THE LION'S SHARE

  • 22 Aug - 28 Aug, 2020
  • Salaar Laghari
  • Fiction

Alfred unfolded the tissue and read,

“You are being trapped.”

Alfred was more than just surprised as he read this. He looked up at the door hoping he could see his sister in law but the door was shut. He wanted to call her out but he couldn’t as it was of no use.

He looked back at the tissue and asked himself,

What does she mean by this?

He felt really anxious and said,

Why does it get worse every time? Why can’t I get to one conclusion?

He was badly confused as there were different assumptions all around, so he simply threw the tissue aside.

He said to himself,

How can I be trapped? I mean she is the one who recorded the entire narration. Why is she trying to warn me? It’s all so confusing.

He however, changed the modes of his thoughts and focused on what he recently heard in the audio narration.

Hannah was ignoring me? He wondered. Well it does really sound disturbing. I wouldn’t have murdered her for this but I sure would have been seriously disappointed.

He then remembered about his joblessness and said in his thoughts,

I don’t think I would have given up so soon, but yes constant rejection could have tired me and I might have given struggling to earn out of merit and would have become greedy.

He realised that it was a huge property that he was getting without hard work and struggle; whereas on the other hand, hard work was not providing him such huge amount.

I could have, I most definitely could have, he commented, I could have become greedy. In fact greedier than I think but I don’t think that I would have become courageous enough to murder my own sister. No, that can’t happen. It can’t be me. Maybe my brother and my sister in law are in a misunderstanding.

He however put on the ear phones and continued listening to the narration:

“Alfred was getting really frustrated day by day as he was absolutely jobless. He was seeing that he was aging and he was jobless for quite a long time.

After several weeks, he applied for some job and appeared in a written test interview. He succeeded or failed in that interview was unknown but he never returned to that organisation again. Most probably he failed the interview test.

One day, he went to see a psychiatrist. He secretly recorded his conversation with the psychiatrist. He told the doctor,

“My father has passed away. He has left behind a huge amount of billions of dollars. But my sister has inherited the lion’s share. And the remaining siblings have received hardly half a billion.”

“Wow, so what’s bothering you exactly?” she asked him.

“I am jobless. I want money to survive.”

“So, how much have you inherited exactly?”

“I don’t know some 50 million dollars.”

“And that’s not enough?”

“Are you kidding?” Alfred asked her seriously. “I have nothing besides that amount.”

“So why don’t you make a smart investment? I mean you can start your own business, why don’t you think of utilising what you already have?”

“No, it’s not that easy,” Alfred replied.

“You are not even thinking about it? That’s lack of courage on your part, don’t you think?”

“Ma’am, let me make it very clear please. If my sister dies, I can earn almost half of what my sister owns right now.”

“Wait, so you’re thinking of killing your sister?”

“Look, I don’t want to. But I’m helpless here; these thoughts are appearing in my mind, constantly.”

“I see. I see now what your

issue is.”

“So? What do you recommend?”

“Let me think…I think you should try and stay away from your sister.”

“Why?”

“No, you have to stay away from her. I’m afraid you can do something harmful. I have seen such cases before.”

Alfred was getting fed up, so he decided to politely end the session and leave.

*************

Ronald was in his home with his friend Frederick. The two of them had designed a map on a white A4 size paper. The two of them were looking at it very carefully until they got distracted by the message tune on Ronald’s phone. Ronald changed his sitting position and checked the text message. It was Alfred’s text. He ignored it and said,

“So Fred, can you revise what we have just planned out?”

“Sure, we have revised our three plans. Since we are planning to be entrepreneurs and you have a dominant investment here therefore, we will finalise on what you choose.”

“Right!”

“The first option is running a general store. A general store can be named as…”

“…The name is not important,” Ronald interrupted, “we’re just having a brief overview.”

“Okay…our next option is opening a book store.”

“Yes…And this one is easier because there are plenty of books in my father’s library.”

“Right, so our third plan is to start an e-commerce business.”

“Yes, and this one is something that you are experienced in.”

“Now, Ronald we have to decide how much investment we have exactly.”

“As far as my calculation is concerned, I’m sure we have more than two billion.”

“You know if we will run a book shop then we will have plenty of savings. This business is my personal recommendation.”

“I know Fred. I have the same opinion, but marketing is something that I’m trying to avoid.”

“We can’t Ronald, we can’t. Keep that thought aside. Every business requires marketing and promotion.”

“I know, but I want it to be effortless.”

“We’ll do something about it. We need smart marketing.”

They had a little more conversation and eventually left for lunch”.

Alfred paused the audio and kept it aside. He was feeling really tired and drowse.

He wondered,

Have they given me something that has caused me to feel like this?

He shut his eyes and went to sleep. The way he laid, it made his phone slip and fell to the ground. He had slept so firmly that it was hard to wake him up.

*************

Several hours later, during the night as he woke up he saw darkness all around him. He was kind of panicked as he woke up and he couldn’t remember anything for a moment. After looking around, he said to himself in his thoughts,

Where am I?

He tried to sit up but he couldn’t, in the meanwhile he remembered and answered his own question,

Oh yeah, I’m in the hospital, because I had an accident. But more importantly, there are other severe things that I’ve been told.

He sat up and after seeing the torch on the side table, he turned it on. As the room gained some light, he had a conversation with himself,

Alright, my name is Alfred Watson, I am an IT Engineer.

But what I’ve been told is something horrifying. I’m about to get arrested because I have committed a crime, not just any other crime but a major crime. It was a cold blooded murder.

He changed his sitting position and continued,

At least, this is what I’ve been told. I have always been a law abiding citizen, never broke any rule that was associated with the law. And yet I’ve been convicted of murder.

He tried to stand up by jumping out of the bed. It was difficult for him, but he managed to do so.

I don’t know how exactly I ended up here but the story that I’ve been told is not believable. Although, it sounds very realistic and surprisingly true, but there are unanswered questions.

He walked towards the window and said,

What if I jump out and never return? I can put all of this behind me, can’t I?

He was not sure about escaping which was why he walked back saying,

There’s a huge portion of my life that has left a question mark on my mind. I am missing out things. This has happened because the recent accident has caused me to suffer from retrograde amnesia.

He walked towards another corner of the room and found some buttons on the switch. He could hardly see them; he switched them on anyways and the lights turned on. The room gained quite some light.

That’s better. He commented.

As he moved his head around the room, he saw the piece of tissue paper that Gwyneth gave him one day earlier.

He walked towards it and picked it up. He read it again and asked,

What does this mean exactly? I’m really confused about it.

He saw that the phone was on the floor. He realised that it had fell since he had slept for quite a long time. He picked it up as well and said,

I am unable to deny what I am being told through this. I might not have any proof for this stuff, but since it sounds so realistic therefore I have no option but to accept it all as true.

He then saw his sister’s diary. He said,

Yes, this can answer my questions. This might do it. It should.

He opened the diary to some random page and started reading it:

Today, I was at a wedding ceremony when my elder brother showed up unexpectedly. It was so greedy of him to demand my property like that. The scene was quite embarrassing but I’m glad that I gave him a shut up call and made him leave immediately.

He stopped reading and uttered,

Oh, my God! It’s all so true.

He couldn’t read further as he knew that it would make it only worse. So he took the phone again and said feeling disappointed,

Things are not getting any better, I should simply listen to this and once I’m hundred percent convinced, I’ll simply hand myself to the police.

He put on the ear phones and started listening to the audio narration:

“Alfred was getting depressed as he was spending plenty of time in loneliness. His friends were successful in their lives, which made him even more frustrated. He couldn't even share his feelings with them as he didn't want to be looked down upon.

He missed his mother during such times but deep inside, he knew that feeling sorry for himself was not going to solve anything.

He was once caught praying out loud in church. And what he was praying really caught everyone's attention. He prayed,

"Please, bring some fatal disease over my sister."

He kept on praying like this, repeating the same sentence over and over again.

His life was worse than a person who had no family at all.

On the other hand, his sister Hannah was living a terrible life as well. She was afraid of every one as she knew that they all were greedy for her money. She couldn't trust anyone.

She was desperately looking for someone to marry her but it was really hard for her to find someone who could love her for who she was and not for what she owned.

One ordinary day, Alfred was sitting in some coffee shop waiting for his order. That moment an older woman came and sat next to him. She asked him,

"Do you have a minute?"

"Sure," he replied turning his head towards her.

"I am new in the city and I am looking for a job. Do you have any idea where I can find one?"

He chuckled and replied,

"Join the club."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry, it's just that I am going through the same process."

"Oh!"

"I wish I could help you. But I’m sorry, I can't."

Alfred looked at her with sympathy and asked,

“Is there any other way I can help you?”

“No, thanks anyways.”

Saying this, the aged woman stood up and left him alone.

Alfred was sitting all alone again and was wondering in his thoughts,

I know, I’m a little difficult to talk to. My attitude is bothering everyone around, but that’s what nature has made me. I am not responsible for anything.

to be continued...

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