The Tale of Seven Deaths

"Ridiculous", said Sam. "I call it the residual soul memory or the RSM", said Harry while sipping on his 4th drink of the night. The bartender chuckled and went back to wiping the glasses clean. Sam and Harry were sitting at the bar and Harry had just told Sam that this is his seventh life on Earth and he remembers all previous six lives. "I call it the 4th drink", said Sam and smiled in disbelief. "I know no one believes me, even I wouldn't believe if someone told me what I am telling you. But, it is the truth. I don't try to convince people anymore. I spent my 4th and 5th life convincing people about the RSM. Such a waste of life." said Harry ordering his 5th drink. The bartender was amused by this conversation between the two friends and so, he kept one ear on them and the other on the orders. 

Harry continued, "I will tell you how I died in my 6 previous lives and if you find my stories fascinating enough, just cover my bill for the drinks tonight." "Forget about the bill", Interuppted the bartender, "If I find the stories fascinating, I will cover it." Harry raised his glass, drank the whole drink in one gulp, placed the empty glass back on the bar and started, "Life 6, I was born in a family of patriots and every man of the house was enlisted for army service. I usually get the RSM at the age 9 or 10 and in my 6th life I realised that I had wasted my previous two lives convincing people about RSM, and so when I grew up and had to decide about the future, I decided to live with it and enrolled myself in the army service as soon as I could."

"On my first tour of Kenya, my team was pinned down against a group of extremists in a dense jungle. I was already shot in my gut, but my team leader pulled me to a safe point away from the kill zone. I was in excruciating pain and couldn't control my screams. The safe point was still in the range of the vantage point of the enemy and any noise could quickly give away the safe point. But, the pain was unbearable and I was just a 20 years old kid. So, I screamed at the top of my lungs. My leader tried to muffle my screams by pressing his army scarf over my mouth. It did not work. I could see the frustration in his eyes. He thought for about 5 secs, pulled out his knife and stabbed me right in the heart. The light went out soon and I woke up in this life."

Both the bartender and Sam were stunned and were staring at Harry. Harry pushed his glass towards the bartender and made a gesture to pour another drink. "No more for you my friend", said Sam and pushed his glass away. Sam got up, pulled some money out of pocket and threw it on the bar. He pulled Harry out the bar stool, Harry was drunk by now and could not find his balance, Sam held Harry's arm around his neck and started walking him out of the bar. Harry looked back at the bartender and screamed, "There is more to that story." Before the bartender could hear him say anything else, Harry was out of the bar along with Sam. 

They walked a few blocks and Harry kept asking Sam, "Did you find that story fascinating?Did you?". Sam did not answer. He was searching for a quiet place. On the third block, he saw a dark alley. He took Harry in the alley, sat him down along the wall. Sam asked Harry, "How do you know about the army scarf?". "Because it is the truth, Sir Sam Mendes, Retired Commanding officer of the 7th Regiment. The RSM is real. I am the soldier you stabbed to death to save yourself. I remember everything." Sam did not believe him, but the incident Harry was describing was real. Sam Mendes had stabbed Robbie 25 years ago to save himself in Kenya. Sam thought Harry has somehow got hold of the information about the Kenya incident and wanted to blackmail Sam. His military instinct kicked in and he grabbed Shawn by his neck. Sam was choking Harry. 

Harry did not resist. The light went out for the seventh time.


Comments

Shishir Barethiya (SCB) said…
You're exploring the fiction genre to the fullest..for a moment one will feel it as real. End is unexpected and dark. *One tip for improvement: start me flow break ho raha hai as a reader.. due to 2 things: first- sudden start at the conversation points which are packed without the required pauses/lines between them. Second: during the read both names are clicking as same..Sam-Shawn Shawn-Sam..padhte-2 upar wapas dekha Sam-Shawn me kaun tha. Shayad ek Sam aur dusra other than S kuch aur hota to flow smooth hota reader tha. Baki I'm happy, you're raising the length of the stories..keep it up 👍
January 2, 2021 at 9:17 AM
Shishir Barethiya (SCB) said…
*thanks for updating the name.😊
January 3, 2021 at 6:04 PM
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