The Nameplate

Argh!!

 

I don’t understand. What is all this? Ok, so someone has tied up my hands and feet and has gagged my mouth too. And whoever has done this, has also bound me too tightly to something. What is it? Is it a bench? I can’t figure out because I’m lying atop it and I can’t move at all. I can’t even turn my head. Oh God!

 

Ok, so I have been abducted and for certain, drugged. I can actually smell something extremely funny. Yes! I have been drugged for sure. But who has done this to me? How long have I been here?

 

I roll my eyes to one side and I can see the sun is high up, so perhaps it is mid-day. Now let me recall. The last thing I did was feed my cat, and I do that the first thing I get up, right after sun-rise. So it’s been about six hours, more or less, since that activity. But… six hours of today or six hours since yesterday… or six hours since… how many days?

 

A shudder runs up my spine. I begin to observe my surroundings. Something is amiss here. Wait a sec! Is that glass? Hell, yes it is! Hang on… I’m inside a glass chamber!!!

 

Ok, ok breathe easily. But… if I’m inside this chamber, where is the air circulating in from? No, don’t jump to conclusions yet… certainly there is some inlet, some provision for air, else how would you be breathing right now?

 

But why the hell am I in this chamber? I try to scream but not a single syllable escapes my lips. Hey! There is a boy peering at me through the glass. Sonny! Help me. I’m trapped, I’ve been abducted. Ok, I know he can’t hear me. Hell! What do I do?

 

Ok, I’m going to use telepathy. I don’t know if it works but I’m going to try anyways. ‘Kid, please help me. Get some help. Get me out of here! Please!’

 

Yes! He’s responding… but wait… why is he knocking on the glass? ‘No, boy, that’ll not help. You need to break the glass. Knocking won’t break it.’

 

“Hush Paul. What you doing?”, a lady asks the boy.

“Mom, why is she lying like that? Doesn’t she move?”

“No son. She doesn’t. Can you see that nameplate? Read what it says.”

 

Nameplate? I roll my eyes in the direction the lady is pointing towards. A gold embossed plate is perched at the end. It reads:

 

“Mummy from Egypt. Mummified approx. 1000 BC. Excavated 1972.”

 

The lady spoke again. “See baby. She has been dead for over 3000 years.”

 

… Huh???!!!

Untying the knots

Day after is my last exam… and consequently, the last day I shall be meeting the ‘gang’ of my past 4 years. Of course, there shall be opportunities in the future, to get back, but there is no saying, who will stay and who will move on. Most of us are going to be re-located, some of us to work, some to study & most, to lose contact. I was thinking about how it’s going to be once we part, once we untie the knots, and well… this is what I came up with. I know it sounds more like it’s been written for a lover… but well… I do get carried away at times. Turns out, I shall in most probability be feeling just the same way.

  

Lost in your embrace,

I can’t seem to remember

The last time I cried,

The last time I felt pain.

 

Yet, here I am

Crying my heart out,

As if nothing could be worse,

Nothing else could break me.

 

Why can’t we just stand still

Like this, forever?

Why must time

Betray us like this?

 

I can’t seem to let go,

I don’t want to…

But what choice do I have?

They’ll drag me away anyways.

 

And time they say,

Heals all.

And soon I know,

We’ll cease to exist, in this way.

 

But I’ll still cherish

Every memory, every moment.

And my love might waver,

But it won’t ever die.

Love Solutions

Another piece of fiction…

 

‘Hi honey, how about a movie today… during lunchtime?’

‘Today??’, asked a puzzled Nina.

‘Yeah, well… I was thinking… like you said last night, our marriage is losing all the fun. I know my work really irritates you, working ten hours a day like this. So I thought we could catch a movie in the afternoon, just like in our college days. What say?’, said Rex with a hint of mischief in his voice.

‘Are you sure? I mean how are you going to get out of office?’, asked Nina

‘Well, don’t you worry about it. I’ve already told my secretary that I have an appointment with the dentist’, replied Rex.

Nina laughed. ‘What if your ever-suspicious boss calls up the dentist to find out?’.

Rex thought for a moment. ‘You want me to call up at the dentists’, explain our marital problems & plead for an alibi?’

 

Nina laughed again. ‘Fine. Let’s go for it’

‘Great!’, said Rex. ‘I’ll see you in an hour at the theatre. Get one of those lounge seats, the ‘exclusively-meant for couple’ ones. And hey! Wear that white dress. You look hot in it’, said Rex with a grin.

Nina blushed. ‘Yeah, sure…bye’.

They hung up.

 

Nina walked over to the mirror and looked at herself. ‘Didn’t I say, it always helps to talk. Now you were having doubts and you spoke to Rex. And look! He’s taking you out!’. She jumped in excitement.

 

She took over half an hour to get ready. The white dress looked gorgeous on her, but she couldn’t get her hair done right. It took even longer to put on the make-up. But at the end she was a sight. ‘Maybe you won’t get back to work. Maybe I’ll be too difficult to resist’, Nina thought dreamily.

 

She walked over to the theatre and got two tickets for a movie called, “Love Solutions”. Rex had called her up to tell her that he was going to be a little late. He asked Nina to get inside, he would join her soon. ‘Honey, it’s Screen 2… seat no 2A’.

Rex promised to hurry up & be there in ten minutes, latest.

 

Nina went inside. The theatre was packed. She liked the lounge seats, complete privacy for couples. ‘I will kill you if you ditch me Rex.’ she thought to herself.

 

The movie started and was 5 minutes into screening, when she heard him.

‘Sorry honey. The seats are perfect’.

Nina turned to face Rex. He had comfortably seated himself and had his hand wrapped around her shoulder. She smiled.

‘The dress is stunning. Sleek white, will look better with a bit of red though’, said Rex.

‘Red?’. Nina was puzzled.

‘Yeah’, said Rex. He brought a hand to her cleavage. ‘See?’

Nina looked down. Something red was seeping into her dress. She felt a sharp pain in her ribs. Then she looked at Rex’s hand. He was holding a revolver.

 

Rex smiled as Nina continued to stare at him and then her eyes went blank.

Rex walked out of the screen. He turned to an attendant. ‘Excuse me, where is Screen 3?’.

‘Over there, sir’, replied the attendant.

‘Oh, I got inside the wrong Audi. Thanks man’, said Rex.

The attendant smiled to suggest that this happened all the time.

‘Enjoy your movie sir.’

 

Rex got in Screen 3. He sat down in the seat his ticket said was meant for him. The lady seated next to him, turned to face him. ‘It’s over’, he said, ‘She won’t trouble us anymore. I’m all yours now’. The lady smiled and rested her head on his shoulder.

 

‘How about this dentist check your mouth now, since you had an appointment with me?’

Rex laughed. He brought his face down and they kissed.