Strange things happen when one goes to bed—anticipating rendezvous with unrealized dreams; from the forgotten past, sometimes dreary shadows are conjured upon, and sometimes one is dragged to the world—unseen…
Big Bobby, who had been a proud multiple role player when in his prime, but surely wasn’t glad to be a run-down someone in his early forties; he wouldn’t have agreed to play the protagonist in this tale if it wasn’t for an exciting climax of a horror story…
The prefix ‘Big’ in his name is given by the known people, owing to his size; but no one cared to notice that he was sick as well—inside and out—until the recent surprise. (He has sustained a massive heart attack recently, and still weighs around 120 kgs.)
A peculiar sort of guilt, sadness, and self-blame prevented him from taking the charge of his gifted life; in a diminished sense of self he again goes to sleep in an enclosure, but this time someone barges in to increase his strife…
‘Who’s there?’, he cries!
‘Oath keeper?’, he enquires, trembling…
‘No! I am no more the lowly Oath keeper anymore.’, a shadow from the corner of the room declared.
‘Oh! I thought you are the same Oath keeper,’ gasps he, in relief; and continues further on expecting this conversation to be brief: ‘Then, who are you now, and what’s the purpose of your visit?’, asks Big Bobby, rendering a little hint about how petrified he already was just a moment back;
‘I am the lord of death, now’, declared the lurking Shadow, certainly not something to hear when you are already going through a panic attack.
‘Well, let’s go, Big Bobby, it’s time to leave your body now, I am here to escort your unsavory soul’, and the Shadow holds the arm of someone much lighter this way and takes it on for a long stroll…
‘So, what went wrong? Shadow asks, ‘where did you falter, Big bobby?’, he wanted to know the details; and standing at this precipice, it was easier for a constant ‘promise breaker’ to follow the backward trail…
‘Even though you have a different face now, or say, no face at all, can I still call you Mr. O.K.— for old times’ sake?’, and the former Oath Keeper readily agrees to his demand, for awaited were the listable excuses of a fake.
‘So, tell me Mr. B.B., if you don’t mind my using your initials as well, what actually went wrong? Why couldn’t you keep a simple promise of going for a simple everyday morning walk?’, asked the Oath Keeper, with utmost concern; ‘Was that too much to ask for reversing your chronic ailments, huh?’, and looks into the eyes of Big Bobby for an honest answer in return.
‘Well, firstly, you know very well, that how lonely I often feel without any company; if I might take the recent incident, then the reason was the—same old—absence of some nice people around to accompany.’, his reason seemed quite genuine to Mr. O.K.
‘Okay!’, said Mr. O.K., but he didn’t forget to remind him of the scenario when the terms of this covenant were reached; his promise of opting for a healthy lifestyle was the only savior then—when the freely flowing will of the ‘big’ Big bobby was duly beached—he had survived a massive heart attack a month back!
‘Wow!’, he exclaims in disappointment, ‘what a waste!’, he regrets, and continues: ‘You should have tried to make the best out of your Loneliness, for I know people who have embraced their solitude as their only consolation; you could have easily been a lone wolf in order to cultivate some of those newer yet healthier passions.’, Mr. O.K., even though moved by Big Bobby’s lonesome affairs, yet, he successfully settled the case of Loneliness then and there.
‘Anyways, what else?’, he again enquired to know more; he wanted to reach to the core of the issues of a loser—hard-core!
‘Secondly’, recalls Big Bobby, ‘painfully slow was the reaping of that exercise regime, so I wished, ready-made should come the technique for one healthifying routine’, and here came his second big excuse that touched the height of extreme, no wonder Mr. B.B is still lingering in between—between life and death.
The Oath Keeper patiently acknowledged his honesty, and said: ‘Look, Big Bobby, I am not surprised that you still favor the indolence of a sloth despite being given a second chance; but remember, whoever enjoys physical inactivity for so long, becomes moth-eaten in advance!’
‘Oh, I see’, Big Bobby admits, ‘You made a valid point’, he declares, and continues: ‘ This time I completely understood the reason why you gave me the second chance; I am sorry to have wasted it, so can I again have a second chance, perchance?’
‘There is no Second 2nd Chance!’, Oath Keeper adjudged, and vanished.
An eery silence followed…
Big Bobby felt the chills down his spine of a feverish cold; he closed his eyes not sure of what lies next to unfold…
At the strike of 04:40 am he found himself awaken, but he kinda froze to his capacious bed; with stiffened neck and convoluted ankles & knuckles he was gasping for every breath…
He felt the effect of that dreaded spasm all over his body—unable to move his littlest finger and his toes; he was trembling at the behest of an apparition that had some hideous supernatural force…
The more was the stiffening effect on his voice, the more he was fighting to scream; he had rather won a little breather, in a while, to recall the ‘revised’ terms of a covenant he entered in one—more than a vivid dream!
His neglected inner voice which never created any noise only now echoed in a manifested shadow; the protagonist of this story was not some horrifying poltergeist, but Big Bobby’s own alter ego… a manifestation of his own alter ego!
He leaves his capacious bed, puts on his running shoes, and goes for the morning walk after a really long time… and thanked goodness for it was just another crazy dream that reminded him to catch the Sunshine!
#HappyBirthdayToMe
#021122
Praveen Katiyar
