The alarm is ringing again. It is the cell phone alarm. As I turn it off, I notice that I have 1 voice mail and 17 missed calls. "All from him". I listen to the voice mail, it is very brief. It says, "Come quick, it is time". I look at the last time of the call, it was 25 minutes back. "Why does he have to leave the phone in silent mode? So what if he works at a library".
---
I am jogging on the road, listening to a song when he rushes past me. He is wearing a suit, and is sweating like a pig. He goes a few steps ahead of me and turns back and looks at me for a second. His face is vaguely familiar to me but I am not able to recall him. He is still sprinting when it strikes me where I must have seen him.
---
I know I have to clean the mess before anyone finds out. But I also have to copy the CD before he comes back. I increase my pace, all the while thinking why I chose not to live any closer to the college. I subconsciously start checking to see if I have the three important things with me. My wallet... it is there, my house key... it is there, the cell phone... the cell phone... the cell phone is not there. I start panicking as I know where I dropped it.
---
I knock on the door, this time a little harder. "What is going on? Why is it taking so long?". I decide to check the back entrance. I try to go around the house, but there is a fence blocking my way. I check to see if no one is looking and jump the fence. I land on something slippery, cannot hold my feet and fall hard on the floor. "THUD". I pick myself up, my clothes are ruined - Shit- and I have scratched my right elbow pretty bad. I try walking towards the bench and it feels like my left knee is on fire. I try to sit down on the ground, and just as I bend down, something whizzes past my head.
---
The damn CD is stuck. "Why wouldn't it come out?". I look at my wallpaper - a picture of Garfield smiling with Murphy's law written in the bottom. I restart my computer and this time it takes a longer time to boot up. My hands are shaking while I type and I have to enter the password twice before I am able to login. "Now, if only the CD would read. Or eject". The computer hangs again and this time, I have lost it. I press the "Eject" button on the CD drive pretty hard. I can see the drive trying to read the CD while I press the button again. That is when I hear that sound again, this time, a bit louder.
---
"Today is going to be one of those days, yet again", "Why did the coffee have to spill all over the carpet? Especially when I spent half the day yesterday to clean it", "Now this would take another hour or so to clean". I go to the bathroom and wash my hands. "I must not sit at home all day playing the stupid game", I mutter to myself. "Remember what he said?", "Forget Second Life and start playing the real game". I hear the beep. It must have finished downloading the songs. I wonder where my socks are.
---
What did he drop on the ground? I pick it up and I know what it is. "What was he thinking?" Now I look around to see if anyone else is watching. "Nope". Just as I put it in my jacket, I realize that I must have left my keys in the house. "I hope he went home", I think to myself.
---
"What am I going to do?, It wasn't my idea in the first place. But what will I tell him? I hope he doesn't realize it". Then, I cry out loud, "If only this damn thing will load faster".
---
And then, I wake up.
(See comments for the conclusion)
4 comments:
Epilogue:
"It almost hit me on the head", I shout back. I pick up the key, and go inside the house. I am still limping. He is trying hard to look away from me. I tell him, "I figured it all out, I saw you drop my cell phone when you were busy running past me."
He is silent for a minute. "I knew that you would have figured it out. And I am very sorry", he replies, "I shouldn't have taken your cell phone without telling you. I noticed that you left your keys behind and I thought I will be back before you finish your jogging".
"Didn't I tell you not to play this game? You think you can install it when I am not home and I will never know?", I yell at him partly because I am angry at him and partly because my knee is burning. "And what the hell is this mess on the carpet?"
"I am sorry, I spilled some coffee. I was in a hurry to go to his place."
"Like hell. By the way, did you think I will not recognize you in that Batman suit? I have seen the pictures of your Halloween party, remember? And what is it with your friend? Why did he call my cell phone 17 times this morning?"
"I had asked him to wake me up at 8. I thought you would have left by then, and so, I can go to his place to get the CD before you come back. It was his idea, the suit, since we both knew that I might bump into you on the way back. I was hoping you wouldn't remember about the suit since you weren't here that time. But look, I am sorry for what I did. I haven't installed the game yet and I am going to return the CD back. Please don't get mad at me."
I tell him, "Well, as long as you have realized your mistakes, I forgive you. Anyways, what are brothers for? But remember that is just another kind of addiction, just like coffee and cigarettes. I don't want you to mess the computer with your stupid games. Now come and help me dress these wounds, we have do something about the mud behind that damn fence."
THE END.
That was very well written, but I wished it was more interesting than coffee stains and buring CDS :P
But a good attempt at non-linear narration neverthess. Why dont you try writing a story next time.
@Dilip:
Non linear narrations are a big mess. My initial plan was to have 1 character who has a dream, he is in his own dream and at one point, his dream and reality mix together. Something like he sees this person while jogging who was actually in his dream. And that was too confusing to span out.
So, I changed it to a story of two identical twins. Initially, it was a simple non-linear narration. But I made it more complicated by changing it to be a "First person" narration from two different characters.
The epilogue I think is a bit lame since it spells everything out. But I think each sequence by itself has some suspense (the epilogue kills it though) and the last sequence makes it look like everything was a dream.
wow! that was a good read! :)
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