The One Among Them

It was a long stretch of road, completely empty and entirely dark. If there was anything that shone on the road, it was the headlamps of my car. I did not know where I was driving to or even where was I actually at. All I knew was that I was done with this life and had no reason whatsoever to continue living. At a distance, there shone something brilliantly. It was as though a ray of light falling beneath a place sheltered by the branches of the tree. What was it though?

I drove further ahead to realize that it was another car with its headlamps. Instead of slowing down, however, I speeded. I was only thinking that this could be the end of it all and that was all I wanted. But was I doing it right? I nevertheless proceeded but was still in a dilemma. I accelerated hard but as the other car approached me, I slammed the brakes real hard. God wonders what came to mind. I hit my head to the seat with a thud. The other car too came right in front of mine and stood there for a moment. “Invited trouble,” I told myself. I was expecting that someone would come out of the car and give me a piece of their mind as if my mind was empty enough to accumulate theirs.

It was a plush green royal looking BMW. The metal body shone like a brilliant-cut piece of a diamond. The headlamps shone brighter than I ever saw in any car. While I started appreciating the looks of the car, I forgot to realize that it was simply an exact replica of the car I was driving at the moment. “But what is it doing here?” I said to myself. The only other car that looks similar to mine and connected to me is my wife’s. It could be someone else’s too for I couldn’t clearly recognize the car in detail in the darkness.

We loved each other so much. We pretty much had an identical pair of almost everything we owned and used on a regular basis. From rings to lockets, from pens to phones. We were hardly separated for more than a few hours and even in those few hours, we never missed each other through the identical piece of our everyday things. It sounds materialistic but for us, it was not any random material but one filled with each other’s love. After a very long day at our work, home is where we found hearth because we both got each other back to reenergize ourselves. I can never forget the warm hug we both locked ourselves in at the end of each day.

I have been recollecting all my memories with Diana keeping aside the trouble that I have got myself into. I was expecting someone to get out of the car but no one didn’t. I decided that I will go have a look myself. I got out of my car and went towards the other car and noticed the registration number of the car and confirmed it was Diana’s. “What? Why is she. . . ?” I told myself and hurried towards the driver’s side door.

“What are you doing here? You must be. . . Oh God” and I hurried to open the door. “Who let you dri. . .” and suddenly, the car hit me and drove past me. “Wait. Diana waits” I startled in pain as she literally drove over my foot. I had to stop her, otherwise, it would cause great trouble to a lot of people. Without any delay, I got into my car and started following hers.

While I drove, I started wondering how did she get out of the hospital, get to our home, get the car and started driving the car? Doctors had diagnosed her with a terminal level of incurable disease for which they expected her to die any moment. They also had informed me that her state of mind would not be the right position to take sane decisions. This would simply be a side effect of the disease. They couldn’t name the disease though because they believed that such a type of disease was the first of a kind in the entire field for which no treatment or medications has been prescribed. My wife’s death would be the last thing on earth I would like to see. I wouldn’t want to be separated from her for more than a few hours.

I followed Diana’s car for some distance after which, her car speeded up like a bat out of hell. I lost track of her. I stopped at a point where I got a call from the hospital stating that Diana was no more. I couldn’t bear the news and broke in tears at once. The phone fell on the floor. I lay there losing my most prized possession ever. I couldn’t control myself anymore, I rested my head on the steering wheel and wept like a child. I got out of the car and yelled loudly. I was frustrated.

Soon, an old man came walking to me out of the woods. I paid no attention to him but he simply walked up to me and tapped my shoulder. I looked at him and he looked like a beggar – dirty and curled hair which hasn’t been washed in years, some old warm clothes, a stick-like thing in his hand, his long beard and some beads around his neck. I went towards the door of my car to take out some money and give it to him but he stopped me.

“I am not here to take any money. I am here to help you.”

“What? Look here. I am already having a lot of things to deal with at the moment. I don’t need any help. Please leave me” said I and started getting into my car to drive away.

“Stop Manick. Did it not hit your mind that when your wife is dead in the hospital who would be driving the car that just drove past you and strained your leg?”

I was shocked at both what he said and also at the fact that how did this old man get to know things happening with me and my life. I slammed the half-opened door of my car and walked towards him shouting.

“What? You were stalking me or what? One phone to the police, I will make sure you will spend the rest of your life in prison. Get away from me. Bloody stalker.”

“I wouldn’t have known your name if I simply had followed you. Moreover, I also know a lot of other things about you. You are a horror story writer and you’re working on an upcoming story titled ‘In the end’ for which you have not leaked any information to anyone except Diana. She is a businesswoman and is the founder of Karlenko Industries. Will this suffice or should I tell more?”

“More I say” I replied.

“She was diagnosed with an unknown and incurable disease. The doctors have been perplexed at the symptoms and the whole diagnosis of the disease. She just passes. . .”

“Stop,” said I. “Just stop it. . .” “Tell me what can you help me with.”

“Your wife was not the one driving the car.”

“Ahh. As expected. It would be one of the chauffeurs. But why didn’t he stop? Why did he simply drive away hurting my leg?”

“As a matter of fact, it wasn’t any of them too. You may please call your residence and enquire about Diana’s car”. I did so and I got a shocking response from the chauffeur. He said that her car had not moved an inch from 4 days, from the day she was diagnosed with the strange disease.

“You simply do what I ask you to do,” said the old man and continued “Come here young man” and he held my shoulder pushed me towards him. He kept his hand on my forehead and recited some prayers. He then felt something through a shiver in his body and then he said “One thing I know is that the connection between you both has been very strong because of the identical things you wear and use every day. The only way for the spirit to get in is to weaken this bond of yours and then completely take away your wife.”

“I am sorry, what? Did you just say spirit?” said I.

“Yes. Indeed. You and your wife are trapped into the clutches of an evil spirit.”

I was shocked at what this old man was saying. Should I even be trusting him? I don’t know.

The old man continued “Every object you use attracts some amount of energy from you. When this object is used by someone else, the person who used this object attracts energy from you and leaves behind their own. A similar thing happened between you and Diana when you both frequently exchanged your cars, pens and other everyday things you used. By attracting energy from the latter, the bond between you both simply got stronger and stronger day by day.” I was surprised at everything he said and I also wondered how come did he know that we even exchanged our things regularly.

“Ok, so what does all this have to do with the situation we are dealing with at the moment?” I asked.

“To break the bond between you both, a similar set of things that you both users will be brought into the picture on an illusionary platform. The energy you both left behind will be absorbed by this illusory object and in turn, gaining enough power to later absorb both the energies that has made a strong bond between you both.”

Everything he spoke sounded Greek and Latin to me. I told him the same and he gave a simpler explanation.

“Look here, son. Somebody is trying to break the strong bond you and your wife have by using an illusion of the things that you both own similar sets of. The car that just passed by you was neither yours nor your wife’s. It’s an illusion. Only you or your wife will be able to see it and no person in this world feels it. But with one exception which is me for now.”

He told that if we follow that car into the direction of where it went, it would be outside a well. As per his suggestions, we both went ahead and found it to be exactly where he told it’d be. “But what is all this?” I asked.

“Open the car and check it,” he said “but . . . wait. Don’t touch it directly” and he took out one of the beads he wore around his neck, closed his eyes and recited certain prayers and handed it over to me.

“Here. Wear this before you touch it. Keep wearing it until I tell you not to” I did so.

“Hold on. But if this something bad, why should I touch it? Can you open it for me and explain what is happening?” And then the old man put his hand towards the door handle and he couldn’t even touch it, his hands went through as though they were passing through some light. He then told me “I told you, it is created to destroy you and your wife, not me. It will open only if you do.”

I opened the door of the car and to my surprise, the old man’s words were true. It wasn’t like a normal car at all. The cabin was completely blank. It was dark and kind of misty. I wonder what was it. I then walked towards the well which was in front of it and noticed that the water in the well was being churned with some dark black matter I had no idea of which.

“You see, that car made physical contact with you when it rode over your foot a while ago, thus absorbing the energy you had which connected you with Diana. That well over there is used for black magic purposes and the black misty material you see is an evil spirit or I am afraid there could be more than one.”

“But wait. Why am I doing all this? What are you trying to do to me?” I asked.

“Well, I think your wife is still alive.” I was elated at his words. “What?” I replied “You don’t know how happy I am to hear this. But how do I make her alive, the doctors said she passed away just a while ago.”

“We have to head to the hospital for that purpose,” he said and we headed accordingly.

One we arrived there, the receptionist told that Diana’s body was shifted to the Morgue and we could come tomorrow morning to collect the corpse to perform the last rights. Little did she know that we were up for something miraculous. We did not give up. We found a back entrance to the hospital. There stood a guard who was half asleep when we went there and we managed to get in. We made our way to the Morgue room. We found Diana’s corpse and the old man asked me to feel her pulse on her hand. I was surprised that her pulse was still running. The old man told me that only I could feel her pulse and nobody else could and hence the doctors declared her dead.

The old man took to explain the entire situation. “Your wife is possessed by an evil spirit by one of her everyday used things. One of her things was replaced by a possessed thing that looked similar and when she made contact with it, after a while, the possession by the evil spirit was complete. It was then when she got ill and diagnosed with an incurable disease. In the last four days, all of her energy was attracted by this spirit which possessed her and left her soul that was when she was declared dead. Now it was time to do the same for you and that’s when you saw that car on the road. The Spirit that got into you to absorb your energy had only started to begin when you met me. If you hadn’t met me, then in the next couple of days, you’d have been in a similar situation as your wife. For both these evil spirits to enter into your souls, the only way is to use an identical pair of materials that you use on a regular basis.”

“So what is the solution to all this? How do I make my Diana alive?” I asked.

“You see, Diana’s soul is held by the clutches of some bad power. You have an evil spirit inside you. To deal with both these things together, I suggest you perform some rituals. Right here right now.” I agreed to what he said.

“But for that, I need at least one thing which you both used and which is not the one which someone had replaced.”

“We can go to our home search for one such thing and get back here to perform the rituals,” I said. We agreed and accordingly headed back to our home. I searched for our engagement ring and it was right in front of the dressing table. “Here. Found it.” I took out my engagement ring and handed both of them to him. Just like the car at the well, the old man could touch only my ring and not hers. He then told that it was a third material and not the original one.

I suggested the car that was at home. Both cars were the original ones. “True,” he said “But you need to be in touch with your materials and you both with the other two and it would be difficult to get Diana’s body out of the Morgue room. We need something else.”

I searched around and found a pen (mine was in my pocket – I handed both to the old man) and the process repeated again where the old man couldn’t touch it. Both observed that someone kept a track of me and Diana and tried to replace all of our things to make sure that their plan is given effect to. At last, I found Diana’s smartwatch which she wore every day and handed over mine too. This time, it worked – it wasn’t replaced. We immediately headed back to the Hospital and through the same back entrance to the morgue room.

The old man told me to wear both our watches on our wrists. He then took another one of those beads chain he wore and put it around Diana after reciting some prayers on it. He then took to explain what was the ritual he was going to perform and what was I to do in this.

“So now, I will make you both enter another dimension of life. This is not real life. It’s something you may call an afterlife dimension. You will meet Diana’s soul trapped in this dimension somewhere. You have to find her and release her from whatever is holding her. It will take you time. But don’t worry time over there is proportionately a little slower than in real life. The evil spirit inside you right now will use all possible ways to stop you from finding her and may even try to harm you. Whatever you do, make sure you also don’t get trapped like Diana. If you get so trapped, that will be the end of it all and both of you will be lost forever. It is simply sending you to the place where the spirit wanted to take you if it had already possessed you completely, but the difference is that your energy is still with you unlike Diana’s. And these beads I have given you both, this will prevent the spirit from extracting your energy either through her or through you. I will also be able to send in powers for you to deal with the superhuman evil inside through these beads. You must use your energy to defeat the evil one and stop it from overpowering you. Understood??” He said. “You will have to be one among them in another dimension simply to save Diana.”

“Yes,” said I and prepared myself for the greatest battle of my life.

We lowered the body of Diana and the old man locked both mine and Diana’s hands together. He wrapped around some cotton plaster over our hand, tied a thread around our hands strongly. He told that one of the easiest ways to kill us both was to break our physical contact and I would be trapped in the dimension he was sending me into.

He asked me to drift away into sleep and when I wake up I would be in the afterlife dimension. I did so while he chanted certain prayers – may be to pass me some powers. “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I command upon the evil spirit through the God’s souls Manick and Diana. . .”

I woke up. I clearly remembered what he had asked me to do. To my surprise, I found Diana just where I lay and she cried – cried loudly. I ran towards her and almost hugged her. But I just stopped for a minute as to how did I find her so easily. Meanwhile, Diana was calling me towards her with her arms open. She badly wanted to hug me. I ran towards her and then realized the bouncing chain around my neck that the old man had given me and I held it in my hand and I noticed that it wasn’t there on Diana’s neck. I asked her to touch the beads.

“Are you serious right now?” she said.

“Very much. Now, touch it or I will not take you back.”

Suddenly, her body turned into a huge black matter with a large face appearing on it and started shouting with a loud shrill – “Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh. You scum of a person. If you had just touched me, things would have been different. Good luck finding Diana.” And the spirit or ghost or whatever it was, left the scene.

I felt like I recognized the voice of the Ghost somewhere from my real life. But nevertheless, I had to find Diana. I walked further ahead and found no luck. I got lost in the forest. It was completely dark. I had no idea where to go. I taped my foot out of disgust and anger and immediately, I jumped high up in the sky-high enough to see something a little distance ahead. I realized that the old man had sent me some powers. I kept walking in the air calling out for Diana.

Suddenly, something hit me and made me fall down on the ground with the thud and I think I broke some of my bones. But I was not to give up. I had to find her.

“Whoever you are, face me like a man, I will teach you a lesson,” I said.

Almost immediately, a ghost appeared again taking Diana’s shape. I punched it hard on the face – “Take it.” I lifted my hand again to give another blow and then suddenly, she held my hand and extended her other hand towards my neck and lifted my high up in the sky. When she lifted me, I saw Diana just a little far away. It seemed like she was tied to a tree with just one ray of light falling on her face. This one had the beads around her neck.

I kicked the ghost on her hand and luckily, she let me down. She was crying in pain while I gave a few more punches to her. I think I killed it. I hurried towards Diana and then untied her. She was wreak havocked by the evil one. She was moaning in pain. She then hugged me and cried out loudly. I hugged her back much tighter. I was happy it was all over.

She was covered with blood all over her face. Her clothes torn in some parts and some bruises too in the torn areas. She was in a dilapidated condition. She tried to get up and walk but failed.

“You. . . you know. . . wh. . .what al. . . all she did t. . . to... .me?” she tried to talk in pain.

“Relax hon, it’s all over now. I am here for you.”

We both lay there still and I didn’t know what to do next. The old man did not tell me any exit plan. I was hoping that I would be back to normal life when I met Diana. But no, that didn’t happen.

On the outside (real world), the old man noticed the breaths of Diana and realized that she was back in life and I had saved her.

A little while later, there was lightning and thunder – not really a strong one but yeah looked like something was about to happen. A circular ray of light fell on the ground a little far away and the old man dropped down from the sky.

This man was full of surprises. If he could come here, then why didn’t he accompany me and come right when I came. Strange!

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Don’t you want to go out?” he asked.

“Oh yeah. You are here to take us back. Thank God. We were worried.”

“No dear I won’t take you back, only you both have to leave from here.”

“What? Why is that?”

“It’s the law of nature. You ought to leave something behind when you take something out. Don’t worry about me. You both go ahead” he said.

Diana interrupted and asked, “Who is this Manick?”

“This man is a great. . .”

“People call me God” he replied. I felt bad for a moment that I did not even ask his name all this while. I was so concerned only about Diana. But God – is he really one or is it just his name. He then asked us to hurry else the exit window would close and all of us would be stuck inside. He told us that if he knew how to get in, he would also know how to get out.

Obeying his orders, Diana and I held each other and stood in the circle of light through which ‘God’ had descended. Soon, I woke up with a huge sigh and so did Diana and our hands were still held in each other’ but the thread and the plaster which the ‘God’ had tied was now missing and it was cleanly cut out and kept aside.

Diana started breathing heavily and cried in pain. She turned her head towards me and told: “Thank you Manick.” I wanted to get up, hold her and take her to a doctor for treatment. But my back – it was hurt. I was not able to get up from the floor we lay. “I love you, Diana,” I said. Luckily a nurse walked into Morgue room to keep another corpse when she found us both lay there and called in for both our medical treatment. I looked around and couldn’t find the old man anywhere, nor his body lay anywhere – I thought that he left his body behind and his soul entered the other dimension.

A few days later, Diana recovered a bit and was able to speak properly. She told me that the black material that we both saw was the soul of Christiana, one of her employees.

“She hunched a plan against us because I rejected her to work on a project that could make her earn millions. She might have opened her own company if she had worked on that project. But she was not a meritorious one for the job. She told me this while I was trapped by her for a day. She tortured me a lot in that one day and I almost lost hope of life. If you hadn’t come well within time, she would have taken me at sunrise.”

“One day? There’s been a mistake I guess. . . Oh no, the ‘God’ told me that there would be a time difference between real life and the dimension he sent me to.”

But who was this God? Why did he come to my life? Why did he help me save Diana? How did he get to know that Diana was trapped? Where did he find me? Does this mean God comes down to save his children who are in distress? What is this energy? What is it that made me and Diana never separate for more than a few hours? Is it all destiny? I don’t know and neither will I ever know. Nevertheless, I still had the beads he had given me and an identical one to Diana. We both decided that we would keep this to ourselves in loving memory of a hero who united us back together. Maybe now, we also eliminate people like Christiana form our lives.