“What! What is this?”, Usui exclaimed panic-stricken, eyeballed his manuscript closely.
He rubbed his eyes and studied his script again. He was confused to see some words are written in every paragraph in a particular pattern, in a language not known to him.
Remembering the past events when he started writing for his new book, he was clueless. It was a simple summer morning with white and pink clouds and the sky looked perfect blue. The light breeze kissed his face and he started thinking.
He was deeply absorbed in the thoughts related to these words that were as if born today, when suddenly a wild screech interrupted him.
He ran blindly downstairs to see what has happened, but he was all frozen to see the black painted walls of his living room. His mother was scared to see all this, she was babbling and crying. He was terrified, who could have painted the walls, who could have written those words on his script.
Suddenly a light dawn on his face appeared, he went upstairs, wore his shoes and put his wallet in his pocket of lower. He drove to the Yuki street to meet the 89 year old man who was thrown out for his special magical powers.
“Good morning sir.”, Usui said to the old man.
The old man Ignored him at first but Usui keep on telling what has happened with him today. Suddenly the old man came closer and took the script from him.
There was a long pause before the old a man started speaking.
“This is a strange language.”, He closed his eyes as if fetching for the meaning of those words.
He suddenly opened his weak, big eyes and exclaimed in a fragile voice, “You are in danger my boy, you are in danger.”
All his blood was poisoned when the old man spoke that line. He turned pale. He looked at his weak and pale hands moving nervously, his heart was pounding at a fast pace, he slowly asked the man, “What dan”, his voice cracked in middle, “dan-ger”, he spoke again.
The old man kept on observing his hands, his yellow fingers, and his dismayed face. He chuckled to see his astonished-cum-scared face and gave him the address of a place. Usui wanted to ask something but he understood that he’ll receive all his answers in this place.
The same night, the gales were at its peak, the loud noise was terrifying him, the windows were banging, the curtains were flying. He was feeling cold in summer. He was chilled by the line that the old man had said.
You are in danger my boy, you are in danger. These words were ringing in his ears. He didn’t sleep, he packed a small bag with certain items and waited for the sun to rise. It was around six when the rays entered his room and lit his face.
He saw some people going for a jog, he asked one of them if they knew where the place is. He followed the directions and at quarter to seven, he reached his destination.
It was an old church which was no longer worshipped, it was all broken and dark. It looked like a Necropolis. He went inside and couldn’t find anything except the rats and dust. What all he can hear was the squeaks of the bats. He was confused. He was recklessly finding a trace of humans there. And then a chortle, a chortle of a man. “You are here!”, laughing at Usui. He knew this voice.
“Taneki”, he whined.
He looked here and there and then a pen starts writing to him, again in his script and he wrote just one word: ‘Remember?’ Usui was all white, his hands numb and legs shivering as if that single word has taken away his life. He tore the script into pieces with moistening eyes in fear or frustration.
All the past events flashed before his eyes, a voice started speaking in his left ear, almost whispering. The pitch of the voice going higher and higher and a loud, shrill scream that lost all his senses. A scream that broke the dead silence in that lone area. He fainted.
It was nine in the morning when Usui opened his eyelids, his left ear was bleeding and the script in his hands perfectly fine, but new words added to it. In bold red letters, it was written: YOU ARE IN DANGER, YOU CHEAT.
He scrambled out of the church panting, holding the script in one hand and his ear with one. He walked through the street back to his house, ignoring all the chaos in street, avoiding people that were passing. He stood at the bus stop near the red post box just like a forlorn figure standing there where no bus arrives. He stared blindly at the last corner of the post box reminiscing about the day when Taneki died.
“How can you do that? You were my best friend! ”,Taneki howled.
“I can explain. I was helpless, I had no option than this. Please Taneki, try to understand.”, Usui almost whispered fidgeting his hands.
He was not facing Taneki. He felt heavy and anxiety was visible by his facial expressions and movement of hands.
“You ruined me. I’ll ruin you.”, Taneki glared at him, his cheeks flushing.
Sudden footsteps. Thump. Thump. And in just a few seconds Taneki lay dead at the ground floor, all blood near his head, his eyes bulging out. He froze in horror to see his best friend dead.
His parents came crying, everyone was mourning at this loss. A day later all the rites were done and Usui still couldn’t overcome his guilt. He gradually forgot about Taneki and a year later he was back with his scripts.
A loud horn interrupted him and the driver of the bus stared him and asked, “Sir, we are going to M. Muromachi street, where do you need to go?” He boarded the bus to reach anywhere where he could hide his mistakes, where he can hide away from the world.
While traveling, he suddenly remembered the old man and thought if he could help him. He asked the bus driver to stop the bus at Yukai street where the old man lived.
The old man was waiting for him and directly asked Usui to confess his mistake. Usui crying with guilt started speaking in a low voice.
“It was Saturday when I went to Taneki’s house to see his new script in which he was working for three long years. The script was all about how to be calm in difficult times and that sometimes we need to take some actions for ourselves. Taneki was very excited about the book, so he threw a party to introduce his masterpiece. He invited a few publishers also. ”
There was still silence and Usui could feel bleak emptiness around him. He was feeling nothing but too much. He paused for a minute and began again.
“We both had drinks together. Taneki was excessively drunk. I stared at his unconscious body and he began to splutter in excitement. I thought about my condition, my family issues, my financial stability, and a selfish devil replaced my soul. I supported Taneki to his bedroom and locked him inside.” He choked. He was unable to face the old man.
“I went to the party, picked Taneki’s script, and told the publishers about the script being mine. Publishers approved the script and praised me for this masterpiece. And in a few days, I was among the best selling authors. My condition was improved and Taneki was broken. He could not bear this pain and because of this, he committed suicide. ”
Usui began to bawl like a child. He was sobbing. He knew how bad a thing he had done to his best friend.
He asked the old man what he could do to give back justice to his friend. The old man smiled and said, “You know what you have to do. Undo everything. Give away what was not yours. ”
He went back home, but he felt Taneki around him. As if he was staring at him the same way as he had, on that day. Black walls daunted him, those empty chairs were not really empty. Usui was scared and he screamed apologizing to him. The next morning was dark for him, he went to the publishers.
“Good morning sir”, Usui nervously wished the head of the publisher, Mr. Jintan.
“Good morning! What a pleasant surprise! Are you here with a new script? ”, Mr. Jintan exclaimed.
Usui explained everything from the beginning. Mr. Jintan was shocked and disgusted as well. He immediately asked him to leave the publishing house.
“I want to ameliorate the situation and my wrongdoings”, Usui broke down.
Mr. Jintan decided to help him and give justice to Taneki. He called up for a meeting and they decided to republish the book with Taneki’s name. The newspapers, news channels all criticized Usui for this. And after three weeks it was republished.
All publishing house decided to stop working with Usui. The same night Taneki came back again and wrote in the script, “I forgive you Usui. Now my soul can find peace. My body can die properly.” And then Taneki never came back again.
Usui decided to write a book on his best friend with the title of his name-Taneki. He went to Mr. Jintan but according to the protocols, he denied publishing it.
After a week, Mr. Jintan called Usui to tell him that he is ready to publish his work but the news of Usui’s death came like a bolt from the blue. Usui died of trauma. This news shattered him. And he went to Usui’s house to get the script and it was published. He regained the respect and fame.
The two great writers died leaving behind two masterpieces, leaving the world devoid of such great upcoming writers
Author: Diya Bedi
