At Beyond the Box, we are constantly thinking of ideas to give something unique, refreshing as well as challenging to our community of writers. Two to Tango was one such endeavour to encourage the participants to work along with another writer as a team and bring about a creative synergy. 66 teams participated in this one-of-its-kind contest and the winners were chosen by an eclectic jury panel comprising of prolific authors Ramendra Kumar, Shilpa Suraj and Apeksha Rao. Below prompt was given to the writers and they were asked to narrate the same story from two different points of view.
Prompt – Write a fictional story in which a character’s life undergoes some kind of major change due to a lost mobile. Feel free to creatively interpret this concept in any genre of your choice.
The Special Mentions in the adults’ category were Soma Mukherjee and Haritha Kannan (Team 38). Enjoy their story!
Story Title: SUDHIR’S LOST MOBILE
Point of View #1
By Soma Mukherjee
Sudhir was a successful man in his thirties, married to Seema who was a designer. They had a great life and were a happily married couple according to their friends and relatives. Social media showed them traveling abroad and sharing drool-worthy Instagram posts. But, he had a secret life with his live-in partner Shiela, a model by profession, tucked in another city. He had met her during one of the fashion shows and later started dating her.
He thought his secret life and dark desires were unknown to many. One day, he lost his mobile which was an expensive handset gifted by Seema on their anniversary. He went to the police station to lodge a complaint. He was paranoid because his wife would be angry and also because his skeletons would be out from the closet.
Adding to his woes, one day, early in the morning, he found Shiela standing with a huge suitcase at his doorstep. He got anxious as she had arrived without a warning. She had called his office as he had not called her up for the past few weeks. From the office staff, she managed to get his address. She was aware he had a wife but he had told her lies that he was unhappy in his marriage and would marry her some day.
Sudhir panicked looking at Shiela coming towards him expectantly, but he managed to coax his wife to let her stay. He told her that Shiela was his distant cousin and needed to stay with them for a few days. he cooked up a story saying that since Shiela’s mom had eloped and married, Sudhir’s family had cut off ties with them.
Sudhir left for work, but soon received a call from a frantic neighbor about something terrible that had happened at his home. He drove like crazy, only to find police cars and vans blaring with horns outside his abode. His home resembled the settings of a crime thriller show all of a sudden.
He went inside and was horrified to discover two dead bodies. One was that of Shiela’s and the other was Seema’s. One was stabbed and was in the kitchen, while the other was found hanging in the drawing-room.
Police inspector Mr. Arthur informed Sudhir that his phone was found in a pawn shop in a nearby city. Sudhir was sweating thinking about the situation.
Point of View #2
By Haritha Kannan
“And Mr.Sudhir, is that all you have to say to us?” questioned Police Inspector Arthur at the police station.
Earlier, Sudhir was in complete shock seeing his ransacked house and dead bodies of his wife Seema and girlfriend Shiela.
“I have one more thing to say”, finally Sudhir dared to reveal something important.
“I had lots of money and gold hidden inside my secret cupboard that is behind my dressing table. It is stolen”, Sudhir told Arthur.
“Anyone else knew about this secret cupboard apart from you and your wife?”, catechized Arthur to Sudhir.
“None. Maybe, my phone.”
Sudhir felt guilty about losing his phone and the secrets it could divulge.
“That makes my job easy!!!”, exclaimed Arthur.
Arthur made a few phone calls and within minutes he had the photos of people who worked at the pawnshop. They immediately got down to matching the photos with the video footage recorded in the apartment’s front gate and discovered some common faces.
In the next few days, Arthur and his team looked high and low around the city and finally caught hold of the man who worked at the pawnshop.
“Yes, it was me, it was me”, blurted the man who was in his forties. His name was Karan.
“I went through the phone while working in the pawnshop. I came to know about the hidden chest in Sudhir’s house”, disclosed Karan.
“The money tempted me. I need money. I disguised myself as a serviceman. When I neared Sudhir’s apartment, I heard heated arguments between two ladies. I rang the bell and his wife opened the door. She suspected me and didn’t let me in. I pushed her in, we had a little quarrel, and later, I stabbed her”. Karan was in tears now.
“And there was another lady who tried to save Sudhir’s wife. I couldn’t stop myself and out of fear, strangled her with my arms and hanged her”, revealed Karan feeling apologetic. He narrated all that transpired on that day at Sudhir’s house in detail.
“Yes. His fingerprints on the door locks, dressers, walls, and dead bodies substantiate his confession”, confirmed Arthur.
Sudhir was staring at the roof of the police station.