The Other Man

GÜA®Ðiån™
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By csfire
I stood there looking at him.... about six feet tall with a medium build; he had a wheatish complexion, square jaw and dark brown hair and eyes… somehow, he looked familiar... and yet I could not remember where I’d seen him. And he stared at me too, with a slight smile, as if at peace with it… I racked my brains hard; I knew I knew him… but who was he?? I had to ask him.

“Who are you?” I inquired.

And he just broadened his smile and continued to stare at me….

“I know you! I know you!”

Still smiling, he nodded…

Who was he? Where had I seen him? And why was he here? Yes! Why was he here?!
Suddenly, it started getting cold… soon I was shivering and could see my breath rising as vapour in front of me. I embraced myself with my arms and started rubbing the sides with my hands to get warmth. And when I looked at him, he was doing the same… He was looking around as if lost, as if looking for someone. The look in his eyes; of loneliness, of sadness, of innocent hope, pierced my heart and I felt warm tears on my face. And then he looked at me, and stopped his search… he smiled at me again, and the cold went away as abruptly as it had come... I was sure what it had meant, that it answered why he was here… he was here because with me, he felt lone no more… I don’t know why, but I knew that was the truth.
I wiped my tears and smiled back at him; I couldn’t help but pity him.
He looked down at his hand, and due instincts, I did as well. When I looked at what he was holding, I jumped with terror. There, grasped in his hand, was a bloodied knife. And now that I looked at his sweater, it was bloodied too. He was bleeding from where the heart should be. He must have stabbed himself there, I thought. I looked up at him with a stunned inquisitorial look. He was smiling as if feeling no pain.
Out of the blue, the sound of people talking filled the air. I looked around and where there was just the two of us, was now a huge crowd. All throwing disgusted looks at him. There were a couple of girls in their twenties, standing some ten feet away, laughing at him. Near them were a bunch of rowdy teens shouting foul insults at him and then sneering in pride. Behind us, a few feet away, were some grandmothers eyeing him with disapproval, sharing his differences; and all this while… I was non-existent. Like a phantom.
His smile had faded. He was crying with innocent despair. And again, I knew what he was trying to tell me. It was not his but the society’s hand that had stabbed him…
Again, with increased desperation, the question was burning inside me… who was he? He sensed my desperation and looked up at me. He spread his arms wide and his hands were grabbing something on either of his side. And I realized I had my hands holding something the same way, opposite him. I looked at my left hand to see what they were holding and saw my fingers clutching the side pane of something… I looked back at him and found myself facing a mirror… and I felt my stomach lose a few notches, my feet were like lead. I was looking at myself!
Horror gripped me! Fear and dread were flooding my veins! My heart was beating fast, so fast that it pained!
I opened my eyes to find myself unable to stop shaking in my bathtub. My face was flushed and I knew sweat was mingled with the water. As I looked around, I realized I had dozed while taking a bath. The wristwatch on the sill showed it was nine o’clock. Gradually, my heartbeat came to normal. Lying there, shaken, I couldn’t help but realize the truth in the nightmare. We let others control our lives… and though companionship is sublime, in our hurry we often lose ourselves…

GÜA®Ðiån™
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