Tick-Tack (2013)

‚Tick-Tack. Tick-Tack. Tick-Tack’

Sameer sat up straight in his bed, staring at the clock. 30min to go. He glanced across the room. Leela was asleep. Sukhwinder lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling. Pinky was playing with a few pieces of wood she had gathered the other day. Chotu sat next to him.

He was the oldest and he had been here the longest. On his papers it said that he was 14. He looked 12. Leela was the youngest and he felt protective about her. So far he was successful at it. Most of the men who passed by were looking for young boys anyway. He often thought of a way to get Leela out of the room, the building, the city. He would draw maps in his mind. Sometimes he did it while a man had come to visit. They liked him. Most of the men who came were regulars.

Ajit, Preet, Amar, Naveen, Harmeet, Nigam, Omar, Raghu, Jaspreet, Dinesh, Sohil, Vipul, Manendra.

So many names. He remembered most of them. Some were kinder than others. Some brought food or laddoos when they came. Some gave him new clothes. Some got him liquor. But after that they all were the same. The laddoos and liquor didn’t change any of it. A numb pain inside him, sweaty hands all over him.

No, Leela had been lucky so far. He would get her out. She was small, she looked up to him, she called him ‘bhaiya’. He had to protect her.

‘Tick-Tack. Tick-Tack. Tick-Tack.’

15 minutes to go. Chotu sighed. Sameer buttoned up his shirt. He looked at the books next to him. A gift from one of the man. ‘Read and you might get out of here one day’, he had told him. He couldn’t read. He had never been to school.

Pinky had stopped playing and was now just staring at the door. She was around 10. Sameer always thought that she was pretty. Long black hair; big, round eyes and pink lips. Sometimes at night he would climb into her bed and touch her. She never stopped him. The first few times she had tried to push him away but not anymore.

The other day Sukhwinder had tried to climb into Leela’s bed but he stopped him. Leela had to be protected. She was small and innocent. She was the only pure thing in the room – maybe in the city. One day he would get her out of here. He would get her married to a rich man. And they would be happy. He would be happy. They would provide for him as well. He would eat everything he wanted to – just no laddoos.

Five minutes left. Leela was now awake. She sat in her bed and stared at the fan. Chotu switched on the radio.

A knock at the door. All of them sat up straight. The door opened. A man walked in he hadn’t seen before. He looked at him, then at Leela. No, not Leela. He wanted to scream, get up and stop the man. Don’t take her!

‘I want her’, he said pointing at Leela and a few seconds later she was gone. A few seconds that felt like eternity. He had to stop this from happening. He had to. He couldn’t.

The door opened again. A familiar face smiling at him. ‘Hello Sameer, I got you some laddoos.’

‚Tick-Tack. Tick-Tack. Tick-Tack’

* Laddoo - an Indian sweet, Bhaiya - Hindi for 'brother'