Wednesday, July 25, 2007

The Gift

The dining table was just long enough to seat 4 people, but he was eating alone. He adjusted his spectacles which were huge enough for his 11 year old small face. He was quiet. In fact he was disturbingly quiet. The only sound in the room came from the ceiling fan above him. The Tube light blinked as if it could die any moment.

He was eating pan cakes with maple syrup poured over it. The syrup tasted bad as it had crossed the expiry date. But still he remained thankful to god for the pan cakes. Next time he reminded himself to pray for fresh maple syrup as well. By this time kids in the neighborhood usually play baseball or hide and seek, but they ignored him. They always did and they called him freak as well. At this young age he had learned to avoid taking things too personal and just ignored them. He was better off without them.

Suddenly it happened and it startled him. The door opened although he remembered closing it. The man who came inside the house looked at him. He looked at him as if he could eat him alive. He was roughly the age of his father whom he never remembered seeing, talking or feeling. His dark robe and bloodshot eyes made him look dangerous, sinister and harmful. He had seen him couple of times and every time he did, he got a sick feeling in his stomach. He had avoided him deliberately, but that man won’t listen. There was some connection between them, he sensed.

He came quietly in to the room and sat on the nearby chair.

"You see to be afraid of me" the man said.

"What makes you think that?" the boy asked

"You run away when you see me."

"There are so many things to run away from. What makes you think I run from you?"

"I see the fear in your eyes."

"Hmm...what do you see now?"

"An interest. Don’t you want to know who I am?"

"Should I know it?"

"Shouldn’t you?"

"I don’t. It could only be trouble for you."

"Why is that?"

"Because then you may have to face the inevitable."

"And what is the inevitable?"

"The truth."

"Truth? What truth?"

The boy hesitated. Maybe he had gone too far. He knew it the moment he had seen him and that is why he avoided contact with him. He did not want to break away the man's little happiness or whatever hope he had left in him. It was in such moments he realized how badly truth hurts. He wished he was mute or deaf or blind or altogether. He could have been much happier and not go through this whole trauma. Seems that the time had come.

"You want to know?" the boy asked

"Yes."

"You are dead." the boy paused "And you still don’t know it."

The man gasped. The boy pointed to his left side where he saw stab marks and blood stains on his shirt. The man thought that it was a nightmare..a bizarre nightmare….but realized that it a bitter truth to swallow.

"How d-d-do you k-know it?" the man whimpered as he asked.

The boy had done this before when asked by similar people. He hated telling it and wished he could die. It was his gift. It was his curse.

"Because I see dead people." He knew that he wouldn’t need to speak after that. The pan cakes had gone cold.....and so had he.

P.S: Shyamalan must have been a genius to make an entire movie based on this one little twist :-)

20 comments:

Sat said...

yippeee...me first!!!!
but the story was cold this time man....will wait for the next one
:D

Ramya Shankar said...

Would have been challenging to narrate a Shyamalan inspiration, but you made it appear so smooth!
Nicely put ! Me likes !

Anonymous said...

sixth sense effect pola ;-)

Anonymous said...

im able to predict the end these days!! guess i got so addicted to ur blog..maybe..isn't??

--Hell's Angel

Nivi said...

"It was in such moments he realized how badly truth hurts. "
Profound very very profound. Truth does hurt.
WEll written. Very gripping.

Gayathri said...

At last! You actually took in my request. Dissatisfied. :-(

Vidya said...

I had not watched this movie and if this story is an excerpt, then thank you! I probably will rent the DVD or get the book, if there is one! :D


Vidya

Dreamzz said...

இது என்ன Sixth Sense short form a? ;)

Lavs said...

What other Shyamalan movies have you seen? I saw The village and was badly disappointed

Padma said...

hmmm... something is missing..
probably becoz i don't wierd stories

Priya Iyer said...

good concept! :-) er, wat is this movie?????

Heidi Kris said...

hmm okay types.. as sat said it was cold.. not ur usual one.. waiting for a better one soon.

prithz said...

Awwwww!!!! Never expected that twist. As sat has pointed out, quite cold to read stuff like this. Sizth sense la la me loves that kutti boy.. :D

Ponnarasi Kothandaraman said...

As was nearing the end ofthe post ... Was hoping tht it shud end in a diffrnt way :) Difrnt style though!

dakaltiz said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
dakaltiz said...

hey harish..hittin ur page after a long time..

read a few other posts of urs dood..too gud man..
and this post ..enne inspired by 6th sense? .. shymalan has done a gr8 job in this flick..

Will frequent ur page dood.:)

Harish said...

@Sat
Hope U like the next one :-)

@ramya
Glad U loved it yaar :-)

@Sangs
Hee hee...enna panna :-)

@Brindha
Guess its time to challenge U. Wait...and I will do it :-)

Harish said...

@Nivi
Thanks yaar

@gayathri
Hmm....well...actually I ran out of stuff :-(. Hope U like the next one.

@Vidya
Oops...sorry for spoiling ur fun

@Lavs
Except Lady in the water I saw the rest. Sixth sense remains his best :-)

Harish said...

@Padma
Next padi :-)

@Priya
Sixth Sense

@heidi
Enna pa...enakku avalava ellam nalla ezhuda varaadu :-)

@Prithz
Glad U liked it yaar :-)

Harish said...

@Pons
Hee hee...thanks yaar

@Dakaltiz
Enna nanba romba naala aala kaanum.
Ootula kannalm katti vchutaangala :-P