CHAPTER 1
"LA FARZA HUM LUM DU FRASA DI KAM PA LA CRA"
These words were blasting out from a church, far away from Charles Street. It was a sort of summoning of a spirit by some cult. As time accelerated, the sounds succumbed and a strange calmness struck the night air. From somewhere, an owl was screeching, inconsistently. The nocturnals around the forest, not far away, were howling loudly. In Charles Street, everything was still and a hint of reek smell hung in the air. No, no, wait for a second, the sense of something, probably someone unknown, approaching got substantially inconvenient.
Lonely, drowned in his thoughts, James filled a club glass with his favorite rum, old monk. The moon, there outside, with his half-face, made up an incomplete company for him. The inept handling of cigarettes, proved him to be a newbie in the chain smokers club. The void numbing the room created a sense of eerie in the air. Suddenly, James' phone rang rhythmically breaking the silence.
"It's 203, make it soon." James cut the call, quickly.
James' enigmatic voice with a bit of anger clued, something was going to happen in this 203, to be precise, ROOM NO 203.
"TRING TRING" the bell rang, waking him up, as he was on the verge of a trance.
"Get..., it's open..." he had gotten drunk like hell.
"TRING TRING...........TRING" The bell rang for half a minute without a halt.
"Who the damn hell is that bastard?" James erupted with all of his wrath
"TRING TRING" The bell rang again, irritating James.
" Ah, For satan, I will kill you, whoever it is." with foulness flowing from his mouth, he busted open the door.
To his forgotten surprise, there was a present placed before him, with nothing else. 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, JAMES', was written in a note on it. With a blindfolded gut feeling, he took the present in his hands. Cold hands, a bit shaking, he did the inevitable.
"What the hell!" James burst out, at the peak of his voice. Awe bound, He found his head as if freshly chopped off from his body, with blood spillings, everywhere inside the box.
"Happy birthday Jamie" a woman with a charismatic smile, popped out from the side.
"Annie, what's this?"
"Some thrill and a surprise for my boring lover."
"Bu...But...ok...whatever."
"Mr. James got a little gift, which he opened in a swift, shouted aloud looking at it, and then Annie came to say he is pissed. How's the thrill? You scared little kid" Annie said in a sing-song manner.
"Yeah, yeah, you scared me, but it would have been the same with you if you were in my boots."
"I won't be, sweetheart."
"Fine."
"Why not let's get into the room and make your day special?"
"Of course."
James's curiosity made him examine the awkward present, while Annie smiled and addressed the room.
"Jesus Christ, what's the problem with you Jamie, can't you wait for fifteen minutes, for just fifteen fucking minutes." Annie evaporated her frustration with James by looking at the empty rum bottle in the chair.
"Look, Annie, it's not what you think and I am completely not fine, sorry and sorry, I am okay, and what about you?" James got backfired and stood guilty proven by himself.
"Well, are you fucking fine?" Annie said, raging at him.
"A, I am damn okay and B, don't use that F word again, otherwise, the chances get very high for your pregnancy."
