My name is Aviraj

The state of Arunachal Pradesh shared its northern border with China and its Eastern borders with Myanmar. Most of these borders were covered in dense forests and there were many small villages in these forests. Infiltration attempts by spies, criminals, refugees and sometimes even terrorists was not uncommon but most of these attempts were rendered futile by the Indian Army. There were many army outposts in these forests and the soldiers always encouraged the villagers to report information of any suspicious individuals or strange occurrences in the forest.

The villagers were also very cooperative as they knew it was for their own safety.

One evening a wild dog came running towards one of the outpost and started barking. The young soldier guarding the gate of the outpost came out to shoo away the dog but stopped himself when he saw a piece of cloth stained in blood tied around the dog's neck. He slowly approached the dog and untied the cloth. As soon as the cloth was untied, the dog ran away into the wild as if its job there was done. The young soldier was surprised at the odd behavior of the dog and unfurled the cloth to see what was in it. As he slowly unfurled the cloth his eyes went wide and his face went pale.

One cannot blame him for losing his composure as he was a new recruit and had not seen much action. He signaled the other guard to take his position and ran inside the outpost to report his findings. A few minutes later the piece of cloth was in the hands of the commander of the outpost who was gazing at it with scrutiny. There were a few words written on the piece of cloth with blood.

' KALKI VILLAGE, ORPHANAGE, DANGEROUS MAN.'

"It could be a trap." Lieutenant Khan, who was the second in command at the outpost stated with some doubt.

"It could be. But it could also be true." Major Sharma, Commander of the outpost, finally put down the piece of cloth.

"Lieutenant Khan, initiate yellow alert in the outpost. I will lead a team to investigate the village."

In a few minutes the security at the outpost was increased and Major Sharma left the for the village with fifteen men.

We all know what happened after that.

When Major Sharma wrote a detailed report of the situation in the village mentioning his failure in catching the culprit and requesting backup and support of neighboring outposts and sent it to the main camp, he expected to get reprimanded for his failure and ordered to further investigate.

But the reply from the main base almost shocked him. He was commended for handling the situation exceptionally and ordered to stop all investigations regarding this case. The officer who personally brought this letter from the main base also asked him to handover all the data of this case without leaving a copy behind.

Remembering the abilities of the old man, Major Sharma felt fear in his heart and he knew that he was incapable of dealing with a case of this caliber so he decided to forget the old man and continue doing his duty.

But in all this covering up, the only survivor of the orphanage, a pale faced nine years old child was not completely forgotten. He was sent to the medical care unit in the main base and regained consciousness after three months when the whole matter had died down. He was greeted by the rough face of the medical officer who checked his pulse, blood pressure, temperature and updated his medical record. While doing this he was asked if he felt uncomfortable anywhere to which the boy replied that he felt uncomfortable everywhere and also mentioned that he couldn't see clearly.

The man only nodded at this and added the line 'corrective lenses recommended' in his report. While leaving, the medical officer ran into Major Sharma. Two months ago Major Sharma was transferred back to the main base and found that the boy was still unconscious. He had been visiting the boy once everyday since then. His concern for the boy had baffled many of his comrades and some speculated that the man felt sympathy because he himself grew up as an orphan.

"The boy has woken up", the medical officer informed Major Sharma greeting him with a standard military salute. Major Sharma returned the salute with a bright face.

"How is his condition? Any chances of PTSD?"

"He is completely fine. The boy should be able to walk in a few days. There shouldn't be any PTSD." The medical officer then hesitated a little before adding "Actually, the boy looked too calm for the situation he is in. You should see for yourself."

"Yes" Major Sharma agreed giving the doctor a strange look "I will not disturb you anymore."

"No worries" the medical officer said as he walked away.

Major Sharma walked into the room and found that the boy was looking out of the window while deep in thought.

Noticing that someone had walked in, the boy stopped looking out of the window and scrutinized the intruder with caution.

Seeing the cautious look on his face Major Sharma felt pity for the boy. He walked closer towards the bed and said with concern

"You don't have to be afraid. No one here will harm you."

Maybe it was because of the concerned expression on the man's face or maybe it was because the boy felt too weak to keep doubting everyone, he put down his guard.

Major Sharma smiled when he saw the boy relax but soon the atmosphere in the room turned awkward. Both of them were not good talkers and could not find topics to converse. Finally the boy coughed and asked the questions that had been bugging him since he woke up

"What happened that day? Did you also rescue my big brother Avinash? Where is he now?"

Major Sharma hesitated for bit before saying " That old man.... Kabir escaped with a child after he had killed everyone in the room. But don't worry there are people searching for him. He wont be free for long."

Major Sharma noticed the boy showing a pensive expression when he said the first part of the sentence and thought that the boy was scared that the old man would come after him again so he lied about people searching for the old man to reassure the boy. As for the question about his big brother Avinash, he didn't know if he was the boy old man took with him or one of the dead bodies but in either case his situation was not too hopeful.

It was only now that the boy realized that people thought that all the other children were killed by the old man.' Wait, that's not right. Each one of us was carrying a weapon. It should be very obvious that we killed each other in a fight. Considering the fact that he was the one rescued us means that he was the first one to have access to the basement and he should be the one who hid all the evidence and gave out a false report. But why would he do that?' The boy looked at the man with confusion unsure if he should speak out his doubts.

"Don't think too much. I did what I thought was right. You did not choose that kind of life and should get a second chance."

Major Sharma suddenly said as if reading his mind. The boy remained silent as he knew that the man would gain nothing by helping him and slowly the feeling of gratitude grew in his heart. His only other concern was about his big brother Avinash and he was relieved to know that the old man hadn't killed him. He knew that the old man did all this to find a disciple and his big brother was finally chosen. Maybe someday in the future they would meet again. After thinking all this through, he was suddenly washed over with a feeling of loneliness as now he had nowhere to go, no friends, no family and his heart felt lost. He suppressed these emotions and bowed towards Major Sharma

" Thank you sir for saving my life. I have no way to repay this favor and I forever will be grateful to you ."

The boy thanked the man from the bottom of his heart. Both him and his brother owed their life to this man. They had planned for a long time to send a message outside from the orphanage and had only been successful after a lot of planning and hard work. If Major Sharma had taken their message as a prank then one of the brothers would have been dead today.

Looking at the boy acting this way, the man showed an awkward expression but he felt quite moved in his heart.

"Don't call me sir. You know actually ...ugh.... you were talking about paying me back. What if I told you there was a way you could pay me back" Major Sharma spoke with some hesitation but there was some expectation in his eyes.

"Please don't hesitate sir. You can freely speak your mind. I will do everything in my capacity to help you out", the boy said with a smile but he felt a little confused.

'Why would sir need help of a nine year old'. He thought inwardly.

"You see I got married to my wife Naina seven years ago. She is a very beautiful and kind woman and also brilliant at cooking." Major Sharma said awkwardly.

"I don't understand what you mean sir." The boy was not sure whether to laugh or cry. Why was this man trying to sell his wife to him?

"You see, we have been trying for so long but still don't have a child, so we decided to adopt one and technically you were in the orphanage so... I was thinking maybe..... Naina and I would be very happy to have you as our son."

Major Sharma said the last part of the sentence in one breath and waited for the boy's reply anxiously.

The boy couldn't speak for a long time and his breathing became haggard. He remembered how he used to watch children playing with their parents in the village, how they would act spoiled and get all the love and attention from their parents. Back then he could only watch them with envy as they lived happily and he had to fight for his life everyday. His only family was his big brother and now he was also gone. He had started believing that he did not need parents in his life and he had gotten over those memories of how other children lived happily with their parents, how they could act weak in front of them and how they could depend on them. But somewhere in his heart he still longed to have parents of his own. And when Major Sharma said that he would adopt him, this longing came out in the form of tears. He didn't remember the last time he had cried but today, he couldn't stop himself.

"Ye..e..Yes... Tha..nk you so....mu..much....Tha...nk you..."

The boy kept repeating himself as he wiped away his tears and chocked on his own words.

Looking at the boy who had been expressionless from the beginning breakdown in such a way, the man couldn't help but tear up a little bit himself.

"There ..There , everything is going to be fine now." The man patted the boy's head to calm him down. "Oh how stupid of me, we've talked so much but I haven't asked for your name." Major Sharma finally realized that he didn't even know the boy's name.

The boy wiped away his tears and showed brightest smile as he answered

"My name is Aviraj."