“Now, now I don’t think you should be surprised.
Holding a gun does not make you invincible you see. As for my fancy tricks,
these are some things I picked up in the army”. “I’ve fired three, you fired
one now how many are left Mr. Accountant?” “Help! Somebody Help!”, Stu screamed.
Piper heard these noises regained some of his senses but couldn’t scream for
help. That kick in the jaw made him bite his tongue too severely. “Scream all
you want, nobody’s gonna come and help you at this place and at this hour.
In fact, that's the reason you chose this place, wasn’t it?” Stu suddenly
realised his error and how he chose the perfect place for their grave. But
how could he know all this? And how could he turned this way as they’ve been
following him about a week now. Everyday he used to go into the same building,
come out of the same building. Always alone. Considering his clothes and home,
he should be making a decent enough living with just enough to spare everyday.
They deduced he was living alone, no girl no family as such. All this while
lying on the ground like a fish out of water, Piper saw a file in front of him.
It was among the documents that fell out when they emptied Joe’s bag. Once
again he couldn’t believe his eyes. The file had pages with the photographs of
the two of them and some information he couldn’t clearly read but now it was
obvious this guy was up to something. He wasn’t just another random victim. And
at this moment thinking about their past actions and watching over Joe and his
routine, it suddenly hit Stu, a revelation.
Where are the car keys? When they
both took his belongings they didn’t snatched a key chain of any sort. He wasn’t
carrying one. But then why? Why was he in the parking lot without his car keys?
Now it was clear to the thugs that this wasn’t a robbery, at least not as they
wanted it to be. It was a trap, a carefully laid out trap. And we foolishly
walked right into it. Piper was almost passed out, Stu was on his knees, the
gun now in between his eyes, held by Joe who was once an humble office worker
now embodied reaper of death himself. “leave me please, please don’t kill me, I
beg you, please just take everything back, we never meant to harm you, we’re
sorry, we won’t steal from anyone ever, police, police call the police please”,
Stu mumbled words, pleading to save their lives. Don’t be so dramatic now. It’s
my turn. We’ve plenty of time and no one will disturb us here. So where were
we? Yes, a little chat. You know I always love good company. People who can
patiently listen. And don’t gossip about anything you tell them. It’s hard to find
such trustworthy audience. Now do you promise not to tell anyone? Stu nodded.
Let’s start from the beginning. There was this beautiful young maiden who gave
birth to a fairly strong baby boy. Oh wait, maybe that just too back, you folks
won’t be interested in that far backstory. So let’s just start from when I got
to know you. You see my mother died at an early age and my father disappeared
so these very fine folks raised me as their own child. They even gave me their
surname and let me keep my mother’s name so folks like you can call me Joe
Claire Acorn. They fed me, educated me and helped me all they could till I got
recruited in the arm forces. But then I ran away, it was too disciplined a life
for me. I wasn’t cut out for taking orders. Few odd jobs here and there as a security
guard or a private eye and such. But then even the poverty didn’t suit me. So I
became what an ambitious man with my skill set can become- A professional
magician. Except I made people disappear so they’d never return to tease my
clients.
I think now you’re getting the wind of it. See you’ve upset many
people. Many of them are rich. And some of them happen to know me. It was only
a matter of time before someone reached out to me. And how could I deny,
especially you boys. You had me curious the moment I saw your partners face.
You see sometime in the past he was wanted for allegedly killing his wife with
a shovel in front of her child. People feared the trauma might spoil the child.
Even to the extent that the child may become a homicidal maniac. ”Do I look
like a homicidal maniac to you?”. Stu shook his head sideways. Nah, you’re
right. I might be a little funny in the head but see my choice of career. Its
completely apt to my interests. “what you say? Eh dad? Piper! Wake up Piper!”.
Well that’s if you’re my dad, are you? It doesn’t matter now. No hard feelings
man. We got along just fine in the end. And that's all that really matter. Piper
died of a heart attack due to the shock he suffered when the bag caught his eye and was marked in bold letters-“Belongs to Joe Claire
Acorn”. Now Joe got close as he suspected that Piper might be dead already.
“What do you think Stu? Is he dead? I guess there’s only one way to be sure.”,
said Joe as he shot Piper in the eye. “holy god! Man….you…you..killed him….he’s
dead”, exclaimed Stu. “Help! somebody help please!” another attempt in vain. Oh
don’t be such a drama queen. Stu fell silent. Eyes widened. He hoped he’d fainted
so at least it’ll be painless. You see what a fateful night that was. One night
when we all met. The situation seems more fitting rather now. There was one
corpse then and one corpse now.
I want to tell you something. Don’t feel bad about it but you have to
die now. And believe me, I am killing you only because I need to. Remember death comes
to us all, don’t fear it. It follows you every day of your life waiting for
your luck to run out and catch you in its tender arms. When you finally come
face to face with it, you must embrace it. It was your true friend. Always by
your side. In life you were poor, you were rich. You were a man, you were a
woman. You loved someone, they loved you back. You hated someone, they hated
you. You got help and you aided another life. You were a criminal, you were a
friend. You were free, you were caged, you were young , you were aged. But now
nothing matters. No man is immortal, in death we’re all equal. You will remain
alive in my memory and that’s all that matters. People die but memories remain.
Joe had a knack for digressing from the task at hand and go all out
philosophical in a minute. By the time this sermon was over, Stu was almost
unconscious. Hardly hearing a word. “Wakey! Wakey! You can’t die as yet. Just a
few bruises, some loose tendons and only three bullets, except that you’re the
picture of health”, said Joe kneeling down and shaking Stu by his shoulders.
“Just let me go!!!!!”,
Joe screamed with all his remaining strength
“oh come on now, this
story’s extended too much already” laughingly said Joe and shot him right in
the head, between the eyes. “Just so you know, it was nothing personal. All in
the line of duty”
Joe picked up his
things, including the weapons of crime to carefully destroy them later and also
the watch which he liked so much. (the last owner didn’t mind Joe taking it after
he got his arm back). Although he still heard the droplets, noise indicated
something thicker than water but he didn’t wonder much about and exited the
parking lot.
Joe was long gone. Faded into the darkness of the night
outside. Rain had stopped.
(looking at the corpses
of Stu and Piper)”Looks like I’m finally gonna have some company down here”,
said the Guard with the open wound on his hand.
The author thinks he should seriously stop hanging around like hobos in strange places.
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