thought and focused on her classes.

On the other side, Phoenix, walking toward his car, stopped and tilted his head toward Saraya’s retreating figure. He looked around, and within seconds, his expression turned blank. He approached his car and opened the door. Suddenly, his eyes fell on another car parked a little farther away.

The car zoomed away when the owner saw Phoenix looking at him. Phoenix shook his head, settled in his car, and left.

After School:

Saraya was walking back home when her gaze fell on the riverside. She felt as if she had seen something. She walked toward a railing and rubbed a finger along its edge.

“Did something happen here?” Saraya murmured, looking around.

She frowned when she couldn’t decipher anything and left, her mind full of thoughts. The moment she left, an unknown figure emerged from behind a wall in a nearby alley.

“She was there,” the person said on a call. He left, keeping her in sight for the last time.

Saraya returned home, and making sure no one was around, she went into her room. She placed her bag on the side table, and her eyes fell on her piggy bank.

She picked it up. “What the hell? Why do I feel strange? Why do I feel like I broke it, but now it looks fine?” she murmured, turning the piggy bank in her hands. She found no cracks, and even money was inside because she shook it lightly.

“I think it’s my so-called family making me go mad. Please God, make my birthday come fast so I can leave here,” Saraya prayed and went to the restroom.

She was doing her homework when her mother barged in.

“We are going to the party,” her mother, Alisha, said, and left without waiting for a reply. Saraya sighed because if they were going to a party, it meant no food for her tonight.

“No worries, Saraya. Humans can survive weeks without food. Thankfully, they didn’t ban water,” Saraya murmured and drank from her water bottle. She was engrossed in her work when she suddenly heard voices from the jungle side.

Startled, she jerked toward the window. A loud thunderclap made her even more scared. The jungle was dark, and heavy rain made it look terrifying.

She gulped, immediately covered the window with curtains, switched off the lights, and hid under her bed covers. She closed her ears because the voices sounded like someone crying or screaming in agony.

Inside the Jungle:

“You’ll pay for whatever you’re going to do,” a man with his hands tied behind his back said, gritting his teeth. He glared at the person in front of him holding a large knife.

The knife-wielder chuckled evilly. “I don’t care, because I finally got you both,” he exclaimed, signaling toward the first man and a woman beside him. Both were kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs.

“You’ll regret it, mark my words,” the woman spat in anger. In the next second, her throat was ruthlessly slit, blood gushing. The first man screamed in agony and tried to free his hands but failed.

The knife-wielder came in front of him and slit his throat just as he did with the woman. Watching them die, he left with his men after they took their last breaths.

The area around their bodies turned red from the rainwater. A little farther away, a person’s footsteps approached, making loud noises due to the water.

“No!” he screamed in agony when he saw the bodies. “No, no!” he cried again, hugging the man’s body to his chest. A thunderclap struck.

“You’ll pay for every drop of blood they shed. Enjoy your days, because I’m coming to avenge them,” he said with venom. His tear-filled eyes went blank, and within seconds, his expression became stoic.

He placed the man on the ground, picked up a nearby shovel, and dug a large grave, carefully placing the bodies inside.

“You’ve done your work. Now it’s my turn,” he said, eyeing the grave one last time before vanishing into the dark jungle.

To be continued…