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The Sum Of All Numbers
THE SUM OF ALL NUMBERS
@Ray’san
#WritcoAnthology
Of Zero,
........
The day began like most other days did.
He had completed his long run early in the morning through the winding forest tracks, and now stood outside his small wooden cabin, feeling the warmth of the sunshine and the gentle breeze playing across his face. His steady unwavering hands worked on his gun, Zero, with the practised ease of long years, systematically repeating a continuous smooth cycle of action, the eyes never straying from their field of vision and moving instantly between the random spots, that his brain told them to focus on.
The morning routine was always repeated, every day. It was therapeutic and kept him focussed, amidst his solitary existence in the anonymity of this remote mountain abode. His life was quiet and lonely most of the time. The long and silent days gave him the chance to cleanse his mind and soul of the occasional aberrations.
He had to wait for them to come, never knowing when they would, with a call from One.
At times, his mind tried to roll back the years to the hazy almost forgotten boyhood on the streets, before One took over his life and gave him Zero. Since then, he had always done what was asked of him and the trust between the three of them deepened. One’s of him, and, his of Zero. The numbers defined the balance of equations in their world.
So it went, till the unflinching rhythm of their lives had got interrupted after the incident many years ago.
One always ruled by his own will and had once decided on payback for a family who were averse to his rules and the demands it made on them. One desired their beautiful young daughter, but the girl’s family had resisted strongly.
So he was summoned by One and asked to act.
The times that followed were spent in hiding, after taking the young daughter forcibly away from her home. With the family desperately trying to hunt them down, and One choosing to feign innocence, he had to disappear with the girl.
As they remained hidden from the world outside, their loneliness gave way to the happiness they discovered in each other’s company. It was broken up when One instructed him to send her away to a distant land where she would reside and be occasionally graced by the presence of One.
He had obeyed, as he always had to. The two of them had parted ways and he was sent away to his solitary existence in the mountains. Safer for him, as One had deemed.
He had closed his ears to the whispers about her disappearance, which had later found their way into the misty mountains, and gone on with his life. Their echoes lingered in the cold nights, leaving him desolate at times.
But then, he had Zero and his life dictated by One, to fall back on.
Today was such a day, he continued to exist for. As he stood with Zero, his hands shifting between the targets that Zero was trained on, his eyes caught sight of a man, walking up the steep path towards his abode. He knew the man coming towards him- The Messenger.
The call from One had come. He was needed on a job.
The unwritten rituals were followed and there was no need for any questions or unnecessary exchange of words between both of them. After hearing the instructions, he picked up his bag, which always remained packed, and started walking down the path.
Before leaving, he had to hand over Zero to the Messenger in order to travel safely. They would work out ways to hand Zero back to him to complete the job. It had to happen this way, as he only trusted Zero for such purposes. One, in his own wisdom, had continued to indulge his peculiar whim and spared him the pain of prolonged separation from the trusted Zero.
Zero and One, were all that he had in his life now.
....................................................................
...........And, One.
The day had not begun like most of the other days did.
For once, One was not in control. He had been woken up early in the morning by a call and sat quietly trying to control his rage, letting his brain ride over random emotions and instead focus on what needed to be done.
It had been one of his minions, reporting on the unthinkable that had happened in a distant world. The usually busy mansion at this hour, was now engulfed in a still deathly silence, the staff treading softly outside One’s room with extreme caution. The news was probably spreading all over in his world and his sheen of pride and honour was at stake.
She had run away from her home with a boy from a hated family, rivals with whom the blood feud had been running deep for generations. In a further act of defiance to One, they had announced their wedding and the times of celebrations.
The girl was One’s secret. He kept her hidden away in a distant world, far away from the world he ruled over. Her past had been carefully obliterated and the mere reason for her existence was unfathomable to the very few who knew about her, except the darkest corners of One’s mind.
The situation had changed now and One was feeling threatened.
One never calculated the risks that needed to be taken when he perceived threat. But it was unusual and different this time. As he thought, long and hard before deciding, he had to admit that justice was the reason for having let the man live all these years to face his fate.
So, One got up, once more in control, and made the call to the Messenger to bring in Zero. It had always been this way - both the numbers added up to one.
,.......................................................
.........But when the numbers were added......
The journey into the town was uneventful.
A day later, they had met him and handed over Zero, as required. Thereafter One had called. He had been told to walk straight in, be careful, do his job and walk out. However, One, unlike his usual precise cold deadly self, appeared a bit agitated and had told him that only he could do this ,insisting that the job be done in midst of everybody to leave a message behind .
Perhaps it was his imagination, One had never spoken with him so long. But the time had come now to blank out the stray distractions of such thoughts.
He was inconsequential, what mattered were Zero and One.
,...................................................................
......., they did not add upto One.
He walked quietly and steadily towards the hotel where the wedding had been planned to take place.
It was a reputable part of the town, where rich money and the glitz of aristocracy came together in the streets filled with joy of celebrations and sounds of laughter through the nights. The mood in the streets seemed to overpower him, as he wove his way through the crowds and arrived before the brightly lit doorway to the hotel.
The place was already overflowing with the arrival of big shiny limousines and the grandeur of sharply dressed men and bejewelled women that alighted from them.
He nodded at the hotel staff in waiting, and entered through the shimmering portal making his way to the Wedding Ballroom with the carnation held firmly in his hands.
Zero nestled quietly, within the red and white roses – a wedding present from One.
He looked around for the girl, who did not know of his existence or the reasons that had brought him here. There was no reason to be discreet but he still needed to be careful. Standing at the doorway, he surveyed the banquet hall filled with people in their beautiful dresses, their celebrations casting a spell over the room.
But that would change, soon. Any moment now.
He spotted them instantly, the wedding couple surrounded by the guests, holding centre stage. He could not see their faces in the crowd but they stood out like a shining light, filling the vast room with joy and happiness. He made his way towards the girl in her bridal finery and as he came close both his hands drew away from each other with the carnation remaining in one hand.
Zero appeared in the other hand, pointed towards the girl.
And then she turned towards him, the smiling radiant face looking at him through those distantly familiar beautiful warm eyes. He stood still and frozen to the spot staring at a mirror through time taking him back to when a woman with a smiling radiant face had looked at him with beautiful warm eyes full of love and he had forgotten all the rules in his life, losing himself in the love they had shared together. This girl looked the way she had looked all those years back, but was different.
He now understood why One had sent him here. It was One’s cruel twisted final command to him and Zero.
The single piercing scream of a lady guest and a security guard’s blow to his head happened simultaneously. He fell over on the ground with people in the crowd falling on top of him, pinning him down, trying to snatch Zero away from his hands.
And then he saw the Backup. One would not have done it otherwise. The Backup was there to take him out after he had finished his act, but was now lining up a gun towards the girl.
Zero fired one last time at the Backup, as always -trusted and on target.
He lay quietly, overpowered, and closed his eyes with a smile of happiness after watching the expression of shocked relief in the girl’s eyes.
Relieved at last that Zero had now left him forever.
Happy - his daughter was getting married today.
....................................................................
Epilogue-
One was his busy self, making preparations and issuing orders. Plans were being made to go somewhere safer. They were going to come after him now, sooner or later.
It was different now. The unexpected had happened and the equations had changed.
The sum of the numbers were no longer One.
……………………………………
© Ray’san @45 rpm
@Ray’san
#WritcoAnthology
Of Zero,
........
The day began like most other days did.
He had completed his long run early in the morning through the winding forest tracks, and now stood outside his small wooden cabin, feeling the warmth of the sunshine and the gentle breeze playing across his face. His steady unwavering hands worked on his gun, Zero, with the practised ease of long years, systematically repeating a continuous smooth cycle of action, the eyes never straying from their field of vision and moving instantly between the random spots, that his brain told them to focus on.
The morning routine was always repeated, every day. It was therapeutic and kept him focussed, amidst his solitary existence in the anonymity of this remote mountain abode. His life was quiet and lonely most of the time. The long and silent days gave him the chance to cleanse his mind and soul of the occasional aberrations.
He had to wait for them to come, never knowing when they would, with a call from One.
At times, his mind tried to roll back the years to the hazy almost forgotten boyhood on the streets, before One took over his life and gave him Zero. Since then, he had always done what was asked of him and the trust between the three of them deepened. One’s of him, and, his of Zero. The numbers defined the balance of equations in their world.
So it went, till the unflinching rhythm of their lives had got interrupted after the incident many years ago.
One always ruled by his own will and had once decided on payback for a family who were averse to his rules and the demands it made on them. One desired their beautiful young daughter, but the girl’s family had resisted strongly.
So he was summoned by One and asked to act.
The times that followed were spent in hiding, after taking the young daughter forcibly away from her home. With the family desperately trying to hunt them down, and One choosing to feign innocence, he had to disappear with the girl.
As they remained hidden from the world outside, their loneliness gave way to the happiness they discovered in each other’s company. It was broken up when One instructed him to send her away to a distant land where she would reside and be occasionally graced by the presence of One.
He had obeyed, as he always had to. The two of them had parted ways and he was sent away to his solitary existence in the mountains. Safer for him, as One had deemed.
He had closed his ears to the whispers about her disappearance, which had later found their way into the misty mountains, and gone on with his life. Their echoes lingered in the cold nights, leaving him desolate at times.
But then, he had Zero and his life dictated by One, to fall back on.
Today was such a day, he continued to exist for. As he stood with Zero, his hands shifting between the targets that Zero was trained on, his eyes caught sight of a man, walking up the steep path towards his abode. He knew the man coming towards him- The Messenger.
The call from One had come. He was needed on a job.
The unwritten rituals were followed and there was no need for any questions or unnecessary exchange of words between both of them. After hearing the instructions, he picked up his bag, which always remained packed, and started walking down the path.
Before leaving, he had to hand over Zero to the Messenger in order to travel safely. They would work out ways to hand Zero back to him to complete the job. It had to happen this way, as he only trusted Zero for such purposes. One, in his own wisdom, had continued to indulge his peculiar whim and spared him the pain of prolonged separation from the trusted Zero.
Zero and One, were all that he had in his life now.
....................................................................
...........And, One.
The day had not begun like most of the other days did.
For once, One was not in control. He had been woken up early in the morning by a call and sat quietly trying to control his rage, letting his brain ride over random emotions and instead focus on what needed to be done.
It had been one of his minions, reporting on the unthinkable that had happened in a distant world. The usually busy mansion at this hour, was now engulfed in a still deathly silence, the staff treading softly outside One’s room with extreme caution. The news was probably spreading all over in his world and his sheen of pride and honour was at stake.
She had run away from her home with a boy from a hated family, rivals with whom the blood feud had been running deep for generations. In a further act of defiance to One, they had announced their wedding and the times of celebrations.
The girl was One’s secret. He kept her hidden away in a distant world, far away from the world he ruled over. Her past had been carefully obliterated and the mere reason for her existence was unfathomable to the very few who knew about her, except the darkest corners of One’s mind.
The situation had changed now and One was feeling threatened.
One never calculated the risks that needed to be taken when he perceived threat. But it was unusual and different this time. As he thought, long and hard before deciding, he had to admit that justice was the reason for having let the man live all these years to face his fate.
So, One got up, once more in control, and made the call to the Messenger to bring in Zero. It had always been this way - both the numbers added up to one.
,.......................................................
.........But when the numbers were added......
The journey into the town was uneventful.
A day later, they had met him and handed over Zero, as required. Thereafter One had called. He had been told to walk straight in, be careful, do his job and walk out. However, One, unlike his usual precise cold deadly self, appeared a bit agitated and had told him that only he could do this ,insisting that the job be done in midst of everybody to leave a message behind .
Perhaps it was his imagination, One had never spoken with him so long. But the time had come now to blank out the stray distractions of such thoughts.
He was inconsequential, what mattered were Zero and One.
,...................................................................
......., they did not add upto One.
He walked quietly and steadily towards the hotel where the wedding had been planned to take place.
It was a reputable part of the town, where rich money and the glitz of aristocracy came together in the streets filled with joy of celebrations and sounds of laughter through the nights. The mood in the streets seemed to overpower him, as he wove his way through the crowds and arrived before the brightly lit doorway to the hotel.
The place was already overflowing with the arrival of big shiny limousines and the grandeur of sharply dressed men and bejewelled women that alighted from them.
He nodded at the hotel staff in waiting, and entered through the shimmering portal making his way to the Wedding Ballroom with the carnation held firmly in his hands.
Zero nestled quietly, within the red and white roses – a wedding present from One.
He looked around for the girl, who did not know of his existence or the reasons that had brought him here. There was no reason to be discreet but he still needed to be careful. Standing at the doorway, he surveyed the banquet hall filled with people in their beautiful dresses, their celebrations casting a spell over the room.
But that would change, soon. Any moment now.
He spotted them instantly, the wedding couple surrounded by the guests, holding centre stage. He could not see their faces in the crowd but they stood out like a shining light, filling the vast room with joy and happiness. He made his way towards the girl in her bridal finery and as he came close both his hands drew away from each other with the carnation remaining in one hand.
Zero appeared in the other hand, pointed towards the girl.
And then she turned towards him, the smiling radiant face looking at him through those distantly familiar beautiful warm eyes. He stood still and frozen to the spot staring at a mirror through time taking him back to when a woman with a smiling radiant face had looked at him with beautiful warm eyes full of love and he had forgotten all the rules in his life, losing himself in the love they had shared together. This girl looked the way she had looked all those years back, but was different.
He now understood why One had sent him here. It was One’s cruel twisted final command to him and Zero.
The single piercing scream of a lady guest and a security guard’s blow to his head happened simultaneously. He fell over on the ground with people in the crowd falling on top of him, pinning him down, trying to snatch Zero away from his hands.
And then he saw the Backup. One would not have done it otherwise. The Backup was there to take him out after he had finished his act, but was now lining up a gun towards the girl.
Zero fired one last time at the Backup, as always -trusted and on target.
He lay quietly, overpowered, and closed his eyes with a smile of happiness after watching the expression of shocked relief in the girl’s eyes.
Relieved at last that Zero had now left him forever.
Happy - his daughter was getting married today.
....................................................................
Epilogue-
One was his busy self, making preparations and issuing orders. Plans were being made to go somewhere safer. They were going to come after him now, sooner or later.
It was different now. The unexpected had happened and the equations had changed.
The sum of the numbers were no longer One.
……………………………………
© Ray’san @45 rpm
