CROSSFIELD TRILOGY : Volume No. 01

Chp. 03: Enter! The Bombay Exorcism Company

(Author's note: I know the chapters are getting a bit late but I have adopted the one chapter a week routine. If that somehow hampers our rankings then I'll probably go with the model of a new chapter after every 5 days)

"Yeah, I can do it. I hope the amount this time is at least balanced?" Assem said into his Iphone. Cars honked below on the busy Bombay street. Traffic jams such as the one happening below were quite usual during office rush hour traffic. However, the noise didnt reach the black haired teen as he was currently standing in his 20th floor apartment balcony. "Dont worry, you have my word. Haven't i done it for it the past 2 years? Just make sure that i get my 117k transferred in the account. That will be all, good night." Assem cut the call and took a deep breath of the cold evening air. Sighing, he looked down at the traffic jam. The street was lined up with stalls selling vegetables, fruits or some kind of street food which took almost half of the space provided to the footpath and stretched even further on the street.Cars and motorists had to drive on the already narrow road,sometimes even a double decker bus passed through and other vehicles had to wait silently at the side of the street. Assem gazed at a pair of tiny lights, moving past cars and vans through the narrow path between them. Bikers. No matter the limited space, bikers always found a way for themselves, rushing past the traffic which came to a standstill. 'Indian bikers are a completely different breed.'
Assem thought to himself . He brought his gaze up to the night sky. Plain and cloudless. It was dull. He suddenly felt funny at the pit of his stomach. His life had been just as dull at the sky above him. However, this feeling wasn't new, he had been experiencing this from the last 3 months now. Sure, he did enjoy his exorcism jobs, fighting with wild spirits and ghouls and the one time, he had to rescue a baby werewolf, right from the centre of the city. Most importantly,he made money. Huge chunks of it. Infact now that he thought about it, he probably made more money than most 13 year old had ever seen in their life. There was no problem with his axes either. He felt like their special bonding was just the way it was 2 years ago. However, the satisfaction wasn't the same for him as it was earlier. When Assem had just entered into the paranormal field in Bombay, he constantly feared for his family and friends. But now, after the divorce was signed, his dad would most probably shift to Los Angeles and he would end up with his mother who ran a Hotel in Goa.

Maybe he had adopted this style of living so much that this had become the new normal for him. He even used to follow a routine nowadays. Assem would get to the required location for performing the exorcism. He would take the blessing of a God if there was a temple, church or a mosque nearby. Religion didn't matter as long as the place of worship was open. He would then proceed with his job completing one or two exorcisms (3 at the most),make sure that the amount reached the account and then return home.
He had decided on being an exorcist in the future too mainly because of seeing his dad, who worked in a multinationl corporation. Assem's dad Suraj, had been promoted to the post of Chief Operations Officer about a year ago and had thus began a stressful lifestyle. He would leave for office at 7 in the morning and return by 8 in the evening only to join in another 2 hour long call session with the corporation's heads world wide. Not only that, he also had to visit Los Angeles thrice a year as the city was the corporation's headquarters.
Compared to the the stressful job of his father, Assem's looked pretty obvious to choose. Afterall, who wouldn't want good pay, the thrill of running into a new adventure every time the phone rang and the aura of being an exorcist, one that could bend even the paranormal to his wishes.
You could say that apart from Assem being an exorcist, his life was pretty much dull and that would even be true if it wasn't for Shelly. Shelly was a stray labrador which he had rescued when she was about 2 weeks old from the corner of their street. Some thugs were trying to have fun by throwing stones at her when Assem and his dad were returning home from a party. They had taken her to the vet and had initially kept her up for adoption but after no responses came in, they decided to make her a part of their family. Assem could be called extremely lazy in terms of his studies but he was pretty serious when it came to Shelly. She had afterall, saved him once.....
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