About Me

Mar 3, 2009

Lonesome Valley; Chapter 1

The Emancipator

He sat there at the top of the cliff dangling his legs. He had the familiar sense of being out of his body that people generally have after a heavy dose of ketamine. His schedule rarely allowed him to be in contact with his higher self. Being a philosophy professor isn't as fool proof a way of avoiding useless labour as he had thought. He loved being high on ketamine. He liked to ruminate about the imminent, indelible truth of human life - as he half dangled from the cliff, not caring if he fell or not - Death. He had some more of it in his pocket and today he planned to have a near death experience with it. Body paralysed he lay there thinking. With a mind like his (an IQ of 200) and effects of ketamine he was getting riddled with umpteen revelations and insights every minute.

He remembered the house in the prairies, he sitting with his mama and dad, eating from his special toddler sized crockery and cute plastic cutlery.
Mama saying to dad 'Mrs. Johnson passed away'.
Dad said 'How very lucky of her. She has met her higher destiny at the age of 35. I wish I could die in peace right now.'
"Yes dear but we have little Jeremy to think about, how I would love to sleep in eternal peace forever" mama gave a wistful expression that suggested that dying was way better than getting a personal visit from Santa Claus.
He chirps to his mother "I want to die too mama, will you take me when you die?"
There is a small crowd near the stream that the villagers used to fish for eels. His classmates say his mother is floating on the lake and she is not moving. He goes there and the air of tragedy, excitement, diffidence, apprehension, tells him that mama is done moving. Is this how people look when they die? The expression on her face doesn't look peaceful, in fact its not much of an expression at all. Her face is bitten all over by fish. His dad hoists him from the ground and embraces his little body and tells him that she is at peace now, she just couldn't wait for me though. How very lucky of her. How very like her.

They're walking back home after a short and private funeral service for mama. Dad holds his hands and says 'Jerry, I have to talk to you, I have to tell you something you should know.' He had thought it will be about the thing he had seen the high school boys and girls do behind the trees in the park when it got dark. He found it gross. 'Jerry all of us have to go where mama has gone one day or the other. Everyone goes when life forces them to go but your mama forced life to let her go. People will tell you that your mama was a pusillanimous woman but I think she had the grit to know the value of death." He had no clue what "poozillanimuz"" meant but afterwards he always remembered thinking that he will never grow up to be that.

The day he caught the city bound train to join his college to get a degree in philosophy he peered out of the window into his father's proud face and saw an extremely relieved man. He knew that he will not see him again.

Its time for another dose. He took out the bottle of medical purpose ketamine prescribed by Dr.Chaddha, his reluctant friend at the university.He took a spoonful out of the bottle and heated it on the cigarette lighter's flame. The liquid transmogrified into a crystalline powder which he crushed and scattered on the hard cover "hamlet". The Swiss army knife cut lines into the powder to make it easy to snort small doses, but then he destroyed the drain works and made one small hill of narcotic heaven. He gingerly positioned the cut off straw at the top of the mound and put one of his nostrils on the other end and gave one animal like pull to the air. The narcotic hit him almost instantly and he was paralyzed. His brain went eons ahead of him. Things suddenly startled making sense. The feeling of having figured out his aim of life enveloped him in powerful gushing waves. He saw a light making headway to his eyes. In a few moments that light was a tunnel. Peace reigned. He was happy, no he was ecstatic. Mama came to him, her smile beckoned him. But then dad appeared, he was not smiling. He was saying something. "Go, teach people the value of death, make them meet their higher destiny. You are yet not ready for your higher destiny."

He started crying uncontrollably, but the sound of his voice was muffled as if with ballasts. The tunnel swept away. The light turned itself off. It was clear he was not in the vicinity of the comforting emptiness of eternal sleep but now again in the middle of the living bustle of wakeful tribulations. The ketamine hadn't worn off totally and the plan came to him almost automatically.

After about three quarters of an hour he was ready to to go and test his plan. He had completed his graduation at an early age of 19 years "summa cum laude" and was offered a fellowship at the university as recognition for his superb albeit sometimes against the grain talent. He had come to detest the squalor of the big city. The tenements, the garbage dumps, the unfortunate souls living on them, devoid of any human decency, shame or self respect. He pitied them, but he knew anything he did to help them will surely make matters worse. Some people just drown. He had never understood this insistence upon living. Why do people go on living even when there is nothing to live for? Why do we go on trying to find meaning in a life full of garbage dumps and sewer rats and die a consumptive death trying?

Dr. Chaddha will say because of a "will to live". What does it serve for? Do we really need it? What solutions does it pose in front of us if not more problems? Why shouldn't a terminally ill patient end all the problems with one quick slash of a sharp knife? Will that also be called " A permanent solution for a temporary problem?"
Well its time to test the hypothesis and his will to execute it. A wino was sleeping on the side of the road, curled up under the dubious warmth of the wooden bench and streetlight. Why does this person want to live? Why is he wallowing in the verminous life of this hellhole when he has a chance to end this and find out whether there is a higher destiny or not? Sometimes he even doubted his father's theory about higher destiny. He sometimes thought that all things are equally meaningless in this universe, death included. He suddenly felt guilty. He felt like he has hurt his father somewhere in his nth dimension.

He took out his swiss army knife. Opened up the biggest blade and stood over the sleeping hulk of a human equivalent of a rudderless boat bent on floating on without a direction. Not that any direction was preferable to any other. Was he planning to kill that man? Is that an immoral act? May be but morality is also a set of rules devised for better living of a society that made a taboo out of death. That is why we recognize many levels of sins Venal and mortal, forgivable and unforgivable, okay and grave. Why is stealing more forgivable than killing? Because human race is more afraid of getting killed than getting ripped off. That is why we devise punishments for killing not only at a legal level but also at a psychological level. Morals are just another legal code, only ingrained deeper in the psyche. And he was just freeing this piece of vermin feces from the squalor of his sorry life.

Before anymore question could trouble him as questioning everything was his way he brought the knife down straight toward the heart of the sleeping wino. The wino yawned and shifted his position while sleeping and by the time the knife blade traversed the distance to his body his neck had come in the way. Steel struck flesh. A gash opened and sprinkled hot metal flavoured blood on his face. He briefly remembered a piece of trivia read somewhere among his massive store of books about the iron content of blood . He concentrated on the job at hand. The wino had lost his vocal chords as the only sound he made was a primeval gurgling sound, but the strength of a dying man even though he is a street wino can astonish the strongest of the well fed prairie boys. He thrashed under him. He had to pin him down with both his legs and and it took 5 more slashes on the neck and the stomach when he at last stopped writhing.

He stood up feeling confused.. Has he done it well? Why did he protest so much? No harm was meant. But of course he was feeling pain. He will have to take care of the pain from the next time. The deserted roadside enveloped him in the murky mix of of dirty light and stinking shade. The only ones who had seen him were the sewer rats he so despised. He had taken the first step. There was no turning back. He was the emancipator.

46 comments:

Lord GJ said...

Dude, you on your mission to become a prolific author or what ?? Nice work there :)

Unknown said...

whoa! thanx... M a big fan of Dr. Hannibal Lecter aka Hannibal the Cannibal...just had to write a real sick serial killer series.

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

Boy Oh Boy!
You are pulling off some highly publishable acts my man!!
Brilliant!
Cheers!

roaring sheep said...

its got jim morrison-ish feeling to it.
love it.

Unknown said...

@Divyakant...welcome back man...derz more to come.
@Madhuri...The darkness is about to dawn...keep a vigil.:)

Dan* said...

hehe nice man :)

luv the humour in it :D

Mythreya said...

humm...
some good work that was..
nice description..
well i am waiting for the second chapter dude..

Unknown said...

@Dan..Thanx man
@Matty...Thank you so very much..lots more is in store...

Arun Kumar said...

wow...really well written...written like a prof...
been reading a lotta romance stories in various blogs....
this is a welcomin change...

Anonymous said...

dark.
gruesome.
psychedelic.
I had goosebumps reading it.
The emotions were so intense that i was almost able to visualize and feel them. perverseness, at its best. loved the gothic touch to it.
brilliant work, looking forward to the rest of it :)

Unknown said...

@Arun..Thanx so much...The darkness has just begun.

@Sapna...whee!!!...thanx...Now its gonna get uglier.

Kartz said...

A riveting composition, per se. Then again, that's what Gothic is all about.

Keep 'em coming...

Peace.

---
Greetings,

Thank you for stopping by and leaving a note. I appreciate your time. And, your readership.

Peace. Have a nice day.

PhilO♥ said...

Lol! your 1st gf used 2 help u ??? hehe !!! :P
Glad you liked my post!

Ratzzz said...

He took a spoonful out of the bottle and heated it on the cigarette lighter's flame.
experience speakth??? :-)

THe took out his Swiss army knife. which one :-P man u have woven urself into the post..

Dammit wat else to comment.. folks , this guy is pointing his Swiss knife towards me for past one week to comment on this post... war can i comment wen i had already gone thru his script and even helped him in a minor way...

anyways more Darkness to follow.. that's the only hint i can give... :-P

P.s # Enuf Piyu???

Luscious Sealed Lips said...

You made me look up for 'pusillanimous'.

Interesting stuff.

Kisses.

Unknown said...

@bhagirathy...Grrrr...guess who is the next victim..

@luscious...thanx for stopping by.

Unknown said...

@kartz...awesome blog you have man..

Ratzzz said...

next victim... guess it wud be me :-P

Saim said...

interesting...but then delving into the mind of a psychotic killer wud always b interesting.

Unknown said...

@comfortably numb...yes If ur suitably bored you can always write good serial killer stories..anyways thanks for dropping by..you keep me going.

Raj said...

sinisterly sweet.

Unknown said...

thanx scarlet.... welcome to my page...and keep coming i value ur comments.

bung_dvrchn said...

UBERCOOL! stuff !!
Love the subtle sarcasm and the humour in it ,nice story 2 :)..

Unknown said...

@devcharan...u rock man..

roaring sheep said...

and who has robbed your keyboard?

Unknown said...

@madhuri...its half completed girl...the second chapther i mean...soon.

D Quintessential Wasp said...
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D Quintessential Wasp said...

hey...nice writing... I find the concept extremely intriguing... and while the writing was good, I felt that it could be further darker and silently notorious... look forward to reading the next work in the series...

sanely insane said...

hmm...death...an interesting question, the fear of it even more interesting...

nice work...will come back for more

Unknown said...

@komal...First of all thanx for taking the trouble to read through the story. I plan to make it progressively darker. Other than that frankly I have no Idea what i'm gonna do with this story.

Unknown said...

Sanely insane...great thing man. I'll look forward to your expert comments.

Kavitha said...

Hmm....Well do I have to say what has been already said by a lot of people.

When's the next coming in?!

Unknown said...

@kavitha...welcome to my blog
and soon, very soon, the new one is almost ready.

Dr. Internet said...

Keep writing.

Unknown said...

@Dr,internet..sure

Mukesh Kothiyal said...

dude!! nice work...
am i writin to a future wrld famous writer ..geee :D
am done wid dis chapter ..will soon go for the next one..hopin it will b equally spl-boundin...

btw thanks 4 passin by...hope 2 see ya again thr sumtime!!

Unknown said...

@mukesh..thank you so much. you guys help me write better everytime.

Ann Dee said...

And you might as well become one someday...(Hannibal).. Good gunpowder in your write-ups and great music in your blog.. How did you do all that (I'm a little technologically challenged)?

Will come back for more! Keep posting dude!

Zlaek said...

I'm wondering if you're just a story teller or you've got anything to do with the stuff up there.

In either case, its a good post- it's not everyday that one gets to read something that makes a lot of sense.

Unknown said...

@zlaek ...lolz no...i have never murdered except a few thousand mosquitoes in my life. Thank you so much for your encouraging words. keep coming.

Mahesh Sindbandge said...

Piyush,

This is the best piece of story i have ever read on any blog, and i mean it...

I simply loved it dude.

The ketamine thing, his mom's attaining peace and his father's explantion to jerry about his mother meeting her destiny.

The choice of words, the usage of them was wonderful..

The life and its purpose, the Dr.Chadda's "will to live" philosophy and his doses to Jerry... whoa....and that description of killing the person with knife.. i am speechless ..

Glad i read it at right time :-)

Arent you planning to write a novel..? Write soon then..

Cheers
Mahesh

Unknown said...

@mahesh..thank you so verymuch for your appreciation. Infact this story is the first chapter of the short novel i am attempting. I have posted chapter 2 and chapter 3 is on the dashboard. I hope you like them all.

Mahesh Sindbandge said...

Like...?

talk about loving it.... :-)

Cheers
Mahesh

Olive Oyl said...

music on your blog :O
and post chapter 3 fast or else i'll sue you

Unknown said...

10 days i swear. its just about ready.