The Reaper – White Sands

“Hi Johny” Anita said.

“Hey Ani” Johny said, “You are here” he exclaimed. “Thank God, you are here. I missed you so much”

“I missed you too Johny”. Her voice was a little jingle. She smiled with her head slightly bent to the right.

She took him by hand. A sudden rush of warmth from her body filled his empty soul. The shine from her form lit up his deep black eyes. An unknown energy occupied him. The pure white form of her started guiding him through the vast expanse where they stood. Her footsteps were as soft as a flower petal. Her movements like silk. Her skin was so smooth, as though they had been just bathed in some kind of august liquid. The scent from her hair put him into a deep trance. Her voice slowed his heart. It was calmer now, calmer than he had ever felt in his entire life. The silence resounded in his ears.

“Where am I?” he asked surprised.

“Inside you, my dear. Inside your mind”

“Inside my mind?” he quizzed.

“Yes. Inside you mind. Why do you doubt?”

“Well I have never been inside my mind. So…” he paused, “the feeling is different”

She laughed heartily. The sound echoed into the distance.

“OK! Now that we are in my mind, what are we supposed to do?”

“Nothing much, I suppose. Let’s just walk. Can you walk Johny?”

“Walk. Hell yeah, I can”

He tried to get up from his wheelchair. His legs lost balance, and he slumped down on the ground. “What the hell? What is wrong with me?”

“Nothing is wrong. You are just weak. You need more time to recover”

“No. I do not. I know I am stronger” he said furiously. The white surroundings turned bright red. There was a sudden quake in the surroundings. “What was that?”

“There are trying to revive you. You need to rest Johny. Please”.

“Yes, I do. But why and who are trying to revive me from what?”

-*-

“Charge to 200” said Doctor Hahn, as she placed the pads on his chest.

“Clear”

His body arched as the funnelled into defibrillator sent 200 Joules of electric charge into his chest. The reading on the monitors showed little signs of hope.

“We need to wait for him to recover”

-*-

“Your heart is under duress. It needs to start-up”

“And why is that?” She put a hand on his shoulder. It calmed him down. The heat from his angered body receded. She helped him into the chair. “Sometimes it just needs some, as you say, juice”

“You see Johny; there are two kinds of people in this world. One kind keeps their anger in store until it becomes jealousy, which in turn if not taken out in the right moment could lead to hatred and ultimately the person does something stupid. The second kind tends to show their anger on the face. They do not care about the ramifications, because they know they can handle it. And also because they know they are not made for the first kind”

“So what are you suggesting?”

“I am just saying that you belong to the second kind” and she kept pushing the wheelchair.

“Why did not say that a long time ago?”

“Were you this calm?”

“No senorita, guilty as charged”. They both laughed.

“Do you remember our first meeting Johny?”

“Yeah, I do. It was stupid. You bumped into me in the hallway with those Picasso books. That hurt”

“Yes, I am sorry for that”

“No, don’t be. Normally, I would have gone ballistic if it was any other person. But, there was something in your big black eyes of yours that stopped me from it”

“Oh that’s flattering”

“Maybe, but you do have big black eyes. They are so damn beautiful”

“Thank you Johny”

“I carry a picture of those eyes with me always. Hold on a second, I will show it to you” He searched around his covering cloth and the chair. He could not find them. “Where is my wallet? Where the hell is it?” he fumed. The surroundings turned red again and shuddered.

-*-

“Ah! Damn it. He’s going flat again. Charge to 300”

“Clear”

His body arched again. This time more fiercely. Monitors picked up the minor change in his heartbeat. A few seconds later a regular wave appeared on the monitors.

“Phew! That was close. Monitor him closely. I will be back in a few minutes”

-*-

She stood in front of him, and looked into his eyes. He calmed down.

“You don’t have to show me anything. You don’t have to tell me anything. I know how much you love me Johny”

“I have to show it to you. I have to tell you. I love you”

“Actions speak better than words. You proved it every time” tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Oh come on. No crying. Please. You know how much I hate it when you cry. It just kills me. Please no crying”

“Sure, no crying” She wiped her tears.

“Why am I in this state?”

“You have to figure it out”

“Me? How?” he asked startled.

“Yes. You. You have to figure it”

“But, how? I do not know where I am, what this place is”

“This is your mind Johny”

“Okay”

“Don’t you remember tonight?”

“Yeah, of course I do. We cleared our exams, and I asked you to marry me”

“Exactly, and then what happened?”

“You accepted it without second thought, but you wanted to marry me after 2 years or so. I was ecstatic, drank a lot and almost fell off the chair. You helped me walk outside. And then someone boys tried to misbehave with you. I tried to stop. After that I do not remember anything”

“And I was killed!”

“That’s hokum”

“Yes. I was killed. Those boys bludgeoned with objects beyond my comprehension and then they violated me before killing. Don’t you remember that?”

“Now you are joking right?” he laughed

“NO!” she said vehemently.

“How is it even possible? You are in right front of me, as beautiful as ever”

“Stop being a dullard Johny”

“I am not being stupid”

“Yes you are. Accept it. I am dead. Nothing can get me back to the real world”

“No way”

“It is a fact”

“How can I be so sure?”

“When you wake up from this dream, you will know”

“Fine, so be it. Let us assume that I am dreaming”

“Yes you are dreaming you fool” she fumed. Her eyes turned red. Her white form turned a dark black.

“Relax, I agree with you. I am dreaming”. She relaxed, returning to her cheerful self.

“Good”

“Now, you say that you are dead. Never to come back from it”

“Yes”

“When I wake up from this dream, I will want to avenge your death. And, no one will be able to stop me. Neither Zach nor Dave, correct?”

“Perfect”

“Tell me their names”

“Promise me that you will send them to jail. You will not take law into your own hands”

“I promise. Give me the names, and this is your last warning”

“I just remember one guy”

“Give me the names, you bitch. Don’t you understand that I do not like to be kept waiting with such information? 2 years. 2 years you know me, first as a girl who bumped into me, next as a friend, then girlfriend and finally as my fiancée. And you say you were killed, on the night I proposed marriage”

“Nash”

“That swine. I will rip his body apart”

“Promise me Johny, you will never go after them for blood”

“I promise” he said out loud. “This is just to make you happy”, he thought to himself.

“Thank you”

Her form started to fade away.

“Hey, where do to think you are going? Come back”. He pushed his wheelchair faster towards her as she faded away into the whiteness.

“I will always be there in your mind Johny. Never will I fade away. I am going away for the moment”

“When will get to meet you again?”

“Whenever you choose to”

-*-

“Come back……” he mouthed.

“His body is going into shock. Call Doctor Hahn” screamed one of the nurses.

“Yes, what is the status?” Dr. Hahn enquired calmly.

“Doctor Hahn, the patient is going into shock”

“Give him 5mg of morphine. Hold his body still after that”

5mg of morphine was administered to the writhing body. Johny was held tight as his body slowly recovered from shock. His two friends watched him silence, figuring out what lay in store for their volcanic-tempered friend lying on the bed, as he dreamed of Anita.

“Is he fine?” questioned Dave

“Yes. All the body functions are fine except his brain”

“What do you mean?”

“His brain is still in overdrive mode. He is remembering the events he went through tonight”

“When do you think he will wake up?” Zach asked.

“I cannot be sure. As we can see, his body is responding violently to the trauma he went through last night. Whatever it was, it has bore its brunt on his mind. It is tough to tell when he will wake up”

“So what do you suggest?”

“I suggest you both speak to him every day. Read to him. Play his favourite music. Anything that can take his mind off that episode will help him recover”

“Thank you doctor”

“I will do my best”

“We certainly hope so” Dave replied. Dr. Hahn shook hands with both of them before she left.

“Do you think he will even remember her after he wakes up?” Dave asked.

“I have no idea” Zach said, as he looked towards heavens.

“I don’t believe in God”

“Well I do”

Both sat on the bedside looking at Johny. His body shivered every time the nights images flooded into his mind.

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