Photo by Iluha Zavaley on Unsplash
Andy, 30, a small-time thief, carefully turns the dials on a big locker. Sweat trails on his head, a small flashlight in his mouth, breathing softly. With one more turn, *click*, the locker opens, his face illuminates with warm light, he smiles. After a beat, Andy immediately looks back in horror. He distinctly hears a bunch of police sirens going wild, getting louder by the second. He stuffs the item in his backpack and quickly makes the run for it. He jumps off the 30th floor and slowly scales down.
For a small-time thief in his 30s, Andy was good at scaling buildings and walking on the rooftops of high, closely built apartments. He checks his watch, and suddenly bumps into a teenager, smoking a cigarette on the roof. She stares at him and asks for his name, Andy replies and asks for hers, she instead offers him a cigarette, and introduces herself as Aisha. He lights it up and they begin talking. Aisha tells her she stays at home caring for her ill parents while her brother works and sends money. Andy of course does not tell her exactly who he is, but says he just got a big promotion at a sales job, they laugh and talk more. She then mentions the loud police sirens, he snaps back to his current surroundings and asks for a way out. She simply takes him downstairs; he greets her ill parents and asks for their blessings; the father is non-responsive and the mother just smiles wide. On their box TV, the reports about the robbery were breaking the media. Aisha sees it and gestures by zipping her mouth and locking it, but instead of throwing it away she keeps the non-existent key in her pocket. This makes him slightly uncomfortable and he rushes through the front door.
Police cars were everywhere, some hovering above looking into the apartments for him. He takes a left turn, and a few men from afar look at him and stop, he quickly turns the other way and curses at himself. He starts walking a little faster, the men behind him begin yelling and chasing him, Andy begins running and turns left and right into busy lanes to avoid them. He knew the area well, but not the people living in it. The more he was outside, the more people began to suspect. The sirens continued blaring and it startled him every time it got louder. He then sees a man tracking him for a while, he takes a sudden left and enters a house, he waits by the door and sees the man just pass by minding his business.
“Is it you Babu? Come come we need to cook.” Andy slowly turns and sees an old woman walk by. He tells her that he is the replacement, and the woman says she doesn’t care as long as he’s ready to help. There are pictures of cats everywhere and she says they belonged to her when she was a little girl and that she got so attached she couldn’t move past them. They immediately get to business and the woman leads the entire way. She cooks a simple recipe of butter chicken and parotta. When Andy has the first bite, it takes him back, he breaks down, it’s been a while since he’s had such food and he embraces it. The woman doesn’t console him though, instead asks him to toughen up. She tells him that she has no idea where the world has marched, but everyone must brave it to get by. They quietly finish their meal while watching an old replay of Kon Banega Crorepati. While Andy was cleaning the dishes, he heard the door open, he swiftly took his bag sneaks out the back door without a word, and begins climbing to the top, slowly and efficiently. The maid at the house sees the plates and asks if someone has been in, but the old woman says she did it herself and continues to watch.
He reaches the top and gets a look at the screen. Red, and blue lights were everywhere, the police yelling, arresting, and checking people, helicopters, polices hover cars flying around. It was a state of emergency. He changes his clothes since some people may already be looking and wearing glasses. Andy scouts his way, memorizes it, and descends onto the busy roads. There are people everywhere because of the robbery. Riot police make their way onto the scene. People blaming the government for the loss. At one point it becomes too much for Andy to take in He blames himself for the riots, for the beatings people are receiving because of him. He walks faster bumping into people, gathering attention. He then gets onto the footpath, away from the center city, he slows down as he realises he is close to his place of comfort. He passes by a long line of people from different social classes, cooperate, sportsmen, homemakers, and homeless people too all waiting in line to buy a cake. A famous bakery, where there’s service 24/7 and serves only one slice of cake. It’s bright lights from the boards make it as though night never comes. Andy reaches the entrance, people already cursing at him for breaking the line, but then he takes out a metal card, he shows it to security who lets him in.
Andy walks up to the counter and greets his best friend Dhanush, who was occupied with a customer. He softly caresses the young man’s hand who seemed to be crying, and tells him everything will be ok. Andy quietly watches on. Dhanush gives the man a cake who smiles and thanks him. He quickly turns to Andy and greets him, Andy gets serious and tells him everything that’s been happening. Dhanush with a smile continues to talk about another topic happily, he prepares a cake but is bullied by Andy. Dhanush then says, “I told you not to do it”. He smiles and continues to happily take orders. This baffles Andy, a security guard comes up and takes him away. He yells at Dhanush but he pays no heed, and neither do the customers. Andy is thrown out, and the card is taken from him. The guard then gives the cake to Andy and gives the card to a young boy who enters the bakery. Devastated, he spits on the floor, throws the cake at the bakery, and walks off.
Andy stops on the way to smoke a cigarette but notices two cops watching him from afar, he begins walking. The cops slowly follow, he turns into an alleyway and sees two more cops there. He knows he is in trouble. Andy flicks off his cig and begins running, a few more cops show up and start yelling his name, and he panics, they know his name. He sees a small kid call him in an alleyway, cops after him he decides it’s the best option. As soon as he takes the turn he gets shot in the head. Few people around get scared but continue with their lives. The kid and another teen check Andy’s bag, and the warm lights fall on their faces, “This is it” the kid says, they pack it up and run away.
It begins raining, the police arrive and check his body, they begin firing at the duo and start running after them. The neon billboard lights fall on Andy’s dead body. The police sirens blaze in the distance along with a few gunshots that continue for a while for a while but soon, it ends. There’s calmness, rain, people walking, and a dead body in the alley.