A Sip of Infinity

Love Rekindled

The next few days seemed quite busy for me as I started working on setting up my company, Mervin’s agreement to provide funding was the first step towards success, and now it was time to look for premises and begin producing the prototype. I had never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would go this far, it seemed just like a dream, and this dream which appeared to be fulfilled couldn’t have been possible without hemlock. However, in the last few days, I noticed that the bottle of my elixir had become lower than half. 

I realized that my intake of the liquid had been quite constant in the last few months, and I had been so engaged due to its miraculous effects that I had not fathomed the idea of its quantity’s exhaustion. In addition to that, a huge realization hit me that since the day this liquid hit my throat, my alcoholism had halted such that I never felt the craving for alcohol even for a second since then. Perhaps, it contained some sort of chemicals that either drew off all alcohol from my system, or it altered my brain’s chemistry with respect to this matter as well that it never gave me signals of yearning for a drink. 

Nevertheless, I took a shot of hemlock and felt the surge of extraordinary brilliance and energy which I had become so accustomed to, that I had nearly forgotten my old self. It’s human nature, that when someone gets habituated to something, the excitement and feelings of exhilaration gradually diminish, but in the case of hemlock, it never happened. 

I sat down on my armchair and was just thinking about calling Harold when a particular number just caught my attention, it was Emily’s. Emily, a blond and cute girl with brilliant blue eyes, had been my crush since childhood. She herself did have feelings for me till eighth grade, after that she never even spoke to me properly after I shed my boy-next-door image and became an alcoholic. I realised I hadn’t spoken to her since eighth grade, couldn’t recall the last time I had even said a ‘hi’ to her, couldn’t pluck up the courage to do so in the last few years. Nonetheless, today I felt invincible with hemlock by my side and decided to call her and asked her to meet me in a French restaurant, as it was her favorite cuisine, to which she astoundingly agreed.

   “Holly molly!” exclaimed Emily, holding the chocolate croissant in mid-air. “You are about to start an AI company!”

“Apparently yes,” I chuckled, staring confidently at her pretty face which enchanted me till this date.

“I didn’t think you ever moved ahead of the water cycle in science since eighth grade,” she said nervously, with an essence of flirtation, utterly bewildered. “How come this abrupt change, all I have seen of you is roaming the city and partying,” she added lightly in a sheepish manner with reference to my carefree and alcoholic behaviour, at which I didn’t get offended but glad that she was being so open.

“Well, let’s just say I received a wakeup call a few months ago,” I responded with a serene smile. At that point, I called for the French waiter.

“Pouvez-Vous nous apporter le Meilleur vin disponible dans votre restaurant?  I asked in the French accent,to get the finest wine available in the restaurant, at which Emily looked at me with her eyeballs popped out.

“Since when do you speak French?” she inquired in a frenzy, quite unable to contain the number of stunning news’ for the evening.

“Well, I learned it a month ago from a French guy who shifted here from France and who resides in my neighborhood,” I lied flatly, without a speck of hesitation.

                       “Well I hope you didn’t do it to impress me,” she flirted, now fully smiling at me and staring at my face, all awkwardness gone.

We relished a few glasses of wine and chatted away the entire evening. Eventually, we left the restaurant and I decided to drop her home in a cab when suddenly out of nowhere,a masked man appeared and snatched away Emily’s purse, and sprinted past us. I chased him madly as he raced past the footway, dodging people and jumped over a Mustang acrobatically, and went to the other side of the highway. Adrenaline rush gushed through my veins as I launched myself over a speeding car, landed on my feet, and continued the chase. I reached the end of the highway and stopped instantly near a block of buildings, the man vanished and was nowhere in sight. I clenched my teeth and punched the air in frustration. I was just thinking to turn around and go back to Emily when suddenly the guy jumped over me from behind. And before I could react or defend myself, he shoved a knife in my waist. I let out a roar of agony, as he thrust it harder. He held his free gloved hand on my mouth and whispered in my ear,

                   “Consider yourself lucky pretty boy,” in the familiar Chinese accent that I had heard before. I haven’t peeled your eyes off and cut your tongue as of yet like the clause in our deal, I have just left you with this gentle reminder that your month’s up. Make the payment by the coming week,   and better not be mistaken, the amount should be doubled as you said so yourself. If not, then most unwillingly I’ll have to fulfill the terms of our agreement,” he removed the knife harshly, turned me around with a smack on my face, and left me lying on the ground desperately moaning for help.