StarGaze

Jakhar

"Ah yes, here's the person I like most," Thomas said.

Jakhar woke up with a hangover. He had been drinking too much for the last few days, and his head was like a fireball all the time as a result. He slammed his fist on the alarm clock and looked around. The girl was long gone, and he was all alone in the small bedroom.

After a few minutes, he was reading the newspaper, looking for his story. The coffee in his hand was getting colder but he was too anxious to notice. And after the waves of biological attacks and victim lists of war crimes, he found his article on the third page. I guess serial killers are not that big of an issue around these parts.

“Ah! There it is.” Jakhar said and sipped his coffee.

His eyes moved rapidly as he scanned the article- the white death strikes again! This time the victims are two prostitutes who were found in an alley with their mouths torn open. Their limbs were also cut off as the symbol of the ruthless predator’s work. The bodies were found by our able reporter Jakhar while working on some leads. The police told him that the killer probably used a butcher’s knife for the deed and then took the weapon with him. The killer is smart and works in the dark, and so for police have not found a shred of single promising evidence to reveal the killer’s identity. As the police struggle to find footprints leading to hanging, the question burns a hole in this paper- Is anyone safe?

“Fan-fuckin-tastic! Let’s see how you fire me this time, boss.” Jakhar said, finishing his coffee and walking into the kitchen to grab some breakfast.

As he grabbed his leftover biryani from last night, his eyes were locked at the gleaming piece of metal. He rolled his eyes and sighed as he lifted the butcher’s knife and washed the blood off it. After a few minutes of vigorous washing, he was satisfied with the flashing metal.

“Damn, these girls got some really dark blood in them.” He said and smile as he placed the knife in a cupboard.

After he finished dressing up in the black suit, he lifted his beloved suitcase and strolled out of the apartment. The morning was rather silent as some three hundred people had died in the latest gas attack and there was a holiday. But a reporter’s job never takes a break, so he had to go to the office and confront his rather beautiful boss. Make no mistake, the American boss was gorgeous, but she was a b***h in her true form.

“Salam Imran, is Ms. Maya in already?” Jakhar asked the receptionist.

“No Janaab (sir), she never left. This gas attack was really massive and the boss doesn't want anyone else to get leads before her.” Imran said and shrugged his shoulders.

“Okay, I’ll go see her then,” Jakhar said and opened the door.

“By the way, good job on that serial killer story. Am I really safe?” Imran said and laughed a little.

Jakhar didn’t like it when the receptionist made fun of the white death, but he laughed in return and said thank you. He entered Maya’s office just when she finished talking on the phone.

“I do not care, I don’t pay you to not know s**t. Just get out there and give me some leads I can work on!” she yelled and slammed the receiver.

“Easy their boss, you don’t want the white death to hear you…” Jakhar said in English and Maya responded with a plain face.

“Yeah, tell me how exactly are you the first to be on his crime scenes, if he’s a he?” Maya said suspiciously. She said it just to blow off some steam, but what she didn’t know was that she had just sealed her fate.

Jakhar didn’t like to be doubted upon, so he just eyed Maya and went out of the door, slamming it as hard as he could without getting fired. Maya realized her mistake, she just berated the reporter who was carrying the whole newspaper agency on his back with a single promising story. His writing was so catchy and interesting, almost like he had a personal connection with the case.

Jakhar was sitting on his desk, deciding what would be a crispy story for his next article. Dead prostitutes hit the people in the head, but this time he needed something even more radical. Something which would make the people stick like glue to his every article and send him letters whenever he didn’t publish. After all, he was the hero who wasn’t afraid to speak of the white death without fear of publicly criticizing the police for not being able to catch the killer.

“This is from the editor in chief, she told me to tell you that she feels positive about the work you did.” The janitor said, handing Jakhar a golden pen.

Jakhar held the pen and looked at it for a minute as the janitor walked away, then he opened his desk and threw it inside. It was nothing but a piece of polished metal filled with ink, and it certainly wasn’t enough to make up for the insult he had to put up with.

“Still angry with me, I see,” Maya said from behind.

She had entered his cabin without him noticing, and now Jakhar was a little surprised. He couldn’t find words to reply with, so he just nodded. Maya laughed at his defiance and took a chair to sit in front of him.

“I know I am cranky these days. It’s just that your story is the only thing holding this paper together. We have no good sources that will help us publish blockbuster stories or some groundbreaking news. A journalist should be defined by a newspaper. Instead, our paper is being defined by you. And I want to change that. It will also lift a lot of load off your shoulders and you could work on more things. This is for the betterment of all of us.” Maya said, looking straight into Jakhar’s empty eyes.

What a b***h, who told her I want to work on other stories? A jealous woman thinks she can take over me and manipulate me to help her actually destroy my fame.

“Yes, I completely understand and appreciate your efforts. As much as I would like to see that in the future, it is also true that right now your newspaper IS running because of me. So it kind of hurts me when everyone takes me for granted. You know what I mean?” Jakhar said, looking down.

“Who said we take you for granted? Let me just tell you how much we appreciate you here.” Maya said and smiled mischievously.

She leaned forward and pulled Jakhar’s tie towards her. Jakhar was baffled by this surprise move, but it was a pleasant development. After five minutes, they were making out all over the place. During this time, an idea was incepted in Jakhar’s mind, and it made him even more excited.

As the sun hid behind the buildings and darkness grew up into the atmosphere as the office lights lit up. Jakhar was already out of the office and was in the alley where he asked Maya to meet up and take things ‘further’.  His eyes were barely blinking as he sweats from the anticipation and thrill of meeting the woman who dominated him for most of his career.

Maya was not so excited though. She was just finishing up work and only decided to meet up with Jakhar to get a change and lighten up her mind. So as soon as she noticed that it was pretty dark and most of the office was empty, she decided to take off and meet up with her new dog.

As she stepped into the alley, she felt a strange force pull her out of the path. She felt a strong repulsion to that particular dark gulley, but she decided to go in anyway, with necessary precautions of course.

“Jakhar…?” she called as soon as she got into the middle of the alley.

Jakhar sprang into action and stepped out of the shadows with the long needle in his hand. He tapped Maya on the shoulder and she almost jumped. She turned around with a taser in her hand and pointed it straight into Jakhar’s face. Jakhar was equally alarmed at her reaction.

“God! You stupid f**k! You almost gave me a heart attack.” Maya said, pressing her hand against her chest and feeling her elevated heartbeat.

Maya lowered the taser and put it back into her purse, giving Jakhar the window he needed. When Maya looked up again, she saw the long sleek metallic needle going into her throat. She wanted to scream as soon as she saw the torrent of blood spraying out of her neck, but instead of words, blood came out of her mouth. She looked at Jakhar in a state of shock and that was when she noticed it.

Jakhar was wearing a completely white suit and holding a butcher’s knife in his left hand. As her eyesight grew weaker and she felt shivers in her body, Jakhar held her by the hair and cut her head off her body.

“You don’t finish me off with some war crime stories, I finish you off for my next story. Imagine this, only one courageous newspaper that isn’t afraid to publish against a fearful predator, and so he comes after them and kills their editor. And on top of that, the editor is white. Congratulations now Maya, your newspaper will hit new heights tomorrow. Sadly, you won’t be there to see you rise in fame.” Jakhar said, separating the limbs from the body.

“Hello again, Jakhar. I see you took my advice.” The voice from the end of the alley shocked the killer and stopped him in his tracks.

He was not terrified that it was a stranger who was speaking to him, he was terrified that it was the voice of someone he recognized, a voice he had buried in the past and never wanted to come across again.

“Salaam, Azak. I thought our ways had parted a long time ago.” Jakhar said and turned around to look at the agents and his old friend who he betrayed for some money and a job. And now he was here for his vendetta.