Twilight Zone

Cleo looked at Brad with her brown soulful eyes, her locks shadowing the same tear that rolled down her cheek, like it had before. Brad's thoughts ran an era back, and he mused at how a new episode was about to begin. And thanked providence for the change in his capabilities. This time, he wasn't going to listen to her; this time it wasn't going to end the way she wanted it to. It might not be exactly the way he would have liked it, but atleast it wasn't going to be the way like she had it the last time. This time, they were goin' to be happy!

* * *

The farmer was still tilling the soil in his own private twilight zone. The sun had set a long time back, but the rays still lingered in the misty air. He wasn't sweating because he was not tired, although he had been working away in the field since morning. He reached the foot of the hill beyond which the sun had set, and it was then that he heard a faint murmur of a woman.

She looked like a damsel to him, fallen from heaven and yet her eyes were moist. He approached her with noisy steps to make her aware of his presence. She looked up to see the new arrival, but the murmur didn't stop. She was clad in a orangish hue that matched the color of the sky right then.

"Are you hurt in anyway, dear lady", he asked, still clad in his work attire. He didn't step any forward from where he stood. In a snap, he changed into his cotton robes, looking like an ordinary tramp, with no purpose in life. She hadn't moved an inch. The farmer wasn't sure whether the lady had heard him or was even aware that he had spoken.

She looked at him with her eyes that lacked any expression. The murmur stopped, and the silence echoed in the valley. If it were not for the tear, it wouldn't have transpired that she was sad. Her lips shivered with a smile long forgotten. It made him feel like he didn't exist in her world.

Keeping his distance, he leaned ahead, "Would you like me to take you home?", he pressed on. His body was feeling an influx of energy. A suddent surge like the current one, always reminded him of the day when he realized that he was different than the rest of the normal people around him.

A minute rolled by, and the damsel had not spoken a word. She continued to look at him hoping that he would read her thoughts, but he wasn't gifted with those powers as yet.

"I don't feel good about myself anymore.", it was the same murmur that was beginning to form words now. She had been speaking all this while, but he had not been listening.

Not sure whether he should ask her the reason for feeling that way, he probed carefully, "Would you like something to eat? They say that 'food' and 'company' dissolves a lot of things." She smiled softly at his spoken words, and her aura went a shade lighter. He hoped he had said the right thing.

Gently, she rose, picking her bluish veil, and walked towards him. He could hear her breathing now.

"Why do you try to help when you know you can't help me today?", she read his mind as casually as she brushed the leaves off her hair.

The man realized that she belonged to the same clan. She was a demi-goddess. Demi-entities don't need introductions, they read each other, feel each other by their thoughts. They could fall in love in a minute and fall out of it in less than one. Each one had special gifts.

Her tear was no longer visible, but it was still there. He hoped he could make her happy.

"And how do you propose to do that?", she questioned his thought. She already knew that he could make her wish come true, that was his gift.

She seemed to be distracted from what she was thinking before. "Do you really help people by granting them what they ask for?", she tried to read him, but somehow he was restricting his thoughts from crossing over. "Oh well.", she thought.

"I provide them with hope. It's the best that I can do.", he modestly boasted. He was about to add how he hated to see her the way he had seen her a minute ago, but decided against it.

They looked at each other with insouciant eyes, every good thing has it's drawbacks. The chemistry seemed to bubble. She came closer to him; her aura infringed onto his. He could feel a tremor run through his body, she was about to wish for something he wouldn't want to grant. He hoped against hope that she would change her mind. He wanted to hold her and comfort her.

She placed her head softly into his shoulders, "May be in a different world.", she whispered into his ears, "But today, I want to die.", her tear rolled down his shoulder. He couldn't ask why. This time, he would have to let go of her.

"I also wish to meet you as a human the next time, whenever it may be. May be then...", her wish trailed into an ellipsis. He smiled at destiny again, he had never felt emotions before, and there he was oscillating between the joy of new found love, and the sorrow of it about to be lost, but not forever.

He held her gently, and watched her body go limp. It would have to be another era before he held her again. He would accumulate power to 'not' grant wishes then. He walked back to his till, and looked as his nameless love disappeared into thin air.

Cousin Chills

Driving back from San Francisco was supposed to be good. I had plans of getting out of the business meeting by early afternoon, grab a quick bite somewhere, and get onto the freeway, and be back home in 6 hours. They say that Murphy works his wonders in miraculous ways, except that, over here, in my case, it wasn't Murphy, it was Sean.

It's an established fact that I can't drive at night due to night vision problems. I have tried and I guess, it's going to take some more time than what I had scheduled. The yellow sodium street lamps on San Mateo bridge mingled with the glaring lights from the oncoming vehicles were playing havoc on my retinas. The psychedelic music that was playing was pumping the adrenaline into the driver's head, and the speed limit was thrown to the wind. It wasn't before long that the lilting music were accompanied with the red and blue lights in the background.

"Lemme handle this.", said a confident Sean. Confidence is what defines this guy, and what gets him out of most circumstances. Hey, who am I kidding! That's what gets him out of all situations. He straightened his tie, and I have no idea why he was wearing his dark sun glares; they went very well with the Armani suit that he was wearing. May be the lights were disturbing him as well.

Sean pulled the speed vehicle onto the shoulder, and waited patiently for the onslaught. I could see the officer get out of his car; hey wait a minute, it was a lady officer. I looked towards Sean, I could almost see the halo of a heavy speed ticket over his head. He seemed completely ignorant though. I am sure, he had already made a mental note of the contours of the lady officer. He seemed unperturbed, however.

"What 'exactly' were you gentlemen thinkin'?", asked the officer, without asking for Sean's licence and registration. I realized that my magical incantations to go invisible had been rendered useless, after all she did say 'gentlemen' and not 'gentleman'! Damn it.

Reading her name off the name tag, "Hello, Officer Anderson! We meet again.", Sean's booming voice echoed, in Agent Smith's voice, from the movie, Matrix. He slid the glares down a bit by raising his brows, and without any request, gives his licence to the lady. I cringed deep within. There was no way in hell, anybody was gonna figure that out. Hell, I wouldn't have, had I not seen the movie just the day before.

"And you were speeding because...", Officer Anderson seemed to have relaxed, and was resting her weight on one foot, without her hand on the gun or the baton.

Sean flicked the Bluetooth earpiece a bit and adjusted it over his ears, and turned it on. "I guess, I wasn't plugged into the Matrix, Officer!", I couldn't believe my ears that Sean was saying this and was as cool as ever. If I had been the officer, Sean would have been hanged by now. The officer looked at me, and rested her eyes on my glasses. I was wearing my dark glasses because of the lights, and realized that we did look like the Agent pair, and we had escaped from the movie's set.

Officer Anderson started giggling. Holy Fuckn Molly, Sean had pulled it off again. There was no way he could have made that happen. Oh well...the rest of the story is pretty self-conclusive.

Allow me to introduce you to my 2nd look alike, who happens to be my raring and daring cousin, Sean Smith. As a kid, Sean always wanted to be an airforce pilot. The airforce couldn't take him on account of his poor performance in their examinations, but little did they know what they were missing out on. Well, they missed out on California's best plastic surgeon. Yeah, Sean decided to fly high a different way!

Sean was adopted by my parents a long time ago, but not long enough for us to not know the difference. Our parents never forced on any of us to accept the other as a brother, but thought it best for us to figure things out. The obvious sibling rivalry metamorphosed into a crazy order that still holds good. It just seemed natural to accept each other as cousins. What can I say!

To be continued shortly...