Sunday, April 24, 2022রবিবার ১১ই বৈশাখ ১৪২৯ বঙ্গাব্দ
I am glad you called! I am so glad you called, Kartik! I was sitting by the telephone all day for your call. So, now that you called, what would you like me to do? More importantly, how do you want me to do it?
What? Do you want me to back down and abandon the plan? No way! I am sick and tired of her, and surely I will get rid of her. My mind is set, Kartik!
What? You now want me to think about the greater good? Oh, Please! Don't play Dumbledore with me! It is YOU who gave me this idea, and now you are getting all noble and crap! Look, I will do it whether I like it or not. It is relatively simple. She is in that grim old hospital anyways, all that I have to do is mess with some of the tubes, and that's it. I don't think anyone will notice.
Look, Kartik, I will hang up now, and I am going to get over there and just get it done tonight. The ward is usually dark this time of the night, and since they have fired most of the guards and staff anyways, there is no problem getting it. I don't think anyone will notice me. I am hanging up now, Kartik. Please don't try and talk me out of it now.
Hell, I won't be taking my phone with me, and without the phone, you can't call me! Ha Ha Ha!
He pulls out his car from his driveway. It's raining tonight. 1:30AM, just about a 20 min drive to that age-old hospital. Rain is actually better, he thought. Almost no one but a few stray dogs was on the road by the hospital. Park, a short walk in the rain, and slip by that side door he marked many times. Stairs. Five flights of stairs. He remembered the steps and climbed them exactly as many times in the last 2 years. As he climbed, he thought it was actually better for her, and he will be doing her a favour.
Here is that long hallway, almost to the vanishing point. Doors on either side. There are fluorescent lights at the top, but due to lack of funding, most are broken and never replaced. Her room is at the far end of this long hallway. He looks at the floor. It's surgically clean and reflecting. Some old cleaning crew must like their job, he thought! He smirks, cleaning the floor like Michelangelo's painting (he vaguely remembers that "What's your life's blueprint" speech by MLK)! He wonders for a second about what happened to his own life's blueprint and how did he arrive here?! Never mind, he thought, time to get it done. As he walked he saw something strange upfront. Is that someone pushing a wheelchair?! Is there someone sitting in the wheelchair? Who? A nurse? Why can't he see her face? Wait …. What?? But how's that possible!! That is the back of her head!!! What!!
Next day…The early morning cleaning crew found the dead body in this old hospital's hallway. He immediately raised the alarm! It's not even dawn yet! Few nurses and support staff came in immediately. They can't see any obvious sign of damage on the body, and just the face is contorted with mortal fear!
As police came, a young police officer, Zayed Sakib, carefully pulled out the dead man's wallet. Huh! The dude's name is Kartik Srinivasan! Why does this name sound familiar to me, he wondered….
"I'm so glad you’ve called,"
I tell her as I watch her put makeup in her room. With her long hair hanging loose, she holds the phone on her ear with one hand, as the other skims through countless products laid over her table.
Her laugh rings through the line, and I see the blush and content spread through her cheeks when she talks to me.
"What are you saying!?" she says, sounding exasperated, "of course I'll call. We are meeting in an hour, after all." she pauses, "you are coming, right?"
"Of course I am. Wouldn’t miss it for the world!" I reply smoothly, lighting up a cigarette as I keep my eye on the telescope, watching her every move. The genuine tone of my voice holds true. I did spend over two months, observing and learning every little bit I could find about her. She was the perfect little girl, just as I like them. It was two months of positioning myself in the right place at the right time that got me here. I really wouldn’t miss it for the world.
"Great!" the pleasing tone of her voice cuts me out of my reverie. She looks marvellous in the black dress she wears. It shows just the right amount of her curves, giving enough attention to the places that need them.
She looks utterly devourable. I find myself salivating at the thought.
"I will pick you up around nine," I say, "that will do, yes? If you need more time, I can—"
"Ohh, please!" she cuts me off before I can finish, " Nine sounds perfect. I'm almost done getting ready anyway." I watch her say as she rummages through her lipsticks.
"Wait!" I say when I see her settling on a dark burgundy shade she has picked up. That just wouldn’t do.
Hearing my voice, she stops her movements.
"Yeah?" she asks, confusion taking over her face.
"Umm..well, I have this, uh, request," I say, trying my best to sound sheepish. "No. forget it. You'll find me creepy."
Hearing my words, she laughs. "Ohh, hush you! You are a sweetheart, never creepy. Now shoot! What is it?" she says, turning around to fetch a brush from her drawer.
A sweetheart, I chuckle internally.
"Well, the first day we met, I uhh,—" fumbling with my words internationally, I pour in as much as hesitation I can muster, "Oh, please don’t find me weird!"
"Just tell me! Gosh!" she giggles at my expense.
"The first day we met, I saw you wearing some sort of red lipstick. I just, I want— uggh, I'm being creepy, aren’t I? I really am I —"
Her laughter rings out, covering my rambles.
"Ohh my god! You're so adorable!" she says in between, "of course, I'll wear that red lipstick for you." she smiles, her eyes moving over her table once again, no doubt in search of the thing.
"You don't find this weird?" I ask, observing her reaction.
"Yes, I do. Weirdly adorable!" she giggles, her hand finally picking out what she was looking for. "Now hang on, let me put it on," she says, focusing on the mirror as she slowly begins to apply it to her lips.
It's the exact shade I wanted her to wear.
With a self-satisfied smile, I watch her. That stain of red on her lips. I'll make good use of that tonight. A two-month-long pursuit, I will savour every single moment.
And after I do, her lips will go fine with all the other collections of stained red lips I have, stored neatly in my refrigerator, according to their shades.
I'm glad you called...
I didn't hear anything after what he said. Did he say anything!? I didn't hear. The throbbing pain in my left temple and that damned annoying ringing have left me deaf momentarily. I couldn't think of anything - anything other than the bloody knife in my hand with no recollection of how I got there. As I stare at my hand that loosely held the blood-coated knife, with all the helplessness, confusion, and rage that I could muster, I tell him -
Me: What The Hell Did You Drag Me Into?!
Him: (he chuckles) So riled up. Why don't you take a deep breath and calm yourself down so we can have a proper chat, hmm?
I grit my teeth, aware that I am scared out of my wits, but I'm just as angry. Whatever shit I am in, he has a hand in it. No, I'm sure he has put me in this shit. If he wasn't on the other end of the line, I would strangle him and feel his life leave him, with my bare hands.
Me: Bastard
Him: Calling me names isn't going to put you out of the shitstorm, you know? Agree to my terms; that's in your best interest now.
Me: NEVER. (I yelled)
Him: Have it your way then! Oh, and by the way, the police are on their way.
Me: What! Why!
Me: Hello?
After not hearing any response, I look at the phone. The bastard had cut the call. Raw emotions started to grip the very existence of mine, so I did the one thing that could save me from all. Let Him take over.
The transaction felt sudden, as if I was never there to witness the horror, the pain… the betrayal. The laughter slowly started to take over the vocal cord as if it had never witnessed the dried-up pleading scream. The shaky hands began to gain more control over the emotions until there was nothing but a simple amusement to be felt.
Looking back, he took in the display the bastard left behind for me to witness. The blood was still dripping like a dried-up fountain. As he took a few steps closer to the source, a low groan escaped from the unfortunate body. Head hung loosely to the side, hands twisted to the back, a dirty cloth used to tie up the sound of her voice. A smile couldn’t help but escape the dried lips of his.
He: (kneeling) Look what he has done to you, little bird.
She only stared back in a terrified manner, which did nothing but fuel his desire. Leaning his mouth close, he sweetly whispered,
He: (smirking) But I will do much, much worse. (Low siren of police vehicle) But before that, you and I will take a short road trip.
Like every day, he went out for a walk early in the morning. The sun had not yet risen, only the morning glow had begun to shine. As there was a lot of greenery on both sides of the road, the light could not penetrate through it; so the freeway was still quite dark and a creepy atmosphere prevailed around. As he stepped, noticed that two figures were coming right behind him. It took him quite some time to recoup the courage needed to look back. By then the two figures had stridden around him in parallel. But the scare is that although they looked like two human beings, they were walking on all fours and those had no shadows. By then he had noticed one more thing that another gesture was walking behind him silently and he could hear his breathing evidently. If it continued like this for a while, he might have fainted, but suddenly he felt as if someone was calling him from behind. When he looked back, he found one of his close friends. Then only one word come out of his mouth.
I’m Glad You Called….
I was giving attention to this story from his wife when his defunct body was wrapped in white cloth and left in the yard. However, this death did not happen that day rather it was a normal cessation. But his wife's impression is that there is a evil character behind this death. It is her firm presumption that an evil force entered him that day and this is the consequence.
I know the man who saw him from behind. I went to him and raised a question if he had observed anything distinctive that day. He replied that he had not observed anything unusual, but he found his friend was waving something in the air although there was nothing.
Even a little while ago, the sun was shining; suddenly, there was darkness all around and the atmosphere was such that a strong storm would blow away everything. Although in reality there was no storm, but in this calm environment two trees were uprooted from the yard and fell just beside the dead body. This kind of unusual incident made a buzz around. The deceased man's wife unexpectedly said that the evil soul had just left her husband’s body after running everything. Although it was unbeknownst to me, there might be something supernatural in the world that has no explanation.
"I am glad you called."
"Hey, anything wrong? Why do I feel like you are stressed?" asked Jenny.
"Don't hang up, please. Stay with me. Don't.."
"What happened? Calm down, tell me what's wrong."
"Shhhh! Something is inside my house, something terrible, tearing down everything on its way. Please save me, please…....."
"What do you mean by something? Call the police or run out of the house. I am coming; stay on the line."
And the phone got disconnected with a scream.
Jenny rushed to Sherry's place; it was about 20 minutes away from her home. She called her multiple times on her way over, but she was unreachable. So the only thing she could do was call the police on her way. Everything was neat and clean when they reached Sherry's place; nothing was moved even an inch from their places, let alone any signs of destruction, as she mentioned over the phone. But there was no sign of her. She just wasn't there. They searched every nook and canny to find her and thought of every possible way to locate her. But no trace of her had been found. Time passed, and soon, it was already a month since Sherry had gone missing.
One night I was late to return home, and when I entered, I saw my TV on.
It was broadcasting an ugly drama that I hated, but only one person I knew loved it, and that was Sherry.
"Sherry, are you here?" cautiously, I asked. With small steps, I pushed myself further. It was when I entered my kitchen that my blood ran cold.
I saw none other than Sherry in a dirt-stained dress and unruly hair in the dimly lit room, tearing everything apart bit by bit.
wait!
No!
That was not her; No!
It's something that looked like her.
With fear taking over every inch of my body, I was left paralyzed. Until I heard my phone ringing, making me conscious of my surroundings.
It was her fiancé on the phone, and Sherry could just utter, "I am glad you called."
