A Story

Short Story

“And then he fell. He fell to the ground to experience his last few breaths.” Everyone in the audiences was stunned. The story didn’t finish the way they thought it would finish. That’s the quality Alexis possesses. He makes stories out of nothing and finishes it in an unexpected way bewildering the listeners. He says he lives for it. He is a natural story maker and storyteller. “How do you do it? I mean you are so amazing. Your story will nag me in the night. And for that matter maybe I won’t be able to sleep either.” An avid listener expressed his admiration. Alexis found nothing to say. He just smiled with a feeling of awe. He went back to his home. That night wasn’t the same as before. He made a decision. He wrote to his friend:

“My friend, I have been wondering what good it will do if I live in the same place wondering what people feel, how people react, why people do certain things without even getting a real taste of it. I doubt it. I think this is time to take a step to confront real world, real people, real emotion. I don’t want to say that I am not scared. I have been living in this tiny little house for years disconnected from outside world. I fear. I fear to go out there and feel like an alien. My friend, I have written stories after stories but never have felt that any of it is real.  My friend, I don’t know where I will go but I want to go out there somewhere and experience every possible thing. I can’t do it here. Because here I am that guy who hardly comes out of his house, who barely talks, who doesn’t even exist. I don’t want to scare people out here by being someone totally different all of a sudden. Here is a thing. I believe a person is not a single entity. To him he is a single entity. But to every other person he is just another person. Coz, every person views another person differently. The more people you will meet the more of you will be discovered. And I have been limiting this. I want more of me. And I need to get out there. I want to fall in love. I have never felt that emotion, I have never known sufferings, I have never known how a person can be the reason for another person’s happiness. I want to go out there and do all sorts of things that I have never imagined. I have lots to discover. Keep me in your prayer, my friend. I will get back to you soon.”

 

Next day Alexis was waiting for any train that will take him to any other place. He hopped on a train destined for an unknown place. A lot of thoughts were going on in his mind. The thoughts were scattered and he was restless. The only way he could settle down was to write everything down. He took his notebook and pen and wrote to his friend.

“My friend, I experienced a new beginning. I experienced happiness. I watched curious eyes lining up to see a new journey, a new story, a new life unleashing itself. Those eyes were blinking in the shadows and calling me to embark upon a new journey, a new story, a new life. And I accepted the invitation for I seek happiness there. My friend, there are lots of stories to be told. For now this is all I know.”

He fell asleep for awhile. When he woke up he saw a whole new different world. There were people and people and more people. It was chaotic. There were noises and voices and chattering and blabbering. He felt a rush from observing all that was happening there. He knew he got this blank page in his hand and a pen to fill that page with everything that he craved. He looked around. “I should talk to someone. I should talk to someone.” He was thinking. He went out to a guy appearing joyful and wearing a smile.

“Hello.” He said. “Hello?” The stranger looked at him repositioning his eyes over his spectacles with suspicion.  Alexis didn’t wait to reply. “Well, it might sound strange but I am new here and I really don’t know anything about this place. I just came here and wanted to talk to somebody.” Now the stranger was looking more suspiciously at him. “Okay. How can I help you?” Alexis realized he was acting really stupid. And that’s what amazed him. He never felt like acting stupid before. And there he was doing all sorts of bizarre things. “No. No. You won’t have to take any trouble to help me. That’s very kind of you, Mister. All I wanted to do is talk to you.” The stranger didn’t know how to react. “But here’s the problem. I really got to go. And I really don’t think you will get a person around here who will talk to you for no reason. See you later, weird guy.” The stranger patted him on the shoulder and said good bye. Alexis felt good about it. He felt differently. Alexis went on talking to different people, asking bizarre questions. The first day didn’t go bad at all. He walked around here and there and what he observed was that people around there were busy and everything was fast paced. He was tired now. He sat in a bench beside a closed shop and started writing to his friend.

 

“My friend, I was resurrected just after the burial of myself. I needed it badly. I needed to kill myself to be born again. I wondered for days and months what good it would do me if I remained the same person all my life. Coz, I will live my life once. There is a very little chance of living different lives with this one piece of life. So, I wanted to make the difference. I wanted to betray the nature. Coz, I was bored. So, I decided to be born again. For that matter I was killed and resurrected.”

And days passed by. He took a job at a Bookshop. He was very friendly to all of them. Everyone liked him. Everyone started hearing about him. He felt his existence there. He continued to write stories. He heard about a publisher. He started making a draft of a novel. Everyone seemed really fine.

One day he came across a girl. He never saw her before. There is this curiosity lurking in his mind; curiosity to know another person. Something made him stare at her for awhile. Something was there. He just couldn’t settle his thought. It was blurred. Maybe it was something he had been looking for. He just felt something; something that he had never felt before. He just wanted to take a bold step. He wanted to go there and talk to her. But something stopped him. Next few days he saw her there. Then one day he just stood beside her. “Hello, miss. Can I ask you something? Have you ever had this experience where you just see a person for the first time and you just don’t know anything about him or her but the only thing you want to do is talk to him or her? No reason, no excuses. You just want to go straight to her and ask her name and tell her that she is beautiful.” There was an act of desperation while Alexis was saying all this. And that girl just stood there wondering what to say. “Why are you saying all these to me?” She finally said. Alexis leaned forward. “That’s what I’ve just experienced. And that person is you.”  Her eyes just popped out in anger or in wonder right after he finished his sentence. “Listen, I don’t want to hear all these. This is ridiculous. I don’t even know you. Keep your thoughts to yourself, okay?” She just left. But Alexis found amazement there. He knew she would react like that. He assured himself he was about to create a story.

 

Next few days he didn’t see her. He walked around looking for her. And he found her walking towards him. He was delighted. But he hid his excitement from his face and confronted her. He couldn’t say much this time. And even she didn’t show any sign of irritation. Alexis felt relieved. Just before she was starting to leave he asked her. “What should I call you then? A stranger?” She was trying to hide her smile. “Ayesha would be better.” Alexis thought, “Let’s keep this story alive for awhile.”

 

Alexis got desperate to make the story interesting. The story was about to reach its end when he wrote to his friend but it didn’t.

 

“My friend, we were there. We fixed our eyes on each other. We were determined to burst out. We carried revolvers pointing to each other. We both were ready to pull the trigger. She was determined and I was forced. We waited too long. She said, “Let’s just kill each other and finish it all.” But I liked the state of being on the verge of losing everything. I found the intensity on her face so fascinating. I wanted to show mine too. So, I decided not to. I decided to spend more time hanging in the balance of life and death until she shoots me in the head and shoots me down to death.”

 

“I am just not ready for all these stuffs.” Ayesha said.

“But I can’t finish my story like this. This is not supposed to end like this.”

“What story? What are you talking about?”

“My story, our story, Ayesha. I just want to tell you one thing. I felt what I had never felt before. You know, whenever I work on a story I just can’t wait to reach its end. But this is the first time I don’t want to end a story. Rather, I am scared. I am scared to lose it. I want to keep it alive till I am alive. But the thing is I alone can’t make it happen. I can’t” There was silence. Nothing was left, only few sighs. They both waited for someone to speak up. Both of them relished the silence. Alexis looked into her eyes and what he saw made him smile and walk away. And he knew the story was not going to end for his story was just about to begin.