Love Lock

Dr.Walter closed his chambers early and searched every shop to find the perfect gift.

His wife of twenty three years needed nothing more.

But ,he was relentless, till he got what he was looking for.

He reached home,walked down to the basement & said : “My love, I’ve got the new wax for you” looking at her corpse.

Gyanban Thoughts : A 55 word micro fiction after a long time. Getting the title right was an interesting exercise.

Case, History.

"Yes, that's how it all ended Mi lord" said Vera Wallace looking at the judge's hammer.

"Madam Wallace,you do realize what you're saying is quite bizarre?"the judged asked craning his neck.

"Yes Mi lord,it is what it is"she said.

"Well,in light of this new revelation,Madam Vera Wallace is guilty as charged.Sentenced to One year in prison and fifty thousand pounds as fine.

Vera Wallace was convicted,by self admission,for money laundering at Henry Brooks Trust.

One Year later,Madam Vera Wallace received a newspaper article in her prison mailbox.It read " Case closed : Killer not found". 

Vera let out a quiet smile as she scribbled "the wait is over".

Gyanban Thoughts : A classic heist /misdirection story. This needed a twist in the end to really kick into a larger, longer story but time is a luxury that few can afford.Note the little comma in the title,that's by design.

Sleeplessness

I don’t know how I got in here. My innate curiosity would’ve brought me here. Though there were many people in the room, no one seemed bothered to get out. How strange? I saw some distorted, disfigured faces beside me. The one on my left was particularly abstract. The cranium was part open, pink and blue flesh hung loosely. The punctured jaw had glass embedded on one side. The spine poked out from the shoulder. Or was it the collarbone? I couldn’t tell. He was hurting,it, was hurting.

I could stand & keep looking but I had work to do. I had to get out of there. I started walking towards the exit, but the door was locked from outside. I screamed, but no one came, no one heard. I tried climbing up the ceiling vent. Fell down and hurt myself again. I tried breaking the window, that didn’t work either.

Tried calling Jemma, shouted, but she couldn’t hear. I promised I’d be home soon, I promised I’d finish work early,I promised I’d pick up the grocery on the way, I’d promised I’d spend time with her. She must be waiting, expecting. And here I was unable to get out of this room. Claustrophobic I was.

The retina was burning, the liquid had dried up, and the veins bursting. My eyes bled. But I kept them open. The sound was like nails on glass, screeching endlessly. Coming close to me louder, harder, faster. The odor was choking, ripe raisins, rum, peaty, wood fire, all shaken and stirred. It tasted salty, just like sweat, with a hint of blood or wine. My lips had dried, throat parched and that’s all I remember.

And then I found a tag attached to my wrist.

It read, dead on arrival.

I couldn’t sleep that night.

Gyanban Thoughts - its been a  while I ventured into the horror zone.This piece was written for Qyuki publication for a Chetan bhagat initiative called I couldnt sleep that night.The idea was to tell a story in 300 words around that phrase.I ve used all the senses of taste,sight,smell etc. to capture the mood and effect without getting too gory.The other experiment was to rearrange the paragraphs and see if a different story,narration evolved.See if you can spot it.

Wind Beneath My Wings - VI

With that he left on his journey, to win over his love. He gave up everything he owned, leaving everything behind,  and went in search for his beloved Rosalyn. It took him four days to track her down  – unlike earlier when he had all his fathers’ resources at his disposal, to track people, without having to worry one bit. That’s when he had all the privileges and powers to find information as and when he wanted.

 Doing it alone was rather difficult. But love conquers all fears and hardships alike.

He walked the busy streets of Kolkata bumping and jumping, skipping and hopping – and it felt great. He had never imagined love would make him so relaxed. So spectacular, so illogical – that even in the middle of a maddening traffic and chaos he found peace, in the middle of heat and sweat he found serenity, in the middle of hustle, bustle and jostle, he found space. And in the middle of a small cubicle in a small dingy office, he found Rosalyn tucked inside.

It didn’t take long after that to track the path to her residence. He was always on the lookout for a perfect opportunity to meet her and let her know of his feelings.

This is where I come into the picture. Why you ask ? Who am I you ask ? You ll have to wait just a little longer till the boy and girl story comes to a conclusion. Till then hold on to your wild horses.

You see ,without giving away my side of the story, I can only share one thing – that time was most critical in my job. Albeit I was unsure, it was upto me to remind the boy that he had little time left to win over his love. The date was pre-decided as February the 14^th and time was 10:10PM. Its another matter that before I could do that someone else did.

Today was February the 14^th and it was already 9:44PM.

He was already inside the train, as he spotted her from the window, rushing in to the platform.

As he turned around to expect Rosalyn enter then compartment, he saw a strange man, dressed in a pristine white suite sitting beside him. He was startled. It was a new feeling to be jolted out of the blue, and yes it was scary. A feeling which rarely or never occurred to him in the past.

The man sitting next to him seemed strangely familiar, but he just couldn’t place him – when or where did he see or meet him? Though what distracted him the most was the three piece white suite on a week night. Lets call him Mr.White for now.

 Suddenly Mr.White spoke - ‘Its time and you need to know’ he said calmly looking into his pocket clock.

He was puzzled, dumbfounded. Why would a rank stranger say that to him? He managed to gather his thoughts and regain composure.

‘What do you mean?’ he blurted.

‘Look you don’t know me, but I do know you, and you have to believe every word I say, in the interest of time’ – suddenly there was a sense of urgency in his voice.

‘Do you know what time is it?’ he asked.

He looked at his wrist watch and it read 9:46PM.

‘You have precisely 24 minutes to let Rosalyn know you love her and get her out of the train before 10:10PM.’ Mr.White said hurriedly.

‘W-what do you mean?’ He wondered why time was relevant?  Well the obvious was that the train reached Kalighat station at 10:10 PM.She would alight and he would have follow her till he found a right moment, perhaps at “Gazebo” the katti roll shop – so it was fairly covered – or was he missing the point somewhere?

‘Look I cannot share much but this is your chance – I know how much you love her – so don’t waste any more time to think – just do it.’

The boy was petrified now. His heart was pounding harder than a blacksmith hammering his horseshoe. His head was spinning and the world around him was going in circles.

Before he could ask another logical question, Mr.White– the stranger was gone.

That’s when he decided to walk up to Rosalyn.

The sliding doors opened and she hopped on to the train. She held on to the handlebars & moved back towards the last compartment as the train moved forward. Rosalyn took a moment to gather herself, her bag and sat down comfortably.

It was 9:48PM. 22 minutes to go.

The boy snapped out of his stupor and came back to the present – when she interrupted loudly.

‘Excuse me mister – please leave me alone else I would need to call the police.

‘Sorry b-but please don’t misunderstand me, I just need a few moments to explain’.

‘I am sorry but I am not interested to listen anything from a rank stranger’ she protested.

He looked at the watch again – 9.50PM.Mr.White’s words were ringing his head.

There had to be some way he could get Rosalyn to believe him. She looked annoyed and he looked helpless. He stammered, stuttered and mumbled before finding clarity in his voice.

‘I’ve come a long way to meet you Rosalyn – I have given up everything I ever had, or ever wanted to have. I have left behind my family, my friends, my job, everything – just so that I could spend my life with you.’

‘What are you saying –I am not sure I understand’ she said in a relatively concerned tonality.

‘Ever since I saw you at Gerald’s funeral, I ve been watching over you, taking care of you every now and then. Trying to protect you wherever possible.’

‘What – you’ve been stalking me?’ she interrupted.

He could’ve protested, but stopped.

‘Listen, you’ve got to believe me, I don’t think we have much time – lets get off the train in the next stop and I will explain everything.’

‘What? Are you crazy – that’s not where I get down’ the anxiety was back in her tonality.

‘But we have very little time.’ I insisted.

‘Ok now hold on a second mister…’ she paused.

‘Who – are you?’ she implored sternly.

‘I – my name is Gabriel Osborn Daniel’ he said politely.

Rosalyn’s look softened a bit, not because she liked the name, but the fact that  she was a bit confused, yet he could sense something inside her was connecting to what he’d said.

Gyanban Thoughts -   Part VII tells you why Gerald is desparate to takr Rosalyn with her.

Read part I

Read part II

Read part III

Read Part IV

Read part V

Wind Beneath My Wings - III

Read part - 1 here
Read part  - II  here.


It was exactly four years ago that Gerald her fiance, had broken her heart. He had drunk one too many, and met with a fatal accident in spite of her repeated pleas to not drive rashly. The strong breeze and helmet muffled the pillion riders voice from behind as Gerald sped on his Yezdi motorcycle completely ignoring of the oncoming car on his right. She had miraculously escaped death herself, but Gerald couldn’t make it.

 At his funeral, she stood still, emotionless, without a tear. Being the sensitive and an intense type of a girl, she had got into depression over the next few months. She didn’t eat ,sleep or do anything. The scene haunted her over and over again. But life had other roads planned for her.

Their difficult financial situation played a perfect conduit for her to get back to normalcy. There was no choice but to work ,to keep her family running. That’s how she took up a lowly paid ,but secure job, in a computer-training institute as an executive assistant to the MD of the company. Not that she had multiple job offers, just that she had to get out of her depression and move on in life.

So, that day, Rosalyn reached office quite late – late by almost an hour. Which meant, her exit from office would get delayed as well. Mr. Boss quietly gave her a stern look, careful not to  overdo it, yet get the message across. His expectations from her had grown over the years and he often cited her example to the other late comers at work. Today was not to be that day.

Rosalyn sulked and slumped into her chair feeling miserable.Realising that she felt miserable, her colleague sitting close by, sent a funny chat message to her …

‘Its better to be Miss Late, than Late Miss…,so chill.’

It was the first time since today morning that she smiled.

Her perfect set of teeth, their impeccable setting, smooth texture, the faint stain of lipstick and a breath of fresh air from her mouth greeted the first customer with a warm and charming energy.

She wore a black top under a grey suit, quite unlike the flower her name closely resembled. The hint of fashion came in the form of a pair of pearl earrings. She did look breath-taking.

Which is what caught my imagination and attention that day because it was a similar combination dress she was wearing four years ago.

As the slant morning sun reached the middle of the sky, things began to pile up, and suddenly she had more work on her table than usual. So much that she missed her evening cup of tea as well. As the busy late afternoon rolled into a loaded late evening, her work seemed to have a never-ending tag to it.

She glanced at the watch and it read 9:30PM –and the last train from Park Street to Kalighat station left at 9.45PM.  She had no choice but to rush, leaving her computer on a standby mode instead of waiting for it to shut down. Rosalyn dashed out of her office to catch the last train in time.

The metro station was not crowded that night. Rosalyn Gonsalves briskly walked into the station just in time and glided past the ticketing machine swiping the, now renewed ,monthly pass.

The train was entering platform number one, sharp at 9:44pm.The sliding doors opened and she hopped on to the train. She would need to alight from the last compartment, since it was the closest to the escalators at the Kalighat station, which would bring her to an exit closest to her home.

She held on to the handlebars & moved back three compartments through the interconnected tube, as the train picked up speed to move forward. She found a seat easily as the last compartment was rather empty as compared to the morning rush hour jam. Rosalyn took a moment to gather herself, her bag and sat down comfortably.

The train left the Park Street station and plunged into the dark tunnel with the occasional tube light rebelling against the darkness. A cold breeze gushed through the compartment and Rosalyn’s face turned sideways to let the breeze caress her hair.

That was also the first time their eyes met actually.

He looked at her beautiful doe shaped eyes and realized that his four year long wait was finally about to get over. Today was the day he would declare his love for her. After all it was the day for love  - February the 14^th and what better way to celebrate Valentines day than to propose a life together to someone he had so intensely loved for the last four years !

However as the popular saying goes, man proposes and God disposes! 











Gyanban Thoughts - In part IV get to know Gerald.