Who Are You?

Larry Jones, who is born curious, is taking breakfast with his parents. He waves them goodbye and leaves for his college.

Standing in front of the class, he sees a boy is sitting all alone. And he is a kind of sad. So, he walks to him and says, “May I sit with you?”

The boy lifts his head and says, “There are many places empty for you to sit. Why do you want to sit with me?”

Larry says with a grin, “It’s my wish. Now, please excuse me.” The boy let Larry sit and he gives the boy a hand and says, “Hi! I’m Larry Jones. You?”

The boy says, shaking hands, “Chris Zephan.”

Larry asks him directly, “Would you mind telling me why you always remain sad and alone? Don’t you have any friends?”

Chris says, smirking, “Who wants to be a friend of a nerd?”

“I’ll be your friend,” Larry says.

Chris looks at him with surprise. He wasn’t expecting this, as Larry is the most popular boy in college and he is brilliant too.

Chris says, “Umm, I don’t know what to say. To be honest, I just can’t believe you.”

Larry says, smiling, “You’re thinking I’ll also bully you, and that’s the reason you aren’t believing me. Right?”

Chris says with a grin, “Yeah.”

“But, you can believe as I’m not that kind of guy.”

“Then, it’s okay,” Chris replies, grinning ear to ear.

Before Larry could say anything more, the teacher enters the class and they pay attention to his lecture.

During break time, when they are taking lunch, Jack, Paul and Noah come to them. They’re the famous bullies in the college, and Paul and Noah are also best friends of Larry.

They always bother other students and Chris is mostly bullied by them.

Jack asks Larry, “Hey, dude! What in the world are you doing with this nerd?”

Noah asks Chris, “Hey, four-eyes nerd! How many times do we have to tell you to stay away from us?”

Chris was about to say something, but suddenly, a black rose fell from the top on his lap and a sweet aroma of rose spreads in the air. Larry becomes curious, those boys get confused, and Chris becomes afraid.

He says, looking here and there, “Please go from here. I don’t need you now. They are my classmates, and I don’t want them to get hurt. Please leave them.”

A message written with blood appears on the table; ‘Okay. I’m leaving.’ Chris sighs and keeps the rose on that message and then everything disappears. Larry’s curiosity increases, and those boys get become frightened than ever.

But, Chris doesn’t pay any attention to it, as a voice whispers in his ear, “Tell them to stay away from you, because next time, I’ll not spare them. And you have to create a close friendship with Larry Jones as he is so brave and brilliant. But he is a bit curious which may cause a great danger!”

“I’ll, but please don’t harm him. I have no problem with his curiosity.” Chris says. That voice saying, ‘I have’ disappears.

Chris turns to those boys, and looks at them with his void eyes. He says, “I’m requesting you not to bother me anymore, otherwise you all have to die and then I’ll have nothing to do.”

“Whatever!” Jack says with a smirk and leaves the place.

Going far from Larry and Chris, Paul says, “We’ll not bother him anymore. Who knows if he has a ghost with him or something? I don’t want to die in young age.”

After they left, Larry asks, “What was that? Why that aroma was coming? Where did the rose fell from? Why did that message appear? Whom were you talking with?”

Chris smiles and gives him a water bottle. He says, “Slow down. How can I answer all this together?” Larry drinks water and says, “Okay, tell one by one.”

“I can’t tell anything. It’s her order.”

“Who is she?”

“Someone I love so much.”

Larry stares at him, confused. Chris laughs and says, “Let’s go to the class.”

During departure, when they were about to leave the college, that aroma fills the air again and a bloody black rose fell on Chris’s shoulder.

Larry becomes curious and Chris gets confused. That voice whispers on his ear, “You’re supposed to go to that place. Tell your friend to leave you, otherwise...”

Chris says in a hurried voice, “I-I’m telling him. P-please d-don’t hurt him.” That voice saying, ‘Good boy’ disappears.

Chris says to Larry in a hurried voice, “I’ve to go somewhere. See you tomorrow. And, I know you’re curious, but don’t follow me, please.”

He leaves the college immediately and Larry stands there confused. That aroma surrounds him and he somehow gets afraid and leaves the college quickly.

After reaching home, Larry takes a shower and stands on the mini roof, of his room. He starts thinking about the abnormal incidents that happend in the college.

Interrupting his thinking, his phone rings. The phone call was from an unknown person. He picks the call and says, “Hello, I’m Larry Jones. Who are you?”

Chris whispers, “You forget your new friend so soon?”

Larry asks, frowning, “Chris?! How did you get my phone number?”

“It’s not impossible for me. Anyway, I know very well what you were thinking. You’re thinking about some unnecessary things. Oil your own machine and don’t be such curious. Because being this much curious is too much dangerous for you.”

Larry asks, “Chris, why are you talking with me like this?”

Chris yells at him, “Just shut your mouth up and LOOK BEHIND!” Larry looks behind and sees Chris is standing there.

Suddenly, a knife comes and stabs him, making his head and body apart. The metallic smell of blood and the screams of Larry came into contact with the air.

***

Larry wakes up with the sound of his phone. He rubbed his eyes, its 8:30 am. He sees his mother is calling.

When he reached home, they went out for shopping. Ringing sound of that phone call reminds him about the incident happened in the afternoon.

He picks the call, trembling in fear and says, “H-hello.”

Mrs. Jones replies in a worried voice, “Larry, are you alright?”

Larry says, “Yeah, Mom. I’m totally fine. When you guys are coming back?”

“Sorry, dear. We’re not coming back. Your aunt called us a few minutes ago. She told us your granny is so sick, and she wants to see her son right now. So, we’re going to the village. Will you be fine alone in that house?”

“Yeah, Mom. I’ll be alright.” He replies in a normal tone, even though he felt worried. No, he felt worried about himself.

Mr. Jones takes the phone and says, “Son, are you sure about this?”

Larry says in an annoyed voice, “Oh! Dad! Come on! I’m an adult. Why in the world I’ll not be able to stay alone in this house?”

Mr. Jones sighs, “Okay. Be careful!”

“I’ll. Bye,” he says and hangs up the call. Suddenly, he notices the call from that unknown person had magically disappeared from his call list.

But, he remembers clearly about that phone and... No! He doesn’t want to remember about that.

Larry goes to the washroom and washes his face. When he looks at the mirror, he sees a message written with blood on the mirror, ‘Be ready for death, Mr. Larry Jones.’ That aroma fills the washroom. He quickly gets out and pants.

He says, “It’s not real. All of these are just my imagination and nothing.” He wipes his face and goes to the kitchen to make coffee.

The leaving room and the kitchen are totally in dark. He turns on the light and prepares a coffee quickly. He runs to his room and locks the door. Larry is afraid, as he is feeling something abnormal.

Chris returns to his house from that place. His mother asks, “Where were you?”

Chris says, “Don’t you know?” His grandparents, parents, paternal uncle and aunt, cousins and his own little sister live under one roof.

His elder uncle says to him, “Chris, you’re a boy of an advanced age. So, why do you believe in that thing? She is not real.”

Before Chris could tell anything, that aroma fills the air and a delicate black rose falls on Chris’s feet.

Chris says, “Go from here. Let me handle this. How long you’ll be with me? I also want to be brave like you.” A message written with blood appears on the floor; ‘If you say so.’ Chris takes the rose and drops it on the message and everything disappears.

He asks to his uncle, “So, do you still believe she is not real? If I didn’t tell her to go, you would be in the grave.”

“Whatever.” His uncle muttered under his breath. He showed that he didn’t care enough to feel anything, but it was wrong.

Him not getting afraid is a facade only. He leaves with his wife and child.

Chris goes to his room to be freshed and suddenly everything shakes. He says in an annoyed voice, “You may come. I don’t need any signal.”

A girl’s shadow appears and says, “I did something with your new friend.” Chris gets afraid and says, “What did you do?”

“I showed him some scenes of a horror movie and he fainted.” She laughs and says, “Your friend is too scared. He can’t do anything. I mean, I didn’t even do anything. I merely... I don’t know why he fainted. That was my favorite scene.”

Chris asks, frowning, “What are you talking about?”

That girl smirks and says in a whispering tone, “You’ll know when it’s the right time.” She disappears.

“I have to talk with Larry about this.” Chris mutters to himself.

To Be Continued...