Chapter Six

Priyanka gazed blankly out the window, as the traffic whizzed by. The cold December breeze dried the tears of joy on her cheek. Life seldom gifts a professional assassin with something beautiful to look forward to, and Priyanka learned to make the most of these small gifts. Dheeraj had asker her out for dinner, and this time, it wasn’t business.

She climbed into bed, and hugged the covers tight. ‘First things first’, she thought to herself, and set the alarm for six in the morning. After all, a room full of noisy 5 year olds eagerly awaited Miss Rosy Rhymes’ poetry class.


The End

Chapter Five

Priyanka recovered from the shock as quickly at she could. She didn’t even realize that she had fallen down. She scanned the crowds for Farzad. Through the chaos, she saw him dash towards the exit. But she had bigger problems on hand. The skinny guy had fortunately lost her in the crowd. She picked up two bottles off the bar and snuck up to him from behind. He spun around just in time to get a bottle broken right in his face. The alcohol blinded him and his semiautomatic fell, when his hand hit the railing to the dance floor. Priyanka lost no time, and stuck the broken bottle right in his throat. He didn’t scream, he couldn’t. He just bled to death.

Priyanka picked up her hand bag and took off towards the exit herself. Where was Farzad? She ran to the parking lot. There he was, drunk as ever, fumbling with his car keys. The parking lot was nearly empty. She walked up to him and tapped him on his right shoulder, “Need some help with that?”

Farzad froze. He turned around and starred down the barrel of her Glock 17, “You’ve been fired”. The gunshot echoed through the empty parking lot.

The police arrived. They found the body of Farzad Rakunha, right hand man of a dangerous drug lord know as The Sir, lying cold beside his Chevrolet Optra. No one else was found in the parking lot.

Chapter Four

Fire & Ice was packed! Crazy music, crazy teenagers – ‘Only 21 and above, yeah right!’ The bouncer at the entrance nodded his head at her, ever so slightly - Farzad was still there. She walked up to the bar. Where else could Farzad possibly be! She spotted him at the right hand corner, and began to walk towards him.

As she neared his seat, the sound of the music began to die down. She could barely hear the screaming occupants of the club. Everyone was lost in their own world. Everyone high. Everyone carefree. Everyone completely unaware.

She was just about ten steps away, when it happened. A skinny drunk boy, or so he seemed, of around 25, stumbled his way towards Priyanka. At first, she didn’t notice him. But as he wobbled closed, she could feel his eyes on her. She gasped as the weapon gleaming under his jacket emerged. Gunshots sliced through the air. They missed her, but caught an unsuspecting party goer in the back. Enthusiastic screams now changed to screams of horror and panic. A girl sat petrified on the dance floor, with her boyfriend lying dead in her arms.

Chapter Three

She decided against driving the Swift to Franky's, and jumped into an auto rickshaw instead. She wondered why she had been called in such short notice. As the wind pulled out strands of hair, neatly tucked into her clip, Priyanka imagined the look on Dheeraj’s face when she would walk in. He would glance at his watch and look up at her disapprovingly, even if she was on time. She snapped back to reality when the driver pulled over outside the eatery, with a sudden jerk. ‘Show off’, she mumbled to herself, as she paid him. Franky’s was almost empty. She saw Dheeraj sitting at the last table, his eyes glued to the television set. He looked at his watch, then at her, and nodded his head disapprovingly.

She narrowed her eyes, “I think I’m ten minutes early today”. “Whatever makes you feel happy Simi”, he hit back, sarcastically. “Don’t call me that, I’m not Simi”, she hated people calling her Simi. That name took her back to the life that she had left behind. Simi was dead. Now, there was only Priyanka.

Dheeraj ignored her tantrum, as if she hadn’t spoken at all. He leaned closer and said, “Sir isn’t too happy with Farzad. Last week’s mix up cost Sir a lot and he doesn’t want to risk goof ups like that again. Farzad’s getting fired, but we haven’t broken the good news to him yet. You’re in charge of his farewell party.” Priyanka was surprised. She banged her fists down on the table, knocking Dheeraj’s empty coffee cup over, “Why isn’t Daisy doing this? This isn’t my job.” Dheeraj looked up sleepily, “Just do it, ok. If Sir loses his head, you’ve had it!”

But Priyanka knew something was amiss. Daisy always took care of farewells within the firm. Why was she being asked to do it now?

She pulled out her cell phone, “Are you going to tell me or not?”. Dheeraj grabbed the cell phone from her hand, “Fine, Daisy had an accident last night. She’s in City Hospital, go drop by with flowers or something later.” Dheeraj seldom lost his cool, but Priyanka couldn’t blame him. Afterall, Daisy was his ex wife, and he still loved her. But she had only used him as a ladder, and once the ladder wasn't of any more use, she filed for a divorce. This hurt Priyanka all the more, because she loved him. But he was through with love and relationships, especially within the firm or so it seemed.

It took Priyanka a while to find her voice, “Where’s Farzad now?”.. Dheeraj didn’t look up, but kept fiddling with his PDA, “Fire & Ice, I confirmed with Manoj. Farzad’s pretty drunk right now.” She got up to leave, “K, I’ll call you back after the “big party” then, take care..”. He mumbled something, and she left.

Once she walked out the door, he looked up and whispered, almost to himself, “You take care too, Simi….”

Chapter Two

Priyanka unlocked the door to her apartment and walked in. The air inside was stale and warm, just the way she liked it. For a school teacher, she did have quite an apartment – two bedrooms, an unreasonably huge kitchen, a dining room and a living room. When they gave it to her, she argued that it was too big, but they didn’t have time for silly matters like that.

The living room was dimly lit, and the maroon velvet curtains – thick and heavy. She let herself fall on the sofa and kicked off her sandals. She heard one of them hit something on the tea table. She made a face and didn’t bother to look. Her right hand searched the table randomly, and hit the voice messages button on the telephone.

‘You have two new messages’ was followed by an annoying BEEP.

‘First Message’ - “Pri!!! Where are you? Your cellphone service sucks! Always unavailable.. Anyway, you won’t believe whom I met today.. Call me when you get back Masterniji, I’ve got one hell of a story to tell you.. Take care.. Muah.”

‘Second Message’ – “Simi,” Priyanka’s heart skipped a beat when she heard his voice. The short message continued, “Call me back.”

Her exhaustion vanished into thin air. She pulled out her cell phone and hit speed dial. It rang twice, and the same deep middle aged male voice answered, “Simi, you’ve got work tonight. Meet me at ‘Franky Phillips’ in 20 minutes. Bring the kit along.”

Priyanka ran in to change. She slipped into a pair of worn out jeans and tight T-shirt. ‘Time to look stupid and 16 again’, she laughed in her head, as she put on a dark shade of pink lipstick. She picked up her kit and wiggled into uncomfortably high heels. She ran out, picking up and nearly dropping her handbag and pulled the door behind her. Dheeraj hated to be kept waiting.

Chapter One

“Good morning Miss Rosy Rhymes”, the entire class of 5 year olds chorused, as a lady dressed in a pink traditional salwar kameez walked in. She smiled back at all the broken toothed smiles beaming at her. She was just about to begin, when she heard plastic crackle somewhere in the last row of the class. She walked up to Sagar, who had his face stuffed with Bourbons. She bent down and whispered, “Sagar, recess is after my class, now close your tiffin box, and if we finish ‘Mary had a Little Lamb’ early, then we’ll have an early recess, ok?”. Sagar kept the box away reluctantly, and nodded his head…

Priyanka taught poetry to Senior KG kids part time, and that’s how she got her nickname – Miss Rosy Rhymes. She found peace in their singy songy poems, their chirpy voices and their tiny dancing hands. After all, her full time job required her to keep a clear calm head…

Miss Rosy Rhymes

Introduction

Its the first time I've tried my hand at writing a short story, or any story for that matter. I hate lengthy introductions, so I'm just gonna throw the story at you.

This story is about a girl named Priyanka. She comes from a simple middle class background, and is a teacher by profession. But there is another side to her life, which unfolds as the story progresses..

Inspired by "She..."