Tuesday, November 28, 2006

A Story...

Heyy.. i haven't written in this blog since .. i think the 3rd of November. i'm very very bad at doing stuff regularly, but i am going to try to keep this blog and write in it regularly. Anyway, i wrote this story and thought i'd post it here. hope you guys like it... COMMENT!!

The Heart's Desire

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Katherine stacked up her documents and heaved a sigh of relief. She glanced up at the clock and gasped when she realized that it was already 1AM. She had been working for four hours, ‘disadvantages of being a lawyer in demand’, she thought to herself with a smile. While gathering up her things, Katherine’s eyes fell upon the six photos on her desk. Her parents, her sister, Tina, Rodd, and her first client – someone who left a lasting imprint on her life. Katherine’s thoughts wandered back seven years…..

*****

A nervous Katherine was sitting at her tiny desk waiting for her first client to enter her petite office. She was literally shivering, after all, it was her first case as a lawyer. She had done her homework and read up on the case files. Her client, A ‘Mr. Patrick Holland’ was accused of attemped murder. Apparently, he had tried to murder a businessman named Henry Thomas. Mr. Holland had also served a year’s sentence for robbing a jewellery store a couple of years back. Katherine was excited and slightly frightened to meet her first client.

A tall lean frame uneasily walked into her office. She stood up and with her warmest smile said, “Hello Mr. Holland. I’m Katherine Iowa and I will be your lawyer for the upcoming case.”

Mr. Holland looked at her with his hollow, lifeless hazel eyes and didn’t respond. The idea that those hazel eyes could look so dead alarmed Katherine a bit. What had this man gone through? Was he a criminal or was he an innocent man? After an awkward pause, Katherine sat down and asked Mr. Holland to sit down. He sat down and looked up at her and whispered, “Please call me Patrick, Ms. Iowa.”

Katherine, quite surprised, told him, “All right Patrick. Please call me Katherine too.”

She politely asked, “Anyway, why don’t you tell me a bit about you, your family, your life? Then we can talk about this case.”

“I’m don’t want to say anything. You’re another one of those police types who’ll think I’m lying to you just to get out of going to jail. They were laughing at my face… is it funny when your wife is murdered and you’re put in jail and ... you can’t do anything about it?!! Why was Lily killed, she didn’t have anything to do with it!! He forced me to rob the shop. If only Lily was still alive and well….”

Katherine was startled and shocked at the same time. Someone forced Patrick to rob the store? His wife was murdered? She tried not to let her distress show. She calmly remarked, “Patrick, I’m not a ‘police type’… I’m your lawyer and I’m here to help you. You’ve got to tell me everything right from the start. Every little detail helps and I need to know everything from the burglary till today.”

He gave her an apprehensive look and remarked, “I’ve got nothing to lose.”

Katherine smiled at this and as he took a deep breath, she switched her recorder on.

“I had worked in The Victoria Jewellery Shop – the very shop that I robbed – for five to six years and I knew it like the back of my hand. Then one fateful day, I came back home from work and found my house ransacked. Lily was nowhere to be found. I tried her mobile but it was switched off. While I was panicking, the phone rang, I answered literally in tears. It was Lily.

When I first heard her voice, a wave of relief washed over me. I bombarded her with questions, “Where are you, Lily??? Are you alright?? What happened???” She was sobbing and in between her sobs, she explained, “Some men entered the house. They wanted some password. I told them you weren’t home but they weren’t ready to listen. They sprayed something in my face and I fainted. I woke up with these people somewhere. They won’t let me go, they’re holding me hostage!! Please help me Patrick….” Then one man, their leader, took the phone from Lily. He spoke in a nasal voice, “Hello Mr. Holland. How was our surprise? Anyway, let me get down to business… I want the Victoria jewellery shop’s ‘sacred rubies’. I know you know the password to unlock the vault so please co-operate with us and bring us the rocks by Monday. Also, there are four of my men surrounding your residence at the moment and your phones are disconnected. So you won’t be able to leave the house or call anyone, especially the police. Oh yes, I forgot to mention if you refuse our offer, we’ll kill your wife and send you her body and then we’ll kill you too. Think about our proposal. Goodbye Mr. Holland, we will call you tomorrow with the plan.”

I didn’t really think about it. What was there to think about? I spoke to him the next day. As you may know, I tried robbing the shop and got caught. The next week, I was informed (when I was in jail) that Lily had been found dead. She had been stabbed. I was allowed to go for her funeral. That day, I swore revenge. I spent a year in jail and as soon as I got out, I spent another year in just discovering who that man was. I found out he was the head of some old gang that didn’t even exist anymore. He posed as a businessman. I prepared to pay him a visit and avenge Lily’s death. Fortunately for him, his neighbours heard him screaming. They sensed something was wrong and called the police. I was arrested just as I was about to kill him and, well, you know the rest. I just won’t go back to that jail. It was a hellhole. I was tortured there and everything reminds me of Lily. I would rather die than go back….”

Katherine knew they had no chance of winning the case. Patrick had no proof that any of the above was true. They wouldn’t believe him. There was no evidence, no proof, no witnesses. She believed him though. She could make out while he was telling the story that he wasn’t lying. The case was in two weeks….How could she save him?

A fortnight later, Katherine sat in the court room waiting for the jury’s verdict. Patrick was sitting beside her. He looked puzzled and concerned. The main jury member stood up and said, “We find the defendant guilty of the attempted murder of Mr. Henry Thomas.” Katherine’s heart sank. She knew that they would have lost the case anyway. There had been nothing to back up Patrick’s story. She glanced at Patrick. He was looking down. She couldn’t see his face but his knuckles were gripping the chair so tightly that they were white. The Judge sentenced him to twenty-four months in jail. As everyone got up to leave, Katherine remained behind. She wanted to schedule an appeal. She knew it was hopeless but still wanted to try. When the courtroom emptied and it was just Patrick, the Judge and his secretary left in the room besides her, she whispered to Patrick that she’d go meet the secretary and come back in ten minutes. He shook his head and looked up at Katherine with that same vacant look. She walked up to the secretary to speak to her. Katherine sat down in front of her and placed the documents in front of her. She started talking about an appeal, when all of a sudden the Judge cried out, “Stop him!!!” Katherine swiftly turned around and saw Patrick running towards the window. The Judge was already out of his seat, but Patrick was too fast. He ran right into the window and the glass shattered. He fell down three stories. Katherine closed her eyes and when she opened them, she saw the glass on the floor. She just imagined that those pieces of glass were like Patrick…shattered. The Judge was yelling for the paramedics, the secretary was calling them and Katherine just stood there and stared at the glass pieces… each piece like a prism, splitting the dull white light into bright colours.

*****

As Katherine drove home, her thoughts returned to the present. She had realized long ago, that Patrick had wanted to set himself free that day. On the way back home, Katherine took a turn to the cemetry where Patrick was buried. She bent down at his tombstone and looked at the bright yellow flowers she had placed the day before. She looked up at the sky and felt Patrick looking down. Katherine remembered one line (by George Bernard Shaw) that Patrick had said to her once,

“There are two tragedies in life. One is to not get your heart’s desire. The other is to get it.”

Friday, November 03, 2006

The Windshield or the Bug?

Heyy everyone,
This is... i think .... my 6th attempt at keepin a blog lol. but this time i am so going to stick to it....!!! anyway, rayna introduced me to blogspot (*yay rayna*), coz she told me about her blog - which is really good btw - and i used to leave comments on it all d time, so i thought y not start mine? anyway, i know the name of my blog is kinda strange .... but its from one of my favorite quotes : 'sometimes ur the windshield, sometimes ur the bug....'. i dunno y but i LOVE that quote. makes so much sense.... sometimes ur the problem and sometimes ur the solution - you've just got to realize it. hmmm.... the exams are in 12 days exactly....1 word : HELP..... so i doubt i'll be able to write a lot till 28th.
here's something to think about : there are many things that we would throw away if we weren't afraid that others might pick them up....
isn't that very true.......... SO MANY THINGS!!!!!