Dubious TaleTell

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Habib had called me after the funeral to say everything was going well! To say I had nothing to worry about! My crazy extended family had settled down and wasn't seemingly violent anymore! Quite assuring his tone was, or so I had thought! A few moments later, someone rang the doorbell. Oh, how I should have seen it coming! Like an unsuspecting cow, I had opened the door only to see him standing on the porch! With a gun in his hand and eyes filled with murderous rage!

It has been no less than half a decade since I visited my hometown for the last time ever! Ah, my beautiful town! Properly trimmed Hedges in every house, clean asphalt, big lakes with so many coconut trees all around its banks. It is a perfect place for an old man to retire if he wants to die in the lap of mother earth! And there I was, somewhere around June, on a 10:30 bus on the way to the town!

Grandma had died! That old woman was like the best bang per buck candle that seemingly burns for eternity! She was 87 at the time of her death, and I was probably her only grandchild who at least cared about her! My jealous cousins thought I was manipulating instead of helping her! And so, on every occasion when the family was together, I saw nothing but vile hatred in their eyes! And I couldn't even blame them! There I was, living in the city 300 miles away, yet when she would have died, there was a significant chance that her will would be in my favour! That woman used to talk about how I was the only kid who cared for her right in their face! That only fueled their jealousy to stack up like darkness congregating around a man standing on a riverbank on the night of a new moon!

And so, even after my parents had said not to do it, I had emancipated myself from the family! In a way, my parents had been unnecessarily punished, but my loathing for those greedy pigs overcome guilt! I didn't want anything to do with those conniving spawns of the devil anymore. And I had assured my mum, once something final, something deadly happens, I will think about reverting my emancipation!

The bus I was on had only a few people in it! As it was a weekday and the people in my hometown are viciously hardworking, so it was natural! And hardworking in their context is an understatement! And do they have a good heart! I have seen high tier elites participate in manual labour along with the minimum wage apparent lower tier of the society! I had seen drug smugglers turn Robinhood and help the poor when someone had burned the slum down on the northern parts! It is a town of criminals, if I have to be honest! But it was a utopia nonetheless!

Right beside me sat a guy named Rocky! Obviously, it was never his name. But he is one of those dropouts who chose adrenaline over being an upstanding citizen! He was my friend till fifth grade! But cruel and harsh life had forcefully sent him unto a very unsavoury path! For a moment, I had wondered, what could this guy be doing on this bus! Wasn't there a few arrest warrants in his name!

There she was, on the left corner of our yard, lying two feet above the ground! Grandma, wrapped around in a plain white cloth! And all around the coffin, they stood guard like ominous devils! Habibs was the only friendly face! He had waited for me at the bus stop! Still, someone left who is not a thug, and I could identify as a family! But, while walking towards the manor, I saw something in his eyes! Something restless, as if he was trying to tell me something but couldn't! Oh well, a fight with his wife he had perhaps. None of my concern!

For a second, I couldn't believe my ears! As I had suspected, grandma left every single penny of hers in my name! And I understood immediately what it meant! Her white hearted old soul unknowingly had made me a target for the mobsters of the family! As the lawyer finished reading the will, I saw Habib come towards me in hazy steps, and while passing me, he muttered only one word, run!

I immediately came back to the guest house, packed everything, closed all the windows, the doors! I did not want to be surprised in any way whatsoever! And then Rocky had come knocking on the door!

It's been six years since then! But still, the events of that day haunt me, makes me irritated and sleepless on some of the nights! Especially in June, as the day of her death nears! As it is the death anniversary for many of the people present in that funeral too! The mayor was kind enough to grant a complete row in the cemetery for them! As when Rocky came to my door to kill me, I had made him an offer he couldn't refuse! And he didn't refuse! Well, I am not proud of my actions! But I'm still alive, arent i!




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