The broken chair!

Promt: A party was destroyed. Give a description of the incident from the viewpoint of a non-living structure.

Hi, I’m CHAIR! Today, I stand as a three-legged, backless structure. But I was not always the same. Till last week, I too stood straight with all my four legs and was the strongest among all four chairs in Rahul’s home. I was also the most loved one!

Hi, I’m chair. Today, I stand as a three-legged, backless structure. But I was not always the same. Till last week, I too stood straight with all my four legs and was the strongest among all four chairs in Rahul’s home. I was also the most loved one!
Rahul is the owner of this home, where I stand today. He used to love me a lot, so much that, he would never sit on a chair other than I. but it was, only till a few days ago. Now he hasn’t even entered this dusty store, even to give a glance at me.
How much pride I used to feel, when I was preferred to other chairs! Then I was dusted five to seven times a day. And today – it has been days since somebody cleaned off all the dust from over me. How pathetic!
This all happened on that birthday night, last week. It was Rahul’s birthday. Everything was going on smooth and everyone was happy. I felt so good to stand in the middle, as the center of attraction. Party was yet to begin and they all were just admiring the preparation. I could see 10-12 guests and more were still to come. Thirty-one guests had been invited in total. I know all this because Rahul was sitting over me only when he made the list and I could see it clearly from over his shoulder. His parents were also sitting in the front and helping him prepare the list. They took four sittings to compile a complete list and gulped four cups of coffee in every sitting.
Further, two rounds of meetings occurred to decide the would-be required items. This item-list comprised of forty-six elements and had everything from thread to the huge 5 kg cake. I had never heard of such grand party, except once or twice on the television in the shop I stood before coming to Rahul’s home. They were all so happy. Who knew it was the preparation for destruction?
Just at the moment Rahul was about to cut the cake, there came a painful sound. When I raised my eyes to check out for the source, I found that it was Rahul’s dad’s friend, as reflected from his age. Somebody had hit him over his neck – with a small shoe. He was still easy, only to see the shoe. Sight of the shoe transformed the slight pain into a kind of volcanic rage. He took out his shoe and threw back aimlessly. It reached Rahul’s friend, who had unfortunately seen this uncle. The young fellow fired the same shoe but missed the aim slightly leading to the spilling of wine of some other fellow all over his coat. The chap got so angry that he slapped the responsible person.
A few men, of profound intelligence, appealed to rahul’s dad to stop the fight. He even shouted but nobody listened as they were busy fighting. With feelings and sadness and happiness both, I stood there, resting the cake over me. I was joyful because I watching this wild fight for the first time in my life. And sad because Rahul was sad.
One of Rahul’s friends, with cooked dal all over his beautiful shirt, came and held Rahul’s collar. Rahul, already in utter confusion, couldn’t control himself. Arrested by his impulse, he slapped the lad. In response, the guy stumbled towards me. Finding nothing else, he simply picked the cake, ran with it and Splash! It was all over Rahul! He licked a few times and scraped to clean himself. By this time, before Rahul could act any more, the boy had held me.
“Ew! How can he do it? Is he drunk? At least put me down. Put me down.”
Rahul too requested. “Leave the chair Arun, it’ll hurt. Let’s control. We are ourselves disrupting the party instead of controlling everyone. Come on, leave it.”
The boy shouted,”OK Rahul! I’m leaving the chair.”
Hold on! And Bang! And he struck me hard on the floor. My back remained in his hand but I could still stand on my own till now. Seeing Arun’s activity, Rahul threw me back at Arun. This time one of my legs came off and I turned useless – at least till one of my doctors comes to operate my legs!
In this store, today, I still hope to see the day when my doctor would come to operate me and I will stand back on all four legs – without support – as the most preferred sitting for Rahul.

The loner kid!

Prompt: A small boy gets into some different world.

Raju had always loved to be isolated and again had loved more to go on a forlorn walk just anywhere. Stories of days when his family members had to call the people to aid them search this small seven years old kid were famous. And that was why he was rarely allowed to come out of his home.

One story to this list even ended with people pulling him out of a well not too deep, but enough for the guy’s heavenly travel. There the whole village stood around the well and Raju holding the centrestage, but speeches being delivered by the villagers. Unaffected, this kid kept on with his hobby though, never was such a deep incident repeated.

But once, he walks in to a resident haunted house and is transported to another time. It was totally different there – people and things and nature and all surrounding Raju. People were wearing helmets on their faces and were flying instead of walking. They did come down for purchasing any item or talking to someone. Looking up towards the sky gave an appearance of insects busy in their own traveling campaigns. Here again, Raju was alone – not by choice but by chance!

At last, a large insect glided down near Raju and gazed at him. Then, more and more of them flew down to him and did nothing but gazed.

Raju heard some voice but couldn’t understand that and remained silent. Then there was some more voice of buzzing type with all the creatures looking at each other and nodding their heads. Raju, the poor little boy was totally amazed not knowing how to react at all the activities there. Two of the creatures caught him by his arms and flew up. He started shouting but there was nobody to understand his shouts or even listen to them.

After ten minutes of adventure above the ground, they came down. A huge multi-storeyed building stood before Raju. Then Raju turned back and found all of the remaining citizens still behind and communicating among each other.

Raju thought, ”Should I run? But where? I have not seen the way I traveled to this land and nor do I know the name of this land. Even I can’t ask anyone. Should I kill them? But they are too strong, each weighing more than hundred kilograms and that too so many of them will aggregate more than …….oh! I can’t calculate that many numbers at a time! But what……”

Two of the strangers carried him again by his arms and flew into the building. “How cruel they are! Don’t let me even to think.”

The creatures were again talking in their strange buzzing language, but this time it was one of them on front side conversing with all of those on the sides and behind Raju.

And then silence prevailed. They were all quiet.

“Pin drop silence as it is when some teacher just enters into the classroom”, Raju recalled.

A creature was bringing an axe in his hand. “Oh my God! They are about to kill me”, Raju shouted.

“Who are about to kill you, my boy?” There was Raju’s mom pulling him out of the bed.

The bad neighbor!

Prompt: Use I wished he’d knock on my door instead.

Like all my weekdays, I was ready for office at 9 and left my home after kissing my wife exact at 9:05. No sooner had I closed my main gate than I saw a crowd of people approaching towards me. I tried to guess, “Are they coming to me?” I turned back to see if anybody could be seen around to help me in case they stop at me.

“What for? So many people together?”

On counting they made to seven. “They are not for my home, or probably yes?” I was very confused. I turned towards my gate and checked for whether it was well shut or not. I could not even finalize whether to move for work or not; whether to remain there or get inside. At last, I made the decision and took my first step to leave the gate for my office. By then, one of them approached me as if to ask something.

“Hey, here is a brown gate! Let’s knock this one”, somebody from the group shouted and the man heading towards me changed his direction and moved towards the sound.

I thanked God for helping me escape any conversation with strangers and hurried for office. In such hurry was I that I couldn’t even turn a bit to see as to which brown gate were they talking about?

After moving a few steps, I turned to find that it was Mr. Sharan, the Bank Manager living in the single storey exactly opposite to my gate. “Must be in some sort of trouble. Why should I worry? Thank God that I escaped.” All such thoughts crossed my mind at once. I again thanked God further more for giving me the mind that I painted my gate red.

I hurried towards the office with a happy heart and a few pictures of my ‘to be sad’ neighbor. I giggled thinking about Mr. Sharan if he would be robbed or beaten or probably just locked up in jail for some forgery scam run in the bank.

Though in the office, I kept thinking of Mr. Sharan’s miserable condition when I reach back to home. I was working but didn’t feel like doing them well or there was no such feeling as present everyday. Few of the staff even queried about the reasons for me being in such changed mood, but I simply declined to answer.

At last, it was 5, the time to return home and know about my dear neighbor. I was thinking about the ways to act with a sad friend. “How would I show pity? Should I meet him with tears in my eyes or a small smile? Should I speak at the first instant or let him speak first? Should I offer him some monetary help if he would have been robbed?” all such thoughts had kept me engaged when I was returning to home.

While returning I found that I was even faster than the speed at which I had traveled in the morning and I reached my home earlier than the everyday time. Contrary to the atmosphere I had been expecting in the home of Mr. Sharan, everything was fine. I stood there and thought of going to my neighbor friend even before my home so that he would know my devotion for him. But then, a sort of block in my throat stopped me and I opened my own red gate, with a sort of smile in the heart for painting it red. Then I got into the first room whose door was already open waiting for me.

At the instant my door made some sound, my wife came running towards me and said, “You know, today a few people came to Mr. Sharan’s home early in the morning. They were from the newspaper Rojana and were rewarding a washing machine or a TV to houses chosen at random, just if the people in the house bought Rojana.”

My eyes remained wide open and I just wished he’d knock on my door instead. A pathetic smile appeared over my face with some repentance for all the wishes I had made for Mr. Sharan.

Wrote according to the rules. Start was really tough, but once started, I enjoyed reaching the end. Really, very entertaining write for me!

Fruit of patience!

Today, I wrote it just to ensure that I do Fiction Friday, for I was in no mood to write a story. Also, the prompt was a bit tough to go with. Anyways, I did the best I could!

Prompt: A boy and his father awaken early to watch the sunrise from their mountain campsite, but they begin to panic when the sky remains dark long into the afternoon.

Mr. Solomon and his only child were standing on the bridge to see the first ray of sunlight. They had heard that it looked magnificent but they had never seen it. The kid, Romesh, was far more excited for firstly, he was on the slopes of Darjeeling hills and secondly, he was about to see something he had never seen.

“Dad, none of my friends have ever seen the rising sun here. How does it look? Can the camera capture complete image? Won’t it get blurred?”

“No dear. Ths sun is not so hot here. It’ll just be yellowish red and your camera will capture the perfect image.”

“It won’t be seen again today. Don’t you all see the cloud that has taken an oath not to go from here today again.”, said an old man in a frustrated tone.

The little Romesh ran only to hide behind his dad and started to cry. “oh no dad! I left everything back there only to see this beautiful scene and I won’t go without taking a snap of it.”

“Yes, yes my son you’ll have the beauty in your camera. The orange ball surrounded by its crimson light…..all you’ll be able to enjoy today…. But saying this Mr. Solomon himself was not sure for he knew that the view was too rare to be seen.”

The area didn’t have only these father and son but there were hundreds of more people waiting for a single glance at the unique scene that they had probably only seen in pictures.

Second after second, minute after minute went by but there was no sign of the clouds leaving their position.

Many people had gone back only with the thought that they would be coming tomorrow. But what was Mr. Solomon to do. He had a reservation for tomorrow and couldn’t wait for another day.

Just then, they heard a shout, “There it is. The red ball!”

“O my God! How beautiful the sky is getting! Really, I had never seen it before. I would have missed it only if I had returned. Thanks God for giving me strength to hold on my patience just to enjoy this majestic view.”

And ‘CLICK!” went his camera just to capture the unique yellowish orange sky with the large orange ball in it.

The Mistake!

Prompt: I knew it was a mistake the moment it was over!

We, I and Jane, my beloved, were walking through the dense fog on a lonely road. It was a cold winter night and so foggy that hands could not see hands. We were coming from the club’s New Year party and were very happy about the arrival of the New Year to wash away all our past unhappy endings. Both of us were involved in our own thoughts and none wanted to disturb the other.

“Don’t you fear that something might happen now in this dark night?” suddenly Jane broke the silence.

“Yup”, I just mumbled.

“What if somebody attacks us from behind? I am feeling very afraid.”

“Hey! Why will anyone attack us? We don’t have any grudges with anybody in this world. We don’t need to fear any….” I tried to boost her but my voice got vague and I couldn’t complete the sentence. Scene of the newspaper report about the killing of a couple just for money flashed in my mind before I could complete my sentence.

Then we were again silent. No sound except barking dogs and our footsteps could be heard. And nothing except Jane was visible to me.

At last, we reached to the corner of the street where I had to let her go and push myself to my own place. We didn’t talk anything and just gave a goodbye kiss to each other, just a routine thing whenever I left her.

Now I hurried towards my destination. Also I pulled out the Swiss knife that I had purchased for these fearful times. ”O my God! Why did I agree for the party? If only I had not… Come on, now you don’t have that option. I had to be brave with her but now I have to rush”, I was thinking as my steps continued accelerating.

Just then my feet turned cold and I felt struggling for air hearing footsteps running towards me. I couldn’t move any step further. I couldn’t even move my body as it froze hearing the sound, and my hands just strengthened the grip on the knife. I was totally ready to tear apart anybody.

With the sound coming closer my grip continued to get harder and harder.

I heard my name,” Sunny!” and felt the hug of Jane just before I had forced the knife thrice into the body that caught me. Her face flashed as she struggled to stand and slipped even from my grip. A last gasp of my name came from her mouth,”S…u…,.n…..n….” but she could not complete.

Tears made their way out of my eyes as I held her. Without a word for me, she just closed her eyes. I knew it was a big mistake the moment it was all over.

Tried too much but couldn’t think of anything better than this. Reaching the end, I began feeling that my story was not suitable to the prompt. If you’ve read the story, do tell me about your feelings! It’s again without any backspace press……typing whatever came to my mind……

Destiny!

This is just a story that poured out of my heart a few times ago….

“Knock! knock!”, somebody knocked on Raj’s door. When Raj opened the door, he was astonished to find a beautiful girl standing in front of him.
Unsure Raj asked her with slight hesitation, “Did you knock my door”?
“Yes, Can I get some water please?”
“She’s beautiful”, Raj said to himself and “What “, to the girl”.
The girl was wearing snow white salwar suite with fur around the neck which made the dress all the more attractive. White skin tight pyjamas made her a perfect Indian beauty. She had a fair complexion with black hair which was clipped over her head.
“Must be five six”, Raj guessed of her height.
“Water please”.
“Oooooyaya why not. I’ll just be back with it”, Raj said and moved towards his bathroom.
“Drinking water”, the lady said with some force in her voice.
“Here it is………your drinking water”, Raj appeared from his bathroom with a bottle of water in his hand.
The girl took the bottle slowly and unwillingly. She had something which she couldn’t speak out. Raj smelled unwillingness and reason for this unwillingness as well.
“Actually I don’t have a fridge or any other means of cooling the water. So, to keep the water cool, bathroom is the best place. Or else you would have hot water direct from the water tank. Just imagine. So, don’t hesitate but quest your thirst. It’s water and nothing except that”, I swear.
Now, the girl got a new confidence and she drank all one litre in a single breath.
“Thank You very much”, the girl said and turned.
“New to this place?”, curious Raj asked.
“Ya”,saying, she stepped ahead.
“But where are you from?”
“From Jharkhand”, she said and again tried to proceed to her room.
“Ok but what’s your name. Last question”, Raj understood her reluctance to go to her room.
“Anjali” , girl responded unwillingly. She was annoyed a bit but was obliged for the bathroom water.
“And I’m Raj ………..Raj from Jharkhand………….Here pursuing my B.Com honours…………..From Delhi University ………second year ,that’s all about me…………..And you?”,he started with hesitant sound and finished with an interrogative expression on his face.
“Very good but I didn’t ask anything about you”.
“Right”, Raj stated with a smile on his face.”You didn’t ask but you wanted to and you didn’t only due to somebody inside you who was pulling you back and………and you just were listening to him suppressing the other one who wanted you to ask all these. It happens with everybody on meeting strangers.”
“Nothing of this sort happened with me”, Anjali said and walked away.
Anjali walked to her room pondering over Raj’s words. She was thinking about Raj, though she didn’t want to.
“Ya, he was right! I wanted to ask all that he had said but……………. he was right “. Since her schooldays itself, Anjali was unable to do what she wanted. She had been suppressive all through and the somebody always pulled her, though she never realized about the ‘somebody’ except today.
On the other side, Raj too was thinking hard over the words he spoke.
“No, I was all ok”
Raj had done something, he was proud of. He wanted to talk to a girl, he wanted to have a girl friend, and do all that his friends had already done. And today he had given a starting touch to it. He was 21 and so was above the required age. Today, he was getting a feeling of some kind of accomplishment. He stood before the mirror and smiled with confidence. Then he remembered something and pounced upon his bed grabbing his cellphone kept there. He pressed a few keys and brought the phone close to his ears. He was walking very fast but his heartbeat was still normal. He was feeling much stronger than he earlier used to.
“Hello Manish?”
“Yaya…, tell me”, reply came.
“Hey I did it! I said everything.”
“To whom and what”, Manish was a bit puzzled.
“A girl has come next to my room and I told her everything about me ………and………and………..”
“And what “
“And she even said that she hadn’t asked me all that details.”
“Then?”
“Then I repeated the dialogue you had given.”
“Arererere…!That’s not a dialogue but a simple fact……..ok. So then”
“She went thinking and I’m sitting”.
“Stupid!! Now you go to her room demanding something a new person can have…..like a nail ….or a….. aaaaa…….. ok go for a nail and apologize for speaking too much. Then talk as sensibly as you can and don’t try to be too smart. It would prove nonsense of you. Ask for permission to sit and explain the things she could get from the shops around and which all shops gave quality with correct price exetra exetra. And hey, don’t go too far today. Remember that patience is a virtue.”
“Asking for a nail…… damn fucking idea.”, Raj thought and dropped the idea of going to her room the same day.
The next afternoon, Raj went to Anjali’s room and said,” Can I have some water today. Actually I Forgot to keep it in the bucket and now are nearly at the boiling temperature. If you don’t have it, I will manage it from the shops. It’s just a matter of a few coins you know.”
“I have it. I have a ghara that keeps the water cool. Why don’t you too get it? Please get in. It’s too hot outside.”
The statement got Raj turn into a believer as he had wanted exactly the same thing and his plan was working.
“Sorry ….I’m sorry for speaking too much yesterday.” Saying this he got in slowly. Slowly because he was afraid of the world around. He was afraid of himself, he was afraid of the people, his friends and the consequences. Raj sat on the bed there as that was the only thing he could keep his back on. No chair no mat. Just a table and a bed. The room had been kept very organized. Table and bed were very close, almost touching each other. “Must be studying on the bed”, Raj guessed. There was a space for kitchen pulled out of the room and was just enough for one person to stand.
“Then Raj suddenly realized that it was exactly same as his own room. Same length, same breadth same everything”, he thought.
“Water “, Raj’s inspection was interrupted. Along with inspection Raj was also thinking of his future, his success and his failure, all kinds of ifs and buts. And the water broke his thinking process.
“I thought over your statements and found them to be very true mmmmm…………. what name you had said bhaiya?’
That was something Raj had not thought of but now he was a lot more confident.
“Fuck I’m not your bhaiya. I’m simply Raj for you and call me that. You understand my words. Or you can also call me Raj sir for showing respect. Ya Raj Sir would be better.”
That was all spontaneous and it’s composition was his own as the relationship could shatter the possibility of any other relationship.
“Ok Raj sir”, the girl agreed,” You were right with all that you said. And I should say that you have really impressed me with your crystal clear thinking. Can we be friends? She held her hand out to shake.
Raj wanted to agree at once but wasn’t quite sure and nor was he prepared for the offer. “I’ll have to think a bit”, he said with confident style and apaced out immediately. He reached his room and thought,”Ooooo! It was stupid of me to ask for time in doing friendship. Should I go to her now? No, that’ll make a better idiot out of me. I’ll see her tomorrow”.
On the other hand Anjali too was calculating, “Did I say correct things? Was the time correct or did I hurry in saying this. One thing is for sure that he too likes me or else he wouldn’t have been angry on my use of the word.”
By this time Raj had called Manish. Actually Manish was a friend of Raj who had always helped him, whatever be the problem. He was little more extrovert than Raj though in studies, Manish existed nowhere around Raj. Raj got good marks in the board and moved to Delhi while Manish stayed in Madhopur, doing some sort of a wholesale business together with pursuing his B.Com pass course from some college where he only needed to sit for exams and that too was mostly done by others. It was also said that Manish had managed a few people who provide him with the degree at just 5000 rupees. They were the people from university who did the good job of giving degree to a lot of Manishlike students at the expense of a few bundles. And the reason for getting the forged certificate was even more surprising – the guys got it so that they could get better dowry on showing the graduation certificate But Manish needed it for his dad’s sake.
“Hey Manish dear , how’s your business ?”
“Leave it for now and tell me about you.”
“She forwarded her hands for friendship and I demanded time to think”
“Are…yaar you should have agreed to it. Anyways, now you should meet her day after tomorrow and the time gap will make your relationship much stronger. That’s all ok but you haven’t told me anything about her name or hometown and I’m one with full support for your success .”
“Anjali is her name, I told you and she’s also from Jharkhand but I don’t know her hometown till now.”
“Anjali……from Jharkhand”,Manish exclaimed .
“What’s the matter dear, why are you so surprised?”
“Go and know the city immediately “.
“But you said to meet her day after tomorrow and nowwwww………”,Raj was interrupted.
“Please go my friend and say that you’re ready for friendship only if you know her hometown
“But why Manish what’s the matter? “
“Just do what I said”.
“Yes sir”, Raj said.
But Manish had kept the phone beforehand. He was now thinking of his Anjali. Actually Manish too liked a girl living near his shop, whose name was Anjali. He wanted to tell her about his feelings but had to postpone his plans till the time his business makes a hold in the city as he didn’t have anything to boast of. In the meantime he heard that Anjali was going to Delhi for further studies. He was happy and sad simultaneously on hearing the news. Happy for he would be able to give his full effort to his business and Sad for being unable to see her for quite a long time. Anyways, Anjali went to Delhi. Then Manish worked hard and his business got to a nice status and he was now prepared to open his heart the day Anjali returned from Delhi.
Drowned in his own thoughts, he was disturbed by the ringing mobile, ”Yaaadein yaad aati hain…..”. He picked up the phone seeing Raj’s name blinking on the screen.
Hello Manish! Happy news ……I explained all my feelings to her and too has similar feelings for me. I can’t talk much as we are going to a restaurant for dinner. And yes, for your query, she’s from our town of Madhopur. Ok the….”
Raj didn’t listen more and dropped the mobile there on the table. Shining drops appeared on his cheek and Manish wept and wept. He delayed the decision and it costed him his love.

OFFICE calling….

Waiting for the call from his ‘to be’ office, Allison was feeling restless and was walking from one corner of the room to the other. Actually, he was to receive a confirmation call for his joining in Aegis Steels, a public sector steel firm, as a senior manager. He had worked hard for it, and now his bad days would be over with the job. He had already started planning for his better days since the day he qualified through the interview, as only document verification formalities are left after that. He had started making plans for the nice home he would shift in with his family. He had a nice long discussion with Sarah, his wife, about the location of their new home. Sarah wanted it to be in some high society kind of area like the VIP flats or the Monsoon Villas while he himself wanted to be in a calm place away from the jostling city where he could take rest and talk to his family. He had been fed up of living in the Tower area where the horns of vehicles made it very tough to live there. And to say anything, the person inside would have to shout to the best of his or her ability. Allison had to also go to the doctor for a throat problem and the doctor gave him a single medicine and but mainly prescribed him to speak in a low tone. But speaking in loud voice was what he ‘had to’ do to communicate in his home. However, by God’s grace neither he nor any of his family members needed a doctor after that.

He was presently working in a private office as a clerk and found it tough to look after his family with the small salary he used to get from his accountant. Even for that salary, which was obviously his right, Allison had to do a lot of discussions with his manager. He had to clarify his each and every work done and not done in the office, at the end of which he was paid just ninety percent of his actual salary. Reasons were really shocking – not having the coffee he asked for, not bringing the pen and using colleague’s pen, and  many more similar sucking reasons. He could have revolted, but was afraid of being fired which would lead to zero income for his home.  He wanted to kick the boss everyday before sitting on his own chair but did not have the guts to do so. And as soon as he used to take his seat, the boss attacked him. Yes, she would really attack Allison, not with a sword or knife but with words, and Allison found himself in miserable condition. Whatsoever be the reason, the fact was that she used to literally fuck Allison’s ass with her words.
The boss was an unmarried lady of around forty with a little extra weight of around 120 kgs. Though, her height was four eight or maximum four ten. At this height and weight, she seemed to be a real round pumpkin. She had a boy cut hairstyle and used to wear a ribbon whose colour matched with that of her skirt. Yes, she used to wear skirts and that too of knee length. When she shouted at Allison, her eyeballs seemed to be coming out of their sockets. Allison used to just listen to her words with no response in his defense.  Well, his boss was famous in the office as Lady Shouter, though her actual name was Lisa Dyer. Whenever Lisa appeared outside her cabin, all of the staffs got themselves prepared as when she shouted she threw out saliva from her mouth over the person in front. Some of the staffs would wear helmets; some would talk with their face behind files. Dramatic! The scene was utterly dramatic when she talked to anybody! “How can she manage the office with such a dreadful talking style?” the office staffs used to think. But she was doing it; though with no happy staff! Everybody was working there only because they had to be there.
His children neither could choose to eat anything nor could they choose do something. They too had turned into pebbles of road thrown to be kicked by the people of this world. Nothing good to wear, nothing good to eat and nothing good to play with! There condition was really disgusting. Appearance was worse. Those little kids watched others of their age and longed for a better condition. Allison longed for the same even more than his kids. Anyways, his days were slowly passing by but filled with worries and tensions.

But now, his days would see change. The children would now be able to go to better school, wear better clothes and eat better food. There would be no boss like Miss Dyer to shout at him and deduct his payment and exploit him.
Allison had even experienced words from his friends which simply brought the idea of suicide in his mind. In fact, their teasing words had only persuaded him to work for getting something better in life. Otherwise, he had been trying to find contentment in that roadside life itself thinking that he had no way to go but actually, till that time he did not want to go. He did not want to change his life. Till then, Allison even didn’t want to change the life of his wife and his children. He had no true desire that his kids should try for a better future. He felt that they too could pass their life as he had. But the sharp statements from all the people around him made him to at least try for changing his life. He thought-“If his effort brings him success, it will be well and good or else the sucking life was always there to be lived”. And at last, he about to be successful in changing his own life as well as the life of his family.

Now, Allison was getting more and more impatient and had started to loose his temper. Finding nobody else, he displayed his anger to the people around him. He didn’t want but negative thoughts started to float through his mind-“What if I don’t get the job? What will i reply to my family? How will I live with them? No, no the job can’t go to anybody else. They have just called me for some formality necessary to start working. It has been given to me……….. It’s my job…. God can’t do this to me anymore…….  none else can get my job…….I have worked hard for it……..no more test of my patience…… please God please……. I’ll die…..help me God; help me……. help me……. And his voice became more and more feeble and slowly Allison began to sob…… his nose got filled and his eyes overflowed. The day went by and he kept sitting on the chair with his head resting over his knees. Allison actually slept thinking all thoughts which had mixed emotions of being a successful person, and a failure

Allison got up in the evening but still couldn’t find any miss call being displayed on his phone. When it got dark he went out and came back with a packet of ‘rat kill pills’. Oh god he was about to end his life! He kept looking towards his mobile phone but didn’t get what he was waiting for. At last, he popped the pills but still kept an eye on the phone. Scenes of the life he had passed ran through his mind. Smiles and cries – all the moments that he had lived came before him this last time. And his face expression also switched in the same speed-sometimes happy and sometimes sad! He was loosing his breath now and the phone blinked with “OFFICE Calling” appearing over the screen. Allison could just smile seeing this.

Hope gives strength!

Prompt:”My husband doesn’t know, but soon he will”

“All my dreams and hopes were shattered, the day my marriage was finalized. And I was a totally dismayed lady with no direction for my life”, Rini said in a low, sad tone.

“How old were you then when you tied knots?” Sudhir, Rini’s childhood friend asked.

Rini and Sudhir were meeting after more than six years. It was last in the dance classes that they both took during their schooldays that they met each other.

“Just nineteen. Can you imagine my feelings then?”

“Why didn’t you tell them? They could have waited.”

At least my family would not. And for my dancing career, never. After all, I was a girl and marriage is the only thing in a girl’s life”, Rini said in an irritated tone.

“Then?”, Sudhir queried gravely.

“Then what? I just wanted to die. End my life”

“What!”

Rini sighed. “Yes, I was about to. But that’s my past. Now you don’t need to worry.”

“So”, Sudhir adjusted himself for a better position.

“Then I had even arranged everything right. Just in the night of the occasion, I would have ended my story.”

“So mad lady why didn’t you?”

“The night before, I had a dream…or probably it was evening only…or I can’t remember exactly.”

“Let it be whatever it was. Go ahead.”

“Evening, yes it was evening”, she said excited.

“I couldn’t remember the dream clearly but the essence got engraved deep in my brain. Somebody said to me, ‘God is not rude to anyone. All are his children. Have patience. Let time unroll a little more. There might be something good for you a bit later’.”

“I changed my mind. And was married to the industrialist Niranjan Singh turning me to Rini Singh. He was a doting husband except that he never wanted me to dance. Even the slightest talk on dance made him turn red. I still don’t know why he despised dance so much. So I couldn’t do anything when he was home, but the good thing was that he was at home after 9 in night and before 8 in morning.”
“Then you learnt it during these hours?”

“Yes, there were servants and workers for all house works. There was rarely a thing for me to do. I practiced everyday from morning till evening except Sunday for it was the day when Niranjan didn’t go to the company, and wanted me to be with him.”

“But hey Rini! You could have lived happier without those hectic dancing schedule. Servants, cars, palatial house…what more can a girl crave for?”

“Yeah I was having them all, but I don’t know why I felt incompleteness everyday since I was married. But when I started to practice, though hectic, I lived with more energy. I was much happier.”

Sudhir smiled. “And today you are here in the State dance festival trying to make your dream come true. But now your husband must be knowing?”

“He doesn’t, but soon he will.”

“What after that?”

“Nobody can stop me now.” Just then, the first name in the festival was announced and it was – Rini Singh.

I am happy that I ended what I started. But what is this? There’s some other prompt in Fiction Friday page. Or there’s nothing for 30th April. Anywaz, I’ve done my work.

The killer ring!

The prompt was – “While digging in a cereal box for the toy surprise, a child makes a grisly discovery.”

I felt it’s tough and moreover, when you are unwillingly doing an activity, it’s really difficult to carry through. I’m happy that I finished it.

Here goes my story…..

Since early morning everyone in the house of Mr. Ramakant Sharma was busy for the wedding ceremony about to be held in the night. It was a welcome day with guest continuously coming. How Mr. and Mrs. Sharma had been waiting for this day for years.

During the day when Rohit, the six year old kid was taking out cereal for dinner, he makes a grisly discovery, “It’s a ring mom, here in this box of cereal.”

“Ring!” Mrs. Sharma screams seeing the small round thing of gold, “how’s it here?”

And it was a matter of surprise for everyone in the home. They were all asking each other for how could it be that a ring was there in the box. Still, the show has to go on! And the ceremony was allowed to finish off in a smooth fashion.

But there those who had seen the ‘horror’ ring couldn’t take it out of their minds and joined together to brainstorm on suspense of the matter. But nobody could suggest anything perfect that would have enabled a clear solution. They also didn’t want to let the matter out of their own home expecting unlikely behaviors of their neighbors. “They would never look towards your home even”, said Mrs. Sharma.

Somehow the matter reached to the ears of Mr. Sharma’s dad, an old man of somewhere around sixty who had come to them a week before.

And the old Mr. Sharma grinned, “Oh! You found a ring in cereals. Did you go to the police or the grocer?”

“Nops dad”, murmured Mr. Ramakant Sharma.

“Let’s go to them”

Discussions were still on and the lanky old fellow was just listening to them with a smile on his face.  Ghost, dead man, thief and what not! They had guessed them all. Sometimes they even reached out to it being a thing of black magic. And then there were guesses of neighbors who could have tried such a destructive activity for them all.

Mr. Das, Mr. Santoshi Babu, Mr. and Mrs. Ravikant were all into the net of suspicion. And then Mr. Ramakant Sharma made a declaration, “They don’t want me to live here, I won’t let them. I’ll kill them all. They come to my home on a party and try to destroy my family. Whosoever has done that I won’t leave him”

“Then you should kill me first”, his dad speaks out now, “Magic, ghost and what not. You educated men could think all but left the actual. It was just my ring that had fallen into the box when I tried to take out some”.

“But dad why were you taking out cereal?”

“You all were busy and I couldn’t say to anyone that I needed something to eat then. I was trying to find biscuits or similar stuff to eat. Unable to find them but the box of cereals, I just went for it. And then it happened. The ring was loose and got mixed among cereals making me unable to find. I had thought that I will say to you or your wife but firstly I forgot and secondly never did I find you both free”.

“And unknowingly it twisted in this manner that you were about to kill your neighbors. It mustn’t be! Without knowing the actual facts you must not make any comment on anybody”

Wrong number!

Prompt: “It had taken more than six months to muster the courage for speaking out to her”.

Kavita was too simple, yet very dashing. Never in her life till now had she dressed in anything other than a salwar suite. And her simplicity was the only responsible trait that had tempted Mark to propose her. It had taken more than six months to muster the courage for speaking out to her. It was not at all easy. He had seen her many times coming out of the apartment to the road but could never gather courage even to offer a lift.

Actually, it happened that black night of December 31st, when the both of them were returning from the New Year Party. Kavita was in her deep blue suite, looking simply gorgeous and no less. Her long black hair, waving with the childish movements that she was making added to her attractiveness. The tiny little bindi over her forehead was another best thing that she had used. At least, Mark couldn’t do much except gazing at her. My eyes were literally stuck and I couldn’t help. Kavita had caught his eyes many times and he too knew about this. Everyone was busy enjoying the party while Mark was was busy with a different job. Kavita too was walking over him with her gracious eyes every now and then. He wanted to offer a lift at the end of the party and God made it possible. Kavita herself took the step and asked for a lift.

“Can you drop me?”, she asked.

“I?”, Mark couldn’t believe his ears.

“Ya you. It’s too late and getting a taxi would be a difficult job for me. Also I fear the drivers for they………”

“OK OK done”, Mark broke midway. And why wouldn’t he? That was a dream come true – a lonely drive with such a beautiful lady – and that too the one whom he liked the most. How excited he was that he didn’t finish the last beer bottle even.

“This is really a great night!”, Mark said to himse3lf.

He said goodbye to all except Kavita – she was walking with him. The car was in parking lot, four to five minutes walk from the club building. She was just getting closer and closer to him with every step and held his waist after a few twenty steps. Goosebumps could be noticed all over Mark’s hands and face. He didn’t know how to react. Nervous, he was. Feelings vanished from his senses with the nervousness creeping towards him.

“Is it real? Am I dreaming? What will happen next?” and thousands of similar questions held Mark. At last they reached the car and Mark walked away to open the doors. Getting in, he unlocked all the doors and allowed Kavita to get in. She too got in looking at him with a smile over her face.

“Oh my God, I could’ve died a thousand deaths for such a smile from that sweet lady”, Mark thought.

The car moved but stopped just outside the gate. Mark looked towards her and said silently,”Kavita, I think, I like you. Do you?”
She moved closer and rested her head over his arms. “Just drive”, she whispered with the same smile.

Then she started moving her hands gently over his head and neck and over his arms, still resting her head over his arms.
“Could you give me your number?”

Again, the same smile and she whispered, “What will you do with my number, when I myself am with you?”

“Can you stop?”

“Here?” Mark was puzzled.

The night was very cold but inside the car it was very cozy. Mark looked outside and could see nothing but just a complex building where all the shutters were down.
“Will be back in seconds”, she said and rushed away.

Mark was looking at her and smiling with some happy thoughts. Gradually, she vanished into the darkness. Mark waited there for an hour and then thought to go in search for her. Only then did he realize that he had no idea as to where had she turned and also about the shop of her destination. He was totally clueless.

“Ok, I must be having her number”, thinking his hands approached towards his pocket to pull out the purse.

Alas! It was not there. All the money, credit cards, license, and other slips and receipts were all gone. Mark understood everything and smiled at himself. Pushing his memory through the incidents, he said to himself,” it was a wrong number”, and laughed loudly.