Fire Phantoms and Mavericks

Part - 1:

Once upon a time in a mystical land which consisted of nothing but ash and fire there was one who ruled the charred dread under mystic skies. A hissing piece of darkened metal rested in his hand as a variety of abominations caught up to his rationale. Salty tears mixed with the summer aura flowed from the same eyes he once saw his world in, emotionless he could just stare at the pathetic waste which he had created from a myriad of aspirations and dreams. 

“So, you know where this all is going right?” she asked him even though she knew he would have no clue where anything could go and would stick to her shadow no matter what, only because she knew he loved her too much to just walk away. “I do. And I don’t want to be a part of it anymore. I don’t have anything to prove to you. Prudently I have observed that this empty space inside me is just creating a bigger and bigger void and it’s driving me insane. I have to cut off an arm to save the body, I have to cut off you to save me from myself but I guess slitting the throat is the correct depiction here since I have only known me as a part of you” he replied as she stood there aghast with dread and fear hiding her true emotions behind a façade which was only so much ruined that the other side would have been too terrible to imagine. “I am glad you can finally understand. I don’t want to hurt you anymore” she replied as she finally gave in to the urge and burst out into tears “I am so sorry for hurting you so much, I had no choice” she spoke through her sobs. “Don’t worry, you had a choice and you took it. Don’t regret it, I don’t regret the first time I saw you. Don’t cry because the only person who was selflessly yours is now too selfish to care cry once you see what you lost” he said as he walked away while she crumbled to her knees while reality dawned upon her of losing something which was so precious that it could only belong to her.

A decade later he was the famous billionaire and the founder of Twinge Industries which now ranked among the top Fortune 500 companies. Precarious and careful as always he was riding his Lamborghini at 60 when a horn from behind shattered him out of his fantasies, amusedly he let the biker pass him by thinking he might be in a hurry to get somewhere as the tunnel came up. Something shiny on the waist of the biker moving ahead of him made his fantasies tick as he matched up to being just a few inches behind him, midway through the tunnel he was wondering what he wanted to do next when suddenly his window was shattered, he looked outside to see himself surrounded by two black SUV’s on each side and before he could actually comprehend anything there were bullets flying past him from every direction. His bodyguard was hit and he could only gawk in horror as he found himself motionless inside the marvel of human technology, life as we know it is the greatest motivator as his leg automatically slammed the accelerator all the way down and the Lamborghini Aventador moved forward with a huge blast of power as everyone else seemed to be bound by the limits of their own materialistic worlds drifted past him. Bullets continued to fly past him but somehow he was much safer now, a little speed bump followed by a crunch of crushing a life, a gasp of horror as the person two feet away from him gurgled blood and then subsided away to nothingness. Like the last sweet mango blemished by ants, like the final day of holidays tainted by heavy rains or like two lives which extinguished to serve him.

Darting towards nothingness with a speed of a hundred and eighty kilometers per hour a blizzard of thoughts passed through his panicking mind. A barrage of vehicles flew past him, a thousand hissing needles overtook him. Then suddenly it felt like in the blink of an eye someone had stabbed a hole in his left shoulder, expensive white cloth turned scarlet while he screamed in vain. He could feel his eyes widen as the spilling blood soaked his soul dry of hopefulness, pain began to grow with each heartbeat and each heartbeat seemed to leak out more blood as he watched his entire life pass by him slowly. His dripping room during the rains, his favorite football which he lost on the first day itself, grasping for breath as he started to drown in his swimming lessons, walking to school wearing shoes with holes above toes, his father crying because he didn’t have enough money for his college, his only love leaving him for something she didn’t knew, a phase of drugs which still haunted his routines, bleeding wrists with wounds which never heal and always remain firm behind his full sleeved shirts or coats, a pierced bulletproof vest by one of the best companies in the world and a feeling of being helpless beyond comparison. His head dwindled to a side as white spots started appearing in front of his eyes, his breathing grew faint and slowly a film of milky color enveloped his eyes. A shift of paradigm and he could only see a faint silhouette instead of all the chaos “Come with me” she said softly “we’ll be together forever” she looked as beautiful as ever the one true princess of his heart “I will die and you will rot away as well but atleast that will be the truth” he replied “and what good would that be? I am already here why do you want anything else?” she inquired “I want everything else, all the pain and all the tears along with the migraines and remorse and I also want that small part of my life where I am full again so that I can grow old and die beside your memories" "And what if I never come to you in that world?” she asked “then I want to be your last hope. A mountain that can’t be moved. The only rock you can hold on to for your pathetic little life” he retorted.

Through his punctured windshield he could see the silhouette of his assailant as the end of the tunnel came closer he could see the man running away for his life. Picking up his cellphone he speed dialed his head of security “I have been attacked, tunnel 23. I am ordering you, kill everyone.” He flew past the person who had shot him with wobbly eyes barely noticing him through the throbbing pain and surges of numbness which were spreading throughout his body. With his final shreds of energy he pulled out the machine gun still clinging to his bodyguard's corpse, fumbling with the safety lock there was another bump and at a hundred and eighty a small speed bump feels like a crash but since his senses were so numb the effect only felt cushioned. His car began to drift in one direction and he realized one of his tires had been shot, pointing out the machine gun he simply opened fire shooting in every direction as his body was too weak by now to even check the rebound, his elbow bumped into the steering and he could see his world go round in circles at unimaginable speeds while his index finger was still pressed back hard on the trigger.

The airbag was covering his face and there was something he could bury his face in for being amongst one of the richest men on the planet and then being chased through the streets like a dog and he couldn’t do even one thing to fight back. There was anger in his eyes, his wound was still bleeding and yet somehow he managed to unstrap himself and grab a fresh magazine. The passenger’s side had been smashed entirely making it remotely impossible for anyone to recognize his bodyguard. Being a hero is too tough, heroic actions are often coincidental and there is no such force which can drive you beyond your limits. A game of football which lost him his sports quota, an exam he couldn’t clear to get into his favorite college, a stage three cancer which made him watch his mother wither away day by day, a bar fight which left him with a black eye and a broken rib or a stupid gunshot wound which wouldn’t stop bleeding.

His chief of security broke his window and pulled him out as he still gripped on tightly to his HK416 machine gun. “Ivan… did you kill them all?” he clumsily asked his chief of security as he carried him in his arms towards the armed helicopter parked in the middle of the street “yes sir” Ivan replied “Guess now they won’t ask why a billionaire should have so much security” he said with a smile “Don’t speak sir, you are too weak at the moment and anyways it’s all over now” Ivan replied waking steadily towards the demolition wagon. “Did anyone get hurt?” he asked again, “Yes sir, you shot six civilians along with a vehicle of your assassins. Two of the civilians and all of the attackers have been killed as of now but don’t worry I am handling everything” Ivan usually had no expressions but right now he seemed a little worried “Also, sir she is in the vicinity” he said after a momentary pause. There was only one person he referred to as she, only one person in the world he wasn’t authorized to take the name of. “Tell me Ivan, what did you fear the most when you were a child?” he asked as Ivan put him inside the helicopter, Ivan didn’t reply maybe the sound of the rotor was too much for him to hear the deranged words of an asphyxiating man with half liter less blood than normal humans.

“Halt! This is the Police, we are here to arrest you for creating violence and for the murder of innocent civilians” A voice came from a speaker as flickering shades of red and uniformed men surrounded the helicopter from all sides. “Let me handle this, even though the vest cushioned and minimized the effect it looks like you were shot at with a powerful weapon. You need to get to a hospital” Ivan screamed through the howling wind and slid the door shut “Go!” Ivan said commanding to the pilot. With his hands in the air he turned around and before he could take a step forward something made him crash to his knees and soon blood gushed out of his throat. “Someone fired! Ivan has been shot! Get Cherry out of here, which was our main objective” it was Bogdan on the wireless, Ivan’s childhood friend and one of the three sub commanders of his security forces. A few light knocks on the wall of the helicopter told Cherry that firing had begun outside. “Bogdan, return fire!” he screamed snatching the wireless from one of the guards sitting beside him as the helicopter levitated in midair quickly rising above estranged pity. “Sir, I can’t there are still civilians in the periphery. They are shooting at us but we are in armored vehicles and no one else can get hurt now. Everything is under control” Bogdan replied. He looked outside the window of his flying fortress and there was the dead body of a man he only trusted so much more than he could ever trust himself. “Jaykant, lower the helicopter and then return back to conduct an aerial strike on them. Mikhail, find Nikita Banerjee and secure her beside us, use a tranquilizer if necessary. Veer, Akash and Ashley you three come with me and hold them off till Jaykant is back in the air. Everyone else, mount those DSR 50 machine guns and XM500 snipers and shoot down everyone whom you can” Cherry commanded. “You will pass out before we even get close to the ground. Don’t worry we are going back” Jaykant replied “Jaykant, do what I say or else I will shoot the fuck out of your brains!” Cherry shouted, “Sir, who the fuck is Nikita Banerjee?” Mikhail asked as the helicopter dwindled and started to dismount the skies “You have five minutes to find out and bring her back” he replied “Bogdan, form a perimeter around Ivan and stay there till I come and don’t you dare disobey my order ever again!” he then screamed to the black antenna box in his hand.

With a wobbly left foot his knee crashed into the ground, slowly he got back up using his machine gun as a walking stick, it was surprising how he still had enough strength to clutch on to that heavy metal even though he couldn’t manage to even walk properly. “R-P-G!” someone screamed and chunks of hardened carbon steel went flying off the flying machine.

Life is seldom fair and often it is too cataclysmic to be even perceived as livable. A traffic jam before one of the most important exams in life, chicken pox during the placement sessions, a direct gunshot to the shoulder piercing a bulletproof vest, seeing the man you trusted the most bleed to death right before your eyes or a random RPG which hit its target two feet away from you. Cherry’s eyes were now closing again as he embraced the dark and hard Earth, his head drooped to one side as he saw the flicker of lights in the dry thick blood. It’s funny how people always tell that just before death a person sees all of his life pass before his eyes but no one tells you that the second time you come near to death in the same day you see every single aspect of the present in a retarded timeframe. Bogdan was shouting something through the dim spifflication of lives as Cherry’s eyes seemed to be not seeing anything but darkness. Pain seemed to be slowly going away from him and calmness seemed to engulf him, but he was just not ready to give up yet. There are certain things a human is capable of and there are certain things he just cannot overcome a continuous adrenaline surge made him capable of raising his arm as Bogdan pulled him up over his shoulder, he was still saying something but all he could hear was a strange buzzing sound growing in his ears. “Aah!” he screamed as he opened fire once more relentlessly on the enemy but his heart was stooping to lower beat rates and he could feel himself gasping for breath as he knocked the life out of several others, waves of blasting sounds clashed with each other as none tethered to stop the massacre.

He couldn’t feel himself, he couldn’t feel his thoughts the only thing he could connect with was revenge but he was too weak to carry it out, too blemished to even protest and too much hurt to even care. He sunk on his knees and immediately Bogdan lifted him up in arms. Fire rained from the skies and ashes grew up to kiss the clouds and there was only so much he could appreciate than a faint smirk which lapped his face against all this misery there was to it all. She was crying bitterly and he could see her at a distance as Mikhail tried to subdue her, he was too nonchalant over his momentary victory and consequential demise to wipe her tears, someone should cry for me. Hell, the whole world should soak in tears if I die. After everything that I have been through it would only be a small appreciation for their blithely remarks he thought to himself. A final thought before he bid adieu to his consciousness a second farewell for the evening first being to its sister called conscience.

Human and perfidious allies

Dead angels turned to ash, demons reincarnated rose to rule the sky,
Breathing black fire lighten up darker clouds,
A fiery red demolishes the black and silver monotone,
Hands rise up pleading for salvation but none left to answer barbaric cries,
A plea for death and a plea for life,
Crimson rains wash away the strings of hope alongside awry smiles,
A sweet symphony rusts the levity of god,
Arms and alms the futile hopes for a pathetic rubble dried of might,
Standing high mighty mountains without roots start to rumble against raw trepidation,
Rotting with vengeance they come for the final strike.

Gratitude and tokens of filth,
For a piece of exchanged slavery one was better off dying,
New force new agenda and a heat of the enlightening fire,
Mesmeric expectations forget the fallen enemy who is yet to arise,
Kneeling before the forgotten graves are the footmen of faux,
Another war to be raged but motive lies caged in the lies,
Messiah yet has faith in his long fallen god,
God remains a word for taking the bitter stronger side until the other switches tides,
Wounds yet unhealed and words yet unspoken but the call has come,
A gong for nation for salvation has been rung.

The bad clash again with the mighty,
Humans again disintegrate with the howls rightly,
Paper tactics and death comes creeping from beneath the feet,
A cold frown and stealth command lead the unknowing,
From flesh of the fresh sea of blood rose a flower,
A follower ready to be trampled before thorns abscond parts of fidelity,
A hard stone stood in the way of the mighty king and the treacherous friend,
Kindled inside the stone withered the gaping rose,
Sneering with passion of fury and fright each took step closer,
Land subdued in all humility under shadows wrinkled foreheads.

None shall pass none shall try, against the stone none shall pry,
The warrior of stone a freight of blithely and hideous death,
The mighty stood in all their might and so did the demons with every strand of despise,
Before each could procrastinate the joust graphite pinnacle smiled,
Drawing for the last breath dancing with plagued souls they earnestly await,
But a clutter of clanks shattered the boundless chrysalis of desire,
The soldier had bowed to the pilgrimage of knight,
Smokes of disdain hovered and then fell as the savage skies rumbled,
Knelt before the force of the common and one appallingly brave vagabond stone,
Blade in cloaks those decaying gems made one final alliance to the god of less light.

Human Obsessiveness

            Why has everything got to be compulsively so hard? Why can’t a person live happily and be satisfied with the amount of work he is putting in? Maybe it is because of human expectations which never end and the jealousy which makes him want to achieve more and become better, better than the rest of the world. Why can’t people end this disorder of obsessiveness why is there no cure to this enemy which keeps on haunting them, grasping them by the neck and strangling them every moment that passes? Why is it so necessary in this world to feel like you are still lacking and not giving in all you have got, when all you want to do is not care and lie around boundlessly?

            Even I am stuck inside this hellhole of round and round expectations. My purpose is still unclear, yeah I am doing something ordinary which feels irrelevant to me but fuels the optimism of other people who seemingly are concerned about my undetermined future but I want to be unique and the hard truth is that not everyone can be winner and some people are meant to lag behind while others steal away the limelight from them. I am a disdainful loser and I was meant to be like this while people took away all the things that I truly desired and I am not a happy loser either, I burn from the inside I get jealous and angry. There are many things I wish I had done and there are many things I wish I could do but I am not even putting any efforts towards them. I just wait here for the miracle to come my way, I wait for the perfect moment which is going to enlighten me within a split second and I will overshadow my entity becoming better at reality than what can only be imagined in people’s most vivid fantasies and all I do is wait while others make their own moments as I am waiting for mine to come. I am too stubborn to work, to realize that this is what I am a failure I am too indulged in the entity called me to accept the fact that I am really not worth for the moment even if it is blindly thrown at me. I am not good enough to live the opportunity which others wait for in silence as they pray and beg their god for it and work hard each moment they are awake. I don’t even have a god or a motive I could believe in. Each arrow has a target but supposedly I was flown off into the air just to demonstrate how one can waste an arrow and so I soar through the cloudless skies indefinitely thinking now would be my moment of glory, whereas I fail to realize that sometimes there is no ulterior motive to an action sometimes there aren’t wrong moves made but actions done in order to prove how wasteful a person can be but I am not even that wasteful example for there is a purpose behind that too. I am purposeless and there is nothing I can do to make my purpose but just simply think that I am a prodigy which was meant to shine bright in the world.

            Belief is what makes a human weak, the belief of a better tomorrow, the belief of a better place, the belief of life after death, the belief of god, the belief of being better than the world, the belief of not fading away etc. I am not bound to these beliefs anymore, I have accepted myself and this is who I am. I am a man who was sent here without a purpose I am a man who had no prophecies. I am a man who can fade into the wind I am a man who will not leave behind his mark and I am a man who will keep striving till the very last to achieve a purpose so that the lines of destiny are betrayed and the world sees the marvel which I made of me. I am a jealous and self-obsessed narcissist who will try all his life and prove how good he can be even if he is only good at failing or rather nothing all his life. I am a man and I am not a good one, I am not even the evil one with a purpose I am just another one to mingle in the background of the story but I will not stop till I become the beloved protagonist or the feared anarchist. Till I am the legend others can look forward to or the dread they can hide from because life my friends is not a fairy tale and everything is not as soft as the clouds and none are the hearts warmer than ice, and yes I might not be able to achieve that because I am incompetent, remorseful and grieving over the failures of past and yes and I do not have any sense of the world and the efforts which are required to do that but still I will keep dragging myself forward with each day and keep hoping for a better future. And yes I might be as futile as a wasted thought right now but I will keep believing that I am better than all the rest wretched ones of you and I will get up each day from my bed and I will walk towards my ever changing destiny and I will keep believing that one day I will succeed and I will keep thinking that that is what I am meant to be, Successful.

            There is a lot to be discovered and there is a lot to be told and I will be the harbinger of joy which will incite you. I will be the god you seek and I will be the greatest narcissist you loathe and you might be so unfortunate to think that I am just a piece of dirt and even you could be where I am except you don’t want to be such a useless being while I am shining in the limelight spatting over your dreaded kind but I will still rise and pay you no heed and yes I will be the evil king you all hate and I will be the person you despise. I will be the evil person and I will be the hated person and I will be the one you call filth but I will be there in your mind murdering your expectations every passing moment while you silently weep to your pillow every night and I will be there in your head with my disgraceful smirk making you wonder why you could not be as infamous as me and in the name of god you will seek vengeance and in the name of pride you will incessantly hail imaginary gruesome deeds and plan despicable atrocities for me but you will not succeed not even in your best of lucidity. And maybe, maybe if you are worthy enough you will reach to where I will be and you will realize how good it feels when everyone hates you for what you are because their life was nothing but a failed lesson to the world.

Written By:

Atul Shrotriya

The Interview

“The thing about caring is that you never know when is too much. You know I used to be happy once, dreamt of going to the moon wearing the shiny suit Neil Armstrong did but then the world, the world built with the likes of you told me they’ve stopped sending men to moon and Mars is their next target now tell me why the fuck would I wanna go to mars? I went reluctantly to school every day for fourteen years and sat through classes which didn’t make any sense just because they told me it will help me achieve my dreams, I learnt a thousand pages understood another ten thousand praying every minute to get into the institution which would help me get a better job and a better future but they rejected me due to rituals my forefathers pursued about a century ago and I had to let go of everything as I fell twenty ranks short of my surname and inheritance. My dreams were broken remolded and a dream of green paper hovered before my eyes, for four years I learnt and practiced things which I thought would help me get this dream and now suddenly you turn up with a chair promising to give me a salary equivalent to a sweeper for sitting 8 hours every day on that chair while you vent out on me. I reluctantly agree to this predomination of yours but you are still not satisfied and eccentrically somehow now I know I cared about money too much and excess dosage of love can choke logicality. So tell me why the fuck should I explain to you why I think that I am worthy for this job?” I finally burst out in front of the PI panel as 7 trained humans widely gawked at me due to the condition they weren’t trained for.
“Do you have any other option?” One of them finally asked adjusting his glasses as he pretended to be scrutinizing my Curriculum Vitae
“I don’t quite think so” I replied earnestly
“Well then, would you sum up your vivid extravaganza to something meaningful before we end this conversation” He asked again not removing his eyes off the A4 size sheets filled with rubble
“Have you ever felt that you’ve grown up a bit beyond you desired and you can’t turn childish again because it would destroy everything you’ve built so far?” I asked every one of them
“We don’t think this is anyhow related to our conversation, anyways you may leave now. Thank you” A man in his late forties sitting to the left of the center-person replied hoarsely as he looked outrageously towards me
“No I haven’t felt like that for a while now and neither do I remember what it felt like because life is driven by logic and practical work more than it is by envisaging dreams” A man in his fifties spoke up as I stood up to leave
“I bet you don’t have a clue how it feels like to destroy your own entity hoping to build a happier one” I said as I removed my tie with one hand and moved forward to collect my file with other
“And I bet you don’t know what an interview is” the man with glasses said softly as he handed my file back to me
“And neither do I fucking care” I replied and walked away opening a gate which in hope for a new bright future a future which might throw something more welcoming at me something which I desired.

“…It’s easy being one of the biggest Multinational Corporations of the world, what’s difficult is accepting the fact that we too need help from other people. And Miraki Industries is what we target next to fulfill cumulative benefit. I’ve explained to you what the freaking graphs and experts say about our future but I cannot explain to you what you could be if you joined us you could be the next definition of Warren Buffet or you could be the exemplary of a great depression, call me cheeky and brash but I’d advise you to do what your gut tells you to because you wouldn’t want to be blaming the fucking experts for what life threw at you” I said finishing my presentation as I glanced out of the window touching the clouds. I did not suddenly jolt to a millionaire, nor did I magically figure out a way to build a hovercraft to fly to the moon nor did I get happy with being what I wanted to be. I was still the same person with the same old dreams and a fake new coarse attitude which I flaunted proudly with each breath, all I achieved was a greater salary package a bit of satisfaction and a higher post in the same company which I had rejected during my interview, what I had lost was the reminder of trying to be the me I idealized
“I don’ t know how these people recruit their crew but you are one extraordinary and strangely truthful person I’ve met in a long time” the Japanese looking owner of  Miraki Industries said shaking my hand after he had signed the Multimillion dollar deal happily and successfully with the company I worked for only because he was impressed by my presentation.
“Thank you sir” I said
“Well fuck courtesies, just give me a call if you ever decide to leave these assholes or earn more by working as a CFO at my company” he said in a low tone as he slipped his card into my pocket with his other hand.
Hours later I was smiling as I twisted and turned the card in my hand which boldly read “Miraki Industries” in golden, a golden which told me about what my glittering future was to be what amused me more was the line “founder Hiyashi Kankuro” as I recognized the name and a familiar face from about 5 years ago when I was giving the interview, finally someone had realized his dreams and flown up to meet them and unlike me he had succeeded in them without having to put on a tie for 300 days a year and a fake identity. Something about my preaching that day made me happy and something shoved me softly into gloom as I realized I could be the Golden name on the card of Destiny right now.

Written By:
Atul Shrotriya

The tough Road.

                “You have nothing, and neither have you had anything to be proud of” were the exact words of my elder brother on that small sticky note as I refused his job offer yet again. Geetika, my girlfriend looked at me with exhausted eyes, “you’re 27 and jobless, your brother is the second richest businessman in the city who’s caring enough to vouch for you, you don’t have money to pay your half of the rent or electricity bills or gas bills or the taxes or anything that requires money. You still survive on the pocket-money I give you and you seem to have no plan regarding how you’re gonna change all of this” and this was the exact lecture I was given by her before she left me. I was a contractor and I had no idea about how my life was going to be designed by me.

                It was not like I didn’t have had my share of opportunities, I did and in fact, I had some of the best opportunities one could ever ask for, a 50 million project which required making a flyover for the government. I couldn’t take up the project due to the risk of removing 5000 slum families that somehow managed to succumb in that small area, no compensation; they had to be just removed to be rehabilitated into the suburbs from where they had to walk 23 kilometers before reaching to work. And I had to be the one to convince them to do that without reason, I couldn’t and so I quit. The project went into suspension for the next 6 months before my brother took it up. He removed the poor people with legal help and started immediately with what could be the next proud architecture of the city. People went into a hunger strike against the government, others revolted, well it ended within 15 days, already starved people couldn’t keep up the hunger strike for long, and were admitted into hospitals, others were sent to jail and the remaining rammed in the orphanages which seemed like a worse idea than the jail. As for me, I’d lost my first opportunity and was off with a bad remark and my life could only be seen as something spiraling downward.

                Today was a new day, the 93^rd new day since my girlfriend left me and I was kicked out of our house and I had to move in to the old government quarters which were lent to poor and old people for free. My food was somehow arranged by one or another household, my electricity bill was unpaid and pending, every day the electricity van came and I pulled in the wire which I had joined illegally to the main line for electricity in my house, sometimes my neighbors did it for me. I opened my inbox and there was the new streak of hope for me in the unread messages, I had a job offer from Mr. Tushin Agarwal the city’s richest businessman although, he was also known for his crooked mind alongside his riches. As I stepped into his office filled with 5 other men, I saw him sitting comfortably in his chair smoking a cigar. “I thought you wouldn’t show up” he said looking at me and motioned me to sit down, before I could sit down, he started speaking “there’s one thing I want to tell you before I begin, if you have a decision to make with some benefits and some losses, when both losses and benefits are considerable then if the benefits are more go forward with it, rather than regretting later. There’s an enclave to be built in the government quarters in the city, it’s a 50 acre land in the middle of the city waiting for some brilliant infrastructure to be endured upon, government is paying us with 6.5 billion for 26 buildings to be constructed there. I’ve gathered you people here to perform that task for me. One of you will be given ten million bucks in advance by me, and you either finish this job or I’ll kill you. If you want to leave, you can leave now or else you’ll have to pay me 15 million in case you choose to leave. Just one last thing, convince me, why I should give you that flashing check with proud 7 zeroes when there’s so many people I could give it to?” he finished speaking and looked at each of us. Two people immediately left the room, the other three gave him his resumes and left, he looked at me as I handed him my resume “there’s one thing I want to tell you before you think your next thought, someone once told me that I have nothing now and neither have I ever had anything to be proud of. He was right and I have nothing to hold me back from finishing this job” I said, staring confidently into his eyes. I waited for a moment for his reaction but it seemed like either he’d seen so many of these melodramatic outbursts or he was too stunned to respond, either way I turned around and walked out of his office.

                 As I stepped on the same old bus which carried me home to the reality, far away from the majestically luring heights I began thinking like a human again. Maybe I wasn’t cut out for all this, maybe I could just be another desk person in my brother’s office nibbling away at the vile pieces he’d throw at my way now and then. I couldn’t become the demon I feared, even if the need of time was otherwise. I stepped out of the bus, my mind fixed on the thought of quitting the job in case it came strolling my way, maybe I’d search for something more subtle to vanquish in rather indulging in this war of money and lies. A loud honk broke my alluring stargaze as I looked at the white Mercedes in front of me, there was the devil I’d been avoiding in my nightmares, Mr. Tushin. Before I could say anything he opened his gate and put down a briefcase on the ground, “you forgot to pick this up” he said and drove away. I stood there, analyzing the trap that was planted in the briefcase, ready to pounce upon me at sight, I couldn’t decline walking into it, maybe money does make a man lose his senses. With shaking hands I picked it up and walked up to my government quarter which I was about to destroy with this weapon of lethality I was cradling in my arms. Standing in front of my iron gate of lavishness I said to me, “if it has to be then it may be so. Fuck everything else” I placed the brown leather case on my table and without even caring to look inside, a wicked smile grew on my face, a smug ecstasy of achievement I guess the rusty taste of villainy isn’t so much bitter after all.

                My brother must have been astonished and furious as he’d have read that sticky note which said “I have nothing, and neither have I ever had anything to be proud of, and that’s why I can’t be afraid of losing anything” delivered along with the photocopies which claimed me to have become a millionaire in an instant and his defeat in making me his bitch. I guess he must have banged his fist on the table and screamed at one of his employees as if this were their fault. I could only guess as I stood in front of the call center where Geetika worked. As I marched into her office, a few others noticed but she definitely was confused and stunned to see me there so suddenly after such a long time, although in my mind it was just like yesterday when she left me. She opened her mouth to speak but words failed her “Fuck you” I said, her eyebrows shot up as I paused for a moment before blurting out the rest, “fuck the taxes, fuck the rent and everything else. Even if I’m broke, even if I have to live off the pocket-money you give me, I don’t care, even if you think I’m not worthy according to you and even if you think every single moment of ways in which you could get rid of me I won’t stop loving you. I love to look you in the eyes, nudge that small little nose of yours, fondle your ears, prod your cheeks, play with the streaks of your hair as you sleep like a baby in my arms, I can’t live without grabbing you by the waist when you’re looking away, play with your hand as we watch idiotic girly flicks snuggled under the same blanket with you crammed up against me on the sofa, tickle your legs and kiss your lips god I can’t live enough of this life if I don’t kiss you again” I stopped as I ran out of my breath while her eyes rose up higher than before as she stood there staring at me, “and I know I’m a complete idiot, and I fight with you every day, irritate you even though you’ve done so much for me, complain even when you love me so much and don’t stop when I know I have to and I end up hurting you always. But I swear to god, I’ll quarrel with you every day for that one sweet ‘I love you’ you say to me in that amazing tone after my desperate efforts when you finally forgive me and I promise, I’ll argue with you to hear you snap at me cause I find you so turning on when you’re angry at me” I stopped for a second and grabbed her in my arms, her arms wrapped around me and my eyes shuttered down slowly as our lips met, slowly I dissolved into the pleasure of caressingly mystical emotion called love. Her sweet smell carried me away into another world of wondrous perfectness, and as I clutched her tighter clasping her existence into mine, I could hear her heartbeat against mine, and I could feel her again and I felt complete. “You’re not broke are you?” she asked me pulling away, as she gasped for breath, “Actually, I am” I replied with a wink, smiling at her she looked at me for a moment then saying “whatever” moved her face near to mine, I pulled away “what?” she said looking at me confusedly, “I’m kidding, I just got a huge contract” I replied “well that makes you even sexier” she said and merged with me again.

Written By:

Atul Shrotriya
Assisted By:

Himanshu Bhardwaj

Villian

                My cellphone was vibrating in my pocket, I looked at the speedometer “65 kmph!” it screeched back at me, ‘well, talk to you later Mr. caller’ I said to myself and looked up, what do I see, a girl dawdling in the middle of the road on her pretty pink scooter, my eyes widened as I pushed the brakes and over the screams of tires and her intensified shrieks, I collapsed into her with a thud, I opened my eyes and to my surprise, a hand which I had expected to pick me up came thundering down at my cheek “you bastard! Look at what you did!” was all the appreciation I was awarded with for trying to save a life. Blood trickled down from my pierced lip as I stood up again, finally composing me into a delirious piece of obscenity, eyeing at the reason behind my blood, I gave him a stern look then before he could realize the rationality behind my crooked smile, I smashed my clenched hand against his jaw, a crack, an agonizing groan and the sweet symphony of silence took over the moment. An innocent girl was lying on the ground, drenched in the curtains of anguish and all they could come up with was hurting me even more, for a part that might change something but something far too small can’t be prioritized over everything. For a second, everything seemed to go in fast motion, the indissolvable looks of anger seemed to turn to fright, I pulled out the phone of my pocket, and scrolled down for the numbers of my acquaintances, for the time being, I was indeed in need of help but something made me call the ambulance instead, “yeah, I’m here at Square Parks, there’s been an accident and I seriously need your help. Thank you.” My sentence seemed somewhat like that of a gangster calling for mischief. “You mister, are going to regret this. This crime that you've done” A young leader of moral excellence commanded me with his index finger pointed at me, something about that finger flipped the “calm down” switch at the back of my head, and with one swift moment I grabbed his finger with one hand and crushed his nose with my other elbow, it wasn't bloody, it wasn't much hurtful either but it sent a clear message and soon the crowd seemed to withdraw in moments as they hummed the lowly chant of delirium for me. Soon the ambulance arrived and I helped them carry her in, before the ambulance could leave, the atmosphere was filled with wailing sirens of the police and I hurriedly, or rather frightfully took off before the sound could turn into a view of penalization.

                “Sharma Saab, did you note the bastard’s number?” the inspector asked fiercely, Sharma Saab shook in guilty, “hey, did you notice who he was?” inspector blankly shot at the man driving the ambulance; “No” he said plainly and turned the engine on, “then who called you?” he asked again “some injured guy in a blue shirt, he was bleeding and was right here a moment ago” he replied and drove off. “Yes, yes Inspector Saab that was the guy I was telling you about” Mr. Sharma jumped in with excitement and other people also joined in giving other small details “he had long hair” someone said, “he was about six feet in height” added another. “I assure you all people, we’re gonna catch that bastard! He won’t get away from us I promise” Inspector announced in an uncalled sense of duty, somewhat enjoying the limelight. “You police officers are all big mouths for talk and no hands to catch the bad ones” someone said from the crowd, Inspector frowned for a moment then in a mocking manner spoke with laughter as he climbed in his rusty Jeep which squealed under his weight “We’ll catch this one I promise, but you guys try to call the ambulance next time instead of cops when you see an accident and note down the details of both the victims thus helping them, rather than getting your ass all beat up by an injured person”. As the crowd dissipated, the people only carried one thing on their tongues, something stringed to stopping all the outrageously ridiculous youngsters from doing these catastrophic abhorrent crimes while in the hospital the girl and her mother cursed the person who rammed her daughter. But inside the petty human minds the crowd was ready to dial an ambulance in any further case of such an incident and the girl thanked the stranger who saved her.

                Sometimes, the world doesn't need a hero, sometimes all it needs is a perfect villain.   

-          Atul Shrotriya.