THE ...... MAN

It was just an ordinary another day. The tired evening sun was wrapping back its blanket and tiny specks of lighted dots were preparing to take over the sky. The birds had returned to their nests on the battered old trees and the atmosphere was brimming with the hum of insects. It was a pleasant dusky sky with clouds coming together to form meaningless, yet amusing masterpieces. Countless people lay down there in the city park, enjoying the glories of nature and the beauty it withheld.  Just a perfect day for anyone.

The setting sun grew redder, the first flock of bats shrieked in the sky and the dark silhouette of a man appeared on the road. There was something strange about him; the way he stooped low and walked rigidly, the way his eyes remained hollow and sunk in despair, the way the happiness of the world didn’t touch him.

Anyone who might have seen him would surely have frowned for he emitted something unpleasant and unworldly. His pale texture and unkempt hair evoked pity, but as a matter of fact, it is undefined if any onlooker would have shown him the pity he needed.

A few people turned around when he passed them, their expression mixed with confusion and urgency .He  looked at the onlookers who were trying to figure out what he was or where did he come from? If they wanted to know, they could just come and ask him. He would tell them that his name was long forgotten, his identity already vanished. He would tell them that barely three days ago; he was as cheerful as a kid when he went for his daily job. He would tell them that something really strange happened that day. He didn’t know why but his company fired him. He heard people whisper about something “recession” and “cutting jobs on the go” but didn’t quite get it. Wasn’t it true that he was perhaps one of the ‘honest’ employees the company had been left with? Wasn’t he always on time and quite content with the pace of his career? But life, he had learned and learned the hard way, is very cruel. His pleadings had not landed any hearings and he had walked home just as he was doing today, broken and rejected.

He looked up at the sun and saw his own face staring back at him. For a moment he wondered if he was the sun, after all, he had been the brightest employee the company had, and yet today he was nothing different from the setting sun, but his mind darted back to the fact that at least the sun will rise again, whereas he will lie down forever in the rock bottom crest of hopelessness. He had walked barely halfway through the park when suddenly a kid wheezed past him. The kid didn’t seem to notice him but that doesn’t bother him now; people of late had started ignoring him. No one in these three days had even attempted to know if he was doing well, how was he coping with this sudden calamity? His mind went bitter and he started to walk past the kid but suddenly the kid shouted at a woman-“Look, Mom, a weird star!!”

Instinctively he looked up and saw what he thought was a shooting star. The sweet memories of his childhood filled his head and he became sad. It was not hard to guess that he missed his home, he had even thought about returning when he was fired, but a strange sense of shame had stopped him from doing so. He saw the kid and found that he had his eyes closed; probably he was making a wish. He moved forward to wake the boy from his innocence, to tell him that a falling star doesn’t grant you wishes and in the end, you will have to suffer in this world like everybody else. But he controlled himself and let the boy finish. He remembered his mother; she always used to tell him that shooting stars were God’s messengers who brought happiness into our lives. However, over the course of time, he had realised that it was all a lie just as everything in the world.

He moved on, thinking about the kid. He had always prided himself as a “know it all” but at that moment he was in a fix. He couldn’t bring himself to think what had made the child believe in the star? Innocence? Greed? Or maybe hope? Or maybe something that he had no knowledge of? He grabbed his head and stopped. Arguments danced inside his head in a jiffy and he thought hard.

“Yes, when I was a kid I prayed to the star because I wanted something from it. But where did that belief came from? Surely not innocence, I was too mature even at that age. Then maybe greed? No, no, greed, surely not. I have never been greedy, never in my life. But then it must be hope. Yes, yes, hope it is. Hope, that quintessential human feeling, the biggest lie on this planet. I wonder how I fell prey to something so insignificant, something so unreal. “

“No, you are wrong and you know it too”, his unconscious mind piped in.” Do you remember that page which you always kept with you; do you remember what did it say?”

“Walk on with hope and you will never walk alone”, “yes I remember it, and remember it well, that page, a friend had gifted me a card and he had written this line on it and I just copied it and kept it with me. I probably liked the tone of this line, but does it matter now? What difference does it make?”

“It may produce a difference only if you are eager enough to let it go on. This is not the end of the world, you have plenty of life before you, and do you want to just walk here and there aimlessly. Don’t you want to move on?”

“Yes, maybe, but after all that had happened…”

“Just remember, it doesn’t matter how many times you fall, what matters is how many times you get up.”

On these lines, his eyes widened as if he had discovered the secret of life. He stared at the ground beneath him and thought,” But of course, this is not the end, I can still work out my dreams. I can rise again..” and looking at the sun which was just now barely visible on the horizon,” and maybe I am the sun after all.”

He darted towards his apartment complex, his steps looked like a dance, and his face shone of hope. He reached his building and took the stairs to his home on the 13th floor. He passed several frowning and confused souls on the way. He smiled and continued on his way home. After few minutes, he stood panting before his main door. His was a new apartment and he, along with one elderly couple was the only occupant on that floor. He turned on the doorknob and found it locked from inside. A sense of puzzle appeared on his forehead. How could the door be locked from inside when he, the sole occupant of this particular house, is not at home? He rummaged through his pockets and found his spare key, turned on the knob, and entered.

His apartment somehow looked untouched, as if nobody had been living there for a while. There was also this pungent smell like food gone bad. He resolved to wipe out his home clean and went to the kitchen to get himself something to eat. On his way to the kitchen, he remembered that his dishes will be lying in the bedroom. Cursing his laziness, he entered the room and stopped dead. With much difficulty, he managed to choke out,” What..er..are you exactly ..doing?”

There in his room, another man lay on his bed very peacefully, as if sleeping. He took a step forward and asked the man,”  Get up.” The man remained impassive.

Frustrated, he tried to lift the man forcefully but suddenly his eyes moved to the mirror placed next to the bed. Strangely, the mirror showed only the one reflection of ‘the other man’. Alarmed, he turned his attention towards the man whose face was an exact copy of his except that it was all blank, he sat on the bed and started talking,” you know I saw a kid today. Though he couldn’t see me, but then, how could he.? And I have decided what I want to do next in my life..”

He went on talking and the other man went on listening…….