The tides were taking their turns dipping my feet in the water. It was windy when one stood on the edge of ocean in the middle of the night. The chilly wind brushed my hair on my face. I didn't bother brushing the hair away because it covered majority of my vision. I was afraid if I took a look at what was in front of me, I'd be disappointed.
All my life, I was a shade of grey. For some time, I accepted it too. I was fine being somebody ambiguous as far as my morals went. People did what I wanted to do, I had my life in a spin. One bad move, and I was a bad guy. Then came Priscilla. She made me look into myself and I cleaned myself to become white. But the grey was never truly gone, so I relapsed once again, just worse. I became a shade of black.
Ever since, the only person I wanted to live for is Kiyomi. I would have died for anybody involved in my life. But I only wanted to live for Kyo. No, I wanted to life with her.
I closed my eyes to take in the cold wind into me.
I am a survivor.
I can do what I want to.
I WILL do what I need to.
"Nice night, huh." A man behind me spoke.
"Depends. What do you want to me?" I replied.
I heard the man taking steps towards me. His heavy steps sunk in the wet sand as he advanced towards me. He put his hand on my shoulder and made me turn around.
"Cline, you're a dope. Who wears glasses in the middle of the night?"
He grabbed me from my shirt and yanked me around before coming face to face with me.
"Madonna, I did what you wanted me to do. I did make a good coin out of it. But I am a self-righteous man. So, don't push any unnecessary buttons. Don't forget I was in gaol for." Cline wanted only me to listen all of it, so he spoke accordingly.
I raised both of my arms like I was held at gun point. "Alright. I won't call you Hitmaker anymore. Happy?"
He let go of my shirt and said, "I have an itch in my fists. Maybe I'll visit a bar and stir things up a little. Priscilla would be here in a second."
After saying that Cline turned around and started walking away from me. I took the piece of rock out of back pocket and threw it in the ocean. I saw him walking away and pausing near a shadow. There was a small pause and I saw Cline handing something to the shadow figure. I gave out a heavy sigh. When I opened my eyes back, Cline was nowhere to be found. But the shadow figure was walking towards me.
Huh. Hopefully, this time the individual who approaches me is the expected one.
It certainly was. Priscilla walked towards me with a small pole in her hand. Apparently, Cline gave Priscilla an iron bar in case I got a little "aggressive."
"Are you going to hold that thing for all the time we talk?" I asked her.
"What? No. I'm not here to hurt you."
You had done plenty of that today.
"I'm here for answers."
"What, kind of answers?"
"What did you do after you left me?" Priscilla posed her question.
"I went to Nepal. I worked as a Senior Distributor for Velocity Cars. There I met Kyo. We hit it off and we decided to get married. We changed countries, became Indian citizens and got married. Now I work in Marketing Department of Velocity Cars here in India." I gave her my answer.
"Stop. I don't want to know your whole life story up until you fell in my feet today. I want you to answer if you think I'm stupid?"
"I never deemed you to be. Why?"
Priscilla was getting agitated," Stop playing stupid. Do yo think I'm stupid enough to believe that with millions of dollars in pocket, you went to opposite end of the world to work a desk job?"
"It was not a desk job. Not everyday." I felt I was digging myself a hole after every response.
"Please, some answers would be appreciated."
I looked in Priscilla's eyes. They were stern, but they also seemed brittle. She was not able to stabilize her glance on me. Her eyes went from left to right, like she was scanning me shoulder to shoulder.
"Priscilla, I had my reasons-"
"Sure you did." She was clearly fighting tears. "What I want to know is what was the worth of however money you had by poaching me?"
"Again, you are not any Priscilla. You are P.A. the rapper. I plucked you from you cocaine sessions and put a mic in your hands instead of drugs. I invested energy into you. I gave you this life." My volume was well above 60 dB.
I turned around and stared into the horizon. I wanted her to forgive me. I also wanted her to realize I was not that bad of a human as she painted me to be. So I decided to expose all the facts to her and deal with her later. Thus, I went on a tirade
"You are standing here after your show. You had your five course meal. Tomorrow, you will be in the town, exploring it. Day after that, you'll be in another town, entertaining the masses. Day after that, another country. You have a chance to spend this life because I threw a chance at you. All you did was look pretty and use that voice box god gave you. If you had not chosen this lifestyle of pomp and luxury, you'd still be in a team full of adult girls, ready to be sexualised by every male around you. You know clothes rarely interfere in a man's imagination when you have the minimum cloth to cover yourself in the first place."
I took a pause. It seemed she had calmed down. She didn't try to break me off while I laid truth about her possible route. Maybe she had a moment of enlightenment. Thus I decided to continue a bit more. She needed to know about all the favors she owed me.
"Now look here-" I turned around to face her, but I was cut when the bar of iron struck on the side of my leg.
Priscilla had swung the iron bar and had struck me near my kneecap.
"AAAhhhhhhhh" I let out a wail as I crumbled on the wet sand. I bent my leg on a comfortable angle and held it there while I continued to scream in pain. My head was going crazy with pain, when I noticed Priscilla was crouching near me. She had pushed the iron bar right next to my head. If I turned my head to observe her, it would have come in contact with the cold metal.
"Now listen to me, and listen closely. I want you to apologize four more times."
"ImsorryImsorryImsorryImsorry." I muttered four apologies consecutively as I laid on the beach.
"No, Not like this. I want you to apologize when I'm at the concert. That's it."
"But why?" I was grinding my teeth.
She raised her voice,"Hey, you don't make the rules. I do. The way I see it, you don't have too much money. So I want you to go broke. That would be a great starting point for your new life."
After she said that, she stood back up and started walking away.
I fumbled on the sand to look at her walking away and barked one last question out," How do you know I have no money?"
Priscilla turned around and said," I don't. but I have an idea I am not going to be the only one you'd be apologizing. Traveling does take some cash out of your pocket, right?"
My body froze at the moment. None of the people I had planned to talk had ever met each other. How could she know about my financial situation as well as four other people?
"You're bluffing." I tried a feint.
Priscilla stopped in her tracks. Without turning, she said," Maybe don't plan your apology plans with your friends. That Mapalla guy may have something to say to you." After making the revelation, she continues walking away.
I took the iron bar she left behind and crawled back to the road. I sat on the bench nearby and called for an ambulance. After hanging up the phone, I called Trigman.
"Hey, are you outside?" He questions.
"Put Mapalla on the phone. RIGHT. NOW."
Moments later, Mappala says 'Hello'.
"What did you say to Priscilla?"
"About what?" He replies with his regular aloof tone.
"About the whole forgiveness debacle I am in. what did you spill?"
"I swear, I said nothing. To her"
"What was that pause?"
"Shit. I just remembered. I didn't say anything to her, but I was talking to Ms. Herman."
I covered my face with my hand. "What did you say Mapalla? Say the exact words."
"The costliest purchase in this world is forgiveness. It doesn't cost a dime, but a long journey does require monetary funding. And with so many pit-stops in her way, it'll be a long journey for her."
"You fucking idiot…" I hung up the call and gripped my phone as hard as I could. I really wanted to break something. But I couldn't find anything which wont cost me a lot of money in hindsight. So I screamed in the dark night.
It really was a dark night.