The Message

It had stopped raining but the sky was still studded with dark clouds. Anita opened the door of the apartment & started walking towards the lift, but her mind wasn’t synchronized with her footsteps which had different plans….unknowingly she divulged that she was on the stairs, going down.

She couldn’t understand the mystery behind her action. She tried to seek the answer from the dripping sweat through her face but in vain!!! She wanted to sit down & weep bitterly. She climbed down 3 floors in the same no mind state, trying to remember the reason why she had to get out the apartment which belonged to her… she stopped battling out with her baffled thoughts, took a deep breath as she had been advised by her mom who practiced yoga ardently & retreated back to her apartment.

She closed the door once she got in & it  gave a chill in her chest.

***

Sam was having his favourite dish idli sambar at Anita’s apartment on Sunday morning. Sam just loved the way she made it, although Anita kept claiming she doesn’t make it as good as he thought. It was 10am & that was her normal weekend time to get up. This was the day when she wasn’t behaving as if her ass was set on fire & the extinguisher was in the office, so she had to run, run & run to get her 8.21 CST fast local train.

Sam was her best buddy, the one on whom she could always rely blindly. He had been with her in tough times both in her life, & at work. They both worked in an AD agency. She was the creative head & he was the marketing head.

Off late there had been tensions going on in the office with her new boss who seemed to make approach towards her for some sexual favours. When she denied, he started torturing & tormenting her by rejecting all her proposed ideas regarding any project. Many a times he used to abuse her because of any silly reason & Anita kept her head cool by least bothering about it.

Having a sip of fresh orange juice Sam exclaimed, “would you please get that thing out of your mind!? I know its haunting u down but who the hell cares about him..?!! “

That word put up a smile on her face but inside it was eroding her because when her boss spoke to her for the last time he threatened to show her path out of the office, for which she politely replied, “As you wish sir”. The polite looking face from outside had a volcano waiting for eruption.

At 11.00 Sam left her apartment to have some of her bills paid & while he left Anita was pretty  ignorant to pay attention to his bid.

She went to the bedroom & found little Anish zooming sanely in his dreamland with his G.I.JOE toy. Now this scene put up a smile on her face as well as in her heart. The cute innocent smile on his face made her forget all her worries which stuck to her all through the day. He was the only one for whom she was breathing. His was the symbol of her chanda didis & rohan jijus impeccable love, who were unfortunately shot dead in CST STATION in the deadly 26/11 Mumbai attack by lunatic terrorists. He was then 8 years old & his responsibilities fell on Anita. From then she had decided that she will give her best & fight from tooth to nail to get Anish the love which he was deprived from his parents.

The Sunday went pretty much dry except the fact that Anita had a good time with her nephew, in the evening at 6pm they went to garden & then to have chat. While coming back he insisted to visit Sam uncle’s place for sometime but since it was 8.30pm & he was tired she reluctantly said no.

She kissed his forehead & winked at him saying him good night. He kissed back his loving aunt & went back into his dreamland.

It was still 9.45pm & she thought it was pretty much early to goto bed.

She came out of the room & suddenly felt the beautiful aura of her niece being infiltrated by tomorrow’s thought. She closed her eyes & pictured Sam standing next to her as he has been till now at each & every instance. She tried calling him but it was out of coverage area. Bloody networks!! She pretty much yelled at the cell with low intensity.

She switched on the TV & started surfing the channels until she was made to stop on a news channel featuring some weird news…it said, “ ek dardnaak khabar ayi hai. REFRAME INDIA ad ajency ke Mangaing director ke hatya hui hai. Aj raat ko 8 baje jab wo gadi park karke nikle tab mana jaata hai ek muh Dhaka hue admi ne unpar chaku se hamla kiya…..”

And Anita didn’t listen to next lines. She was stunned, actually very happy!!! But unaware of how to react!! The cell phone beeped with a text message, she checked out the sender’s name. it showed

From

Sam,

I hope ur happy nw dear. I killed that son of a bitch.

He ain’t der nymore to disturb u.

Pls accept me atleast nw… I luv u.

This was really worst text she could ever read. The doorbell rang, she streamed with all pace she had expecting it to be Sam. She could feel the fear running helter skelter  through her. She remembered the day when he proposed her & she refused stating she wanted to bestow undivided love on Anish. Before she had a firm glace, the police inspector greeted her by telling, “ Sam committed suicide by falling off from his balcony, we are sorry “. She checked the text once again only to find out the timing of the message & it said 8.30pm….