Screech…Scratch..
The sound of the metal being dragged
on the floor made Prakash’s insides churn. Of all the sounds existing in the
universe, this one topped his list of loathing. He covered his ears, that didn’t
muffle the sound entirely which continued at this unearthly hour. Wasn’t the
entire evening of crackers bursting everywhere enough already? Why was someone
dragging a metallic object in the middle of the night, that too in such a close
proximity? People couldn’t simply live or let live in peace. They had to evoke
your wildest side, they had to irritate you to the point you lost your cool. The
sound stopped. He breathed a sigh of relief. After a short pause the rhythmic
sound restarted and this time with an added urgency to it. He looked around, it
was dark. He was sure he was alone; he considered rebuking the person doing
this or just letting it go. The shrill piercing noise made him angry; he walked
in the direction of the sound. He witnessed a shaggy man walking in staggering
manner, dragging a metallic instrument along the length of the floor. The first thought that crossed Prakash’s mind
was that may be he was hallucinating or maybe he was a ghost. The idea made him
giggle. The guy’s clothes were strewn, dirty, he emitted a strong pungent
smell. Prakash called out to him “Hey, will you please stop doing this? Hey
you. I am speaking to you. Can’t you hear, you moron?”
With every syllable his voice climbed
a notch higher. He ran to the man, who was squinting his eyes and turning in
his direction, finally facing him, gave him a jerk while screaming into his
ears.
******************
Mrinal was going to quit tonight,
unofficially, without any notice. He had had enough of this mindless brainless
meaningless job which rather than letting him grow shrunk every succeeding day.
His manager was an ass, his colleagues were rowdies who kept bullying him and drove
him to the point of losing his sanity. He hadn’t gone home since almost 4 days.
He needed the extra cash to fulfil the Diwali needs of his family; he worked
his own overtime as well as his colleagues’s who promised their pay to him
along with some extra. Today those cheats laughed on his face when he demanded them
his share. He understood he had been outright fooled. He had been stupid to
have trusted them. His rage drove him to this point. He had hidden in the
mechanic room till the last of the employees left. He had picked up the
heaviest machinery he could manage to carry; he was headed to the lift. He
would drop it from the topmost level to the ground floor, inflicting the
maximum possible damage to the machinery unit. He knew his plan was stupid, but
this was all his throbbing mind could think of. Suddenly he felt wind whoosh
behind him. He felt like he was being followed. He looked around, didn’t see
anyone, continued walking. Just then a high pitched shrill made his eardrums
almost bleed. He closed his eyes and covered his ears. Suddenly the temperature
dropped to a freezing state. He knew something or someone was playing games
with him. He turned around and finally pinpointed the source of all commotion.
******************
Employee
dies a Mysterious death.
In suspicious circumstances a
fatigued overworked employee dies a mysterious death. He was discovered lying
on the floor with his pupils dilated and body frozen. He died of panic and cardiac
arrest. Investigations are on to what caused this unexplainable death. The sole
clue discovered from the site is the oddly twisted heavy machinery equipment
lying nearby which weighed around half a ton. The industry was closed down for
Diwali and the manager claims there are no eye witnesses as the entire
workforce was celebrating the eve of Diwali. Mrinal, 34, leaves behind a wife, two
kids, his mother who were dependent on him financially.
Read the next days’ paper…….
