Sunday, July 15, 2012

I know Who I am ( Trivedi final )

It is inconceivable that once a person is declared dead then that person is coming back to life. Maybe that is called a near-death experience. And I would never imagine, one day in my life, I would experience that. I was pretty sure; I was dead in that accident. There should not be any more of me.

But certainly, I was wrong. After that accident, I didn’t know how many days, I opened my eyes, which means I was alive!!!

I was lying on a bed in the same room. I slowly got up from it. I had checked my right leg where there should be a bullet wound, but I didn’t see it. I touched my head where I was bleeding to death last night. No sign of any damage. Even I didn’t feel that my backbone was hit with two bullets. If it was, then I would have not even moved a bit.

“There is something going on here. I must be dead by this time. But I didn’t. They have done something to my body. I have to find out”, I was thinking.

After few minutes, the boss came inside.

“Hey, Afzal! How are you? I guess you didn’t sleep well. The security guards said you were shouting last night. It must be a bad dream. Isn’t it?”

I was not stupid. I could make out that he was pretending that whatever happened was my dream. I knew that was not a dream.

“Yes, it was a very unpleasant dream”, I told by rubbing my forehead with my hand. Then I saw Michele, she had come inside.

“Ya, Afzal, here is a surprise to you. Michele came yesterday night. She didn’t feel like working after you left that place”, the boss told me by showing Michele to me.

“Hey! Afzal how are you, yaar? After a long time?”, She came close to me

I smiled, “What an acting, really. Everyone lives in their characters. I should end this drama soon.”

“I need some time to rest. I’m tired”, I said.

“Ya, sure. Take a rest. But don’t be in this room forever. Come out and have fresh air. By the way, your passport is ready. We are trying to get the visa. This can be done today. See you”, he left along with Michele.

I got ready in few minutes. Though all these crazy things were happening, the only thing that makes me happy was the fact about I was alive.  If I had some remarkable powers or I didn’t know, but I was alive.

I came out of the room and wandering outside. I saw the guy, who had tried to kill me when I was trying to escape. He told me I was a secret service agent, and he was here to help me. But why he tried to kill me? There were many unanswered questions. I had remained silent though I felt like killing the guy in that spot. He said, “hello” and left as if nothing had happened. His actions didn’t surprise me much. Might be I was used to that kind of behavior. I wanted something, something to threaten that guy.  Yes, I wanted a gun. The whole day I was trying to get a gun. Finally, I managed to get one. I kept it in my back pocket. At night, I had requested security guards not to close the doors as I told them I was getting bad dreams because of that. I didn’t know whether they had believed that or not, they didn’t lock the door.

At midnight, I went straight to room number 9 and knocked on the door.  I told him that I had to discuss something. He opened the door. The moment he had opened the door, I hit his face with the gun. He fell to the ground. I entered inside and closed the door.

His nose got fractured, and blood spurted out, “what the heck are you doing? Are you mad?” he was screaming.

I hit him with the gun again on his head. He lost his conciseness. I tied him in a chair and spilled water on his face. He is back to normal.

“See though I was a software architect, who believes that everything can be achieved softly. But after seeing all this stuff, I understood nothing can be achieved by being soft. So tell me, I want answers, who am I? Why did you try to kill me? Then how come I’m alive? If you don’t answer my questions, then I won't hesitate to kill you.” I aimed my gun at his head.

He looked puzzled. He tried to convince me that I was actually dreaming of all that stuff. He didn’t know anything other than that.  I knew he wouldn’t give answers so easily. I was prepared for that, along with a gun I also bought a scissor. I put waste clothes in his mouth, so he won’t shout aloud. Then I cut his little finger with scissors. He was crying like a kid because of pain. I had spent some more time interrogating him. One moment he gave up and agreed to give answers.

He was talking in pain, “I’ll tell you everything. Please stop hurting me”.

“Alight. I won’t hurt you. So tell me why I didn’t die?”, I asked.

“you can’t die, because YOU ARE NOT A HUMAN!!!”

“What do you mean I’m not a human? Am I a ghost?” I asked sarcastically.

“No, you are a humanoid. After 15 years of thorough research, US military scientists have come up with your model. You made up with half-human organs and half-machine parts. You have a capability to change your appearance as like anybody”,  he stopped for a while because of pain.

“What are you saying?” my voice was breaking.

The heavy bleeding was made him so weak. But still, he was talking.

“The first rule the scientists made after developing your models was ‘HUMANOIDS MUST NOT KNOW WHO THEY ARE’ as that would make chaos in their brain. Once we program humanoid brain as a particular person, then they would totally believe that THEY ARE HUMANS, and mannerisms, actions, affection, love, phobias, character, attitude everything … everything would be like a person whom they have programmed. To change you to some other person, we have to reprogram you. But once we convert you into some person then no one could find out.”

“All our previous models behaved exactly in that way… except you. Once we replaced Trivedi with you. I was badly needed money, so I was sold myself to US sleeper cells and leaked information about you. They were very excited. They decided to have you was most important than killing the US army chief. So they captured you. I helped them to reprogram you and to change your appearance. I warned them about the rule that they should never reveal about you.”

“But the problem came after altering your program. Somehow your brain didn’t lose the ‘Trivedi’ identity. Every day we were trying to make you believe that you are not a Trivedi. But we didn’t succeed. As we proceed with different personalities, yet you strongly believed that ‘you are Trivedi’. As you are thinking, you are NOT here for the past two days. You are here for the past 30 days; we were doing all types of experiments on you. We even called Michele and tried. But there was no use.  We did everything that we could do to bring you back.  We also tried coming up with another model. I shot you because I knew that you can’t be killed with bullets.”

Tears were rolling from my eyes.

“I’m not a human”, I was blabbering. I was not able to believe that fact.

“I don’t believe you.  I want proof. Prove me that I’m not a human”, I shouted in angry.

“I know you would ask this. Go ahead and shoot yourself. You will come to know. There is no blood in your body. Instead, a chemical solution is circulating. If you shoot yourself then you would see that chemical. After few minutes, you will recover yourself. But you will experience pain as like normal human beings”, he looked at my eyes after telling that.

I recalled seeing that chemical when he shot me last time. I still wanted to check again. When I got ready to shoot myself, then suddenly someone had knocked on the door. They asked me to open it otherwise they would break it. I reacted quickly, opened the door, and hidden beside it. When they entered inside, I closed the door behind them and ran. Looks like those guys alarmed others, so everyone got alerted. I looked for opportunities to escape. Then I saw the drainage entrance. I entered inside and then ran like crazy. Those guys also found that I was in drainage, so they followed me. After running for several minutes then I came out from it in some deserted place. I didn’t know what was that place.

It was very dark. I felt even I shouldn’t be there. They might find out, so I ran again. As I expected they somehow found, and they were following me. I saw a freight train, which was picking up speed slowly.  I ran at full speed and entered inside the caboose.  When I looked behind; they were trying to catch it, but they were too late. The train went at full speed.  I was so tired, so just slept inside.

When I opened my eyes, I was somewhere in northern India.

I got down off the train and went to the nearby tea shop. I had asked for tea before I went into deep thoughts. Whatever my background was or whoever I was, I decided to forget all and start from zero. Start a new life and a new beginning. Get a new job and mingle with new friends and new people. A person in a tea shop had interrupted my thoughts and asked about me as he hadn’t seen me before there. I looked at him and thinking, “Who am I?”

Well, there are certain things, which you believe till your death. And what you believe depends on what you are. No matter what anyone says – I believed I was Trivedi.

“My name is Trivedi”, I answered him with a smile.

THE END

THESE STORIES ARE PUBLISHED AT yourstoryclub.com

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Jump over the wall ( Trivedi cont … )

He opened the door. But fortunately, that was not the same one where I was hiding. I was relieved. I had waited until they left the room. After that, I came out of it. It was my bad luck that they had locked the door before leaving the room. So when I tried to open it. It didn’t open.

“Why it is happening always like this to me?” I muttered.

“How can I go out now?” I had realized there was no other way that I could find out. So I decided to wait until someone opens the door. A few minutes later someone opened the door. It was the guy who had given me the paper slip. I was wondering what that guy was doing there.  He asked me to come out as he knew I was in that room. I came out of the shadows. Then he asked me to follow him. We went inside his room on the first floor.

“It was good as I have seen you going into that room. Otherwise, you would have been locked inside until boss finds out.” I nodded and thanked him.

And also I said sorry as I was not able to meet him yesterday. He said he knew that I was not able to meet him as my door was locked. But it was good that he didn’t ask how I had managed to come out, otherwise, I had to tell the whole story again.

I didn’t wait much time, I asked him.

“Now tell me? You told me that you knew about me. So who am I actually?”

He didn’t answer my question. Instead, he gave me an identity card and asked me to open it. I opened it, it was someone’s secret service agent identity card. I was puzzled and looked at him.

“That was your identity card.”

“What? I’m a secret service agent” I was shocked. “Please, give me a break.  I was really tired of all these things. First I was a software architect, then a common man, who has a brother and family, and then I was a murderer, and then I was a terrorist, and now I’m a secret service agent. Please don’t play with me” I was screaming.

“You were indeed a US secret service agent and were working undercover.  We were a total of 4 people, who were specialized to find out the terrorist sleeper cells across the world. We came to know that Trivedi was planning to kill the US army chief. Then we planned to replace Trivedi with you, so we have kidnapped him. But eventually, we realized that they were controlling him through a microchip in his mind.  We have extracted that microchip from Trivedi’s brain. And it was you, who altered the software in that chip so that it would receive instructions from us, instead of from them. However, that was not tested thoroughly. So it was not approved to use it on human beings. We were running out of time. So you took a brave decision to experiment that, though our higher authorities have refused it. Nobody knew about this mission, except four of us.”

Whatever he was saying was going only half into my mind.

“Before you have been kidnapped by these people, we have replaced Trivedi with you. They were wondering why that microchip was not working. It was because we altered that software. However, it even not worked for us. It didn’t respond to our instructions. It malfunctioned and programmed your mind such that you strongly believed that you are a Trivedi.”

“When they removed that microchip from your head, you became normal.  And you have informed us that you were going to India, so you asked me to contact you here. But after coming here, I’ve realized that they had inserted another microchip in your brain, which caused you to lost all your precious memories and stick to Trivedi’s thoughts. Somehow I managed to join this team and waited for a chance to meet you.”

“Here are your family photos. They are desperately waiting for you” He gave me few photos.

I was not in a mood; not trying to understand what he was saying. I looked at those photos then I asked.

“When are you planning to take me to my family in the US?”

That was the only thing I wanted at that time from him. Going back to the USA. Otherwise, whatever he was told I was not really interested.

“I’m making plans for that. But it is dangerous for you to go to the US first. So I’m planning to take you to the UK first, where your operation also will be done and then you can recall your past.”

“Oh, I see”, I said.

“I told you all these things upfront so that you would co-operate with me later. Believe me, everything is gonna be alright. You will meet your family soon. Now go and take rest”, he patted on my shoulder.

I hesitated to tell him about Michele. I didn’t know why.

I said thank you and left his room. He told me, be careful while returning to my room. Millions of thoughts were circulating in my mind. Many things were going around me. I strongly believed that I should have never come to that building. I should try to find out my own way to the US. So instead of going back to my room, I walked towards the compound wall of that building. It was still dark. I saw a big compound wall around the building.

There was a tall tree beside that wall; if I could climb that tree then I could jump over the compound wall. I started climbing the tree. Then I heard a noise. Somebody noticed me.

“Hey? Who are you? Stop; otherwise, I’ll shoot you?” he was threatening me.

I didn’t listen as that was the last chance I could get to free myself. So I had climbed up.

He had fired two rounds. Fortunately, those bullets didn’t hit me. I had jumped from that tree to the wall. I was hanging on the wall and pulling my body up so that I could jump over another side. Then he had fired four times. He didn’t miss that time.

Two bullets had penetrated into my backbone, and another one went inside of my right leg. I fell to the ground. My head hit something on the ground heavily. It started bleeding.

I could feel that I was losing so much blood. I looked at my blood. It appeared different to me. I knew that I was dying. My heartbeat was slowing down. Before losing the conciseness last time that I saw was the person who shot me.  I recalled him. He was the guy who told me that I was the secret service agent.

Then that’s it. Everything had turned black.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Hidden door ( Trivedi cont … )


I didn’t sleep that night. I was looking at the watch and waited until 1:30 AM. Then I got up from bed and tried to open the door. It didn’t open. The door was locked from outside.

“Damn it. How can I open the door?” I thought. I looked the whole room if I could find some other way to escape. But it was vain; I didn’t find any other way.

I locked the door from inside and slipped into sleep while thinking what that guy in room no 9 would have been thinking since I didn’t meet him.

I opened my eyes when I felt somebody had kissed my face. I was shocked to see that person in bed. It was Michele. I didn’t understand how come she was on my bed. She was supposed to be in the US. I asked her the same question. She smiled and told that she was also part of the US sleeper cell. Once I left, she had requested her boss to replace her with someone else and she came over here.

“I got your photo from the boss. That’s how I recognized you. Though you look different, I can feel your breath”, she told by coming close to me.

I didn’t know what to say. My mind became blank. I was looking for words to say something. Whatever hope that I had some whereas I was not a terrorist was breaking into pieces after seeing her.

“See, the boss still didn’t know our intimacy. He was thinking that I was just helping you in that mission. He still has a crush on me. So you have to behave properly with me in front of him”.

I just said fine as I needed time to digest whatever things happening in front of me. Everything was happening so unpredictably.

“I know you don’t remember anything, but we had plans to quit this team and settle in Singapore. We also made arrangements as you transferred 50 million to your Singapore account. But somehow because of that chip in your mind, you became crazy and lost your mind. Anyhow, now the good news is, I have few friends here, who could do anything for me. I asked them to do the arrangements for us, so it would be taken care of. And you won’t be traveling to the US; instead, we are going to Singapore. You know what? You can get operated in Singapore itself.”

I was jolted after hearing that she was planning to take me to Singapore.

I was about to say something. She didn’t listen to anything. She said to be happy and left the room. While she was leaving I observed that she had opened the door lock from the inside before she was going out. That means she didn’t come from that door.

“If she didn’t come from that door then how she could be able to come inside. There might be some other secret door here”, I thought. It was too late for me to explore that room as it has already become a day.

After few minutes, the agent knocked on the door. I opened it. He asked me to get ready to meet the boss.

I had seen Michele along with the boss. She just smiled at me and left us alone. The boss told me that he was doing arrangements for my US travel like getting a fake passport and visa etc. It would take a couple of days, until then I should not go anywhere and stay inside that building.

That whole day I didn’t do anything. I expected to notice the guy who gave that paper note to me. But I didn’t see him at all. I was roaming inside the building. There were many rooms. I tried to enter inside a random room. But they didn’t let me in. I suspected there was something going on inside.

I was thinking to find that hidden door at any cost that night. I waited until it becomes dark. The agent again left me in the room and locked the door.

I slept for few hours and then in the middle of the night started exploring the room. Finally, I figured out, there was a button embedded in the corner side of the wall, and pressing it actually opened the secret door. It was impossible for anyone to notice it as the paint on the door matches with the wall so it fools anyone.

Inside it was dark. I waited some time so that my eyes could adjust to see in the dark and I could make out the way. That path leads to somewhere. I followed the path then it took me to someone’s bedroom. I quietly entered inside. Someone in the hall was talking over the phone. I recognized that voice. That was Michele’s voice.

“Yes,  darling. Don’t worry about him. I’ll take care of him. As per our plan I told him we are going to Singapore.”

Then there was a silence. The guy on the phone asked something.

“Ya, ya. Of course, he believed me. You know about me right. Michele can do anything. It’s magic. I did all arrangements in Singapore. You are not going to see Afzal again”, she was laughing.

I understand that she was talking about me. She was planning something.  I decided not to go with her otherwise god only knows what she could do.

I waited some more time. She was watching TV. I searched in her bedroom drawer. I found a revolver and few photos. I didn’t know what I was searching for there. I saw few alphanumeric numbers written on a paper. I didn’t understand what it was.  I decided to go back. On the way to my room, I noticed another path. I followed it, and it leads to the hall of that building. After entering that hall, I recognized the room which they didn’t allow me that day morning. It was not locked. I wondered whether it was unlocked just for me to explore so I decided to go inside.

It was like a mix of computer and biology labs. I saw a bunch of computers and some papers lying on the floor. I also saw few human organs in a chemical solution. I didn’t understand what that was for. I tried to login into a computer. But it was password protected. I gave different default passwords whatever I could recall. It didn’t work, and then I remembered the alphanumeric pattern that I saw in Mechele’s bedroom. I tried to log in again with that sequence. I was able to log in. Then I saw few drawings. A human body-shaped drawing. I realized that was a model, combining the human body and few electrical circuits. I was trying to explore more. I heard a noise. Somebody was trying to come inside. I quickly logged off from that computer and went inside an almirah in that room and closed the door.

I had sensed that two guys came inside of that room. One person was scolding another one as he forgot to lock the door. They were doing something; I didn’t know what that was. I was sweating inside.

“Where is that chemical solution?” One person asked another.

“I didn’t know. You only put somewhere” the other person replied.

“Ya, I remembered now. It is in that almirah” I could feel that guy coming close to open the almirah door where I was hiding. My heartbeat was running away. I was quickly thinking about what to tell if they notice me.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Who am I ? ( Trivedi cont …)

The police officer asked me to remain silent and took me outside of the hospital. We were walking towards his vehicle, and then it happened that. A big explosion and police vehicle had thrown into the air. The smoke from the vehicle spread across.  I couldn’t see anything. I heard a van stopped near to me, and somebody pulled me inside, and it accelerated to full speed.  Everything had happened so fast. I observed three people inside the vehicle.

One guy came close to me and removed handcuffs with some kind of scissors.

“How are you feeling Afzal? It has been very long since we met?”

I didn’t understand whom he was asking.

“What are you saying? Who are you guys?” I was screaming. There is a tall man with a long beard in the van who looked at that first guy and said, “Still he doesn’t remember anything. We have to take him to the boss first”.

The first guy went back to his previous position.

Whatever just happened was driving me crazy, “you guys did that blast?  What an earth the reason for you to do like that. See it might be some mistake. You might be thinking I’m somebody else. I’m already full of trouble. So don’t involve me in another. Please let me go. ”

He pushed me back when I tried to stand up.

“You are not going anywhere.  You will come to know everything once we see the boss”, the long beard guy said.

“No, I’m not coming anywhere, until you tell me what is going on here?” I stood up again.

“Alright, I’ll tell you everything. You first sit down. As you are thinking you are neither Trivedi nor Joseph. Your name is Afzal. You are one of the best guys on our team. You have been working with us for the past fifteen years. You are part of one of our sleeper cells in the US. You have been assigned a mission”, he stopped and looked at me for reactions.

I opened my mouth and listening what he was going to say.

“Your mission was to kill US military chief. You have been planning for that mission for many years. You were almost edging to your target. But, at the last minute, we had to back off. That’s where all these problems started.”

“What the heck you guys are saying? No… No… No… you are wrong. You are totally wrong. I’m Trivedi. I’m a software architect. I’m not a Terrorist”, I was shouting.

“See that’s the problem. We invented the microchip, which can be attached to the brain. So it gives the instructions subconsciously to each agent. And it makes you think that you are what you are in the present role. It supposed to disable itself after completing the mission, so that you should be normal again. We used to contact each agent through that device. It was our state-of-the-art technology. You are also one of the guys who are involved in the designs of this device.”

“But, when we had instructed through that device before you were attempting to kill US chief, some technical problem happened. The device didn’t respond properly.  And you didn’t come back to normal either. You still believed that you were Trivedi. We didn’t have any choice except, replacing you with another guy in that position.”

He was talking continuously without a break.

“The team in the US operated you and removed that old “Trivedi’s” chip. Fortunately, you have behaved normally after removing that chip. So we bought you here in India. Here you have been assigned to some other mission and inserted another chip. This is supposed to make you believe that you are a joseph. However, after inserting that chip, you behaved violently. You killed the doctor who did the operation and plastic surgery for you. And you tried to escape. Somehow we have managed and left you in that bar, where Joseph's brother spotted you”.

“We thought you would recall that you are Joseph after seeing Danieal and Joseph’s family. But you didn’t. Instead, you are still in “Trivedi’s” mind. You called Trivedi’s boss in the US and Michele too. That is not what we expected. So we decided to take you back.”

I looked at him unbelievably. If whatever they were saying is right then, I was a terrorist. I was appointed to kill US top official. My head was spinning. I sat down holding my head with hands.

After a while, the van stopped at an unknown place. He asked me to get down. I blindly followed them inside a building. There I met another person, from their discussion; I understand that he was the boss.

“Hello, Afzal. I know you still didn’t believe that you are Afzal. Come with me”, he put his hand on my shoulder and took me inside.

I went along with him. That was a lab. He asked me to lay down on a table. I did it exactly as I didn’t want to do anything stupid at that time after witnessing what they could do at the hospital.

They took a scan of my brain. After 5 mins, he had shown my brain x-ray and spotted the place where the chip was placed.

“See, look at this. This is proof that you are Afzal.”

I was shocked looking at that x-ray.

“Unfortunately you killed the doctor, who can only operate and remove this chip from your mind. He is the only doctor in India. But don’t worry; we have many doctors in the US. We are planning to send you to the US and get it operated.”

I was totally confused. The way they were telling those things made me believe that I was not Trivedi, but don’t know, some part of my mind was telling me that was a hoax. Anyway, I was glad that he was planning to send me to the US, which was the only thing I wanted. I thought, once I reach the US then I could decide what to do next.

“Ok, Afzal. Your mind is precious and special to us. Go and give and some rest to it.”

He instructed one of his agents to show me a room where I could take the rest. On the way I met someone, he said welcome back and gave me a handshake. He actually gave me a folded slip of paper while giving me a handshake. For some reason, I kept that paper slip in my hand.

The agent showed me the room, and he left. I confirmed that no one around then opened the slip. It was written like, “If you want to know who you are, meet me in room no 9 today night at 2.00AM. Make sure nobody follows you”.

After reading that, I was thinking, “who am I actually?”

Monday, July 9, 2012

I didn't kill ( Trivedi cont ...)



“See I’m Trivedi, we both knew that you are not Trivedi. I’ve been kidnaped and transported to India, I don’t know who are you and why are you acting like me, but remember that you can’t manage forever, they will find out soon”, I was almost shouted over the phone.

“What the hell are you talking about? Go check with a doctor, you are crazy, you are not Trivedi”, the phone got disconnected.

I got so much angry, didn’t know what to do. I sat on steps and thinking. “I’ve to calm down and think straight. Figure out the way to reach the US again”.

The guy at the front desk came out with a bill and asked me to pay. I didn’t think I had money to pay. When I had checked my back pocket, I felt the purse. I removed it. I saw a bunch of Indian rupees. I paid the bill with that cash. When I carefully observed the purse, noticed a driver's license inside. I pulled out and read the name on it. The name was written as P.J.Josheph, and I thought the photo on the license was that guy. I went 
 near to that front desk guy, and showed that license and asked;

“Do you know him?” that guy repeatedly looked at the photo and me and laughed, “Don’t joke with me sir that is your photo only”.

“What? What are you saying?”

“Yes sir that is your photo.” 

I ran inside the toilet, and when I looked at the mirror, Joseph was standing in front of me. I could not believe that.  I touched my face and Joseph also touched his face in the mirror. I understand that they did the plastic surgery and changed my face. So who ever involved in this matter, they were very powerful and dangerous. They could do anything to get what they want. I washed my face (actually Joseph face) and came out of the toilet. That lodge guy was still looking at me surprisingly.  I smiled at him and went back to my room.

“Think… think, don’t panic. I’ve to figure out how to get out of this country”, I was thinking about the possibilities.
“Yes, the person who brought me here in this lodge can lead me to the culprits. But even If I go to my company with this face, do they recognize me as now I turned to Joseph.  No, it’s all right; they just changed my face, but not my mind. It is still the same Trivedi brain, I can come up with another dozen security solutions”, I slept thinking like that.

When I woke up, I saw that hotel boy with another person in my room. He came near to me and asked “how are you?”; I looked at him unknowingly, “he is your brother Danieal. You forget him or what?”, the hotel boy said.

Danieal was upset, “Where have you been all these days? Yesterday night you were fully drunk, I didn’t want to take you home with that condition, so I put you here. Let’s get ready we have to go home as they are expecting you”, I didn’t mention anything as I was expecting him.  The good thing is, he is also talking in English.

I got ready; actually, I wore clothes brought by Danieal.

He came in a taxi so we returned in the same taxi. When we had reached home, the people were waiting for us. The moment I entered inside, they started crying and asked me not to leave home again. I remained silent. Once that matter is settled, I went to Danieal and asked, “Where did you see me yesterday? Can you give me the address?” he refused first as he didn’t like me to go again to that place. But eventually, he agreed to give it with the condition that he would also come with me.”

Before starting, Danieal asked, “Joseph, your accent is very different, you speak like an American. How did you get that?” I just smiled.

We had reached that bar, where Daniel was claiming that he found me. I looked at the premises and entered inside. Then someone called my name, actually Joseph name. He came close to me,” Hey Joseph, where did you go?  We had a nice time yesterday remember?”

I didn’t get what he was saying as he was talking in the local language.

“Sorry, who are you?” I asked in English.  That guy got hurt and he replied to me, “Oh, alright, I can talk better English than you. We had a party yesterday here. You gave me a party as you are going to marry ... Laila”

“Laila”, I muttered the name.

“Oh, you forgot Laila also; looks like you are still in yesterday hangover”,

“Ya, kind of, do you know Laila's address?” I asked. That guy told me her address. I looked at Danieal, he nodded telling me that he knew that address.

On the way, Danieal told, I had mentioned Laila at home before. But nobody accepted to marry her. That was the reason, why I left the home a week back. I was thinking, “whoever bought me here, they had kidnapped Joseph, and replaced me here. Even if I say, I’m not Joseph, nobody believes that I need to find the lead, maybe Laila helped them to replace me”.

We knocked on the door, after a while, the girl opened the door. The girl first shocked, and then hugged me. I understand she was Laila. We went inside. When I tried to introduce Danieal to her, she told she knew him already. She also told, yesterday night, I left her home as I had to give a party to my friends, and then didn’t return.

I felt that was the right time to reveal the secret to them. I took a deep breath.

“I have to tell something, which is very important. As you are thinking, I’m not Joseph, my name is Trivedi. I’m a Sr. Architect in one of the US software companies. Somebody kidnapped me and bought me here. They also did plastic surgery so I look like Joseph. I guess the Govt is also involved in this conspiracy.”

They both looked at each other. Laila came close to me, “Joseph, please not again, doctor told me that you have become normal.”

“What? What is normal? I’m telling the truth. You guys are not getting”, I was shouting.

“Calm down, Joseph, you had been through this before, please not again”, Danieal said.

“What the heck? What I had been through before?”

“You had these visions before, you thought; you are like a different person. Last time you had imagined yourself as a doctor and behaved like that. Before that, you had behaved like a military officer. We consulted the doctor, and he had given the treatment before”.

That time I had realized why they had chosen Joseph. Since he had visions, so no one would believe that if I was Trivedi, they thought I was assuming that.

I reacted very quickly, laughed very loudly.  “I was just joking to see your reactions. Actually, I had a bad memory because of last night's drinks.  I want to see the doctor who treated me. Can we go there?”
Danieal and Laila felt relieved. Danieal said, he would take me to the doctor. On the way, I was thinking.

“At least the doctor might remember me; I have to tell him what had happened”.

When we had reached the hospital, there was a police car parked outside. I could feel some dreadful thing had happened. The person at reception recognized me, and he stood up straight and told something to the police officer that he was talking over.

The officer looked at me and immediately aimed a revolver at me and asked me to sit on my knee. I was shocked by his reactions. He locked my hands and said, I was arrested as I killed the doctor, whom I’d been taking the treatment.  What? I killed the doctor?

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Trivedi

It was truly refreshing having coffee by looking at the sunrise. I was doing the same thing, standing outside of my 27th-floor apartment and enjoying the sunrise. The outside view was magnificent. My name is Trivedi, working as a Software Architect in one of the top US companies. We develop security solutions. US defense department is one of our clients. I was an expert in designing and architecting intelligent software in weapons. There is a total of 7 patents in my name. Most people don’t know that modern weapons have microchips, and the firmware inside the chip does most of the work.  They believe that Weapon manufacturing is just mechanical work, and no software is required. But certainly, they are wrong.

Six-figure salary and 5% company stock, everything achieved at age of 25. I love to enjoy a luxurious life, so bought the costliest apartment and a sports car. Even My boss didn’t have that kind of car. I was a bachelor but was dating Michele. Michele was a co-worker.

That day was going to be the biggest day in my life as I had to give a presentation of new weapon technology to US defense authorities, which I had been working for 2 years. US defense department was eagerly waiting for that technology. If they accept it then it would be a big breakthrough in my life.

I finished my coffee, went inside, and sat on a sofa. I got a call, it was Michele. I answered the call,

“Hey… Mich”, I call her Mich, short name of Michele.

“Honey… did I wake you up.”

“No … Mich... I woke up already.”

“Oh… ok… do you miss me yesterday night?” Her tone was teasing. Almost every day I used to spend nighttime in her apartment, but yesterday I didn’t go.

“Ya… kind of… you know right. I was immersed in preparing the presentation.”

“Oh … great. I know you forget the entire world when you are working... I’m angry that you keep all your designs with you. You don’t even share with me”, she sounded really angry.  That was, maybe the 100th time, she was complaining that I didn’t share my designs with her. I really don't like to share my designs with anybody, because those are military designs. If those designs land in the wrong hands, then I couldn’t imagine what kind of damage that might bring.

I just laughed and remained silent.

“Alright… anyway, come soon to the office. See you there… love you… bye”, she disconnected the call.

I took 45 mins to get ready and came out of my apartment. I was carrying a personal laptop. Today’s presentation and some other confidential documents were on that laptop.
I was in the basement, walking towards the car. Then it happened. Somebody hit me with something at the backside of my head. I fell to the floor. Then two hands were holding me down, and I could feel, something was getting injecting into my neck.

I was losing conciseness but still, I could see somebody grabbed a laptop from me. I wasn’t able to resist, lost complete conciseness ...

When I opened my eyes, I was inside a small room. I realized that was a lodge. It was undoubtedly a very low-cost one. I got up from bed. I remembered everything that someone hit me from back and stole my laptop.

“God damn it. They wanted my new designs that’s why they hit me and stole the laptop. Who was it? I’ve to inform my boss”. I came out of the room; it was on the first floor. I came over then I saw a short guy at the front desk. He didn’t look like an American. I asked him where was that place and who bought me here. He said some guy bought me here yesterday night. He had told him that I was his brother. I asked him again, which town it was?  He said I was in Poovar, a small town in Kerela, India.

“Oh my god, it is unbelievable. Am I in India???  Who stole my laptop, brought me to India from the US? This is ridiculous. I’ve to call my boss.”

I asked that guy, whether it was possible to make an international call. It was fortunate that the guy was able to talk in English. I heard somewhere that most of the population in Kerala speaks English and I was witnessing that fact in that small Kerala town. He showed me the phone and told me what numbers I should dial first to make an international call.

I dialed my boss's office number directly, no one answered the call. Then I understood it was night in the US, so I dialed my boss's cell phone number. After a moment he answered.

“Sir, this is Trivedi. Please listen carefully. I was attacked by somebody, and my laptop was stolen. And right now I’m in a small town, India. I don't know how, but they brought me here. You have to call the FBI and report it”, I told him everything.

There was a silence for a few seconds from the other side, then he said, “See Mr, this is not a time for practical jokes, I just met Trivedi this evening at my office. So don’t tell me that you are Trivedi. You better call someone to make a fool”.

I was shocked after listening to what he had said. “What are you saying? You met Trivedi today evening, that’s impossible, I’m Trivedi, and somebody stole my laptop and designs. Sir, you didn’t recognize my voice. I have been working in your company for more than 10 years!!!”

“I told you Mr, stop talking nonsense. You are not Trivedi”, he disconnected the call.

I was stalled. “What is going on?  When I’m here, how come he was telling me that he met Trivedi. Whom did he meet actually?” my head was spinning with those questions.

“Who stole my designs? Why they bought me to live here, instead of killing. I have to call Michele. Yes, she will remember me.”

I called Michele’s cell number. After a while, she answered.

“Michele, this is Trivedi, see… something terrible is gonna happen. I don’t understand what is that exactly. Can you believe that I'm in India, someone brought me here, you have to help me”.

She was laughing on phone. “Are you Trivedi? Then who is in my bed? A ghost … haha.”

“What? Trivedi is with you??” it was a double shock to me.

“Yes, he is with me in my bedroom. You want to talk to him” and I heard that she gave the phone to some other person.

“Hello, this is Trivedi speaking, who is it?” the voice is not my voice. I was thinking, “if he is Trivedi then who am I??”

THESE STORIES ARE PUBLISHED AT yourstoryclub.com

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Alone


I woke up suddenly from sleep. I darted around, and then recalled the premises. It was my office and I was in my chair inside cubicle. “What I’m doing in my office, now?”  I has tried to remember. “Yes, I have been working on to fix some issues in BTT module, which has to be delivered soon. I slipped into sleep while working on that”. I recalled. 

“Where is Ganesh?” I looked at Ganesh cubicle. It was empty, no one was there. “He was with me yesterday night? Where is he now? He might have left to home?” I thought. “But, why he left without informing me? Strange”, thought. I looked at the watch; it showed 1:50AM! I knew it was not 1:50AM as I could feel the sun at outside, so it might be around 7 or 8 AM.

I went outside of the ODC and noticed no one were wondering around. “Where are the workers? At least few workers would have been here by this time. Is it holiday or what?” scratched my head. Went to elevator and pressed down button. It didn’t take much time to realize that the elevator was not functioning. “Hmm… damn it, I have to use stairs now”. I was muttering.  I hate to use stairs as my office was in 6th floor.

I came-out of the building; there was a canteen opposite to my building. Usually by that time, the canteen should be with full of employees. But no one was there, not even sweepers. Then I thought I should call my manager to inform the situation. So I pulled my IPhone, which I bought recently. There was no signal in it.  “What the hell, usually in office there should be full-signal, now it is showing no signal”. I rebooted phone, as sometimes, that should pick the signal, but even after that no signal. “Ok, let’s go to the security office”, I thought as even in holidays, security should remain in office.

The security office located a bit far from the office. This company is one of the largest software companies in the country. The entire campus consists of several buildings, canteens and play grounds.  “no one is there” I thought after reaching security office. “What is going on? Why no one is here? it can’t be as they can’t leave the office, just like that”. I saw VOIP phone at the desk, tried to call but no call sign. It was dead.

“I better go home”, thought and went to the parking lot. My bike was parked there. Minutes later, I was on the road. I was driving on the city’s busiest highway. Usually by that time, even in holidays that should be packed with vehicles, however, that time there was no sign of any vehicle on road. It was like some curfew was placed in the city. I drove fast, on the way, i saw no body, literally no one!!! All roads were damn empty!!!

“What is going on? Something is seriously wrong. Otherwise, why no persons around?”. I reached the breakfast center. I used to take breakfast in it during weekends. I entered inside, same thing, it was totally empty, but all items were arranged neatly inside the glass door. “Where are these guys? What happened to all of them?” I felt very hungry, grabbed few items inside the glass door and ate it.  I left the shop and sat on my bike. I looked around and started analyzing the reasons for that situation. I had never seen that place like that before as all shops were open, but no people around.

“Is it real? Or am I dreaming? Where are all the people?” I decided to go home. I drove towards my home.

“Ganesh, Ganesh…” I shouted after entering the house. The door was not locked. Same thing, no sign of any persons inside. Ganesh and I were colleagues and staying together.  Two other guys were also staying with us. I searched all rooms; it was a three bedroom house. My house is in the first floor, and a family stays at ground floor. I came over and knocked the ground floor entrance, I expected the uncle would come to open the door. No body responded. I opened the door as that too not locked. “Uncle… are you inside?". No response! I entered inside and noticed few breakfast plates. It looks like somebody had finished eating the breakfast before they left!!!

I slapped my head with a hand. I didn’t understand what was going on, I became insane by seeing all these things, all “nobody” situation in the city. I decided to go city center, so that at least I might find few people.
Reached city center, damn it, no change in the scene, I was alone. All shops, fruit stalls, super markets, everything, EVERYTHING WITH-OUT PEOPLE.

“HELLO…ANY BODY THERE”, I shouted.

“”

My voice is echoing back. I shouted again and again. I didn’t get any response. I went to a TV showroom. I picked remote and surfing channels and looking for news channels. But those "news" channels were not broadcasting anything "live". “God damn it, it’s not just this city, looks like no people in the whole world. The question arose in my mind again, is it real? Or am I dreaming? I’m working too much that’s why my brain is dreaming too much. I better take a break from work. Ok, if it is dream, let’s enjoy it. Think positive, and make any situation as an advantage to you”. Those self-motivating words were truly refreshing to me. I drove to super mall. I parked bike outside and went inside a branded showroom, where I rarely go, because of the cost of the items in it. Now, since no one was around, and I never really required to buy anything, so happily went inside. I spent almost 2 hours, wearing different dresses, hats, shoes, trousers etc… Finally packed hand-full of items and left the store. I saw a sports car parked outside. I went near to it and noticed the car keys were inside. I smirked and opened the trunk and put all items inside. Though I learned car driving long back, never drove a car without instructor on road. Now I got a chance, that to sports car, I smiled again.

Started the car and accelerated to full speed. Understand how much fun in driving the sports car. I drove to costliest restaurant; went inside kitchen, whatever items were there, tasted all of them and ate stomach full. Then from there went to a bar, and drunk fully. Didn’t know how I drove, but finally reached home and slept on my bed without closing the doors.

Day-2:
Next day morning my head was spinning due to excessive drinks on previous day. I went to the bathroom and washed my face; came out and sat on sofa. I had tried to remember what happened ; I recalled that all persons in that city were vanished. I thought that was a dream, but not. All people are indeed vanished. I didn’t panic that time. Concluded something, so got ready and left home. I noticed the sports car on the road; remembered that I stole that car from shopping mall. Smiled and got inside; wanted to go police-station, where they would have a radio phones or satellite phones, so that I could try to contact somebody, if there are any.

Parked the car in front of the police station.  As usual no one inside, but seems like some activity had happened before they vanished. I went inside the control room; There was a satellite phone and emergency number written on it. During a national emergency, we should call that number. I dialed that number. It was ringing. Waited for few minutes, no one answered, and then I disconnected and dialed again. No one answered the call. I tried some other emergency numbers, no response at all. I was irritated; out of frustration smashed the phone on the floor.

“What to do? What to do? Am I alone in the whole planet? It can’t be; decided to check in internet. I went to a nearby internet center. It was open; all machines were running. I sat in front of a system and typed “www.google.com” and it came instantly. But that didn’t give any happiness to me as the servers would work for several days or months even if no persons around. I navigated to that day’s news section; it was showing old news.  That means it didn’t record any events since previous day. I searched for several hours, but all websites stopped updating their sites since 1:50 AM. The same time where my watch was still showing.

“God! I’ll really become a crazy guy by seeing all these things?” I thought. I went out and sat on the pavement. The whole street was quiet, the vehicles were parked haphazardly. Then I observed, not just human beings, I didn’t see any other animals, like street dogs, birds, cows, nothing at all. So that means no living species around except me.

My mind was full of contradicting thoughts, “Is it some kind of alien abduction? Why they left me alone and took everybody else, I’m just a normal person? not a special to be considered… Or am I dreaming ???. I'm certain that it was not a dream. Because,  I never felt so real in any of previous dreams. May be I stressed too much, so I’m dreaming very long. Wait a minute... actually in dreams time doesn’t matter, you feel it is too long, but actually you might be dreaming in hours or may be minutes.”

Dont know "dreaming" was not going from my mind. I pinched myself just to confirm. It pained like anything, so it was not a dream. There could be chances that everyone in this city vanished, but there might be people living outside. I have to search for them. I drove my car towards home. Packed things required for one week living and put in the trunk.

I started driving to leave the city. Though it was morning, the highway was damn quiet. The too much silence can certainly make any person go crazy. I had put the songs in car with full volume, just to feel the sound. I never liked loud voice, but that time I felt happy while listening the music. On the way I spotted an old house, it looks weird to me. I ignored it. One way I spotted another house, which looks exactly same. It happened again, and again and again. I stopped the car and got down, decided to go near to that house. I stand just ten yards from that house. Something was missing in that house. It didn’t look like a “REAL” house, some kind of movie setup.  I went further near to the house.  Surprisingly, after nearing 5 yards, I was not able to go further; some invisible wall was stopping me. I touched it; I could feel that there was something in between. I looked at the house carefully, the windows, doors, painting etc… all appeared strange to me. I thought I had seen that type of home before, somewhere. But where, where? I got headache thinking about it.
I didn’t want to stay at that place. I returned back to the car, and drove towards city limits. After driving 2 hours, I saw the sign board, indicating that the road ahead was closed. And there was a giant metal fence across the road.

“Damn it”, I blurted. I realized that is the city limit and impossible to go further through that fence. “Who constructed this? Whoever abducted the city people, would they have done this? But why? … It might be that there is something out there, which they don’t want me to see.”
I got down from the car and noticed there is a small mountain on the right side. “If I’m able to climb that, I may see what is in the other side.”

I started climbing the mountain.

After a while I reached the top and looked ahead. It was not clear to me first what I saw. My mind was taking so much time to process that image. Some electrical signals or gama rays, unfinished shapes. I tried to move closer, then that happened; I have been pulled back forcefully from that place, and fell on the ground.
I looked up; I can see the sky, a clear blue sky.  Then I saw digital numbers on the sky, counting backwards from 10.

“10… 9… 8… 7”, “what the hell, numbers on the sky.”

“5…4…3…2…1”, then I heard a massive sound and everything turned black, pitch black.

…………………………….

…………………………….

I opened my eyes and removed PSE helmet from my head. I kept it on the table.  I pressed a button on the right side of the helmet; a blue colored small chip came out. I took it in my hand, “Alone- Simulation program-59” was written with Golden colored letters on it.

Year 2035/09/09 – Time 1:50 AM, the digital calendar on the wall showing it.

Note:
This Story is published at: http://yourstoryclub.com/short-stories-science-fiction/short-story-science-fiction-alone/