This story was written for a SHORT STORY CONTEST in one of the ORKUT COMMUNITIES.
The Contest rules had said that every story should have the following words:
"Banwara mann dekhne chala ek sapna"...crooned one of the radio stations. "Can we ever stop dreaming?"
And yeah the theme of the story should be DREAMS. And here goes my story.
Shattered Dreams
Scene 1
13 June 2008 2100 hrs, Chennai.
Kabilan came out of the pub, dancing to the last beat of the song that was hitting hard in his ears a few seconds ago. Yes, he wasnt stable. Even after 8 large pegs of whiskey, his thirst was not over. His so unstable mind did not forget to pick his beer bottle packed with brown paper. By the time he reached the car park, he opened the bottle and swallowed the first half of the bottle greedily. He was not sure about his destination. His hands were so busy driving. His mind wasnt. He enjoyed every day like this. Drinking hard all night and sleeping until his hands reached for next sip of alcohol. Now, He was driving happily singing (Read it Yelling) along whatever songs his hands tuned in to. "Banwara mann dekhne chala ek sapna"...crooned one of the radio stations. "Can we ever stop dreaming?" was the RJ's voice. He tuned into the other station." I wanna be ur underwear ..." was the other song in another station. He laughed out loud and started to shout along with Bryan Adams. And never thought about stop driving nor beer sipping.
Scene 2
13 June 2008 2100 hrs, Chennai.
Mercy was waiting for her to-be-ex husband in one of the beautiful restaurants in the city. Yeah, They did not live together after 3 months of their marriage. They both thought they were not for each other. However, their relatives and friends thought 3 months is too short a period to come to such a decision. They were meeting after a month since they got seperated. She was looking at her watch for 10th time while she was sitting near by the glass window of the restaurant. The restaurant first floor had a beautiful view of the city roads and the near by mini fly over that divides itself to either side of the restaurant. She did not hesitate to enjoy the view as she ever would. Like any other day she was happily enjoying the vehicles head lights flashing in different colurs. She always thought her city was so beautiful unlike her life. Their marriage was arranged by parents and had involved all formalities of the church. She thought somehow the god did not bless her with the right partner. When she was exactly thinking about that, Jose came rushing to the table and said "SORRY" for the first time in their married life for being late. She could not believe her own ears. She thought he wanted to keep her happy in their last few days of married life. After living 3 months with her he thought she was mentally too weak. He thought she was not strong enough to be in any relationship. He also did not want a wife who is so caring and so depending on him.
Mercy did not want to keep this long, She raised her chin and asked him
" Why are we meeting today? " He did not want to answer for this question. He thought she would ask him " When are we getting back to married life? "
She cleared her throat to repeat her question. He simply replied " Just to finalise everything "
She expected him to reply " To get into the habit of dating every evening " But he had replied the other way already.
" So Whats there to finalise? " She asked.
" Its up to you Mercy. As you wish. um. U know, I thought I should give you some space to take decision on this. Just as you wished, Lets live apart for next 1 year for the sake of law. Then, probably we should get the papers signed. "
She controlled that tiny tear from her eyes and managed to smile. Her eyes had to fight a lot with her own heart to show such an instant smile. She did not want to show her weakness. He always liked women who were strong. He always said he would not cry for anyone. So she was doing a HE this time. She acted like him. Acted bold, brave and beautiful.
" Does that beautiful smile means AGREED? " He assumed that she is happy to get away from him. He thought deep inside him and begged his god why should not he get a negative answer from her.
" You had brilliantly put up the question Jose... " trying to imitate his tone and voice, she continued "AS YOU WISHED, Lets live apart.. blah blah... So, As I wished, I would say a big YES " Again fighting hard with her heart, to be like him, she smiled and said another "YES". He kept staring at her beautiful eyes, expecting her to cry. Those beautiful eyes did not. Rest of her body cried except her eyes, which went unnoticed. Should blame those beautiful eyes for that.
When he wanted to say the next word, tears rushed out of those eyes. Yes, It was Jose who cried and said " I think love you and would be so incomplete without you in my life" She stood up and tried to stop him crying. She was not happy that she made him to cry. Rather, she was happy that he had the same feeling as she had. He went on kneels, grabbed the plastic flowers on the table and proposed her for the first time. " Can I take you home? "
She was having a mixed reactions on her face. Laughing and crying happily for what had just happened.
Scene 3
13 June 2008 2200 hrs, Chennai.
As Jose was on his kneels, there rushed a car from the mini fly over which failed to take either of those divertion, crashed the glass window and hit her forehead, took her along with it and landed on the other side of the restaurant's first floor. Jose went near by and could only see both Kabilan and Mercy dead. Very few of Mercy's body was visble. Beautiful eyes were never there. Jose cried forever in his life.
End of the story.
Kabilan had nothing to lose, he killed Mercy. When she died, she was happy and so happy that Jose loved him very much.
Jose was never smiling and was never himself. Careless Drunk and Drive of Kabilan caused Jose' life. A happy marriage came to an end as soon as it was found.
Both their Dreams were shattered.
