What happens next is meant to be a threatening showdown between the two new
rivals, but instead it becomes rather amusing. Suraj turns back to the group of
students that he was standing among earlier, and looks really, really pissed
off. Rocky asks him why he looks so upset. Suraj tells him that he is very
upset... for Rocky. Rocky replies that he doesn't need to be concerned about
him. After all, his shoe size is nine. He concludes his little dig on Suraj by
calling him "Mister Eight" in a very insinuating, hostile tone. Which of course
doesn't work at all. Try that on someone sometime, and see if anyone goes "oooooh!"
Another
little montage of College buildings shows Mahek going to the library. She sees
Rocky and some of her friends hanging out nearby, and they call out to her. She
doesn't respond even after looking at them for a while, but instead goes into
the library. Rocky wonders what's up with her, so he follows her inside. This
leads to the ever-popular "cool guy in the library" scene with all of the
sssshhh...'ing (see what I did there?) and so forth that usually accompanies
this. In the course of events, Rocky gets dragged out by the arm for dropping an
adult magazine on the floor in front of the head librarian, leaving Mahek alone
with Suraj, whom she has met in a quiet corner.
Mahek apologizes for how Rocky has been behaving lately, but Suraj says that
it's not a big deal. They get to talking about Mahek's past with Rocky (aha, her
Rocky past!), and it is revealed that they've known each other since nursery
school. Suraj asks if there's anything more serious going on between them, but
Mahek assures him that they are just friends.
Mahek
notices that Suraj is going over a large pile of letters. She asks if they are
from someone special, and he shyly admits that they are. After a disappointed
"oh," from Mahek, he clarifies and says that they are from his father. He says
that he's spent his whole life in boarding schools and dormitories, but without
fail his dad always writes to him. All this talk about fathers puts a distressed
look on Mahek's face. This goes unnoticed by Suraj who keeps babbling on about
his dad. Meanwhile Mahek has a flashback to her childhood. We hear an argument
(that is mostly in English) between Mahek's parents. Her father is saying some
pretty hurtful things, largely along the lines of "I don't care about any of you
and want to be rid of you." Back in the present, Mahek tears up and runs out of
the little meeting area leaving a very confused Suraj behind to wonder what he
said wrong.
Mahek goes home and sees a few more memories playing out before her, of her
playing with Malini and being pushed on a swing by their father. Eventually all
of this disappears and she goes inside to find her mother preparing to leave on
a trip. Mahek says nothing and goes into her room where she bursts into tears.
Her mom hears her and goes to ask what's wrong. Mahek describes how when she was
little, she wrote an essay for school about how great and wonderful her family
was, but now she thinks it drew an evil eye to her happiness as her father left
and her sister was murdered. After some coaxing, her mom gets her calmed down.
They talk about her mom's upcoming show (she's a painter) and how everything
will be okay.
Mom leaves to do some prep work for this big show, and leaves Mahek alone in
the house. We get a brief shot of Mom in the car where she loses her mask of
strength and also begins to cry over what has happened to the family, but she
gathers herself and drives off before too long. Inside, Mahek does the smart
thing and starts watching scary movies. She later switches to the news that is
running a story on what happened at the College earlier that day. The report
also mentions that Malini and Sunny were also killed just six months back,
making this a pretty bad year in town. Mahek turns off the report and hits the
showers.
Mahek
stands in front of her bedroom mirror and towels off her hair. She sees a
fleeting shadow whip past in the mirror but can't see anything when she turns to
look for the source. She then hears a clunk come from somewhere in the house, so
she goes looking for it. A long sequence of following her around in the mostly
darkened house follows, with one false scare of a bunch of pigeons flying out at
her in their little sun room.
Mahek starts checking all of the doors and windows to make sure they are
secured. Unfortunately she missed one earlier, as she discovers a large window
standing wide open in the living room. As she turns back to the room after
closing it, she sees the Joker has made it into the house. He steps calmly from
behind a lamp, and smiles his steady smile at her.
Mahek
screams her head off and hauls tail to her bedroom. She gets the door almost
closed when the Joker's hand slips through. They fight back and forth with the
door, and Mahek manages to pin his hand against the frame for a bit. She gets a
good look at the pink-ish plastic watch on the Joker's wrist as she struggles to
get the door completely closed.
Mahek grabs a little statue on her shelf near the door and begins pounding on
the Joker's hand with it. After a few solid strikes, the Joker pulls his hand
back out of the door frame and Mahek is able to get the deadbolts thrown and
seals herself in the room. She then goes for the phone and calls for help.
All in all, she handled this situation a lot better than most distressed
victims in a horror movie! Nice work, Mahek!
