Jun 1, 2021
“Your Time To Live, Is Over”
A short story
Just around the corner of Kabir lane, I heard a gunshot, and after that dead silence. It was 2 a.m. and the street was empty except for a dead person with blood oozing out of his abdomen. The man lay on the ground and his face was familiar. He was Rahul Das one of the best doctors in the city and my batchmate from school.
I would like to introduce myself first. I am Harry Louis, and I am a well-known Indian radio jockey settled in New Delhi. I was born in a rich family but instead of carrying on their business, I chose to become a radio jockey to lead a simple life with no stress of business. But my simple life was not enjoyed for long. I go to my FM room at midnight to do the “Midnight Show with Harry” and return at 2 a.m. So, one night as I was returning from my job, I saw the corpse of Rahul Das. I was taken aback. I immediately called the Police who took him to the hospital. The Police asked me a few questions about the murder, and I answered them that I was not related to the murder nor did I witness it happening. It was just that I found the dead body and called the police.
The police thanked me for my help and dropped me at my house. I was disturbed by the incident and tired and so I went to sleep. When I got up the next day, I heard the doorbell ring and went outside to see who was there early in the morning. I saw an envelope lying outside my house and opened it up and was surprised to see something written in blood.
I was sitting at the police station exactly after 1 hour of receiving the bloodied letter. I showed the letter to the Station House Officer and he opened it up to see what was there inside.
The letter was a death threat to me, and it also had some photos of my other batchmates who were doctors in the city. The thing read: “You did a big mistake in informing the police about the dead doctor. I was about to bury him but then you came along, and I had to hide. You were lucky that my bullets were finished that you survived, or you would have met the same fate as Rahul Das. You are his friend, right? I challenge you now. See the numbers on the pictures I have sent you. They will die in the same order. Try to save them if you can!”
The letter ended with a strange sign which I could not understand it was like two lightning bolts with a star in the center.
I was really worried for my friends and requested the police to help them be safe from this murderer. The police assured me to help me and so I went home but I was disturbed. At night when I was about to go to my FM studio, I hear a scream that went into the air. I panicked at first but then gathered up the courage to go out of my house to see what had happened. I was surprised to find my friend, who was a doctor, the same person whose picture was marked number one. She had been stabbed to death. I felt extremely sad and wanted to cry out loud but not a word came out of my mouth and not a tear came out of my eyes. I just stood there looking at my friend dead. Suddenly I found something in my friend’s hand, and I was surprised to find a note which read:
One down, four more doctors to go.
The letter concluded with the same, sign of the star with the two lightning bolts.
I was freaked out and was disturbed by the same awkward sign in the note. I thought the police would have given security to my friends, but I was wrong. I decided to take leave from work that day and informed my friends about the murders and how the murderer planned on taking on them. I also informed them about how that murderer was only killing doctors and how he got to know me and my location each moment. Three of my friends took my precautions cautiously, but what disturbed me was the precaution I gave to my last friend, Jacob. He was over cautious and wanted each detail of the murders and how they were committed. He seemed scared and after every sentence, he would say, “Please save me, Harry, I don’t want to die!” I told him to relax and to go to sleep.
The next morning, I received a call from the police that the second friend was also found dead in his house even after tight security at his house. No one could meet him except his relatives. A note was recovered from him too:
Two down, three more to go.
The letter ended with the same strange sign that was in the first envelope and the previous letter.
After this murder, I was disturbed and agitated. This was getting onto my nerves. I talked to my other three friends and told them to now be more aware as one more person had died. Jacob was again very scared.
After two hours I got a call from Jacob to meet him in my third friend’s house. He was sounding scared and disturbed. I rushed to the house and he made me come inside. I was getting a very negative vibe from inside the house. He started talking about all our friend’s school days and how we used to have fun together. I asked him why he had called me there. He turned around and I was surprised to see his hands which had treated many dying patients filled with blood. I asked him as to what had happened. He came to me crying and said that our other two friends had also died but he witnessed them dying and tried to save them, but they perished. He was sad and crying like hell. I could not resist my tears and finally broke down. But I suddenly regained my focus and asked Jacob to come with me so that at least he could be safe. I promised to take him to the police station, but he insisted on going to his own house so that he could clean up and wanted me to call police securities there. I agreed to go to his house.
It was 7 p.m. when we reached Jacob’s house. As soon as I entered, I smelled a strange earthy metallic smell. And as soon as I turned around to look at his kitchen wall, I saw a strange thing, a thing that made my heart skip a beat. What I saw was the same strange sign that I saw on every letter, the star with the lightning bolts.
I freaked out. I had not even turned back completely when I felt a sharp object hit my head, I fell on the floor. The pain was intolerable. It felt as if my life was coming out of my body. I could feel my blood trickle down from my hair to the ears and pooling the floor. The last thing I saw was Jacob’s hand with a knife and his last words were, “Your time to live is over.” Then the knife came down on my throat and….
Suddenly I got up filled with sweat. I was really scared, and my body ached. I got out of my bed and was surprised to feel not a single scar and was astonished to be alive. Thank god it was just a bad dream.
I got up, shaken at my worst nightmare. I switched on the geyser to take a warm bath. Then I went to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee for myself when the doorbell rang. I went out to see who it was, but there was no one outside. All I saw was an envelope outside the door on the floor where I saw a thing which made my heart skip a beat. The same strange sign, a star with two lightning bolts in a cross, which read, “Your Time to Live Is Over.”
