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Secret of the Cursed Pearl - Part 2
*Read part 1 before continuing*
***
He stared at it all day, but nothing happened. It was expected. All the stories about the pearl happened at night.
As night fell, Bijoy became more alert. He sat on the bed looking right at the pearl. He waited one hour, he waited two hours. Nothing.
Maybe it works when the lights are turned off, he thought. He switched off the lights and again started at it. Nothing happened. Bijoy started getting impatient and sleepy. But he couldn't let himself sleep. What if it happens when I'm asleep?
He turned on the radio to find a distraction. But almost all the time he could only listen to static noise. All channels seemed to be offline. While sweeping through the frequencies, he suddenly found one that played some music.
"You are listening to sleep music, only on 112 FM!" A female voice on the radio said.
He turned the radio off and continued looking at the pearl. It sat there like an innocent little stone. It did nothing. It didn't start glowing, moving, or levitating like someone who heard the stories would expect. It did nothing.
Well… It was all a hoax. I knew this thing is no supernatural pearl, he thought.
But then he wondered something for a while and started speaking to the pearl.
"Ahhh… I was about to look away. That is what everyone does, don't they? Even after knowing the stories they eventually become impatient and look away. And that's when you do your magic or whatever. That's when you make them vanish"
Then he got off the bed and walked closer to the pearl.
"So, what magic do you do? What are you? I'm no ordinary person, you know that, right?"
He then picked up a screwdriver from the drawer.
"I want to see what you are made of. You have tired me enough. Now it's time to prove to the world that you are nothing but a mere stone. A rock made of calcium carbonate."
He held the pearl with his left hand and positioned the screwdriver right above it. And then he smacked the pearl with it. But the pearl was so smooth that the tip of the screwdriver slipped from its surface and jabbed into his left thumb. Bijoy screamed with pain as blood started spewing out. There was not even a small scratch on the surface of the pearl.
"You stupid piece of rock!" He yelled. Then he held the screwdriver with both of his hands and was about to strike the pearl again. And that's when it happened…
The whole room lit up with red light. By now, Bijoy's skin was pouring with sweat. He immediately went away from the pearl and looked around the room that started being lit up with red and blue lights.
"It's happening. It's happening!!" He was yelling. He was breathing heavily and his heart was beating twice as fast. But he was not an ordinary person. He was a physicist, and physicists don't judge any phenomenon just from outer appearance. He noticed the blue and red lights were alternating. His ears couldn't hear anything due to the shock. He tried to slow down his breathing and listen to his surroundings.
Then he heard it. An ambulance. It was not the light coming from the stone but from an ambulance crossing beside his house. But it was too late to calm down. He was wet with sweat and his heart was still beating fast. Soon, his vision became blurry and he couldn't feel his legs. No! I can't faint. Not at this time, he thought. It's just my brain. I'm hallucinating. It's just my brain. I can control it. But he couldn't.
He could feel himself falling down as his legs gave way. All that happened in slow motion. He could see the pearl going out of his field of view as he fell to the ground. He tried to control it. He didn't want to lose his opportunity of proving to the world that it was a mere pearl and nothing more. But he could not. Soon, darkness covered his vision and he gave up.
***
Bijoy opened his eyes which were burning hot from a ray of sunlight entering from the window. When he remembered what happened the previous night, he immediately got up.
Wh…Where am I? He looked around.
He was still in his room and it was morning. Everything seemed to be normal.
I am still here. Nothing happened!
But something had happened. He looked at the desk. The pearl was gone. Bijoy immediately jumped off his bed and ran to the desk.
What on earth? Where the hell did it go?
He searched in the drawer, around the room, under the bed. It was nowhere to be found. The doors and windows were still locked from the inside. It seemed to have disappeared into thin air. Then he looked at the telephone on the desk. He immediately called Aurobindo.
"Dada, anything from the police?" He said.
"What do you mean?" Aurobindo asked.
"About Baba or the Pearl"
"Baba? And what pearl are you talking about?" Aurobindo seemed to be confused.
"Baba had dis-", he stopped before completing the sentence. He thought for a while. Was all that a dream?
He continued, "Where is baba?"
"Probably at home. I visited him last night. But why are you suddenly asking about him?" Aurobindo asked.
"Okay, bad dream. I'll call you later." Bijoy hung up.
He turned on the radio. There was no news about the pearl. He looked through the past five days of newspapers. There was no mention of the cursed pearl anywhere. It was as if everything was the same, but just the stories about the pearl had disappeared.
Ahh… What a dream, Bijoy was relieved.
But there was something odd. He had a feeling that not everything was the same as before. He remembered everything about the pearl so clearly. Usually, when you dream about something, you tend to forget a major part of it the moment you wake up. But this was different. He could remember every single detail of what had happened. And then he noticed it…
My God! He was shocked when he saw it. The cut on his thumb from the screwdriver was still there.
This happened last night when I was trying to crack open the pearl. I don't remember anything else that did this.
He stared at his thumb as he thought, but why doesn't anyone else remember the pearl? And where did it go? God damn it! That pearl did it. It did it. I have no evidence of its existence now. Nobody remembers about it.
Suddenly he thought of something else.
Wait. I'm not the only one who had seen the pearl before.
That's when he did something he thought he would never do in his life. He went to meet his father.
Continued in part 3...
#mystery #thriller #crime #suspense
© arpan
***
He stared at it all day, but nothing happened. It was expected. All the stories about the pearl happened at night.
As night fell, Bijoy became more alert. He sat on the bed looking right at the pearl. He waited one hour, he waited two hours. Nothing.
Maybe it works when the lights are turned off, he thought. He switched off the lights and again started at it. Nothing happened. Bijoy started getting impatient and sleepy. But he couldn't let himself sleep. What if it happens when I'm asleep?
He turned on the radio to find a distraction. But almost all the time he could only listen to static noise. All channels seemed to be offline. While sweeping through the frequencies, he suddenly found one that played some music.
"You are listening to sleep music, only on 112 FM!" A female voice on the radio said.
He turned the radio off and continued looking at the pearl. It sat there like an innocent little stone. It did nothing. It didn't start glowing, moving, or levitating like someone who heard the stories would expect. It did nothing.
Well… It was all a hoax. I knew this thing is no supernatural pearl, he thought.
But then he wondered something for a while and started speaking to the pearl.
"Ahhh… I was about to look away. That is what everyone does, don't they? Even after knowing the stories they eventually become impatient and look away. And that's when you do your magic or whatever. That's when you make them vanish"
Then he got off the bed and walked closer to the pearl.
"So, what magic do you do? What are you? I'm no ordinary person, you know that, right?"
He then picked up a screwdriver from the drawer.
"I want to see what you are made of. You have tired me enough. Now it's time to prove to the world that you are nothing but a mere stone. A rock made of calcium carbonate."
He held the pearl with his left hand and positioned the screwdriver right above it. And then he smacked the pearl with it. But the pearl was so smooth that the tip of the screwdriver slipped from its surface and jabbed into his left thumb. Bijoy screamed with pain as blood started spewing out. There was not even a small scratch on the surface of the pearl.
"You stupid piece of rock!" He yelled. Then he held the screwdriver with both of his hands and was about to strike the pearl again. And that's when it happened…
The whole room lit up with red light. By now, Bijoy's skin was pouring with sweat. He immediately went away from the pearl and looked around the room that started being lit up with red and blue lights.
"It's happening. It's happening!!" He was yelling. He was breathing heavily and his heart was beating twice as fast. But he was not an ordinary person. He was a physicist, and physicists don't judge any phenomenon just from outer appearance. He noticed the blue and red lights were alternating. His ears couldn't hear anything due to the shock. He tried to slow down his breathing and listen to his surroundings.
Then he heard it. An ambulance. It was not the light coming from the stone but from an ambulance crossing beside his house. But it was too late to calm down. He was wet with sweat and his heart was still beating fast. Soon, his vision became blurry and he couldn't feel his legs. No! I can't faint. Not at this time, he thought. It's just my brain. I'm hallucinating. It's just my brain. I can control it. But he couldn't.
He could feel himself falling down as his legs gave way. All that happened in slow motion. He could see the pearl going out of his field of view as he fell to the ground. He tried to control it. He didn't want to lose his opportunity of proving to the world that it was a mere pearl and nothing more. But he could not. Soon, darkness covered his vision and he gave up.
***
Bijoy opened his eyes which were burning hot from a ray of sunlight entering from the window. When he remembered what happened the previous night, he immediately got up.
Wh…Where am I? He looked around.
He was still in his room and it was morning. Everything seemed to be normal.
I am still here. Nothing happened!
But something had happened. He looked at the desk. The pearl was gone. Bijoy immediately jumped off his bed and ran to the desk.
What on earth? Where the hell did it go?
He searched in the drawer, around the room, under the bed. It was nowhere to be found. The doors and windows were still locked from the inside. It seemed to have disappeared into thin air. Then he looked at the telephone on the desk. He immediately called Aurobindo.
"Dada, anything from the police?" He said.
"What do you mean?" Aurobindo asked.
"About Baba or the Pearl"
"Baba? And what pearl are you talking about?" Aurobindo seemed to be confused.
"Baba had dis-", he stopped before completing the sentence. He thought for a while. Was all that a dream?
He continued, "Where is baba?"
"Probably at home. I visited him last night. But why are you suddenly asking about him?" Aurobindo asked.
"Okay, bad dream. I'll call you later." Bijoy hung up.
He turned on the radio. There was no news about the pearl. He looked through the past five days of newspapers. There was no mention of the cursed pearl anywhere. It was as if everything was the same, but just the stories about the pearl had disappeared.
Ahh… What a dream, Bijoy was relieved.
But there was something odd. He had a feeling that not everything was the same as before. He remembered everything about the pearl so clearly. Usually, when you dream about something, you tend to forget a major part of it the moment you wake up. But this was different. He could remember every single detail of what had happened. And then he noticed it…
My God! He was shocked when he saw it. The cut on his thumb from the screwdriver was still there.
This happened last night when I was trying to crack open the pearl. I don't remember anything else that did this.
He stared at his thumb as he thought, but why doesn't anyone else remember the pearl? And where did it go? God damn it! That pearl did it. It did it. I have no evidence of its existence now. Nobody remembers about it.
Suddenly he thought of something else.
Wait. I'm not the only one who had seen the pearl before.
That's when he did something he thought he would never do in his life. He went to meet his father.
Continued in part 3...
#mystery #thriller #crime #suspense
© arpan
