RAY PARKER
May 24 1998
My hand slapped against a harsh rock, it hurt my palm. Damn! I let out a gasp, desperately trying to breathe in. It seemed to be a herculean task to me as each breath brought pain to my body. I didn t even understand what was happening to me. I noticed a deep wound on my left leg which kept me restricting me to move forward properly. All my clothes were in nasty condition. They smelled like petrol to me. Blood covered almost half of my body & it made me look around myself to find any other deep cut. But there was neither another wound nor did I feel pain except for my left leg. Questions kept dancing in my head about the unknown blood. As if on cue, the pain did subside a little. I looked around & didn t find my car. With an injured leg, I could barely walk. A moment later, I slipped on something & my body fell into a deep hollow pit. I screamed but there was no one who could respond to me back. I tried harder to reach its top but failed. Those 9 feet s looked like ninety. Still, I tried & found myself in the middle of nowhere.
"You re getting late for your office Ray. Your dad is calling out. Please join him at the Dining table. Your breakfast is ready" said Jeffrey.
"I am getting ready. Will be holding up for more than 10 minutes." I replied.
"okay"
I put a glance at my father & his face looked like a pale winter moon.
"What happened Ray? Why are you late today? Don t you have an important business deal today with Mr. Robert? This is how you will run my company?", dad asked me in a very sot condition. These questions felt as if I have killed someone & that s why he is enquiring about that.
"Nothing happened dad, I am out of Bourbon today."
"Oh! You started drinking now, Great!"
"I never started drinking dad, I am just following your footsteps".
This whole daily-daily family drama infuriated me. I took my journal, smashed the door & walked off. Seeing me, Marcos, my personal driver & sometimes my bodyguard also, asked, "Sir, Shall I drop you at the office?"
Because I was vexed with my dad, I pushed him away & drove the car by myself to my office. When I was heading towards my way to the office, I saw a girl standing across the street hoisting her hand to get a lift. She was wearing a formal pink shirt covered with a black coat having a little broach on the left side of it with formal black trousers. Her face was shining as bright as moonlight. Looking at her, I lower down my speed. She came to me & asked,
"I am getting late for my interview, can you drive me to 'Parker Pvt. Ltd. ?
"Sure" I replied.
She seemed to be a quiet person who don t like to talk much. I was quiet for a bit & was waiting for her to ask me something. But she didn t. So I thought to break the ice.s
"Would you mind if I ask your name?"
''Nina
in a very low voice
I thought she would ask mine too but she didn t. I started shuffling my hair with my left hand.
"where do you reside? Who else are there in your family." I asked.
She didn t reply to my questions & ignored them as if no voice came to her ears. I turned the radio on & started enjoying the pleasant sound of the music. After a while, she took my journal from the dashboard & started reading from the page that I had bookmarked.
I wanted to forestall her to read my journal but couldn t. She started speechreading so I didn t hear her. She might be on the page where I got stuck in a hollow pit. It gives me goosebumps whenever I recall those memories. I still remember how I got out of that deep pit all by myself. It was dusk, the sun was about to set, I was feeling cold and was starving too. All I could hear was the buzzing of the insects. I was scared eventually & wonder if I could ever get out of this hell ever. I tried to climb up but was unable to reach the top due to my wounded leg. Then I used my hands to make a tight grip & after struggling for hours, I somehow managed to come out of that hell. It became darker & I couldn t find any way to get out from the woods.
"Can I please take the journal back?"
"You just had a tragic story behind this, I guess"
she was looking at me with a big question mark on her face. She might want to read more. Ughh!! I didn t want anyone to know about my past. we reached my office. She stepped out & was looking happy as she had reached on time I guess, maybe!
"Thank you for driving me to the office. Nice to talk to you".
I think she was unaware of the fact that I am the owner of the company that s why she was behaving so casually with me. I gave my car keys to the parking man & head towards my cabin. We stepped into the lift at the very same moment. The lines on her forehead showed that either she is confused or she might be wondering that I am following her. So, I thought to shock her cause I had an awful morning all due to my dearly, beloved dad & thus I waited for her to enter my cabin. There were 9 candidates sitting outside my cabin. Nina joined them as well. I took interviews of all 9 candidates & ordered my Personal Assistant 'Stevie to call out her name. So he came out of my cabin & looked at Nina.
"Ms. Nina, it's your turn for the interview now. Kindly submit your documents to me, I will pass them on to Ray sir".
After listening to my name "Ray", she tried to recall that name, it felt as if either she had heard it earlier or had seen written somewhere. I guess, she must have seen my name written on my keychain that s why my name sounded familiar to her. Now, she was more curious to know about me.
"Does Ray sir has a black Porsche?"
He looked at Nina & was totally confused as like why she was asking such a stupid question.
"Duh!! What s new in this. I mean everyone here knows that Ray sir owns a black Porsche. Why? What happened?"
She was totally numb.