“You are really weird. Aren’t you afraid of death? Hear those thunders, see the ugly lightning – I’m sure a few of them must have struck ground somewhere around nearby here… and you don’t mind me throwing you out of here?”
“Yes. I’ll be happy if you do that and personally escort me to the main gate, lock it on me and be sure that I won’t return to pester you again. Go ahead – Do that …”
“And you want me to live in the remorse of killing an old chap who limps, unable to walk straight – all my life? – No way…”
“Oh! Don’t you worry about me… I have not existed to die here… If something has to happen tonight – it will be for my good… and if not, things won’t change for me till I get the next chance … Go on – throw me out…”
“If you are so bent on it – why don’t you walk out of here the way you walked in and leave me in peace?”
“I do want you to throw me out – that’s something which will give peace of mind to both – you and me…”
“You really are crazy. No way, I’m going to go out into that storm leaving the coziness of this farmhouse. Definitely – not into that storm…”
The guy looked again at his wrist watch and decisively got up. He pulled out an envelope out of his pocket and threw it into the fire place and looked at the ceiling of the room …
“I did try my best.” he cried out loud and shrill, “I failed… Destiny – You win. I forgot how adamant, unreasonable I was. I forgot I always did something that always was incorrect with my strong headed mind. I know I can’t win. Yet – I will try again – after 25 years…”
He looked around at the room and said in a sad voice, “If only, I had listened to myself, heeded my own words” the guy looked at him, “anyways … I got to go now – my time is done and over with … maybe you’ll realize what I said in about 25 years …”
He looked at the room again, “Maybe when you get to my age in about 25 years – I may find success when you try your luck and put an end to this vicious cycle – May The Lord give you all the strength. You will need it to endure what lies ahead…” Saying thus, the guy started to limp toward the main door.
“Wait – You crazy guy – this is suicidal – don’t go.”
The guy looked at him with sad eyes one more time and limped out of the main door. He was too stunned to move and after few moments he realized. He rushed out toward the door in a bid to stop that crazy guy.
He couldn’t see him anywhere around. He tried looking as far as he could. The guy had left. He turned around and shut the door tight behind him and occupied his favorite couch again – nonplussed about everything that had happened that night.
He poured out a drink to steady his nerves and sipped at it when his glance fell on the envelope in the fireplace. Fortunately it had landed at a corner where fire hadn’t been able to reach. It was still intact.
Curiosity rose within – ‘What could be in that envelope? Was it something the weird guy wanted to tell me? Or – does it contain the information about the accident the guy was so scared to speak about?’ He had a tough time reaching out to the envelope with few burns.
He opened it with shaking hands – the intrigue and the excitement was at its peak… It was a letter from that guy.
‘Hi… It’s going to be too late when you open this envelope and start reading this letter. I had thrown it into the fire to burn and destroy it, but I know it survived intact… I’m not allowed to disclose my identity and I know you won’t believe me – I time travelled to meet you so that I can persuade you to come out of that farmhouse. Many times I thought I was successful but then you proved me yet again – I was adamant and stubborn. Yes – I am you from the future… The accident I was mentioning so often was – today – at this very farmhouse…’
‘The farmhouse is going be struck twice or thrice with super lightning in quick succession. I had to be there and try to persuade you to leave that farmhouse and be out in that storm. I had to be there – just like I was there when I was your age and I know you will be there to persuade yourself when you reach my age … I had failed then – I failed today and I hope at least, when you visit to persuade yourself out of the farmhouse – you will be successful and break this chain of repeat events of pain, happening every 25 years. All you can do today is to get ready to suffer the pains I did … All the best.’
‘The guy really has imagination.’ he thought and considered this as a plot for one of his movies…
He laughed and threw the envelope along with the letter into the fire and watched it burn to ashes. Then on an instinct, he walked toward the main door and opened it. He saw the weird guy standing at the main gate, waiving frantically for him to run out of the place.
‘What if, all that, this guy said and wrote in that letter was true?’ Thinking thus, he heaved in trust of that guy and was about to make a dash to the main gate when the lightning struck.
*** THEN, EVERYTHING WENT DARK ***