Robot Call

Just another busy and hectic day. Naveen, after struggling through traffic for five hours finally managed to reach home. Without even bothering for making dinner, he straight away threw himself to the bed. His phone rang. After six rings, he opened his eyes and received it.

"Hello, who is this?" He replied in a dreamy voice.

"You know me! Stop being a baby!" The reply came from the other end. But that voice, had something bizarre. A mystery may be.

"No, I don't know." Naveen retorted irritably.

"Okay. But you know Ritika, right?"

Naveen stopped in his tracks. How does he know about Ritika? It's been four years of her death. Who is this lunatic asking about her.

"What do you mean? How do you know her?" Naveen's voice was crackling. And the phone got disconnected.

Naveen tried gazing at the wall clock in darkness. It was 2:00 AM. His throat was parched and he suddenly started sweating. He tried sleeping again and gained some success at the end.

The next day began as usual. In the midst of hustle and bustle, he forgot the last night's instance. Until, he got a message on his Macbook which read, "Your story hasn't ended yet, destiny has plans you bet!" The same number! Naveen felt a jerk. He came out of his office building and dialed the number again and again but it never got connected. He went inside and tried searching the number series on the internet. But no success. However, the day continued till dusk and he returned home. Messages still rewinding in his head. He ate little and lay down in his bed. There was no call that night.

Five days went after this and Naveen's memory gradually eliminated it from the archive. It was all normal till messages started flashing yet again on his laptop. He tried ignoring and then he couldn't. The last one read, "The truth can never be fought, so what if your excuses others had bought?" He sent a reply but it never went.

The same evening, Naveen went to one of his hacker friend to seek his help. He showed one of the less suspicious messages and asked the source. His friend told him that it was supposed to be Robot Call and nothing scary. "By the way, who is Ritika? You never mentioned her?" His friend asked. "No one. I told you, the messages are disgustingly fake." Naveen fumbled.

On the way back home, Naveen's mind was reeling. How can a Robot call dictate his secrets. He got a call again that night. This time, he was kind of prepared. He screamed from the beginning, "You cannot blabber anything to anyone. You don't really know about me, do you? What does your mean machine owner want anyway?"

"Fear and anger, the parallel lines of a railway track. Your anger that day led you to fear this day. Best friends, they always walk hand in hand." A long pause prevailed after that reply.

"What exactly shall I offer so you don't ever call me again?" Naveen broke the silence.

"Patience! I shall appear when that's gone for you!" And the call disconnected.

Naveen wished if he could make anything out of it but he failed. Exhausted from head to toe, he fell asleep.

After few days, he got a message again from that number. This time it showed an address of some dilapidated building. He reached there by late evening. Naveen got an eerie feeling as he entered and fell down due a tangled wire. The lights got on automatically. All he saw was a computer screen and nothing else. He screamed and searched all corners but there was no one. His phone flashed a text, "Turn on the computer." Naveen did and what he saw left him dumbfounded. It were some archived pictures of him and Ritika. Naveen's anger shot up, "What the hell do you want?"

"The truth." A voice came from nowhere. "Tell me where is she or you shall never be out of this place." And the lights went off. Naveen tried lighting the phone flashlight but it went dead. There was not a single reverberation except for the sound of his shoes and his own heartbeat.

The voice repeated. "Speak up. Or you shall be dead." A loud thud hit his ears and felt a sharp blow near his feet. Naveen went white with fear and made his words to spill.

"You already know the truth don't you? She passed away in an accident."

"The truth I said." The yell came. "You had pushed her."

Naveen lost his patience. "See, I told you. You know it already."

A second blow came. But this time it hit him hard and he screamed in pain.

"Yes I did it. I pushed her in front of that van. I know she was betraying me. It was me whom she had loved and promised that she would never leave. I saw her new man. He can't even me in centuries. She couldn't destroy my part of love just like that. Can I go now please?" No voice came till next 10 minutes and Naveen slowly left that place.

Limping hard, he reached his place, but he was shaken to his spine when he saw police standing there.

"Naveen you are under arrest for killing Ritika."

Naveen could not say anything. Lastly he managed to utter, "What was the Robot call all about?"

A teary eyed young man appeared from one of the cars. "I was the robot call." "I knew it from the beginning. I am her brother, I knew whatever she knew and yet I couldn't saved her. This was the least I could have done."

Naveen stared blankly at him. While Naveen was still lost in the middle of nowhere, his sins were all paid off.