An unforgettable page in my diary!

Chapter 1

A serene Saturday morning, I get up from my 6inch thick foam, round-shaped bed. Slide open the windows of my bedroom and the morning sun shines amidst beautiful greenery. Tying the knots of my white pajamas and locking my shirt buttons, I glance through the window.The reflection of the rays by the lake make it look like a thin layer of gold spread over acres of land. The warmth of the morning sun refills energy in birds and they start chirping. I slowly come out of my bedroom and walk across the hall into the garden. The garden is covered with dry, brown leaves over green lawn. I occupy one of the four white chairs with a center-round table. My factotum, John gets me a cup of coffee and soon gets busy mowing the lawn. I take the carefully folded newspaper into my hands and open it, sipping coffee slowly.

My neighbors, Jake and Maria and their 2 sweet little kids are going on a holiday for the weekend. Its a customary thing in US to go on jolly trips every now and then and spend time with family. Jake loads their car with necessary items for the trip.Maria pushes my fencing gate slowly and walks towards my garden. Their two little kids, Ian and Ken playfully follow their mom teasing my Labrador-breed lolly, my little pet. Maria soon joins me for a coffee and starts talking about their trip. Ian and Ken get busy playing with lolly. Jake calls them back as soon as he is done loading the truck. They leave.

I wear my shoes and start for a jog taking lolly with me. I take the narrow road covered with dry leaves on it and with colorful trees on both sides. The sun rays traveling hundreds of miles across the sky touch the ground from in between the tall colorful trees. The cold breeze touches my sweat-covered neck and produces a tickling effect. I slowly jog across the streets and see people of different age groups - kids, moms, granny's, couples, young guys and girls, their pets. I come back to my spacious bungalow and John helps me fresh up and he prepares my breakfast. I have my quick breakfast watching headlines in the TV. I then sit in the soft, smooth sofa and watch movies in my 72" LED TV till its lunch time. Its time for a lavish lunch.

My friends join me for lunch. We relish each and every dish prepared very carefully for us. Soon we are satiated and finish our lunch. John serves everyone sweets. We all sit together in my bedroom and play UNO until its evening. We then go to a movie and then go shopping - just to spend money! I get back home alone, tired and exhausted late in the night. I take bath and pounce on the bed. John takes care of rest of the things - the logistics of closing the door, switching the lights off etc. My bungalow otherwise very calm and serene, becomes noisy and I get up to police banging my door! The two floors of my lavish 10,000sqft bungalow is sealed!

What happened last night? What happens next? Why did I introduce Jake and Maria in this story?
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Chapter 2

Lets travel back in time and see what exactly happened last night. Before that did I introduce myself? No, OK. I'm Steve and my parents who once existed on this earth were multi-millionaires. They were very hard workers. They amassed a fortune by collecting each penny, living a finicky life. I rarely think of them, but I feel pity whenever I do that. They were busy in their own schedules and meetings – that was their only world. They never had time to take care of the family. We never went on family trips. We hardly had dinners together – once in a fortnight or so. The less I talk about them, the better it be - because I hate them. I inherited this wealth from my parents and I live with my girlfriend, Katie. We live together with my factotum, John in this beautiful bungalow – The Gray’s House, named after my dad. A pristine lake abuts our house. The garden is fenced with a chaste border of conventionalized flowers of all colors. Expensive cars stand in a perfect straight line. Jake and Maria have been my neighbors for quite sometime now and are very dearer to me. Ian and Ken cuddle around me every time they see me, as I get them gifts and chocolates every Christmas. Now I have everything I ever wanted except one thing, life! Yes, you heard it right. I’m not a human like you. I was murdered two days ago, on Friday night. I’m in my afterlife, wondering about the powers I gained after my death. I can peep into anyone’s mind, I can travel faster than light, I can reach skies, and I can do whatever I want!

Wait., then how did I go for a jog yesterday morning if I was murdered two days ago? How did I interact with Maria over my morning coffee? How can John see me and do all the menial work for me? They are all the things I was imagining - thinking I would do all those things if I was alive. They are all the routine things I used to do when I had life. I was concerned, loyal and caring. I always had time for my family and friends. Let me introduce my friends to you: Silber, Katie, and Juan. We used to call ourselves 'The Fantastic Four'. I was a lovable person, at least that is what Katie used to say always.Wait another minute, where is Katie? Katie.. Katie.. you there baby? honey, there? Ohhh... my... god! Its a horrible thing to have a fading memory and keep forgetting things. My mind is going blank. I don't remember things for long.

I feebly remember things that happened till a day before yesterday's night, when exactly I was murdered. Two days ago, I got up as usual from my bed along with Katie. It was a Friday, the start of the weekend. I and Katie were planning to go on a trip to Barcelona, Spain and spend time amidst the Catalan sculptures. It was unusually sunny on a wintry morning. I got up from my bed, walked across the hall into the garden and occupied a chair. Jake and Maria were getting ready to go to work. I waved my hand at Ian and Ken and they reciprocated it with great enthusiasm. Katie followed me and sat beside me placing her warm hand on my shoulder. John served both of us coffee and I went into the streets for a jog. I came back, tired and Katie was dressed up in a beautiful pink gown. Her eyes were sparkling and her lips were so luscious. I was helplessly inebriated by her scent. She then pushed me into the bedroom. I took a quick shower and was back soon. We had all our luggage already packed. I had planned of some secret surprising things for Katie, as it was our first anniversary after we started living together. So I was driving down to the town. I saw Juan and Silber were racing their car towards my house. I stopped them and I told them about the secret surprise I was about to unpack in Barcelona. They were happy. They told they would wait for me at my home. I nodded my head and headed towards the town. All the way I was thinking of the times to be spent int Barcelona.

What gifts did I buy for Katie to surprise her? Did Katie, Juan and Silber plan something about my murder before I came back home? Juan and Silber are my very good friends - how could they do this to me, if at all this was their plan to murder me? What exactly happened when I reached home back with the Gifts? How was I murdered that night after all?

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Chapter 3

Barcelona.. Barcelona and only Barcelona was going in my mind. I was so excited about the trip and everything. I bought some very precious and beautiful gifts for Katie. I returned home. We all had lunch together and John served us the desserts. It was 3PM and we were scheduled to leave at 10PM to Airport. So we planned to kill time by playing UNO. Things were not going right. There was something amiss. I could see Katie with a fake smile. Usually jocund Silber and Juan were nervous and were laughing quite often, just to hide something from me? May be it was just my assumption! I had no inkling what was about to unravel. Somehow my excitement outdid everything else. It was 6PM. Juan and Silber left. I was tired and took a short nap.

The screeching cry of vehicle's tires braking against the concrete floor awoke me. It was dark, night-time perhaps, and cold. I looked around disoriented and dazed. I was lying on a cement floor and my head was spinning. As I looked around, I realized I was inside my basement but with many obscure shapes around me. They were all blurred, but as I recovered my focus, I realized they were some kind of iron rods. I rubbed my eyes and stared at them. I could hear some sounds from somewhere but could not muster my senses to make out the source. I noticed some lights flickering on the ceiling. I flinched at them, annoyed. My vision was slowly recovering and it felt like needles were being pulled out of my eyes. I was not able to get up from the cold floor, my body parts were semi-paralyzed. I could hardly see in the darkness but I felt my cold blood flowing through my ears and nose.

I mustered my energy and started crawling towards the light, across the stairs. I could not feel any sensation in my bottom half. My knees were bleeding. My forearms and ankles badly hurt. What exactly happened to me? I was alright till 6PM when I slept off. I was waiting for Katie to wake me up, but seems its past my flight's departure time. What happened to Katie and what happened to my trip to Barcelona? All these questions were perplexing me. I could hear some one talking. The voices sounded familiar. Two men wearing peculiar business suits and black leather gloves holding a saw were right opposite to me, but turned to the other side. Perhaps they did not notice me, they were discussing something and I could see blood all around. They were rummaging through my wardrobes. They also seemed to be armed with small pistols. I hid behind a pillar and as it was dark and calm, I covered my mouth with my bleeding hands to stop my breathe and not to get caught. A cold breeze entered the room as the door opened. John entered the room perhaps to checkout if something was wrong. The two men ruthlessly pounced onto John and A gunshot echoed loudly through out the room. John's face grew pale and his eyes became distant as his body collapsed on the wooden floor. I stared in disbelief. I looked around for the exit, desperation and fear sinking in, but was too scared to move a muscle.

Finally, after finding enough courage, I began to crawl down the stairs silently. I kept my head low and my steps weak. I knew it was risky but I was too frightened to go back now and exit through the main door. My heart pumped faster with each step and I could feel every beat like if it were a bass drum. My mind ran terrible scenarios as I continued my pace. Would I be shot to death before I discovered a way out? Who are they after all? I kept glancing over at the two men who were now smoking cigars next to John's corpse. They were truly heartless, sadistic bastards. I was disgusted but helpless. I soon reached the exit from the basement when they were busy talking and smoking. As I opened the door, a voice startled me. "Are you still alive?". He looked more angry than curious. I could not make out who it was since he was all dressed in black and put on a mask. I lost all the hopes and gave up. I knew I was going to be shot dead. I could see the silver pistol in his hands, though not pointed at me. I was anyway half dead.

Who are they? What do they want of me? What happened to Katie? I wanted to ask them all these questions. As I lifted my heavy head and was about to ask,the man then removed his mask. What the hell!!!!!!

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Chapter 4

The man in black removed his mask.You all might have guessed by this time. It was my very own dear friend - Juan. Heavy steps followed him to the basement, it was Silber. They stood plumb in front of me with wicked smiles on their faces. "Sadistic bastards" I screamed trying to stand up. I felt like knocking the two to floor and rip their heads off. But I did not have the stamina to back up my emotions. I could hear the sound of my bones breaking when I forcibly tried to stand up. It was more paining to digest the facts than the lacerations on my physical body. "But why?" I asked them in a stronger tone. Silber kicked me on my knees and I again collapsed to the floor. This time it was more paining. I felt as if I was being cut into pieces by a saw. "Where are the papers?" asked Juan. "Its in here somewhere in this house, hidden where?" Silber added. "May be you can tell us where it is". I looked at him furiously. "I'll never tell you anything" I quickly said again trying my luck to stand up. "I'd rather die than tell you" I wished I had more stamina and energy to kick the two in their abdomens, snatch the gun and killed them. "If you wish to, then you must-" came a female voice from behind. "die". Katie it was, she pointed the silver pistol at me and shot me right in my ribs. The bullet pierced my blood-drenched shirt and came out rushing from my back. For a moment I could not feel anything but as the blood started spilling around, I collapsed. My vision became blurred. My eyes fell distant. My head banged to the cement floor of the basement. Still I could hear them talk. I was breathing heavily but they did not care. They walked up the stairs briskly and started scavenging for the papers.

The pain of the bullet was nothing compared to the pain I was going through in my heart. I had cared for everyone. I always loved Katie. What made her do this to me? had she asked me for something, I would have given her without much deliberation. She knew that too. But why? why me? I wished it was a dream, but it was not. I could hear them talk and rummage through my wardrobes, scattering the things all around on my bedroom floor. Soon, I heard the sound of car receding away from my bungalow. "May be they found what they wanted and hence they left" I thought. I was still not dead. The intensity of the pain was growing and I was shouting for help - in my low voice. I tried moving from my place and reach Jake's house. But I could not move a muscle. I slowly clambered up the stairs heavily pulling my own weight, taking pauses in between. It was very tough time for me. I reached my bedroom and saw lolly dead on the floor. They had killed my pet, lolly too. They did not leave a single living being in my house. All the things scattered on the floor including the gifts that I had purchased for Katie. I wanted to cry loudly but the pain in my ribs was not allowing me to do anything I wanted. I took a piece of cloth from my bedroom floor, wrapped it around my waist. I fell there in the dark, unconscious. Later dead!

Now, I'm in my afterlife. I'm afraid of none. Jake and Maria returned from their trip on Sunday morning. They had returned before the actual scheduled time - may be due to earthquake-danger alarm by Government officials in some parts of the state. It was 7AM in the morning. Ian and Ken came to my house to play with lolly. They were quite surprised to see even John not responding to their calls. They weren't tall enough to peek through the windows. They grew tired and got Jake and Maria to peep through the windows. Jake and Maria peeped through the windows of my hall, but they could see nothing. No movement in the house. It was serene, as usual. They restrained from disturbing us and went back- thinking we were deep asleep. They did not know the truth yet. But it was then at 10AM, when no body came out of our house, they grew suspicious. They broke open the windows and came in to my bedroom. Shocked to death, Maria screamed and Jake pulled Ian and Ken out of my house. They later complained to the Police and Police arrived soon. They started investigating. Sniffer dogs, ambulances and cops filled the whole place. My 10,000sqft bungalow now sealed for further investigation.

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"An Urforgettable Page in my Diary" by Kiran Chalasani is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.