Dark Horse Arts and Sciences

Mr. Einstein In Cuttack, Episode III:

September 26, 1905, Germany:

Phillip Lenard publishes Special Theory of Relativity and Photoelectric Effect at once. These two papers send a wave of wonder and astonishment among his peers as they had never imagined that Lenard was capable of such discovery and imagination. Soon his contemporary physicists like Niels Bohr, Ernest Rutherford reviewed his work and applauded him for his contribution. Some even regarded him as the greatest physicist to have ever born. Everything was going according to the plan for Lenard. It was now Noah’s turn to fit everything into the puzzle, thought Lenard.

September 26, 2019, Cuttack:

Rojaleen has been waiting for someone for the last fifteen minutes. She has never waited for someone for so long. Ever since she has met him, she can’t stop thinking about him. What attracts Rojaleen most about this guy is the mysterious aura that he possesses around him. That dark shadiness makes him more desirable to her. He’s a bit older than her, but age is just a number for her.
She never liked the boys in her school or even college though; for her they represented some kind of boyishness. She likes this guy, for he fits into her dreams. He’s not that boyish type. She likes her masculinity and to her, he seems like a real man; mature, responsible and loyal.

So, finally her wait is over as she sees a shadowy figure approaching her from a certain distance. She embraces him with a hug and kisses on his cheek with an enthusiastic smile.

Rojaleen-“Where’ve you been? It felt like eternity waiting for you like that. I was so worried about you.”

The man stood in silence with a slight hint of smile.

Rojaleen-“So, have you accomplished your mission at last?”

The man-“Almost. There’s just one more step left for the fulfilment of the whole mission.”

Rojaleen-“Oh! I see. Would you like to share it with me?”

The man-“Sorry, honey. I can’t.”

The man-“By the way, how are you holding up honey? And how is our little one?”

Rojaleen replied with a hint of shyness and a pretty smile-“Our little one is doing all fine. But he or she whatever, is missing the father a lot. He or she asks me in my dreams when father will be back?”

The man-“Father will be back soon, darling. It’s just this mission and it will be all over; I promise.”

Rojaleen suddenly burst out with anger-“What mission Noah! Haan! You always come to me like this for a brief period of time and then leave me for your so-called “Time Voyages”. What are these “Time Voyages” anyway? Why don’t you share anything with me? Have I ever kept any secret from you? So, it’s obvious that I’ll expect the same from you, right?”

Noah as usual stood in utter silence.

Rojaleen-“You know how much I think about you, right? I just want to be with you. I can’t be alone anymore. Just finish your mission as soon as possible and come back to me. Come back to me with the old Noah. The Noah I once loved and the Noah who was careless and free and always laughing around. Not this Noah who has totally forgotten how to even smile; he doesn’t even know how to talk sweet to someone you love. Anything you say these days seems like some hardcore philosophy or something. I don’t want this fucking philosophy dude. I want you; the real you.”

Then she talks again with a mixture of both smile and tears-“You know right how lonely and depressed I was! Nobody liked me or even talked to me. It was like I was abandoned from the whole class as if I were a monster or something. They hated me; but for what? Because I was fat! Because I was chubby! Is it any wrong to be fat? Is there any sin in it?”

Noah was absorbing every word that was emanating from Rojaleen’s mouth.

Rojaleen continues with her saddened voice-“ Why do people bully others for their body? Just because they are thin and have lower body fat and thinner waist doesn’t mean everyone must have them. They told me that no boy would look at me or talk to me. For a time, I was depressed, man! I didn’t know what to do. I was frightened by the constant whispers and chit-chats behind and around me whenever I would pass a group of boys or girls. I was so lonely and depressed until you arrived. You totally changed my perspective and view towards life and people. You taught me that there’s nothing to be ashamed of about your own body; whatever type it is; fat, thin, skinny, overweight, dark, brown, bald or anything. You made me realize that these were just mere illusion. You made my life so beautiful, dude.”

A sudden smile arose in her face like a morning sun.

“Remember we would hang out in parks and talk all type of non-sense stuff and laugh out loud. We would kiss each other without caring our surroundings. We would make love to each other like crazy, listening to classical jazz. We were so careless and free. What happened to all of that? What happened to that Noah I knew? Answer me.”

She couldn’t compress her emotions any more and started crying like a new born baby.

Noah-“As I said, I have set my eyes and mind over a bigger picture. I cannot let emotions and feelings run over me from achieving that bigger goal. But I can promise one thing for sure; after all this is over, we’ll be back to our old-selves. I’ll be back once I finish this last job. But if you are so desperate to know the answer, then come with me right now, I will show you a man who may have been responsible for all of this.”

Meanwhile at the same time at around 3PM, somewhere in Ganesh Ghat, Cuttack:

Das Residence:

Everyone looks happy and rejoiced in the Das household as they’re celebrating their sweet daughter’s birthday.

Jigisha is too busy in arranging all the balloons and all those stuff. Then she hears someone playing Shape of You, and hearing one of her favourite songs playing in the background, she tries to give her dance moves a test without anyone noticing. And suddenly she realizes that it is her phone’s ringtone. How dumb, she curses herself. She picks up the call.

The guy at the other end speaks in a serious note-“J, something’s come up. It’s serious.”

Jigisha-“Man, it’s Didi’s birthday! Don’t you get any other day for all this? Last time on Omm’s birthday, you did the same kind of thing.”

Caller-“J??”

Jigisha-“Ok, my bad. I’m coming.”

Jigisha meets the two guys with hoodies and glasses on at their secret place where they meet in urgent circumstances.

Guy I-“Preyash called me. He saw Noah and that asshole disciple of his, Som Abhisek, breaking into his house.”

Jigisha-“So what? Are we now catching thieves?”

Guy II-“Oh J. Albert is staying at Preyash’s.”

Jigisha-“Oh shit! Why the fuck Albert is staying at Preyash’s? And how did Noah figure that out?”

Guy II-“Can’t you guess?”

Jigisha-“Oh yeah. That Amlan. He’s such a …”, Jigisha was going to curse Amlan some heavy m-words, but was interrupted by Guy-I.

Guy I-“It’s no time for all this. We’ve got to get to the gate before Noah and his disciple get there and close it forever.”

Guy II-“I’m worried about Rojaleen though.”

Jigisha-“What! Why are you worried about Rojaleen?” after thinking a bit, “Oh my God, is she your new girlfriend?”

Guy II-“What! No! She was with them. With Noah and Som. I don’t understand why.”

Guy I-“I understand. Do you know that right, the gate can only be closed with one thing?”

Guy II-“Yeah. With an unborn child’s blood. But why would they take Roja…” Suddenly everyone looked at each other with fright and utmost terror as if they had realized something very terrifying.

Then everyone at once-“Fuck!”

3:06 PM, Preyash’s Library:

Rojaleen can’t comprehend what she has just observed. Som has hit Albert with that hard cricket bat and he lay unconscious there in front of them. Rojaleen gazes sharply at Noah and asks-“What is all this? Why would you hit him? Have you gone mad? Is this what you have brought me here to see? And what the fuck Som is doing with you?”

Then Rojaleen slowly approaches Albert and checks his pulse. He’s breathing but unconscious.

She stands up and starts crying.

Suddenly out of nowhere, Noah brings out something out of his pocket and slits Rojaleen’s bare throat with a sharp knife from which splashes of blood oozed out in split seconds. He still doesn’t stop and gives another hard cut at her stomach from which more blood emanates and falls all over the place and some amount on his own face. His half face is now covered with red dark blood which looks like someone has thrown red ink at him.

“What the fuck dude? Why would you do that? Oh, my God!”

These words come out of Som’s mouth with sheer terror and fright. He is trembling with so much fear that the bat he was holding fall upon his own feet. He even feels like he’s going to shit in his pants, for God’s sake. The scene suddenly reminds him of Gus Fring killing Victor in Breaking Bad. It was that horrifying and dark.

But Noah was as usual calm and composed. Totally indifferent to the current scenarios.

After gathering some inner strength, Som speaks out-

“I thought you loved her, man. What happened to that, haan!?”

Noah-“Most people are nothing but pawns on a chessboard led by an unknown hand.”

Som trembling-“So, was she just a pawn? I hope I don’t end up being that. You’re nuts, man. Have you lost your fucking mind? ”

Noah remarks-“Only when we’ve freed ourselves of emotions, can we be truly free; only when you’re willing to sacrifice what holds dearest.”

Then Noah looked at Som and gave him some signs with his eyes.

Then Som slowly takes that bloodied knife with his handkerchief and puts it in Albert’s palms. Noah gathers some amount of blood that oozed out of her stomach into a container and then both of them leave for their final destination.

After some time, Jigisha and other two guys arrived and what they saw, baffled them. One of them checked Rojaleen’s pulse, but there was nothing. She was gone. To the other world; if there is any.

Then they left for the gate on their scooties. That was the last chance for them to stop Noah. If they fail now, everything will be altered and nothing will remain as they had wished it to be.

Meanwhile, Noah and Som finally reached the college. They just had to go into the men’s toilet where the “Time Gate” was; the gate through which Albert travelled through time to 2019. It was only some minutes left before they would achieve their much deserving goal. But the game wasn’t over.

As they were walking through the campus, they saw three figures blocking the entrance of the men’s toilet. Noah wondered why these three hooded figures were blocking their path. Som was really shocked to see them as they were familiar faces; faces he saw and had fun with, everyday. He couldn’t imagine what was going to happen in the next few minutes.

Little did he know that in front of him, standing with hooded t-shirts were The Gate Keepers Trio:

Jigisha, Sarthak and Suraj.

To be continued….

By Som Abhisek.

Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are fictionalized and made for entertainment purposes. If it hurts anyone’s sentiments or emotions, then I cannot do anything about it.