"And I call it, the R.A.I.N Genome!"

With that, we prepared to leave the research facility. Just as I turned to leave, in the far corner of the room near the entrance door, I found something... Like a sack. A sack used to carry vegetables. But it looked like it was filled. Not a moment of hesitation, I made my way over to the sack. It was not so heavy, but not so light either. On it was a note.

'I hereby return your property!' it read.
I could hear my heartbeat. I started taking wild guesses on whatever it might be... And finally, I mustered up the courage to open the sack.
.......
.......
.......
Papers.

All my answer papers from seventh standard.
I looked at the note again. The signature felt so familiar.
"Whom did I give my answer papers to? That they have this collection... The whole collection?" I stated wondering... Maya looked puzzled too, considering why somebody would send back a sack of answer papers.

"It could be a clue. Think hard."

"I know that already... "... Just then it occured to me... Wait...

I immediately pulled out that note...
"Venom."
Venom wasn't his real name. A nickname. Rohit was his real name. But he preferred everyone call him venom because it made him look villainous. He wasn't all that strong, but the guy desired power. Even at that young age, Venom sought power. He believed it is only possible to make things happen if you have power and money.

I had a contradicting thoughts...but still, we were best friends.

Venom and Jin were a tag team. We could never be separated. Our team meant one hundred percent success. Except, Venom sucked at academics. He was an average scorer but always hoped he would catch up to me.
Venom and I were friends from first standard, but we really grew close from sixth. That one year, our team became popular all over school.
Seventh was great, and for the first time, Venom topped the whole year. As careless as I am, I congratulated him and celebrated the occasion, not even sad I didn't come first.
It was not until the teachers had started commenting that I was becoming irresponsible, that I wasn't paying attention my studies, that I was becoming a 'rowdy' did I feel something was wrong.
Eight standard, the same. Venom scored exactly the same marks as me and we both jointly topped. He received a lot of praises and I sat there, waiting for him to remember me.
But Venom got used to the fame. After all, it was what he had wanted.

Slowly, Venom left me. He was now a genius. A topper. But I was a loser now. What do I do?
I had to regain my place. The finals of eighth standard, I achieved it. Easy peasy. A revelation to everyone. I had not gone down.

Venom couldn't take it... Even before, he had the habit of taking all my answer sheets. And this time too, he came to ask me the papers. As he took them, he gave me a cold look, and said:

"This is the last time you'll ever succeed."

After that, I never saw him. Actually, during my twelfth standard, that day, when me and Maya were going home, I felt like I saw him, and surely, there was a shady guy who was near us, and started to leave the moment I saw him.

All the pieces of the puzzle were starting to fit. He was stalking me, reading all my moves. Since I was inactive co-curricularly in the eleventh and twelfth, he could not do anything.
But now,with the genome, he knew he'd able to read me with that, know all my fears, and finally, he could destroy me with success. Finally, he had become a person worthy of the name Venom.

All the past memories I had with him finally started coming back to me. He was the reason I became a loner. He was the reason I'm the idiot I am.

"Hey, you okay?" I snapped out of this memory loop as Maya shook me back to reality.

"Yeah..." .. it took me a while to finally come back. I tightly clutched the note in my hand.

"I think I have a clue on who might have done this. If its true, its easy to track him down.."

"Who?" My teacher spoke after a long time.

"Venom!"

"Venom?" Maya and my class teacher were puzzled.

"Yeah. And old rival, and now, an enemy."

A deadly silence followed.

"Let's move. The faster we catch him, the easier it is to stop him!"

Maya and teacher agreed.
"He won't stop with just reading minds or knowing fears. I'm sure he's going to use this genome to gain power."
I explained both of them all they had to know about Venom.

"This is seriously bad!" Maya exclaimed. She seemed to have lost hope in catching him, after knowing the kind of the guy he can be.

"Calm down! We have the R.A.I.N Genome with us! Its our final hope."

We proceeded to leave the facility in pursuit of Venom.

"Theres a lot more you need to know about the R.A.I.N Genome. I'll let you know more on the way."

With that, I knew I could do it. I had to stop Venom at all costs, even if it costs me my life ..




© Jeevan