Through the eyes of Sunil

Previously on "That Night" - here ... It shakes your roots when something you always believed, becomes questionable. You don't understand what is right and what isn't. You start doubting everything around. You then have two options -  try and find the answers so that you can re-establish your belief / make amends to what you believed. Or forget everything and move on.  After a bad day in office and a horrific incident riding back home, all I needed was a good night or let's say early morning sleep. It was 10 AM when I opened my eyes after a brief nap. Although too tired to even get out of the bed, I had to be in office soon so I dragged myself, still half asleep, shaken from that moment-of-madness, I got ready for work. I didn't speak a word about what happened last night to my wife even though she sensed something was bugging me real bad. Thinking it may just be the workload, she didn't question further and I was out on bikes within an hour.  I could have...

"Thursday... another day and then as they say TGIF... followed by the best part - the weekends", I thought to myself, as I entered the office premises. But little I knew that it was going to be a long working day and a horrific experience of my life.  As soon as I opened my mailbox there were loads of issues reported and we had to deliver them all before Friday EOD. Thus began one of the longest working days I could ever think of. The day progressed testing several builds, retesting defects that went back and forth, lengthy calls with managers & clients and with many.. many cups of coffee. It felt as if the day wasn't going to end and I was stuck to my laptop all the time. The only time I got up was to refill my water bottle and to empty the fluid-one within. Even the lunch, snacks, dinner were ordered to our desks!! And finally, it was 2.30AM - friday early morning actually, when we decided to take a break. We had worked for 17 hrs straight and it wasn't over yet...

contd. from here Strange things happened in the last few visits to the Rodgers. The old lady revealing the secret of my life, David mentioning that he never saw any old women & the guilt... was killing me from the inside! ‘ Is it really happening or are they just happening inside my head?’ . The darkest moments of my life were flashed in front of my eyes, like a play-back movie! *** On that dreadful night, I was coming back from work upset about things that didn’t go very well. In fact it was the worst day in office. As soon as I reached home, my wife Susan locked herself inside the bedroom. Apparently she was still angry about the argument we had the previous night. I was certainly not in a mood for another fight, so I switched on the TV and started watching some sports. After an hour or so, Susan came out shouting at me. In no time, we were fighting like never before. I always kept my cool but that night rage took over my mind. Things got really bad and my temper was on top of m...

contd. from here I couldn’t sleep that night. So many questions went unanswered. Who was that lady? How did she know me & my wife? Was it just a guess Or was it the alcohol? Why didn’t I stop her? What else does she know? Have we met before?...  Every question was like an unresolved mystery... When you are guilty about something, something that you never wanted to happen, such questions haunt you every minute every second of your life. Following week was painful. I couldn’t sleep at night and because of which I couldn’t work during the day. Snowfall was getting worse every hour and when the next Friday night came - it was almost impossible to go outside. Yet, I had a mystery to solve. Something was telling me that day the old lady will return to the bar.  With great difficulty I reached Rodger’s at last. Just like the previous week, there were very few customers. David, the bartender greeted me with a smile and took out the regular beer. I took the beer and was about to ...

Note: Trying my hands on some fiction after a very long time. In fact this is my second post this year! Anyway, just to repeat myself - this is a work of fiction. Any resemblance with anyone is pure coincidence :P  It was another typical Friday night when I was at Rodger’s, enjoying my beer quietly on my usual table in the corner. I knew the place and the staff as I was one of their regulars. The stern look on my face wasn’t so welcoming to others so people preferred to stay away. Even otherwise I liked to be alone as that was the only time I could dwell with my thoughts with some alcohol. Winter has taken its toll. Cold night & thick snow made it even more difficult to stroll around. That's the reason why there were less people in the bar than usual. I liked it that way. The best thing about Rodger’s was, it was the only bar which stayed open till mid night. The place was away from those busy city life yet not too far from it when it comes to distance, made this place best c...

 I was tired after the long and hard day at work. After collating the data from all my peers, my mind was reluctant to review the whole thing again. However, past experience told me not to send it without a final review. My eyes were burning as if someone had lit a candle inside my eyes!   Another 15 minutes and it will be midnight… but this was very important. With great difficulty I finished the last line before calling it a day! After shutting down the computer, I left my place at 12AM. I had to push my body a couple of times before it could respond. It felt as if all my organs woke up after a long sleep. I was about to open the door when I realized someone standing behind it. The door in my cabin had a translucent glass. The face of the shadow figure standing outside my cabin was not clearly visible. For a moment, it gave me a little shock as I was not expecting anyone to be in office at that time, that too outside my door, trying hard to peek inside! I stopped for a while...

Contd from part1 , part2 (Sam read the lines again and again. He tried to recall the times they spent together... From what was written in her diary he started realizing that it was him, with whom Riya was in love with. It was about him she had written in her diary. He was numb & left heartbroken.) Oh dear god! I can’t believe this… I am really sorry Riya. I could never read your feelings. Now that I know, I will never be able to see you again! I shouldn’t have read the whole thing in the first place…. (He then leaned down, resting his head on the table… He felt as if the tears coming out straight from his heart, which refused to stop…)   … ... (After some time, Sam raised his head. The first thing he could see on his table was some kind of a reflection from the glass of a photo frame. He felt as if someone is  starring at him from behind. It was very late, almost 2’o clock midnight. This made him a bit more conscious. He turned back at once only to find the curtains ...