The Phone Call

Pratyush Shrivastav’s life was never his...a dominating and a powerful politician father always controlled his life...his father decided his friends, his clothes, his vacation spots, his college, his career, his wife everything...Pratyush wanted to go abroad and learn to act in the top acting school...he wanted to become an actor, but his father wanted him to join politics...when Pratyush became a graduate, his father made him join his party to make him a known face in the political circle and to take his own place...Pratyush hated this line, he hated everything related to politics, because politics and power had always given him a life that had become a hell for him...Pratyush could not even marry a girl of his choice due to his father’s promise to another political leader to marry Pratyush to his daughter...by the time Pratyush became 27, he had a simple and homely wife, a son and a slowly and steadily developing political career...but things were going to change soon for him...

One fine morning, when Pratyush was fast asleep, he got a call on his cell informing him about the death of his father and father in law in a car crash while travelling together for a politician meet...the news brought happiness in his life like nothing ever did...he was free now...he rushed to the hospital where the bodies were kept, identified them and did the final rituals of his political career...he joined film industry, gave a couple of flops, got new name PS and he was back to where he began his new career...now at 33 and unemployed and wealth reducing every minute, he had limited options – either go back to politics or start a new career altogether...his short lived political career had one major advantage – contacts...PS wanted to stay as much close as possible to the film industry, and there was a new news paper being launched that needed a film critic who was a known face, so using his strong influence, he made that paper hire him for the same...

A new chapter started in his life now...name, fame, money – official and unofficial, respect and girls started floating in all at the same time...PS slowly started falling in love with all this...this new addiction was his life now...his family didn’t matter to him, the family that was a constant reminder of his father’s dominance...PS hated his wife, his son who looked like her, he hardly spoke to them, returned home in the wee hours of morning...pretty actresses , a different one each night was a passion he had, they were the best source for him to take out his frustration, until he met Reema, a wannabe superstar, with breath-taking beauty and body and whose first movie was around the corner...it was a horror movie under a new banner, with a new actor and director, with the probable flop ratio of 95%...but Reema was known to be No Nonsense girl...she didn’t compromise at all to grab the top film, thus such a debut...PS had tried all his sources to convince Reema to come to the hotel room at night for once, but there was always an outright no...This was the reason because of which Reema had become his new obsession, his first challenge in years, a challenge he wanted to win, for himself, no matter what it took or how he did it but he had to get her, and soon...

PS knew that Reema had not signed a single movie and she was desperately in need of work, so he decided to call her in the broad day light to a Hotel under a fake identity of a producer... “If I don’t sign any movie now, and my first movie is a flop, then my career is almost over as an actress”, Reema thought and agreed to meet him even though she didn’t have a good feeling about the whole thing of meeting in a hotel room...her first horror movie had taught her one thing – keep your guards ready while meeting anybody alone who is not known to you...she had carried a recorder and a knife in case she needed to use it...

She knocked the room and entered in and surprised to see PS there...she immediately tried to leave, but PS was ready for it and stopped her...PS tried to explain to her that her movie preview would be there tomorrow and if she gives herself now to him, he will make her a celebrity overnight...nobody would know of this meeting and he would give her movie nice reviews and she would be on top soon, all he needed was her for once...but Reema was not ready for any sort of compromise...she again tried to leave, but PS pushed her like a wounded animal and started tearing her clothes...Reema tried to yell, tried to stop him, pleaded him, but he was out of control, and she was helpless against his physical power and force...she still had her bag within her reach, thinking this was her only option, she took out the knife and attacked PS on his hand...PS screamed and led go of her due to pain, but the cut was not deep enough to hold him back for more than few seconds...Reema couldn’t get out of the room...this time PS was aware about the knife...he grabbed her knife hand, Reema tried to struggle and neither she nor PS realised how the knife went passed the flesh blood oozed out...


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Three years have passed since that dreadful day when the murder happened...changing country and identity didn’t kill the guilt within of kiling somebody...the feeling of geting caught any moment, the fear of somebody waching you all the time is worse than the jail or any other punishment...maybe running away from the whole thing was making it worse to handle...after three long years, returning home was a very nervous feeling...the picture of that day, the blood, the destroying of evidence, the escape from that place, everything somehow became much more clearer than it had been while staying abroad...when the key unlocked the house that had been closed for a long time, it gave a creepy feeling to the whole body and soul...new mobile would be activated by tomorrow, and the home phone had been disconnected, so no contact with the world for a day...anyways the changed identity wouldn’t have made anybody call here... the servant will shift here tomorrow morning, so all alone in the house, it was difficult to decide whether the privacy was a bliss or a punishment...

She was about to change into a comfortable outfit when the phone rang...a chill passed through her body, as the phone was not working...with a shivering hand, she picked it up...it was from the telephone operator informing her about the activation of the line...she was too shocked to ask the operator anything further and disconnected the phone without thanking her...she was wondering who requested to restore the line? thinking maybe the servant did it, she went to freshen up...

the phone rang again that night, she heard the familiar voice, the crisp voice of the producer who had called her three years back, and everything went black...