Chapter 3 : Ninja Knights

It had been a terribly stressful week. One day merging into another, no time to take it in at all. But as Friday approached.. hope came back with it, and along with it came the hope of possibly running into my 'mystery' guy again.
On Friday evening, after spending a few relaxing hours with my books and chatting with my friends.. I thought of taking a stroll outside. It was after sunset and the sky was slowly converging towards darkness.. approaching the midnight blue. I was dressed in a warm sweater and jeans and casual shoes. I had only planned to take a short walk around the house and be back in about 15 minutes. But things rarely go as planned .. do they?
I was just about to turn the corner when i found myself jerkily grabbed into the shadows with a hand covering my mouth and a voice whispering in my ear to keep quiet. I hastily tried to jerk and turn around trying to see his face.. only to find myself in the arms of the mystery guy. Well.. i confess i might have thought about this happening.. (certainly not in this fashion tho)!!?? and before i could interrogate him or punch him in the face..whichever might have come to me first..
I had another shock...
There standing right where I was seconds ago.. was a man or a woman .. i couldn't make out.. completely covered in black.. the hilt of a sword dangling from his back.. a very life like figure of a ninja straight out of a graphic novel (comics...as you might know them).. but there was nothing 'comic' about this whole scene.
I felt like i was losing my mind or was wrapped up in highly unrealistic alternate universe of my highly active imagination. Before i could come to a conclusion however, i realised that .. this Ninja..person was reaching for his sword.. and then i did the most natural thing which i think i would have done.. i ran!.
I was running and my mystery guy was running right alongside me..When we reached a house right at the end of the road.. he grabbed my arm and said "Here.. This is my house.. come!"
we ran up the stair to reach his door..and hurriedly ventured inside.
We crouched low and didn't turn on the lights.. and while i was catching my breath.. the 'unreality' of it all started to hit me..and I knew that I was now.. inside the apartment of a guy who i barely knew .. and he was not two inches away from me.. and it was dark!..
I flinched and pushed him away.. "Who are you?" i asked.. and "What is the meaning of all this"
The street light was filtering in through the blinds and i could see that he was signalling me to stay quiet. He stood up to check outside the window.. seemingly satisfied after 5 minutes of inspection.. he visibly relaxed and went on to turn on the lights. The apartment was lightly furnished with a few grocery bags lying around.
He remained standing near the light switch and said "Look.. I can explain.. but don't freak out"
"Dont freak out!!??" i exclaimed.. "you are in no position to ask that of me sir... who are you.. whats your name.. please explain what the hell am i doing in your house at this hour"..
Well.. he drawled.. "I am just a college grad .. studying here.. under Professor Zeus..er.. my name is Andy.. and... you.. are here because we were finding a safe place to hide"..
"What!!.." is that all I am going to get??...i wondered "now be honest Andy ...if that is your name".. i murmered.."Is this some twisted ploy of asking a girl out?.. making your friend dress up as some freak show.. scaring me into running to your house..!?"
He almost paled.. and I thought.. HA.. got you!.. But he seemed to be shocked, at first.. and then he smiled.. "Ahh.. now that you mention it.. It does seem to be a nice idea to get a girl to my room... but .. seriously.." and all hints of a smile were gone from his face.."see.. watever your name is.. I dont understand this any better than you do.. but I have been noticing some strange things.." he stalled... "um.. about you.. actually"..
"Strange things??" i inquired.. "The only strange thing thats happened to me the whole of last week.. was to possibly run into you and to consequently find myself standing in your room!"...I was losing my temper.. i knew that wouldn't help.. but Oh.. he was not helping!!!... and i was just a short while away from losing it completely..
"Just tell me as it is.. Andy... the whole thing...before i conclude that you are just a crazy guy and scream for Police!!"... Something about this whole fiasco .. had made me more curious about this mystery guy.. well now he had a name atleast..
"In a nutshell.. you happen to be someone with a crazy power of Intuition and these Ninja Knights.. are after you..because they want this power for themselves.. and I am the assigned Guard who is supposed to protect you..and hence, I can't let you out of my sight".. It was a few seconds before i realized that my mouth was open and .. a while later when i realized that I was laughing... "That!!.. " i said, unable to control my giggles.. "is one of the most hilarious of lies ever... you didn't even tryy to sound convincing..".. I was smiling.. "So.. this WAS some elaborate ploy of asking a girl out?"
But instead of joining in the bubble of mirth that i found myself in.. he merely said..
"No!.." ... "No!.,.. you don't GET it!!"
The force of his denial made me stop "What superpowers of Intuition am i supposed to possess then?? and How is it.. that YOU are supposed to be my guard.. and YOU don't even know my name .. and YOU didn't even fight that Ninja guy.. YOU.. RAN.. After me!!" ... "If i would not have seen that Ninja whatever with my own eyes.. i would have possibly already slapped you and walked out.. but YOU better explain this to me!...and this time.. tell the truth!"
He scrunched up his face .. as if he had just smelled something foul and visibly struggling against his breath.. excalimed.. "Oh.. allright!.. but the truth is stranger than the fiction that i just made up and you won't believe me again!..See.. It isn't your life that is in danger".. I rolled my eyes..I knew what he would say next.. "and.. you don't have any superpowers.. and neither do I.." he was staring at his shoes.. head bent in shame.. "Its just that..." and then he looked up staring right into my eyes, possibly to show the sincerity of his answer.. "I Have noticed a few strange things happening to ME lately.. like.. Life threatening situations.. and then.. YOU turn up out of the blue ... and save me.." ... shock wasn't the word... this guy truly needed help..
"and pray tell me.. as to when did I have the misfortune of saving your life.. by just turning up!.. and how is it that I am not even aware of it being a regular occurrence.."
"Well.. It isnt so regular..." he confessed "Its only since the last weekend"... "Things have been happening to me since the last month...I would find myself.. inches away from falling into a 20 feet ditch or stuck inside a phone booth.. slowly losing air...I have barely been surviving these weird occurences.. er.. Professor Zeus.. well he is a major in Psychology.. and I moved here.. because he thought It was some sort of a suicidal tendency of mine .. which was just manifesting itself..and He thinks that I am trying to kill myself.. But.. last weekend.. I was just about to be run down by a car and there you were... asking me If i was ok.. and I WAS.. I didnt have a scratch.. I was too shocked to say anything to you... and the next day I was just out there playing ball and you came down.. and I could sense that something bad was about to happen.. but I knew that you would keep it at bay.. and didnt want you to leave so soon.. and so I asked you to stay.. and today... I wasnt actually sure what was going to happen.. but I knew .. I could sense that something.. was here... and I ran towards your house on instinct and did the only thing i could think of and held on to you.. If you would not have started running.. I would have probably just freezed right there.. and died on the spot.."
my eyes were blazing.. I had never thought I could be as angry as this... "Well.. you can keep your mumbo jumbo philosophies right with you mister.. sir.. or Andy or whatever.. but I am through with you and I don't want you to come anywhere near me.. I am no savior of yours and you are HUGELY mistaken.. the gall of you... i held on to you to save myself.. i asked you to stay and play to save myself... crap.. idiotic me to even think you might have a shred of sanity in you... I am going and I am hoping that I never run into you again... " and with that i slammed the door to his house and ran out...
As i reached home.. I didn't know if i was more angry because i felt that he was only using me.. or because I could not believe that a guy so good looking could end up being as twisted as that.

and my last thoughts as i was going to sleep that night were.. that.. I had enough stress in my life to not have the addition of saving someone else.. one weekend at a time..

Chapter 2 : Weekend Blues

I hardly take notice of time on the weekends. It just has an odd habit of disappearing minute by minute and constitute a zero productive day or ZPD as i refer to it. I kept thinking of stepping out of the house and doing something fun, maybe even have a chance of meeting Him again.. but thought nothing of it further and stayed put.
I just went to the balcony around noon to get some sun.. and took a book along with me. The plot was getting interesting, I was almost skimming over the words, aching to turn the page.
Yeah, i can understand that you must be wondering why this bit is being included in the story.. but i just wanted you to know that if things would have been normal.. 'this' would have been the most exciting thing in the entire day.
So, as this wasn't quite the normal day, the next thing which i noticed... was not the sudden threat the heroine in the novel found herself in, but the rather handsome personality of my bothersome accident victim.. playing on the basketball court.. all alone.. whooping with joy. well well well.. i thought, will the wonders never cease? and gripped by a (as yet) unidentified emotion.. i found myself getting into my shoes and out the door.. walking towards the basketball court.
"Hey!".. i called out.. "how are you feeling today?".. encouraged by the flash of recognition on his face.. i moved to the court. wrong move!.. should not have been so eager, i thought.. after the glaring silence of his response. But, quite unexpectedly.. he passed me the ball and said.. "Can you make the basket?". Having never played any sports in my life before and knowing that i would fail at it even before trying, i felt quite relieved in at least knowing the answer to his question. "No.. I Can't" I smiled as i passed the ball back to him, unfazed by my response, he almost eagerly came forward and offered to teach me. Having nothing better to do, and enjoying the thought of seeing his attempts at basketball lessons, i agreed.
Half hour into it and i must confess.. i could atleast get the ball in... a couple of times (fluke or not).
and.. He was smiling again ..I still wonder why i notice that everytime. "I should be heading back!", it really wasn't usual for me to not have a ZPD weekend.
"Sure" He said.. "See ya around"..
Looking forward to the exciting plot twists of the novel.. the latest videos on youtube and the couple of DVDs on rent..I headed back to the house.

Thinking about the entire day, i wondered, why did it feel as if something just didn't fit? How was it that He seemed so familiar.. and i could have spent the day with him.. and yet.. not know anything about him.. not even his name!?!
How could it be that I was looking forward to seeing him again, yet didn't want to think about him at all (not that I could help it!).
and Why was it that i noticed his smiles? Why did they seem guilt ridden? and why would he not talk about the accident on sunset boulevard lane?

any answers?

Chapter 1 : The sunset boulevard

Studying the sunset was almost a ritual, the changing hue in skies, onset of darkness.. slow creeping away of the light. It was fascinating how something which was an everyday event, still managed to come up with a new show every night. Everything else just seemed to be a blur now, anyways. I could hardly distinguish one day from the next. Life so ordinary.. the horror of normality. Not that i didn't see this coming, I was hardly the one you could write stories about, everything turned out to be quite nice and as planned. Growing up in a proper family, getting good grades, studying in a good college, working in an international company, having friends.. family. One could not have expected anything out of place. Still the very fact that you are reading about me here.. well.. makes you wonder doesn't it?.. if there could be a story out there..

I am as surprised as you, that my life could have any extra ordinary components, but it was just a chance encounter which turned things around that way. The utter silence of the house had driven me to take a walk outside, it was time for sunset again. I walked the familiar path to the lake and seated myself on the bench, picking up the twig from its hiding place.. i began the carving from where i had left it off.. scrape.. scrape.. the pocket knife chafing away. The loud honk startled me from my lost thoughts.. and even as i held on tightly to the deep cut now gracing my finger.. i looked over to find the source of this commotion.

Owner of the jeep was stepping out to inspect the damage and He was just trying to stand up straight and balance his bike. He seemed pretty shook up.. must have come under the car, i thought.. brushing the dust away from my jeans and walking towards the scene of the accident.
"Are you all right?" i asked.. He seemed hesitant in answering ..seeing that i could not be more of a help here.. I made my way back towards home..and as I was getting ready to close my eyes and mark the end of yet another day.. I could not help but recall.. the shook up look in His eyes... His flushed cheeks.. and an almost guilty smile lingering on his lips...


goodnight.. maybe i will continue the story in the next post

Giving up

He had been on the run for four days now, exhaustion was biting into every cell of his body. If only he could get some rest and lie down for a while. But, lying down was not an option, no.. he could not rest just as yet.

He still had forty more of them to fix and if he could not undo the damage caused by the explosion within the next twenty hours.... well.. he shuddered to even imagine the possibilities. He still had not figured out what had caused this in the first place, but wherever he turned he could see.. ruins of what once used to be a manifestation of a city of dreams..

How he came about here was another mystery, he didn't seem to remember.. he certainly had not applied for the job. But he understood the implications of not doing it and he realized that he was quite adept at maintaining this place.

It was almost as if the dreams had an affinity for him, he could coax them into fluttering away before they could become an obsession, he could charm them into being more beautiful to bring peace and he had already proved himself to be quite capable at keeping the rouge ones away. But this.. this was a disaster... every pillar.. every stone.. shattered to pieces..

Everything smelled of death... but he could not just let go.. he had to fix this.. he had to keep it alive. Of all the things that could fix this place, he knew that believing in it was the first.
and so he had been.. working .. working like he never had... fueling the place..mending what he could. Collecting all the pieces and willing them into reforming themselves.

yes.. he could almost get this done.. if he could just go on.. for a little more while. The exhaustion of reality was pressing down on him.. compelling him to accept defeat. He shook his head and stood up as he said "No... Giving up on dreams, is not an option!!"

He will keep at his work... until the the darkness recedes.