One Step Closer To Reality

This is second part of the story 'One Step Closer To Reality'. I have to make this part as light as possible up till the last part. I hope you will enjoy it.

I was speechless. I was not being able to process what is happening and thoughts were wondering in my mind, either this is a coincidence that my life is very similar to this fictional character's life or if this story is really based on my life then it means that Akash who is called as Amit in the story is dead and he believed that I lied to the teacher about him.

"No……This can't be true. It cannot be true, it shouldn't be true. How is this even possible? How….. How?

I was afraid, terrified and I was not willing to continue the story. I threw that book onto the table and went inside the kitchen to drink a glass of water. My hands were shaking and the thought that he killed himself because of me aroused the feeling of guiltiness, I was feeling ashamed of myself. When I returned back to the room where I was reading that book, I saw it lying on the table. I was not willing to continue reading it but still few pages were left and wondering what's still left, I pick up  the book and went into my hall to get some open air.

I started reading it again and I read that,' his soul will not rest in peace until he had punished his criminal, who made him crave for his mother's love.' "What….. what does this mean, is he coming here? Is he here right now? Is he going to kill me?" I said looking here and there in my hall. When I was about to continue the story, my phone rang, I picked it and it was Rahul's call. He said,"Dude, where the hell are you ? Everyone had already gather over here." "I'm coming"I said. "Come fast."He said, "Listen I wanted to know, is Akash coming tonight in the celebration?"I asked with a frightened voice."No, he's not coming."He said,"Why?" I asked."no one has his phone number and nobody knows where he is now, so nobody informed him, why are you asking about him. Hey man, are you really afraid of him?"he said and thought it to be a nice joke." "Listen buddy, I need to tell you something……."I was about to inform him when he interrupted me by saying,"No, not this time buddy, no excuses will be entertained today, just be here in five minutes." After saying this he declined the call.

"Akash is not coming, nobody knows where he is living now, nobody have his phone number, does that mean the story is….. what…. What is going to happen to me? Is he coming to take his revenge?"These were the words that came out of my mouth. I left the book on the table and decided to go to the party to calm down myself and to make my mood light.

As I was on my way to Aryan's house, I was playing to God,"Please God, hint me that it is a nightmare, wake me up, I can't take it anymore."When I reached over there,Rahul came towards me, he was waiting for me and he was a bit angry as I was late. I met all my friends from school but still my eyes were searching for that one person,even if, Rahul had informed me that he is not coming, I was still hoping for his arrival.

Rahul sensed something was wrong with me as if something was disturbing me, so he came and asked,"hey, what's up?"I gave him a fake smile, he understood something was wrong but he wanted to confirm it so he asked,"Is there something bothering you?"I replied,"No. Nothing man." "See, if you want you can tell me you can trust me." He thought I had some financial issues as it was clear from his words. I remained silent for a while, thinking whether I should tell him or not, after a while I decided to tell him, as I was about to tell him, Swati approached us. She said,"What are you guys doing here? Some serious talk." "No, no, nothing like that."I replied, then she asked Rahul whether he had informed Himaghna about the party to which Rahul replied,"Yes, I had informed him and he told me that he will come. Is he not here yet?"Rahul stood up and went outside the house to call him and I continued to talk to Swati to divert my mind from the things that I read that day. After a while he came back and said,"he is not answering my call, it seems like either he is driving to come to the party or he is not coming."At that time I was thinking "who is Himaghna?" I don't remember many of my classmates from school days.

When the party was over and everybody promised to be in contact once again. I came to my house. I didn't tell Rahul anything, there was a thought in my mind that whatever is going to happen with me tonight is my own mistake. I am a murderer because of me somebody killed himself , so whatever will happen to me is my faith. As I entered my house my heart started beating faster and faster as I was approaching my hall where I left that book on the table. When I entered into the hall I saw that the book was not there on the table.

I searched for it everywhere in the hall but I couldn't find it. I then searched the room where I had started reading that book and then one by one I searched my entire house but the book was not there. That night was terrifying for me. With each and every second I was feeling that I am coming closer to my end and for the entire night I couldn't sleep. Nothing happened, but where was that book? I was sure that I had left that book on the table in the hall but it seemed like it had vanished away. Suddenly a thought came to my mind,"May be Akash wanted me to know this much only. Wait…. About the author…..I can know about the author of the book from the library,the authority most know about that book."

I ran towards the library and I reached there at around 8 o'clock. There was a librarian that was present the day before when I borrowed that book. I went near his desk and said,"Excuse me sir." He looked at me and said,"Yes. Which book do you want?"I answered,"No, sir,, I don't want any book, actually I want to know something about a book." "Which book?"he asked "The one that I forward yesterday, its name is One Step Closer To Reality" I said. "You borrowed it yesterday?"he asked "Yes sir." "What do you want to know about it?" He asked, "I want to know the name of the author of that book." I said, "Well, it should be mentioned in the book itself." He answered "No, there is nothing like that in that book, as far as I have read it."I said "well, then what can I do about it?"He said " Sir, if you have any record of the books then there must be something written about the author or the publication?" I asked. " No, we don't have any records." He replied. I asked,"What? But why?" "What do you mean why?"he replied with a question. "You should have a record of them." I said. "Listen, most of these books are donated by common people and to encourage people to donate more books we don't do any kind of paperwork rather we just ask them know about the book that whether it is a story book or a book related to some scientific experiment and like that and after reading few pages of that book, we accept it." He replied. "How can you accept any book without knowing about the person who is donating it and about the content of that book?" I asked. "That's why, at first we read it a bit, to confirm that it is not a type of book that teaches a person how to make a nuclear bomb." Replied. He was not taking me seriously as it was evident from his words. I felt like there was no point in wasting time on this man, so I turned back and started leaving that place and then he called me,"hey, what's the matter with that book?" When I turned around I saw a totally different expression on his face and it felt like his eyes were asking that same question again and again. It was strange but he was looking very curious so I said,"No, nothing so special about it, I just wanted to know the name of its author." "Nothing so special about it….Hmm…"He said. "Well you see, sometimes people borrow that type of story books for which they are not yet ready." He continued." What do you mean" I asked "Well you see, story books like criminal stories and murder mysteries give a very vivid description of the crime and few people are unable to understand that the story is just an imagination of a writer. I had witnessed a few cases like this and that's why I was asking. "He explained the reason for the curiosity. Suddenly I remembered that I had lost that book so I asked him,"Sir, if a person loses a book, which was borrowed from this library then what is he expected to do?" "You lost the  book?"he asked "I'm just asking, okay?". I replied. "Well, particularly taking your case you still have six days, try to find it and if you can't, then either just give one fresh copy of that book or pay its price. But before that sign here and write your permanent address right beside your signature."he said. "Address? Why?" I asked. "Rules are buddy, if you have lost the book then we have to take your signature and your address as well." He said and I didn't want to argue with that person so I did what he said.

When I return back home it was already 11 o'clock and that was Sunday so I was not having anything to do and also I didn't wanted to leave alone so I took a shower had my breakfast and then I went to parks and cinema halls to pass the time and to be around people,but no matter where you had been for the whole day you had to return to your home and I knew that. It was 10 o'clock in the night and I knew that now I had to return. I came back and I was standing in front of my house and again saying the same things to myself, I entered into it. I took a deep breath and started walking towards my bedroom and to enter my bedroom I had to cross my hall. When I was crossing my hall I saw that book lying on the table right there where I had left it the day before that day. I was stunned. I was sure that the first place where I had looked for it was that same table. I was convinced that some supernatural power was doing all this. I was hell scared but I wanted to know what is going to happen to me and therefore I open that book and continued the rest of the story but few pages were torn up from the book right after that last page that I had read and I can still see the parts of those torn up pages,"Why those pages were torn out and what was written on them?" I thought, but I knew that I could do nothing to know what was written on those pages.

Now I had to continue with the remaining part of the story, but as I was not having its previous context so it became difficult to understand the plot of the story now because there were some new characters who were already introduced in the story and now the story started revolving around them. Among the new characters the one which was described in detail was the character of a village boy named Harsh. It was stated that,' As now Amit knew everything about his murderers he started seeking a way to take his revenge.' "Murderers? Who else is responsible for his death other than me….. Rahul! No…no….no, what is he going to do with Rahul?"I continued reading the story, my mind was completely numb, it was informed that,' Amit wanted his death to be as cruel as possible, he was mad for taking his revenge, he wanted him to feel all the suffering that he had suffered till now all at once. He decided not to kill him that simply but make him beg for his life and run with a frightened face that still believes that he can run away from him. He wanted to take out each and every single drop of blood from his body. He wanted to see him crawling with both of his legs broken and eyes full of fear and he did exactly the same, he broke both of his legs and left him crawling with the help of his hands but something strange happened which he hadn't expected. Harsh wanted to make a deal with Amit, he informed him that he was only a puppet and had done that in the influence of few of his friends who were the masterminds behind the plan, which they had built to get Amit suspended from the school. Give him three names and requested him to spare his life but Amit knew that Harsh is a smart guy and he is doing this to manipulate him but he saw some kind of truth in his eyes and in his words. He thought,"A person can't lie when he is facing his death." So he decided to give him a reward. The reward of lesbian no more suffering, just a simple death. He killed him and now he was ready to take away the life of his other killer and among those three name he chose Ankit and now he was going to take his life, by giving him that torture which is even worse than the one which Harsh received.'

Thanks for reading. The third part of the story will be uploaded soon.......