OldTown-2

A blonde haired boy wearing a blue T-shirt and some sweatpants could be seen watering the plants in the backyard. He soon got up and got into an old Mustang, and speeded off to who knows where but before he could reach the end of the street, his car was hit by a huge bus. Harold’s eyes flew open, his palms sweating and his entire body in shock. It was just a dream, it was just a dream, and he kept reminding himself. Still pretty shaken up, he got up and went down to his kitchen. Harold was rich; he had inherited all of his parent’s fortune and property which was supposedly worth millions now. Caiden remembers what he was like before his wife died a year ago. Happy and always smiling, he hated sitting around, anytime he was bored he would go to the nursery to get new plants for his garden or used to clean out the attic which got dirty pretty quickly or even look at old albums. After his wife’s death he just used to sit around doing nothing but since Miles moved in, he has been that old Harold again which made Caiden happy.

Beth was sipping tea when Julio came into the station and screamed, “Betty, I got a lead!!!” Beth never noticed how Julio looked; he wore a button-downed shirt with old khaki pants along with shiny black leather boots. “Hey man, what did you get for me?” and Julio basically jumped up and down and said, “I know what the last location of the boy was. He isn’t dead. Yay!” Beth was called here to solve a case of a missing boy. But it had been almost 4 months since Beth had arrived and there was no lead yet. Julio Jones slammed a white folder on the desk and Beth carefully studied it. It was a photo of street she recognised from really bad CCTV camera footage but it was surely him. She observed the surroundings and realised where he was. “That’s near my apartment in New York. How the hell did he reach there?” Beth was freaking out. How did he end up in the same neighbourhood as hers? She really needed some fresh air, so she went to the good old diner where she noticed someone sitting at her booth. Wearing a black t-shirt dress, hair all frizzy and mascara running down from her eyes, she realised who it was. Sarah Smith. Beth approached her and politely asked her if she could sit down. Sarah nodded feebly. “Sarah? What’s wrong? You look miserable.” said Beth while giving her the same sympathetic look that everyone in this town gave her. 6 months ago, her one and only family, her boyfriend Ryan mysteriously disappeared from a party. For about 2 months she went to the police station every day till Julio Jones closed the case. Beth didn’t know that till Sarah told her. Julio at the same moment burst inside the diner. “Betty we need to go. And Sarah you can come with us as well, we may have found your boyfriend”. All of them rushed out and sat in the old police truck and speeded off.

They reached a place just outside the town. The area was filled with factories. They factories had moved here near the small town which no one knew existed before because of some kind of oil beneath the ground. Sarah looked around while Julio still briefing Beth. “I was waiting for but you didn’t come back after a long time so i figured you would be at the diner trying to chat and flirt with the waitress but then I got a very distressed call. Some worker from the factory must have been returning to his place when he heard something weird from the riverside so he went to check it. He said a boy who was around 18 years old with blonde hair was poking something in the lake with a huge stick, when the guy realised it was someone’s dead body. I think it was Sarah’s boyfriend who was near the river.” Beth was shocked but then came around the fact soon enough when they went to the riverside. It wasn’t really a great time as it was 10pm and the silence was creepy so Sarah was obviously terrified. She moved behind Beth who was leading their small group. There was no around but Beth realised what the guy who called in was talking about. She could see something floating in the cold water so for the better she asked Sarah to stay behind. Julio wanted to call backup but well he didn’t. He wanted to work with his good old friend Elizabeth like before. When he realized what Beth was looking at, he let out a piercing scream. Sarah got startled and she ran forward to Julio but she collapsed as she saw what was in the water. It was Ryan. But his face was smashed and only 3 of his fingers remained. Julio and Beth took the body out of the cold waters of the river and brought it to shore. Beth tried to calm Sarah as well as Julio but she was in shock as well. They moved away from the body and settled on big log of wood while waiting for forensics to arrive. Julio paced up down in panic while Sarah was crying uncontrollably.

Caiden was freaking out. Harold and Miles had gone to the graveyard to pay respects to Mrs. Jimes and both of their cell phones were switched off. It was about to be midnight. Just as he decided to contact the police station, he heard sirens approaching the house. An ambulance stopped near the house followed by an old, worn out police truck. Caiden rushed outside just to see Miles freezing with cold, his hair and his clothes were soaking wet and escorted inside by the town’s sheriff and a women officer. She looked a lot more experienced than the sheriff. And behind the truck, he saw a girl slumped down on the sidewalk looking as if she had seen a ghost. Her eyes were puffed up and she had a bit of mascara running down her cheeks. Deciding to ignore her, he rushed inside to help Miles and ask him, why wasn’t Harold with him but he would not move. He just sat on the pavement shivering and staring to the distance. Caiden was called by the lady officer inside the house. She said, “Mr, we have some news. I think you should sit down. My name is Elizabeth Simmons and I am a senior officer in the New York Police Department. I have been summoned her to tend to the missing case of Marcus Jimes.” Caiden started sweating; somehow he was always sensitive when they talked about the missing son of Mr. Jimes. He weakly said, “I understand that but shouldn’t you be telling that to Mr. Jimes? His father?” Elizabeth or Beth looked around, assessing her surroundings. “I am sorry but we contacted Mr. Jimes but he never showed up to the station to sanction the reopening of the case. Our night watcher was doing the rounds where he heard screams from the north banks of the river right beside the graveyard.  And he saw Miles struggling to defeat the vicious currents of the flowing river and he helped him out and-………”Her voice trailed off. She was looking past Caiden and staring into the backyard. A shadow moved across the garden, it was quick as a cat but it wasn’t an animal, it was a shadow of a human. “Mr, do you have any pet or animal behind this house?” Caiden still wondering replied with a simple no. Beth slowly moved ahead carefully taking out the gun in her hand. “Whoever is lurking back here come forward. Reminding you I am armed and an officer on duty.” There was sudden movement in the bushes of the backyard. Beth was alarmed and decided to move towards the bushes when she was knocked out by someone from the back.

OldTown-1

Miles crossed the wired fence and settled himself on a bench in an abandoned park which overlooked the graveyard. He had a soggy sandwich in one hand and soda in other. He ate while the river was gushing behind him when, he heard something strange. Someone was crying. Curiosity took over him and he set himself on the adventure to find the broken sobs. He was just outside the graveyard when a strong gush of wind struck the pavement sending shivers to an old man sitting on it. His face was wrinkled but mostly covered by his luscious brown hair, his head dropped in his trembling hands.  His eyes were hazel as he looked up but there was something else. Tears streamed down and dropped on his cheeks like a leaking tap. Miles sat across him and looked at him with pity. The old man looked up and said in a low voice, “You know, my son used to look like you”. Miles gave him a supportive smile and replied, “Thank you sir, may I ask something if it isn’t too much trouble?”, “Sure kid, go ahead.”  “Why are you here on a Sunday and why are you are crying?” The old man looked broken, it was as if his heart had been shattered to pieces, “When my son was about your age, he went on a trip to the town nearby. He never came back. It has almost been year since this and I still miss him. He was my life. The graveyard was his favourite place, because he could feel the presence of his mother here.” Miles felt guilty for asking that question so before the man broke into tears again, he asked the man to join him at the local diner. They chatted for a long time, the old man or Harold as he had introduced himself was laughing like a hyena at a joke. Miles became a good friend of Harold, and soon enough after a month or so, they started living together.

As Sarah was sipping tea at the diner, she heard someone laugh so loudly that she almost dropped her mug. As she looked around trying to find out who it was, her eyes fall on a petite girl sitting on the counter talking to a waitress. She had blonde hair and her eyes were sea blue and there was some kind of urgency on her face. Soon enough, she was approached by the same girl. “Excuse me? I am sorry to disturb you but do you know where Helmond Street is? I asked the waitress but she confused me more.” Sarah fumbled with her bag and pulled out a mini map of the town and said, “Here. I keep it for emergency reasons, and I can guide you to the street, my house is along the way”. The girl kept thanking Sarah as they walked on the snowy footpath. “I am Elizabeth but you can call me Beth, and you are?” Sarah quickly replied, “I am Sarah Smith. Gwen is really terrible with directions. So Beth, What brings you to Oldtown?” Beth answers cautiously as her arrival in this town has been quite the secrecy, “Actually, I am a senior officer in New York and I was sent her by the commissioner to work on a case with the town sheriff. Maybe you know him, Julio Jones?” Sarah was practically gagged up on hearing his name. She was very well familiar with Jones. Anger boiled inside her, but she had managed to not express it. “Here is Helmond Street and if you take a right, you could see the police station. I assume that is where you were going. ” Before Beth could thank her, Sarah started walking and soon she was far enough to be just a dot. Beth approached the police station where she saw Julio waiting outside for her, “Betty!! You are here. God I missed you.” And pulled her in for a hug. Beth quickly forgot about the quirky girl Sarah and became nostalgic about her Police Academy days with her best friend.

Caiden made his way toward Harold’s house. He saw Miles sitting in the garden writing something in his notebook and he quickly called out, “Good morning Miles! Did Mr. Jimes take his medicine along with some breakfast?” Miles had gotten used to living with Harold. It had been almost 2 months since he had moved in and now he considered him as his son or maybe a friend. According to Harold, Caiden was the caretaker and had been taking care of him since 4 years. Miles replied, “Good morning! I gave him his medicine along with some toast. Some of it is on the table, help yourself.” Caiden quickly had some buttered toast and got down to work, sweeping, cleaning the attic and cleaning out the kitchen drawers. He enjoyed working for Harold, not a lot of people know him but he knows every single person in the town. He was shocked when he didn’t know who the hippie-looking boy was and soon he knew him as well.  While he was working, the phone rang and Caiden practically jumped across the room to pick it up. “ Jimes Residence, how may I help you?”. A lady with a shrill voice spoke too loudly on the phone, “Hi! I am calling from the Oldtown Police Station to inform that Mr. Harold Jimes needs to come tomorrow to station”. Caiden was quite shocked so he asked, “May I ask why”. “There may be a lead on the missing case of his son. He just needs to come and sanction to reopen the case”. He wrote a message and stuck it on the fridge before leaving for the night and prayed for the wellness of Marcus Jimes.

It was midnight, silence filled the huge house. Miles tiptoed into the kitchen and started boiling some water. While he was waiting, he noticed the note. Quick as a cat he grabbed it and went straight for the shed in the back yard. And burned it. No one can take him back to the crappy trailer ever again. Not now when his job was almost over.

Stay tuned for part 2!!!

The First Rain

The first drop drips on a leaf
The sky and the land meet,
The smell of wet grass and mud
The beautiful growing bud,
All feels the magical
With the first rain


Hot cup of tea and a book by your side,
When the clouds fill the sky,
Drip-drip it rains,
Doesn't stop till days,
All feels the magical
With the first rain

Mother Nature

COVID-19 lockdown has been very hard for all of us. Watching and hearing about the tremendous pain that the positive patients are suffering through has definitely made me ask a question, “How would our planet react to this?” As people scrambled around gathering supplies due to the forced restrictions, the nature has started healing itself. A nationwide lockdown imposed for more than 3 weeks in India has drastically slowed down the pollution levels of many cities just within 2 or 3 days of the lockdown. Many experts believe that this intervention has helped improve the measures used to combat severe air pollution as seen in the Delhi-NCR regions during the winter months. Satellite data has shown a significant drop in particulate matter or aerosol levels amid the ongoing pandemic in India. Data available from Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) indicate that this drastic decrease in pollution levels is mainly due to reduction in fossil fuel burning emissions.

In Madrid this week, Spain’s Directorate General for Traffic has registered a 14 percent drop in the rush hour traffic. Marshall Burke, a researcher at Stanford University, calculated the improvements in air quality recorded in China may have saved the lives of 4,000 children under 5 years old and 73,000 adults over 70. Even more conservative estimates would put the number of lives saved at roughly 20 times the number of deaths from the virus directly. China is drowning under medical waste produced by hospitals including face masks and single-use tissues. In the city of Wuhan, the volume of medical waste is reported to have quadrupled to more than 200 tons a day. Single-use medical items that have been in contact with infected patients must be burned to prevent further contamination that could occur during recycling.

As countries order closedown of school, shop, factories slowing down the economic activities, have driven down the Green House Emissions if only temporarily. The last time carbon emissions fell was during the economic crisis in 2008-2009. But as the economy picked up, so did demand for coal and other fossil fuels — especially in China, the world’s largest emitter. The carbon emissions in China have dropped down by 25 percent. The reductions for China, though, were short-lived. Nitrogen dioxide levels are increasing again as life slowly returns to normal for some. Reductions in nitrogen dioxide have also been noticed across Europe, but particularly northern Italy, where the lockdown began on 9 March. Venice saw the famous canals clearer than ever, with fishes being visible clearly and swans being spotted. But as soon as the environment breathes a sign of relief, massive wildfires have been sparked by lightning in Northern California leaving at least 7 people dead. Governor of California said that the crews are battling 625 fires across the state and having burned 1.2 million acres of land, these fires prove to be destructive as they have burned over 1000 homes and buildings over the last week. At the same time, the fires are also threatening some of the state’s rarest ecosystems and wildlife. Biologists are watching closely as the blazes encroach on old-growth redwood trees in Northern and Central California, where some giants are more than 1,000 years old and are known by individual names. A larger question arises whether the ecosystem will bounce back after the extreme fires which could result in a terrible change in the climatic conditions. This will also make recovering a lot more difficult. The Australia bushfires which were contained in mid-February and declared over in March, left the eucalypt forests destroyed to the ground making them too dry to absorb the following rainfall. Slowly and swiftly recovering, the bushfires had left almost one-fifth forests scorched to the land. Experts are still wondering whether and how will Australia recover its lost ecosystem.

Lebanon is facing a huge humanitarian crisis following the huge explosion on 4th August 2020 killing at least 200 people, injuring more than 6000 and leaving more than 300000 people homeless. Officials estimate that the explosion caused up to US$15 billion of damage. Damage to the port was expected to exacerbate the economic and food security situation because the port was a major entry point for aid, and Lebanon imports 80–85% of its food. According to the UN World Food Programme, even before the explosion, 50% of Lebanese people surveyed said that they were worried about not having enough to eat. Before the explosion, 75% of Lebanese people were in need of aid, 33% had lost their jobs, and 1 million people were living below the poverty line, and these numbers were considered likely to rise.COVID-19 is posing a further burden. More than 6000 cases and 78 deaths had been recorded by the health ministry as of Aug 8. There were also some concerns about the health of people due to the harmful toxins released by the explosion. Thousands of people united together carrying shovels flooded the affected areas to clear the rubble and wreckage blocking the streets.

As the global pandemic threatened the survival of us humans, we shall not be the one to threaten our nature. Letting it heal after years and years of torturing is one of things we can do for our Mother Earth.

Concrete Jungle

Running for the buck,
Betrayal follows along
On the path of the concrete jungle
You can get lost

You will the reach the heights,
Build a mansion in the sky,
Look down and you will find thousands struggling,
Waiting and waiting to stop failing,
On the path of the concrete jungle
You will get lost

A Strange Alien Story

It was a starry sky; Alex was out on her roof with her telescope. She went on looking at different stars and constellations and noting them in her shiny blue notebook. The star gazing was like an everyday activity for Alex, but today it felt different. Something wasn’t right. After almost an hour of sitting out in the cold, she retreated back to her room and went straight to bed. Around 2 am, she felt her bed shaking and thinking it was an earthquake rushed outside in the big green lawn. Her mother followed shortly after. Her mom was busy calling everyone she knew, but Alex was looking up at the sky, her face white as snow. She couldn’t believe her eyes! A huge cylindrical ship was hovering over her town. Then she had an idea, so she rushed inside her house grabbed her telescope and her notebook and went straight for the rooftop. Alex examined the ship curiously and detailed it in her blue notebook. “Grey in colour, kind of old, lot of round windows and one huge door.” You could hear firing in the distance, meaning the police and military had the intention to shoot it down. Then she noticed, a small blue figure watching her from a window. She wanted to make a sketch as it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Before she could grab her notebook or her phone, the ship vanished, disappeared into thin air. Nobody knew what it was, where it had gone and why was it here? After 6 months, this incident was merely described prank by some desperate teenagers but Alex knew that wasn’t it. Her entire blue notebook was filled with sketches of the ship and that figure. Maybe she was meant to see an alien, even though many scientists and people claim it a theory. She knew that aliens were real.

Don’t Hide

When the night falls,
Another world is awake
Haters hating away,
Crushing the confidence along the way
Don’t let it reach your mind
Stand there and don’t hide
 
Facing them is difficult,
It can wreck your brain
Don’t let them hate away
Let the love run through your veins
I am here to make you stay

The Feather

It was the beginning of the fall. Red, yellow and dry leaves on the ground. A little girl jumping around wearing an old red jumper while her mother trailed behind along with her older brother. The girl crunching the dry leaves and laughing as they crumble to pieces. The little one stopped abruptly and stared at a leaf. She thought it was magical, how soft and white it was. How happy was she, finding something new and different.  She rushed to show it to her mother and brother. Her mother politely said, “Such a beautiful leaf sweetheart. I have never seen a white leaf before…” The mother knew that it was feather but she did not want to tell her. She wanted her to find what it was on her own.   The little girl kept it in a shiny packet, and skipped ahead jumping on more dry leaves. The girl was filled with innocence and an amazing intuition of discovering new things. She was mesmerized by a mere feather claiming it a white leaf. This feather went many places but never ever left the heart of the little girl. No matter what had happened, the feather would always bring joy to the girl, just by looking at it or just rubbing it on her hand, it was her companion during hard times.

The Woman In The Blue Sari

In 2019, my entire maternal family decided to take a trip to a place that was very sacred to us. I had never been there, so I decided to go along with them. We were touring the place and visiting temples when we reached a small lake. On the side of the lake was a temple and after visiting it, we decided to sit there for a while. The entire place was so peaceful. There were not a lot of people there but you could hear this melodious voice singing songs. A woman in the blue sari was sweeping the banks of the lake across from us. She was the keeper of the lake and often used to sing Bengali songs while she was sweeping, the priest told us. Everyone was so mesmerized by her voice that we forgot that we had to leave. We stayed there for a while listening to her old Bengali songs. My mind escaped to a 3rd place for a while before I was jolted by my mother. Even though it has been almost a year since we visited the place, I still dream about her, and her beautiful voice. It was the most peaceful I had ever felt in years.

During these hard times, we all need to find some calmness and peacefulness. Let us all find our 3rd place and escape for a while, leaving all the troubles behind before reality hits us.      

Again.

It was pitch black,
It was like staring into a void made full of stars,
The trees swayed from side to side,
You could hear the train passing by
Then there was a star
Gone in a flick of a second
Was the world accepting wishes?
Or just burning down bridges?

You could hear the TV in the living room
Sound of the coffee machine
Sweeping of the broom
The day started
Forgetting the wish
Would you care about this desire?
When it was finished?
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