The Black Hole by Vaishnavi Rane
" who ..is she a comic character . " asked Sam .
" would you please put your nerd aside either or just shut this shit up "
" ohh . sorry Ankit! But i meant it . "
" She's a real human bro..and i have been stalking her . Don't know , why the hell ! "
" on social media ? "
" from window ..a real window..She's my new neighbor. They are there on rent . No idea for how long they are going to be there "
" stalking from window .. This really makes sense " Sam burst out in laughter.
" ..but , why am i telling you .. This is of no use . Anyways do you like horror "
"A little bit..but i love adventure , aren't they quite related."
" Ohh ..Is there any interesting place ,we can go ..like backyard or forest nearby..for some real adventure."
" interesting place ..umm .."
" yup, i got it. Down to the stairs, we can go to storeroom but that's been locked and since mom has the keys , we will have to get them somehow."
" ohh..come on Sam , I bet you are afraid. Don't make excuses bro , you gotta prove your guts..wooooo ..wooooohooo, we might find a friendly ghost over there. "
" We might but..we might find only rubbish over there . That's a storeroom , what else can you expect "
" A witch , an ouiza board or a skeletal. "
" Would you please shut this nonsense "
" come on Sam , go get the key "
" get the key ?.." Sam paused for a second and then said " okk" " mom might be sleeping now , lemme go "
Then Sam moved out working it out like a thief , very careful and silent , he came before his mom's bedroom. His short silky dark hair waved a slight motion as a tender wind passed by . The window at the end of the corridor was wide open and the fountain spilling water all around in the garden could be seen. Something was surely wrong with those old rusted sprinklers. Sam then opened the door with utmost care. Without breaking the silence he walked slowly and technically towards the almirah . His slippers sank smoothly to the ground as he moved. Once or twice the street light flickered and flashed into the room as curtains waved with the blowing wind . The drift was there outside in the air . The sky was cloudy . All this signified rain. Sam swiftly opened the almirah, took the key , shut it back and came out. Then the two, super excited went for the adventure with adrenaline rushing on. They went downstairs silently manoeuvering their footsteps. Once or twice , Ankit got frights by Sam's breathing.
At the time they reached the storeroom, they got anxious whether the key would work or not. Ankit took out a matchbox to kindle the oil lamp. Sam took out a candle and Ankit lightened it up. The flame kept flickering . Wind was certainly piercing in from some broken corner. Sam then worked the key into the lock and after twisting twice , the lock opened up . A rusted old lock. Then they entered the storeroom as if they were stepping on another planet.
" wohoo..its great, amazing " Sam jumped with joy.
The place was an old mimic of a haunted house , yet more dirty , dusty with spider webs hanging from here to terminating nowhere. Sam wiped a few in his head's front and they flopped forward curiously. Many old fashioned machines, instruments , dusty posters , charts , telescope, files and a gray sheet of some synthetic fabric covered the rest of the things. A thick layer of dust wrapped it all . Ankit took the candle to his rescue and got terrified at the sight of some spherical object hanging from the roof. While Ankit was busy adjusting with that not so familiar atmosphere , Sam was busy analyzing everything. After a few minutes , Sam opened up a cupboard and got a wooden box from there , this was the only thing in that huge cupboard. An envelope was lying below the box. He took off both .
"Sam, come on, lets go , i can't stay here anymore. It's horrible. "
" okk..let's go" and they went back. Ankit quite tired dozed off and soon fell asleep , while Sam was still lost in his analysis whether that was his dad's laboratory or just a dusty storeroom.
Chapter 10
At the time when Ankit was sleeping, millions of thoughts whirled in Sam's mind like the tides in an ocean. He took the envelope he got. The box had a keyhole but Sam didn't know where the key was. He moved to the corner of the room and sat on a chair near the window grills. Then he carefully focussed his torch on the envelope and he dusted off the dirt. His heart beating fast , he opened the envelope. A paper in blue with pink embroidery on the sides , alphabets in red sparkles and the letter goes as -
""
Dear Lee,
How to begin. I am not sort of Shakespearean buzz , none of a writer or an artist in me , but i will still write for you. Embracing the emotions on paper is hard but i am sure that nobody else can get mine better than you.
It was six months back when i saw you for the first time. A 'teacher's union' ..you know. You were there. You didn't even notice me but i did. Your simplicity and optimism drew me to you and now that i am married , i don't have option ..and now that you have married , you don't have option ..and as for now we both are married , we both don't have any option but to love each other. Yes, i know i play bad with words , but for you i will. I feel blessed to have you ..to have you as my life partner , thanks for marrying me.
I am sorry, that i left for the project last week. My research is a long term deal , i am struck. I want to be there with you, but i can't . I am trapped. I will be back soon. I promise , i will be there by next weekend.
Love you ! See you soon , take care of your health.
Yours and only yours
Avi
""
A lots of questions again swirled in his head. He started to think of all possible reasons that could have got his father trapped. He finds it hard to sleep.
Chapter 11
Next day Sam visited the lake. It was weekend and weather was cool . It didn't rain but the mild breeze was on pace. He sat on a rock before the lake. The water appeared green as the trees reflected in. A frog hopped in. Sam sat silently throwing pebbles in the water, still lost in thoughts. His denim's lower end swept a muddy surface but he was unaware. He stayed awake all night. Silence..silence, no traffic, no rush to disturb. The nostalgia got over him . Tired as he was , he dozed off and finally fell asleep over a cushion of dry leaves. He then had a dream.
He was standing on a beach at night. Dim light flashed from a lighthouse miles away. Some sounds echoed from the forest nearby. No other soul to be seen. Nothing but just water, sand , moon and forest. After a few seconds, something rustled through the forest. Some clattering sounds of footsteps..of some people running. Sam ran towards the forest. He carried on to walk, sometimes run, walk and walk and on. He headed forward along with vivid forest sounds, buzzing bees , insect 's buzz and nightingale's song. Huge coconut trees, large wet forest branches and darkness everywhere. Suddenly he heard some screams and next to it came the sound of a bullet shot followed by a loud screaming and then silence . Nothing then. The sound struck Sam's brain and heart as if it was the doom. He tried to recollect himself and started to run as far as possible. As fast as possible. Finally he reached a telephone booth and picked a coin from his pocket. He then dialed a number and a feminine voice from other side came. She was saying - "are you this? ..are you all right .."
" I ..i don't know , what's happening here, but something is wrong..yes , it is, i don't know." Said Sam .
And suddenly Sam wakes up. He finds himself near the lake where he dozed off. He looked amazed, a bit terrified all in sweat and was breathing harsh. He pulled out a blank sheet and pen and started to scribble random lines and numbers, he scribbled whatever came to his mind. He didn't understand why , but he did. Finally he stuffed that sheet back in his bag and went away.
Chapter 12
Dap..Dap..Sam was running fast with his sneakers striking the wet grass and the water droplets flew angled as wide as the damn thoughts of that dream were disturbing him. He rushed fast to his home. A decent looking boy now seemed to have swallowed crumbs of frustration. A
" Thank you Leena! ..your coffee is always a treat . "
" Not always ,just sometimes it is ..How is Kareenah doing ? "
" She is good. .oh .i should leave now . "
" yeh ..sure " Sam then without giving even a bit of notice hurried fast to his room. Only then , Leena noticed him.
" What happened to him now ..i think, he is hungry ." she muttered slowly .
Librarian left. Sam entered his room , slammed the door shut and switched on the fan. Then he blindly went to the other side of the room and stood before the dressing table. He stared himself blindly in the mirror " what the hell is happening. " He wore a light blue T shirt which seemed more of prussian due to sweat. Anger , fatigue and frustration intrigued his ever smiling expression. He pulled off his T shirt to remove and smashed it on the chair . Then he blankly stared himself in the mirror for a few more seconds. He then briskly sunk to the bed , threw his sneakers away and went to bathroom. After his shower was done, he fell asleep.
After an hour , his mom knocked at his door. He popped out of his bed to open the door. He wore a red T shirt with brown trousers. His mom entered with pink guava juice in three colorful tumblers kept on a white tray. She came in and kept the tray and something wrapped in a brown paper over the study table. " This is a gift for you ..You know , the librarian uncle, he gave you" Leena pointed towards the brown stuff. " and yess..your friends gotta do some assignment with you. They are here .Look after them ." ..and Leena left. Sam was now feeling better , he wasn't fatigued anymore.
"Heyy Sam , we have gotta do assignments in groups of three" Ankit stood near the door.
"Ohh"
" a..and our third partner is unfortunately Tanvi .." Ankit winked at Sam.
" what ?..i mean how! "
"Yeahh"
Suddenly someone came behind Ankit and pushed him in. Nobody other than Tanvi . She wore a yellow top with black capri . Her hair tied well into a high ponytail and her bangs swept upto her eyes. " Sorry , Sam ..sorry to disturb you, but the only vacancy was there in your group , so.." . She gave an explanation raising her eyebrows in a defending manner. She seemed confident.
" no issues.. Anyways, i wasn't doing anything ."
" Vacancy wasn't an issue.. Teacher made the groups"-whispered Ankit.
Sam was amazed to see her . The girl, his fierce competitor was right there in his room. They then worked up assignments and files . Later they had a snack break and after that they completed the assignments , a sort of conversation developed.
" What berry do i need to have when i have a bottle of coke and i want to drink it..The answer is strawberry as it has straw in it . haha ha!" -Ankit burst out with laughter.
"You could have sipped directly from bottle." Tanvi interrupted.
" yeahh" Sam agreed. But still everyone was laughing.
" heyy..where is your assignment Sam" asked Tanvi.
" There in my bag .. Take that yourself "
" fine" Tanvi pulled out a sheet from his bag.
" whose phone number is this" - Tanvi pointed towards the sheet which Sam scribbled earlier after the dream.
" heyy ..what are you doing? ..give it back."
" I am doing nothing. Got it from your bag . Its a phone number. "
" How , i just wrote some random numbers."
" but it is..clearly from the code, ten digits ..and this land line service went down a year back. Don't you know"
" how could i? ..i am not wikipedia."
" but you have wikipedia mr. Wait a minute. Lemme search this number's history. The old directory must be somewhere there. "
Tanvi pulled out her mobile phone from her pocket .
" well, she is smarter than you." Ankit whispered in Sam's ear.
After a few minutes she was done. She wrote something on a paper. " cloud data .. We have a huge data storage capacity ..even the old directories got some space....but heyy , am i late"Tanvi jumped.
" yes you are" Ankit blinked lazily at Tanvi.
"Okk..i am going"
" wait for me. Don't forget your bicycle.. Your mom gonna kill me, don't go alone." Ankit announced and ran behind her.
Sam looked at the paper she left behind. It was written as -
Username - Leena123.
If the search engines were correct , then situation was going to be more tangled for Sam . He wondered how he called up on a number , that too his mom's old number and that too in a dream. He wondered how, the probability of choosing a particular number with ten digits ..It isn't a game.
Chapter 13
Next day in the morning , Sam unwrapped the gift which librarian gave him. It was a book which seemed to be a historical one. The book was titled as " My confessions" and the writer was marked as ' JK Anil' . Sam now got an idea that it was rather a sort of autobiography. It had the most unimpressive cover page with no illustrations at all. The cover was in plain red with golden border line. The book was a fresh piece as if it came directly from press , though it clearly illusioned some unpopular genre by some unsuccessful writer. For Sam it was less of his stuff, but still he went to read it as it was an intended gift. He went straight to the first chapter.
"" ch1
' The fate in the forest'
That was the day which i most regret to be there in existance. It was getting dark and my heart was getting swallowed by darkness and confusion. I knew, they were there. They , the traitors of my friend were there. They were there to end the game and i knew that . They were ready to play their illegal trick and i had no option but to let. The friend who was always there for me , who cared the most . They were there to kill him and i was the one who passed all his information to them. I betrayed. I regret why i did that. My greed , money , it all kills me. My greed killed my humanity and now that dead humanity has awakened and is killing my heart with ultimate regret. My senses shriek even today, when i remember that bullet shot echoing my ears . In the mid of the forest, that shot which encountered it all , which encountered all good , my friend and i lost you. Either i or you were to die that day, the fate called on heaven for you and this earthy hell for me, where my every day is a regret. I die everyday, i kill my innate. She stopped you , she tried to stop you that day , but you didn't . Should you have stopped that day, they would have rather killed me for betraying them . I never wanted you to come , but you did. You left no appointment. You just..your sincerity. Someone called her that day . That day , yes. A call from the forest borders . who ? I don't know. I didn't tell her anything . I dare not disclose. I dare not face.
ch 2
" The illusions of Alisha"
I hope that you can hear me. Body isn't eternal but soul is. I hope i make it to my best . There is less of me whom you don't know but more of a few things which you never knew. I had been to a lower middle class family, who saw both of perks and downfalls. Though the perks weren't as big as a pizza treat but
enough for a small chocalate. I learned to deal with the downfalls as i grew up. I had priorities . I had responsibilities overhead and no time to waste. I wanted to see my past more optimistically but learning wasn't the only thing i collected with time. I had greed, the more smaller perks you get the more bigger your dreams become. The more time life takes to bring them in , the more impatient you become. I became a victim .
In high school, i joined humanities and finance . I had a tempting attitude towards finance, but none of humanities. I wonder what humanities ever meant. Anyhow , some art was there in me. A zeal to write. Romanticism was my genre. I wrote on nature , beauty , eternity and what else not and then a book on my beloved 'Alisha'.A masterpiece.
She was my batch mate when i was pursuing finance . I had all my heart in finance and she had all of her for he
You my friend, you had known every chapter of my life. You had known more alluring phases of my life , the drastic times and the smoother ones. A few friends that i had were my only assets , i never wanted to loose , so i dedicated something for each. You are one of them . " "
Then came in Sam's mom. He kept the book aside.
" Sam , i'll be back .I am going " she looked worried .
" He had a heart attack and he isn't anymore . "
" who mom ? "
" Mr. Jk Anil.."
" who's he.."
" Sam , that..the librarian who gifted you a book " and then she left.
Sam got a shock and now the scenario was filtering clear. Whatever he dreamed near the lake was a true incident. The bullet, the forest , the call , his mom and certainly that had a lot to do with his father. His father didn't commit suicide , he was assasined. Sam found it hard to digest.