Rendezvous with death - avirup bandyopadhyay (room on the broom read aloud .txt) 📗

Chapter 1
Death

“Jesus Christ”
Hot tears burned the cells of skin. A man, friend and a father of two, was shot. The disheveled appearance, the pale face, the smeared arm capsized me from the moment I looked at him. But what amazed me was the wry smile on his face which outshone all realistic facts that he was nearing death. And then he fell; the fall of eternity .In the process, a prized possession of the French army breathed his last. The nametag of Adam Gavel shone, thanks to the Sun which was the very reason of the unbearable heat surrounding the battlefield in this otherwise pleasant spring day.
I learnt my mistake a little too late, which can get me grievously injured, not to mention the chances of it being fatal….
My mistake had been my tears, shed for Adam, which had got me within shooting range I was out of cover. I panicked but only just…..
A minute of idiocy by a Frenchman is more than just ample time for a Nazi to ‘shoot the hell’ out of the former. Tears never left me as more came rolling down. I saw smoke fast evaporating out of the Nazi’s rifle. Heat never really suited me but neither did that Barrie idiot! I had enough breath left in me for a last curse at the Nazi, his father, mother and god knows who else…….I barked out all the English I had learnt in these odd 25 years….
“motherfuck nazi, foutre hitler.
I kissed the grass I was standing on just few moments earlier……..
 
Chapter 2
Rendezvous with death
I went back and forth in time! I continuously thought of something that I was taught to fear, or is that some body? The thought of Death engulfed the whole of my mind……
My eyes opened…..
I was staring at a black suit, trimmed goatee, rimless specs, and jet black hair and blue eyes. Everything was silent about him.
I have seen this man……I just cannot remember where……..
A solemn-looking man, fairly in his forties, stared at me coldly, to some extent, blankly….I was perplexed about the whole thing myself, so, wasting no time I started, ”Am I dead?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“And you are?”
“I think you me.”
“Do I?”
“Yes, I think so.”
Okay, so I’m dead. Here is a gentleman, apparently Death, right in front of me and I think I’ve seen him….
“Who am I?”I corrected myself fast, “Sorry, what am I?”
“Human being, I suppose,” he said in an unnaturally high-pitched tone.
He pointed at me as he spoke and now he will fix his specs. Yes, he did it!
It was old Emmanuelle, the university librarian, who had until recently been the centre of my pranks. To add to that, I had been in a relationship with his daughter, Ana ( that is, before I joined the war.)
I laughed after a very long time. As a result, my lips had hardened and I could taste blood.
I stopped laughing somehow…….
 
“Emmanuelle?” I cried.
But where was Emmanuelle? Where was Death? Where am I? Who am I? What am I?
My episode of nostalgia complicated things even more. Suddenly, the darkness was gone. It was white, dazzling white all around enough to light the whole of France.
Well, well, well, Death was illusion after all……
I did not know what to do next…
There was no one…... not within a mile or two….who knows….I could see no one……
But that didn’t stop me from hearing....
“State your last wish.” A soft yet clear assertion from ‘God knows whom’!

Wait, where was god.....what was god.....where was heaven?????
I don’t know what made be about to the ‘voice’...
I like any human said it.
“I want to live forever”...
I heard a loud chuckle from behind. But before I could see who it was I was back to kissing the grass......................................
 
Chapter 3
Death
The chuckle rang afresh in my ears. I could see the Nazi who had shot me, apparently!
I stood up; he tried to shoot me again. But this time I knew better. Bullets rattled his heat, intestine, everything. He fell down, a senseless mass of German stupidity and arrogance.
I demolished everything Nazi. The French dematerialized every Nazi tank, car.
We won the battle. No doubt lives were lost on both sides but that night of celebration to serve dual purposes: celebrate and strengthen our relationship with oblivion as mourning collectively will only make us more morose. No doubt, we were all upset about the consequences of the war but we had a bottle or two to cover grief.
General McCain took central stage.
“Soldiers, friends, tonight is difficult. For the whole of France. No doubt, the Nazis are fucking our lives-“
The mini-bar shattered. I fell down. Blood kissed wine everywhere. The Nazis open-fired. This was one bloody-trap. Back- fire...... Nazi style..... I saw Frenchmen, friends, comrades dying in front of me. I tried to move with minimal success. I could no longer feel my right leg.
“God-damn it,” I cursed...
The Nazi left. Some of us were still alive....
I struggled to stand. I succeeded to fall again. Oh, the party’s not over....the whole place exploded.........
I could hear a Nazi cry in a language alien to me and the civilized world. My eyes shut again.....
I woke up amidst dead bodies.........why wasn’t I dead myself???
My right eye was gone; I was without two fingers in my left hand. I experienced an excruciating pain as I tried to sit...
I was not dead but stood no better, thanks to the wrath of the Nazis......
God, why wasn’t I dead??? Now I remembered... I cannot die... Death has played with my words....the weather grew extremely cold....
“I want to die, you hear me, kill me or let me die myself,” I cried with all my remaining energy.
I cried, tears mixed with blood and alcohol. I did not feel nauseous, filthy. As a matter of fact, I did not feel anything. I stood up using the available help of broken bodies, uprooted gut, and detached arm.
I discovered I was standing on a cliff.......surely, Death’s creation.
I thought of mom, dad, Ana, Richard, everybody who mattered to me......i tried to hum a favorite tune......
I closed my eyes; took a deep breath. Wind caressed my face.........I screamed like a cannibal.......and on gaining aggression, courage and what not, I jumped.........into the endless sea....I gathered pace.....it was just a matter of time.......I heard a distinct chuckle at my back......

But before I could turn back to see who that was, cold water crushed my body, headfirst.............

Text: avirup bandyopadhyay
Images: avirup bandyopadhyay
Editing: avirup bandyopadhyay
Translation: avirup bandyopadhyay
Publication Date: 03-20-2012

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