THE DEAL

Mumbai!! The mystic city of our century, it has seen many dreams come true and yet it has ruthlessly broken many dreams leading meagre life on the verge of homelessness. Facts apart, I have made it finally, to the so called ‘swapna nagari’ . An agent has liked my script for a movie and has promised me success on this, ”This is gonna rock the box office ” he said.

So that’s when I met her for the first time. This really cute girl in this agent’s office who kept me waiting for two freaking hours thank god to this girl though. Ruhi was her name, Ruhi Singh from Delhi , her physique of a dream girl studded with a really cute face and straight hairs curled at the bottom can drive any man on this planet crazy. She was a dancer looking for a job and hired the same fat guy to be her agent.

We talked a lot in the span of my waiting period and I strategically asked her out, the meeting with the agent went fine and he said that we would visit some great movie producers and he will try to convince them to take up my script for their next movie. The next dayI slapped myself really hard because I overslept and I thought I just missed my date but she was patient enough to wait for me which was a great sign of relief. She was really looking gorgeous with kajal on her eyes and was on a casual ethnic wear which suited her so apt like cherry topping on a white cake.

We watched movie but most of the time I used to look into her eyes and smile at her. I still couldn’t recall the name of the movie though but I still remember her cute expressions which she gave throughout the whole movie, then we went to a local pub and danced like hell got drunk a bit, being a small town boy I knew desi moves better than her which I think impressed her. That was the first time that we touched each other officially, I held her hand and put my other hand around her waist and got lost into the slow jazz that the Dj chose, don’t know why but the odds were favouring me and I was happy.

I walked her home and we held hands then at her doorstep I leaned and kissed her and she didn’t push me away either. Our first kiss was magical the way she responded and moved her soft lips around mine made me feel like I was an expert at kissing. I felt her skin so soft, grabbed her tight and my lips held onto hers even though they were soft to hold a grip, felt her breath on my nose , felt her beating heart and hoped she felt mine those few minutes felt like I spent an hour then I just kissed her forehead and kept hugging her with my chin resting on her head. Then she had to leave, oh god! It was so hard to let her go at that time but I had to and we said goodbye.

So it was decided then , I thought of conveying my feelings to her the next day, I was not able to sleep the whole night, the I had this meeting the next night. But the events turned out to be really shocking , it was like I was witnessing the law of equivalent exchange. All the good luck that I had the last day, never imagined I would have to pay for that. I saw Ruhi making out with some other guy, the guy looked at me and grinned, it was a very shrewd grin. I turned around and just getting away from this place was just a thing on my mind. The event was both devastating as well as heart breaking.

I got an apologetic call from my agent saying no producer is interested, technically the script is a piece of crap. What gives those sons of bi**hes the right to decide which script is good and which is piece of crap? So I finally made the choice to leave this city for good and never return back, ever.

As I was packing my briefcase, someone rang my door bell. It was the same guy who made out with Ruhi earlier and grinned at me as if he had a victory over me. My first feeling was to smash this ba**ard’s skull on the door and roll him down the staircase, say goodbye and leave but still I controlled myself thinking about his purpose of visit. ”Do you want that movie and the girl too? ” he asked in his husky voice.

”What are you, a pimp now ? Other than an arsehole. ” I yelled at him and told him to get the f**k out of here.

“My name is Ash and I am a demon , I am a knight of a high class demon household and we offer deals to people so that they can have a good life even if it is very short and I am here to offer you this deal both the girl and the movie..”

I interrupted him , I laughed “ What the hell do you want? Are you a psycho who steals others girlfriends and then talks s**t. How can you be demon, and even if you are , I won’t sell my soul to a piece of s**t like you , you may leave now, f**k off”.

“You don’t believe me, I understand totally”. Then his eyes turned red, horns protruded out and a red tail how can I forget that, I was like “really? Is it a demon?”

“You can go back to your pissed off life, find a crappy job since you quit your previous one, morn till night do the same thing sitting in the cubicle because that’s the only thing you know, or you can stay here , write as many scripts as you want and live with Ruhi for ten years and I don’t need your soul either, that’s very old school and yes you will still be alive after ten years and when you get old you will have memories , the best ones ,golden ones and you will be thankful to your decision if you make it to your own favour. ”

“What is deal then if you don’t want my soul and am not gonna die young, then what is it?”

”Now you are talking.” He grinned. ”I need your help in getting a package to my master, I mean we along with other people who made some kind of deals with me together will confiscate a package from the ‘India Safety Vaults’ company, technically we have to rob it . To tell you in advance, this is a devil’s game so it will be dangerous so I am not going to force you, do you really want the life that you have desired to live?”

He was practically luring me into it and I could not stand the lust of it. It was dangerous but if I go through this I’ll be forever living the dream.

I maintained my composure and said “I am not going to rob any bank with you, maybe you are some alien but not a demon for sure, you just want me for your own benefit, you can’t get my wishes done.”

“My word is my bond my friend, wait a moment.”

After a minute my agent called saying that some producer of an indie firm is really interested in my script and he can convince him to sign my contract at any price I want. The overturning of events was unbelievable, was it really the devil’s doing? I was confused “All you have to do is say yes and sit back and relax the rest is upon us.” ”OK so I’ll say yes.” He disappeared leaving a text to reach a specific landmark the next morning at 6 sharp.

Despite of having doubts in my heart I showed up, there six others like me all humans and then he showed up with all the gears he could. My god he is really serious about the robbery, the situation was quite mocking. You need pros my friend not amateurs like us but a deal is a deal I don’t know how it will turn up but it was worth a try. I was desperate and all that mattered to me was my dream, my desires and that was the spirit the devil wanted to be there in me. I think there is nothing wrong thinking selfishly about my dream and giving anything in achieving it, the devil’s ideology actually made some sense.

So we wore masks entered secretly into the facility, sedated the guard with our injective bullets, broke into the main vault room. Ash asked all of us to keep watch on different sectors while he was trying to open the vault. “May I know what’s in it?” I asked.

”A gem” he replied wiping sweat from his brows. ”Maybe I am a demon but I am not immortal, I can be killed by bullets” he said, before I could say anything “Aha its done, it’s done, I got it. ”

He say with joy, but things can’t go that easy, that what I learned living in this god’s universe. The alarm rang and the doors sealed, Ash provided us with assault rifles and we headed towards the only door which can be opened manually, we reached there without any difficulty it was like there was no one inside the facility which implies only one thing that we have been surrounded.

Ash ordered me to open the door , I hesitated as I could hear the pinging of walkie talkies beyond the door, then he pointed his gun at me “you open , or you die, you’ll die anyway .” Then I was wasn’t able comprehend what got into his head he pushed me away saying “Fine I’ll do it.”

I observed him carefully as he walked to the door. I knew that time was running out but suppressed the urge to check my watch. I took a deep breath and started counting in reverse under my breath. “Ten, nine, eight, seven…”

Then I heard something ticking on the door, being a movie buff it took me no time to realise that they have plant a bomb to breach the door, as soon I realised this I ran towards Ash grabbed him by waist jumped as far as I could ; the bomb exploded, I could see other blown away flying off into pieces and being shot by the personnel laden with swat gear before my vision turned into total blur and I lost consciousness.

The next thing I remembered was Ash carrying me on his shoulders running inside some sewer tunnel.” Don’t worry, you are alive” he said as soon he noticed me opening my eyes.

” Did you?  ”

“No I didn’t kill anyone.” He replied as if he mind read me. He had the package , “You don’t owe me a thing” he said.

Then all I remembered was being in my couch smelling like s**t , my hand bandaged. My cell phone beeped with a message from Ruhi, “Hey I really want to meet you have to say something important, will be there to meet me baby?” the outcome could be anything but the word baby really relieved me a lot. “So the deal was real then huh ” I chuckled and said this to myself.

After six months when I like usual woke up next to Ruhi, yes she is my fiancée now, made some coffee for me, in checked the letter box, to my surprise there was a package addressed to me the sender unknown. Who else could it be I thought, it tore it open, it was a CD saying “play it now”.

It was Ash in the video with something to say, “Hey I hope the deal stuck out to be too fine , national award nomination huh!” he chuckled, ”well my deal just facilitate you the talent was all yours, you know I have achieved something too. I overthrew the present king and took his place that’s all very common in this world , so before I could go to the underworld forever I just want to say goodbye to only friend I made who saved my life , yes you did save me. And about the deal, the plan was to leave you all behind to die or get arrested, whatever (chuckles) but I carried you back maybe to return the favour or I don’t know maybe the devil has cared(chuckles again), so goodbye my friend, enjoy the forever, yes you heard it right forever through your life, the deal is intact but was not sealed properly so that was the compensation I owed, write movies forever, marry Ruhi, grow old with her and maybe die with her when you lived a lot of course , bye  ” the TV turns off.

The last lines he just said was just unbelievable, maybe you are a devil, you screw and cheat people, stole my girlfriend once for which I am going to stab you if we meet ever, but still you turned out to be an angel for me, you really are an angel!! O diablo.

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