The Final Cut

The idea of casting someone as young as Elie was frowned upon, but I went ahead with it anyway. Elie had previously acted in one of our lesser-known productions and had won hearts over. I held onto that same hope when I made the decision: "Elie will win hearts over once again." However, unlike last time, this was a big-house production with a lot of money riding on it. The skepticism was justified, and I took it upon myself to pacify the producers' jittery nerves. "Elie will win them over, don't worry," I would say. "You won't regret casting Elie."

Elie’s parents were contacted and the necessary permissions obtained. Money exchanged hands. Elie was brought to the production house accompanied by the mother; it was a strict rule to have a parent around when casting young children. Both were briefed on their roles, and the scripts were finalized, with lines altered so Elie could deliver them naturally. Rehearsals followed, and everyone prepared for the big debut.

The protagonist of the story entered the stage and delivered his lines—pain and angst wrapped in a single burst of verbal diarrhea. He paused, his glance shifting to the distance as grief surfaced on his face. This scene had the entire audience in tears as the protagonist narrated a story of ill-gotten fate: a sickness-ridden family and a child close to the deathbed. Elie entered the scene—coughing, limping, crawling. Elie delivered the rehearsed line. Tears swelled in the protagonist’s eyes as he leaned forward to hug the dying child.

The scene concluded with the Godman entering the stage and consoling the protagonist while holding Elie’s limp body. The Godman mumbled a prayer under his breath, and then the miracle happened. Elie, who was "dead," was brought back to life. There was a cough, then a sigh, and finally a smile. The crowd cheered, the lights dimmed, and the music surged as the audience danced and praised the Godman.

"Today was a good day; we have fourteen new believers joining the Eye-of-God. Elie did great," the Godman congratulated Elie’s mother. Behind them, the crew moved with practiced efficiency, packing the freshly harvested human hearts into ice.

The Aftershock - 2

continued from http://timjude.blogspot.com/2011/05/aftershock-1.html

"Dunno dude, I can hardly hear a thin'."

*BANG*

This time there was no mistaking, it was a gunshot. Soon the world came back into our senses, we were in some clearing or park. For all I could see was the green of the grass almost blackened under the darkness of the night and a thin cover of trees towards the boundaries.
Our hearts started to beat faster, well obviously we were supposed to be frightened, but I could't comprehend the gravity of the situation. My head slowly hummed, while my heart beat like a hammer against my chest.

"We should get outa' here". Ted pulled me up, I wobbled a bit.
We somehow managed to get each other up, but we were too late, for soon we saw two men with flash lights walking towards us. They were shining it in our eyes, so we could't get a glimpse of their faces.

"Whatcha' kids doin' up here in the night", Asked one of them. He was really tall, with a well built muscular body, and he had a really rough voice. He could have been easily mistaken for a giant.

"N'thin', we were just passin'by, thought we'd rest a bit before headin' home." I blurted out, somehow.

And it was then I saw the shot guns in their hands, and it was my feet that did the talking. I ran straight into the tree cover, I cared for no one at that moment, no one at all, not even the other three.

"Hey Kid waitup", I could hear the man shouting back at me.

I didn't stop, for all I cared was to save my sorry little ass. I ran into the trees.

*BANG*

I heard the gunshot behind me as I ducked in behind a tree, and flares brushed past me. One of them caught me in my left arm, It was like a pin prick, and then a quick spasm of pain, and I felt like my hand had been ripped off my body. I was scared, I could hear the other man shouting at the shooter for being clumsy, for missing his mark.

"I have to escape from these men, somehow I have to run away from them"

"What am I going to do with my arm?"

"What will happen if they catch me?"

Damn I was so confused and scared, I somehow scrambled back to my feet holding my left arm, trying to stop the bleeding. It was just a flesh wound, I breathed, a deep breath, before breaking into a run, I ran straight into the ever thickening foliage. It was dark, pitch black, I could just make out the outlines of the trees as I ran amidst them. I could see the long shadows cast by the flash light behind me.

"They are up on my heals, damn", I thought to my self.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I din't notice the ground sloping downwards. I stumbled upon a root and fell flat on the face. My nose hurt like hell, must have broken from the impact. A warm stream of blood rushed out of my nose, I got back up on my feet, rubbing off the blood as it streamed. I was really hurt this time, a bloodied arm and a broken nose. I waited, breathing heavily waiting for the pain to wade off. The faint light of the flash-light was growing thinner and thinner and soon it was dark again.

"They might have given up"

I slumped on to the nearest tree, hiding perfectly behind it, I was scared, dead scared, breathing heavily, and was just lost. It was dark, I din't know what to do. I didn't know what had happened to the other three, they would have been killed, and dumped in some swamp or taken hostages, hog tied and tortured. I sat there by the tree, and started crying. I felt helpless.

I don't know how long I had been under that tree. I was no longer high, everything was normal except for my beating heart. It was racing, it was beating as if it wanted to get out of my chest. I gathered enough courage and got up, I could hear vehicles, engines roaring. I walked towards the sound and soon emerged into a road. It had a long line of tree cover on both side of it, as it snaked through the green cover. I limped up to the road, hopping to get some help. From a distant curve I saw the two beams of light and soon two headlights came into sight. I limped forward and trying to flag it down, and as the car drew nearer, I felt a wave of relief passing through my body. I saw the beacon light, like the ones used in a police car. I was lucky. The car stopped in front me, and a middle aged cop stepped out of the drivers seat. I sighed.

"What happened son, You look terrible", His soft voice soothed my nerves.

I started to blurt out everything, what ever had happened that evening, about the shooting and how I had escaped, everything.

"Why don't you get in the car with me, I will hear your story, as I get you to a hospital". And as he said, he opened the rear door of the car. I was happy, and was not scared any more. I had got help at last. The door closed with a click.

He got back into the drivers seat, picked up his phone from the dashboard and dialled, and put the earpiece to his ears. I could hear the slow ringing sound, and then it stopped.

"I have got him, he is with me in the car."

To be Continued....

The Aftershock - 1

It was my best day, finally I had graduated, and nothing could stop me from being what I wanted. Well I could say that, the world had a different plan.It was a pleasant day. A copper sky, which marked the sunset, a light breeze which made the trees sway along with it, a slight chill in the air, which said, "Hey people winters' at your doorstep".

"I suggest we go to the Blue diamond, free starters, disco and a lot of hot chicks", chirped in Bierty. Well I loved him for his head. A cheap bastard he was, but still I loved how his brain worked.

I think I missed out on a lot of details to begin with. Well we were the gang of four, Bierty, Mat, Greg, and of course me . We stood up for each other. We were the main brain behind our batch functioning properly, well I am allowed to boast, but truth is truth, we were the best at what we did. We had started with random hacks, then a main grid, and bang, we were popular all over the campus. "The four Owls", as we were so lovingly addressed. Nights were our days and the days were well of course our nights.

And yeah coming back to the incident, we all agreed to what Bierty had to offer, we were cheap bastards too. The night of our graduation, in some random disc by the name Blue Diamond, and we four hopping for some fun.

"300 bucks each", the bouncer at the gate, pointed at the board. We fished out enough, and much was left with us for a pretty decent night.

The world that emerged at us behind those black doors was something we would never forget.

"Dude, the blue light is already tripin' me m'man", I heard my self hiss in a low voice. The interior of the disc was electrifying, splendid and really ( well I would require a good word to describe it folks )

I saw Greg and Bierty go straight into the dance floor, may be they wanted to hook up, I don't know, but I took a corner seat with Mat, and within half an hour we were already down with seven vodka shots. I could feel the world dance along with me, as I head banged away to the marvellous music that was playing by. Mat sat there unmoved, for him seven were still less, and within another fifteen minutes, he joined me, 10 shots down.

Well we danced the night away, until Bierty came up to us with something.

"You should try this mate, this is some serious stuff.", Well we couldn't hold our horses, and jumped all over it as hungry pack of dogs. It was something out of this world, something marvelous. We were soon in our own world, splendid, everything slowed down, the music, the dancing, everything, except for time.

"This is the last one for the night, thanks for coming along", screamed in the DJ, and soon we were out.

"I can't feel m' leg mate".
"Keep walkin', ye'll start feeling it a' soon as ye get tired."

And so we walked, reached somewhere, and slumped to the ground. Peace. Silence. Quite.

!!BANG!!

"Was that a gunshot!!!!??" Greg sounded a bit scared.

To be continued...