I still can’t process what I saw.
It broke my heart into a million pieces. The man I adore in flame.
It has been months now.
I wake up in cold sweats.
I cry myself to sleep.
Life is a pain.
The McGee building is a charred husk. The blackened remains beacon to me. Ravi’s soul was taken up from there; it flew to the sky like a phoenix.
Everybody else was just part of a gimmick. Amanda, Rahul, Sulochana, my boss Parami and that dreaded Mr Abrams who escaped the fire.
Police didn’t investigate Mr Abrams. He was taken away in his limo. I saw it. I saw it with my own eyes but nobody ever believes me.
All the others died in that building and everybody blamed the anarchists and my love in general.
Ravi, the media said, was the “mastermind” behind the McGee building explosion.
And now there are black cars parked outside my apartment.
It was a Saturday night. Amanda and I were supposed to go to this party but she got a text from Sulo telling her to come to the McGee building ASAP.
She wanted company so we got ourselves a cab and made it to the old building. It was nine past five.
The floodlights gave the old columns an eerie glow, I remember.
The lone security guard waved us through like he was expecting us.
And right there in the lobby there was my boss, Rahul and Mr Abrams.
Sulo came out of one of the corridors talking frantically on his phone. I recall him smiling at Amanda and going back to the call.
Mr Abrams nodded Parami to come to him. Mr Abrams stared at me and I could make out what he was saying;
“What is she doing here”.
Parami spoke to him with a lot of hand gestures and the old millionaire eased back into the sofa.
Sulo hung up and took Amanda by the hand.
Without a word Mr Abrams stood up.
Parami came up to me.
“Hey we are going to start the meeting. You can stay in lobby for the time being,” he said with a smile.
They walked down another hallway; where the elevators are.
And then they were gone.
I wondered what this urgent meeting could be.
I wondered for about an hour, staring occasionally at the big Roman numeral clock over the reception.
Then Ravi showed up.
He was searching frantically for something.
I stood up.
“Bhoomi. What are you doing here? This place is rigged to blow”!
“What? Are you serious?” I started in alarm.
“Don’t shout. Where are the others? We got to get out of here!”
He grabbed me by the arm and rushed to one of the exits.
“No time to explain but it’s all a setup. Call the media and bring them here!”
He basically carried me out of the building.
“Stay as far away from the building as possible!” he warned me. The last thing I ever heard from him.
Minutes passed and then an explosion ended the silence of the night.
One by one the floors caught fire.
The streets were empty. I heard a car peeling out and a limousine rushing past at high speed.
I was in shock.
Then on the top floor of the McGee building. I saw the Sun god. Ravi was aflame. He paced the rooms. And then he saw me and held up his hand. The blaze covered his glory.
This is what I witnessed.
(The End)
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