The Undertaker: Chapter 3

'BORN FAILURE'

Jaan recognised the person in front of him. He was a stout man, half bald and had a small height. Jaan walked towards him in a seemingly normal manner. He took his handbag along with him. “You seem to look like a mechanic,” the man said while smiling in an irritating and noisy manner. Jaan smiled back at him and replied “Yes Sir! I could never go even close to North Campus. But, I can repair your car.” Both of them laughed loudly at Jaan’s last words. The person cleared space for Jaan as Jaan opened the bonnet.

“So, what kind of course are you studying?” the person asked. Jaan picked out his crowbar and looked around. “Just the simplest of course and I have flunked in the first two semesters” Jaan laughed at himself after saying that. “I knew it already that you can never ever make it big in life” the person lit a cigar saying so. “Yes Sir! I am such a loser” Jaan took a deep breath saying that. The person did not reply and continued smoking the cigar. Jaan was just playing around inside the bonnet. There was silence and two cars travelled at full speed after a while. Jaan sensed the environment. He was quite certain that no car would be around the road for a long time. “Is it too much problem?” the person asked. “No!” Jaan exclaimed in a cold voice. “There are rumors about you, Sir” Jaan said to the person.

The person put out his cigar and in a grave tone asked “What rumors?” “They say you make lives terrible for people who you think are born failures” Before Jaan could complete the sentence, the person halted him and said in a boastful manner “Yes! I can identify my students. And when I term someone ‘Born Failure’, they are born failures”. Jaan gave him a friendly look which indicated concurrence. “You have become smarter. Earlier you were of the notion that you will succeed but now I can say, you are matured now” the person said and gave a scorning smile. “Do you believe your attitude has made foolish students heavily depressed?” Jaan asked while working at a faster pace than before.

The person made a sound of clear opprobrium and continued “Depression! These millennial things happen to people like you. Have you ever heard any topper going through such a thing?”. “Depression does not exist?” Jaan asked. “No! There were two girls who had a complaint about our school’s, especially my discrimination towards them. We took the right action. We started discriminating against them even more. Now, those two ‘born failures’ are going through these psychiatry and psychological bloody therapies. They scored just 80 percentages, that too in Arts stream” the person laughed loudly and Jaan joined the laughter too. A car passed by and Jaan looked backwards. He sensed that no car will pass for at least a dozen of minutes.

The person stopped laughing after a point and asked “So, the car is done? Jaan’s reply came in the form of the laughter which started along with the person. “OK! Is it done?” the man asked again in a serious note. A flock of eagles flew up in the sky and Jaan looked at them. His laughter was louder and nasal. Then, it came directly from the vocal making the sound seem older. The person turned white and immobile. The person who seemed like a follower a while ago turned into a bemusing character. The person decided to avoid his ex-pupil and walked with a shiver to the car. Jaan closed the bonnet and continued laughing. The person closed his door and somehow got the key inside to start his automobile but to no avail. The stout man could not hear any sound except the flapping of an eagle above him.

He gradually turned his head towards Jaan and there was no laughter anymore. Jaan was sitting on the backseat with the very same crowbar he used inside the bonnet. The road was in complete seclusion and the insects’ buzz made the person feel even more uncomfortable. The perilous forests anticipated in agony. The red signboard with ‘DEATH’ written on it made the person petrified. The drizzle had stopped by then and Black clouds were turning back to normal ironically. “Eagles await their fest,” Jaan said slowly, creating a menacing spell upon his past teacher. The person cried, asking Jaan to stop terrifying him. Jaan started laughing again and replied “Your crying is not despair. Come! I want to hear some”. Saying these words, Jaan began beating him recurrently and appreciated the cries of despair.