Collection of Short Stories by Rokesh Kapali - HTML preview

Chapter 6

Perplexed I may have been perceived by our greatest actor who was sitting just in front of me. I was seeking confrontation from him but my mind was completely blank. With a blaring voice, “What sort of game are you playing? You took a divorce paper from me and here you are a lawyer yourself? And how did you handle the cops? What a game!!” was all I told him that existed only inside my mind. Then, pointing all the focus on me, he asked, “Sorry for making you wait. Please go on. You have something to tell me!”

I said, “Yes”.

There was a strange silence in the room for a while and then I opened my mouth. I could see him listening profoundly. Before I could say anything, a bunch of three guys entered the room as if they were going to pillage the entire office. He retreated towards the wall behind him. I thought they came for him. But instead one guy grabbed me, pushed me to the floor that had a spongy carpet which I could feel by my face and my palms. One guy started to tie my hands from behind while I was yelling, “your game is finished. You think you can get away with this. I will confess everything about you.” Other two guys were busy pressing me as hard as they could me so that I couldn't move.

I was moving with all my might when suddenly, I noticed a thug sound and the world went dimmer and dimmer until I could feel nothing. I don't know when I woke up but when I did; my first guess was that I was in a hospital by observing the walls and bed resembling a normal hospital which resembled mere hospital. I tried to yell but I was so tired and I felt voiceless. I could hear a few people murmuring outside the door. I felt my head had an extra twenty pound added on it. My thoughts were as colorless as the color of the room. I was handcuffed. I yelled with whatever my mind could think of at the moment. My feet were trembling and reaching the door felt as if I had two miles to cover. I pressed the wall with my back beside the door and took a few long breaths. Then I kicked the door with all my might and shouted to open it. It went on for few minutes when I started feeling tired again. Feeling desperate and hopeless, I headed towards the bed where I was lying before I gained my consciousness. Looking straight into the white ceiling with numerous nervous breaths, I felt the uniform I was wearing. It was some sort of clothes worn by patients in any medical institutions. Then I noticed the most distressing thing sewed on the dress. It was the name tag attached to it. To my agitation, it had a name - Gary Smith. I drowned into the whirlpool of thoughts how I really got here.

Slowly I could see a clear day. Yes I was a lawyer but not a good one. I have put many innocent people inside the prison. But I wanted to work for justice, not against it. The ambition I had to become a great one pushed me towards wealth and I used to think, money cannot be earned by doing good work. Even my wife's personality didn’t meet my reputation. That is the reason Justice could never become my friend. I remembered my father telling me not to divorce my wife. She was good and caring. Those were his last words.

THE END