It was 10 pm. The cold of the winter spread to all the open corners.
The streets had gradually lost people as they had preferred to go home early into the warmth of their homes. But going home early is not a The luxury of all, some people have to work late. They are not to blame though; the world has become a place where it seems people are
spending almost their entire lives in workplaces.
The mist started to roll in. The white street lights made its presence
more visible. At the bend of the road, headlights of a car appeared,
it was a wine red hatchback. It drove with speed between 35-40 km/h
and came to a stop at the gates of an apartment building. The security
guard looked at the parking sticker on the bottom corner of the
windshield and opened the gates.
The car moved in and turned left and then it moved straight and turned
right and drove into the basement. The white ceiling lights of the
The curving passage that led to the basement shone on the bonnet,
windshield and roof of the car.
The car turned right at the end of the passage and after passing by
five cars turned right and came to a stop. The headlights of the
car turned off. The driver’s side door opened and Mr Burdak stepped
out of the car. He closed the driver’s side of the door and then
proceeded towards the back passenger’s side where he opened the door
and took out his bag, then he closed the door and pressed the lock
button on the car remote key. The indicator lights of the car blinked
once along with the mechanical sound of the doors locking.
Mr Burdak heard footsteps to the right and the pupils in his eyes
expanded along with an increase in pace of breathing.
The doorbell rang and Mrs Burdak walked out of the kitchen and opened
the door. It was Mr Burdak. His hair was dishevelled, breathing was
still rapid, drops of sweat hung on to his forehead while some decided
to fall off or go down; his black blazer and grey trousers had dirt on
them, the kind of dirt you get when you fall on the floor or rub against a
wall which hasn’t been dusted for a while.
Worry began to creep into Mrs Burdak’s mind, “What happened?”
Mr Burdak stepped in and trudged towards the nearest sofa and sat
down. Then he took a few deep breaths accompanied by drinking a glass
of water that Mrs Burdak got for him.
Mr Burdak’s children Avan and Jiya came out of their bedrooms to see
what was happening.
“Look at the time. It is too late to get out of bed right now. Go back
to sleep,” said Mr Burdak and the children quietly went back to their
room, not saying anything after looking at their father’s expression.
Mrs Burdak sat on an oppositely placed sofa.
Mr Burdak explained, “When I locked my car and started walking towards
the lift. I heard footsteps. I turned and saw a man who might be more
than 6 ft tall approaching me with an iron rod. He had covered his
face with a balaclava black ski mask.
I decided to run for the lift, but while running I saw the lift was on
the 8th floor so it would take its time to come down. So, I suddenly
changed direction to go for the emergency staircase and I slipped.
He was almost upon me, but before he could swing at me, I got up with
all my strength and threw my bag at him as hard as I could and then I
ran for the staircase and I didn’t stop till I reached home. I think
he stopped following once I was in the lobby. He might have been
scared of other people coming out.”
Mrs Burdak was horrified by what had happened, “We must tell the
security guard at once, that man might be still out there waiting to
hurt someone else or worse he might just try breaking in here.”
Mr Burdak called the security room and informed the security guard
about what had happened and the security guard assured they would
thoroughly check the area for this guy and also find Mr Burdak’s bag.
The Burdak’s sat awaiting an answer to what had happened and why.
The doorbell rang and both Mr and Mrs Burdak got up. Mrs Burdak saw
through the peephole and hurriedly opened the door. It was a policeman
holding Mr Burdak’s office bag. Mr Burdak looked at the clock, it was
1:10 am.
“Did you find him?” asked Mrs Burdak.
The policeman looked at Mr Burdak and then at Mrs Burdak and replied,
“Yes, we found him, dead, at the bottom of the stairs leading to the
second floor. As you must know there are no cameras in the emergency
staircase, there are cameras only at their doorways from outside,
hence we do not know what happened.”
The policeman came in and talked to Mr Burdak and Mr Burdak told him
what had happened.
“Have you identified him?” asked Mr Burdak.
“His name is Ramesh Agarwal. He was a delivery man for a restaurant.
It will take a while to determine what his intentions were exactly or
what he had done in the past,” replied the policeman.
“.. and how do you think he died?”
“Must have fallen off the stairs, happens to many people who rush up
or down the stairs. I will leave for now but I will contact you if
required.”
“Sure”
The policeman left and the Burdaks went to sleep.
Mr Burdak took an off day the next day. His younger brother Tanvik
came to visit and once again Mr Burdak explained how everything
happened.
The brothers went to see the place where they found the body. Some
people were already present there down the stairs.
“Was the guy heavy built?”, asked Tanvik looking down the stairs where
the delivery guy had fallen and died due to a broken neck.
“He was muscular. But not very heavily muscled. Why?” asked Mr Burdak
“Then you are clearly very lucky, a muscular guy more than 6 ft
chasing you. Let’s just say I don’t know many people who can get out
of the situation unharmed or at all.”
Tanvik climbed down the stairs and talked to other people. Mr Burdak
stood and recalled the moment, the moment he was chased by the
delivery guy, the moment he himself started running, the moment he
fell down while going for the emergency exit doors, the moment he
threw the bag at the delivery guy, the moment he rushed through the
emergency exit door and up the stairs with the delivery guy running
behind him, the moment Mr Burdak suddenly stopped, dashed back and
pushed the delivery guy down the stairs.
Broken Night
Early Morning Memories 
One response to “Broken Night”
If you tell us the court case of this it could be another twisty ending.
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