Quaint Days

Frail Strength

I was scared. Seeing Prakash dying and knowing that I could be the next was just pissing me off. I wanted to do something, something which will keep myself alive and yes, I also wanted to think about the last statement which he said. Those final words of his were echoing in my brain like someone was hammering a nail inside my head- 'your mom is alive', 'alive', 'alive'. I couldn't get past over that thought of my mom being alive. I knew I was next to being killed. Why would Sharman leave me this time since I saw him killing a man? No, he won't! But if my mom had the slightest chance of being alive, I wouldn't die, not today! Not TODAY!

"Hey, Samar, are you alright?" Sharman spoke quite frankly like nothing ever happened.

"Not today!" I spoke

"What 'not today'?"

"Not today!!" I screamed in defence since I had no weapon for it, and I stood up and pushed Sharman away. I turned my back towards him and ran away from that spot. I was running heavily. My mind wasn't working properly. It has never been. I was never of those criminal-minded people or something. I was a normal teenager. I never intended to get into all of this, but for me, fate is the second name of bad luck, it seems!

I was still running, looking back a few times. I couldn't see Sharman. I thought he was disposing the body. And then I hit something, something made of flesh! Wait, what? Oh, man! It was a human, a heavily built human. I fell down due to the recoil. As I looked up, I saw three men. Three men in black suits looking at me as if I stole their last slice of pizza or something. I looked at them carefully, only to notice that the first person, and the person adjacent, and the third one, all of them were the same men earlier today during the encounter of Sharman. But they were dead in the morning. I saw them lying down dead. I saw Sharman lying​ down dead. But was all of it a hoax? I saw it with my own eyes. But how?

I heard some footsteps approaching me. I looked behind to find Sharman coming towards us. He was smiling. Indeed, why wouldn't he be?

"Why? Why did you do this to me? WHY?" I questioned.

"What did I do, sweetheart?" Sherman replied.

I said sobbingly, "Why did you lie to me all along? Why did you fucking lie?"

"That's my only fault, lying! But if I wouldn't have, you would have thought that I am evil."

"That you are!" I said interrupting him.

"No, no, I ain't! I am a bad person but not evil. I don't like evil either. See, that's why I killed that douchebag down there! He tried to kill me! Hahaha! Fucking fatso!" He said laughingly in his own mirth.

"Tried to? So how did you not die? I saw you die with my own eyes. How could you possibly evade these men? And why are they here right now?" I asked.

"Oh, these men! These men are loyal to me! Aren't you?"

"Yes, sir!" All his bodyguards spoke in unison.

"See? Actually, 'the green' bewitches everybody. They are mere pawns. And when you're the king, you should know how to use your pawns wisely. It's really simple, you know, how it works. Rats are thrown to the place where they belong- garbage pits. So was this Prakash guy! But I had little fun with him though. You remember the incident this morning, right? It was pre-planned and I am thus standing here, right here in front of you. It's wise to be careful, always, because dying is boring! You can die only once, nay? I believe in making it count!"

"Are you done yet?" I stood up, "Just finish with your 'Art of war' and tell me how did you not die?"

"Have this," he said, throwing something at me, "This is how!"