Astrology

I never believed in prophecies until this day when…

“I hate this astrologer Guruji. Nisha’s parents broke our marriage cos’ this guy told ‘em that we weren’t compatible. And Nisha’s not bothered about me. Astrology my foot,” my voice echoed the anger deep within my heart.

“Neither do I believe in him. But I had to come here after my parents pressurized me to get our horoscope compatibility checked by him. If something goes wrong, I can still manipulate him, though,” Aman said. His love, Athiva too accompanied us.

“The same drama company dude. Vermillion and turmeric powder smeared on the walls...”

“Shhhh... you supposed to be quiet inside,” a man, seemingly a disciple of the Guruji, said as he approached us. And he led us into a room from where smoke was emanating. I was about to make a call to the fire station when I realized that this entire setup was from some incense sticks.

Guruji sat infront of an idol, with some chakra drawn infront of him. As we slowly approached him, he opened his eyes and stared at me.

“Guruji,” his disciple disturbed him, when his piercing gaze shifted and he was handed over the horoscopes. I wondered how people still believed in horoscopes and matching even in 21st century.

There was silence for a few minutes. Stark silence. The Guru closed his eyes, enchanted some spells, before he suddenly opened his eyes. “All of you are gonna die soon. Just go away from me. The evil spirits are already getting closer. Three of you, all on the same night. First you, you and then you,” his voice trembled as he said this pointing his hand to Athiva, me and Aman respectively.

“What shit?” I said. “And you,” he pointed towards me, “I will tell you why your marriage with Nisha was broken. Your life will end very soon. And the guy who marries Nisha will live for atleast 80 years. Your horoscope was never destined to match with Nisha’s”

A kinda fear started brewing inside me and I started sweating all over.

“The messenger of evil, a dark feline will enter your home, the day the bright constellations are invisible and when heavens start pouring down,” he warned and then stood up and walked away. I haven’t understood a single word but, “What if, your sooth saying goes wrong, sir?” I shouted. He turned back with those bloody red eyes. “I won’t be prophesying anymore,” he retorted.

Aman and Athiva pulled me away from this place.

Our house was only a few blocks away from this place. So we started to walk home. What if his prophesy was really true?

“Guys, I don’t believe in this prophesy. Nothing’s gonna happen. I guess we aren’t characters out of a Stephen King’s novel, right?”

Aman and Athiva nodded. And we reached our home. The whole problem was how to convince their parents for marriage. “We’ll think of other ways,” I convinced them.

A few days passed without this black feline thing or whatever happening, the soothsayer foresaw. And we completely forgot the same. I stayed two blocks away from Aman’s home while Athiva stayed with him.

One evening, I got a call from Aman. “Athiva’s dead,” and he started to cry.

“What?” I shouted.

“I reached the home a few minutes back when I saw a black cat run across my feet. Sensing danger, I walked into the home and..” and he started to sob. “I am coming, just hold on,” I said as I ran towards his home.

I looked at the sky. It was totally clouded. And it was slightly drizzling too. Then, I understood the prophecy. A black feline stood for a black cat, invisible constellations for heavy clouding and heavens pouring for rain. “Damn, today’s the day,” I thought as a chill ran down my spine. And the very thought that, the astrologer pointed his hand to me after Athiva, indicating I was next, frightened me even more.

I reached Aman’s home. The door was partly open. I called out his name, but none responded. I slowly walked into the house. All the things were strewn around. Apparently, there was a lot of struggle. And there she lay, Athiva, in a pool of blood. With scratches all over face and her abdomen ripped apart as if she was mauled over by a wild animal.

I was god damn freaked to see her in such a situation but was even more freaked out when I felt some strange shadow walk past me from behind. I turned behind and I saw a black cat looking at me with those golden yellow eyes, marked with the black contracted pupils at the centre. A low purring started to get louder when I saw its canines dripping blood.

And I ran out of home, closing the door behind me. I dint know where to run. I just kept on running holding onto my dear life, when I tripped over something hard and fell down. It was a man, who was lying on the road. He was bleeding profusely.

“Aman,” I shouted. “What happened Aman?” I was crying.

“b….bl….c….. caa….t….” was all he said before passing out. I fell on his body and wept for a while. Before I was reminded of something.

The astrologer said, first Athiva, then me and then Aman. I am still alive. So, why did Aman die? Something wrong with his soothsaying? And I knew where I was supposed to go.

I rushed to the astrologer’s place. Everything seemed different. No commotion. No hustle bustle. I walked into the astrologer’s room when I saw something that frightened me to the core. For the first time ever in my life, I started to believe in astrology and prophecy.

The astrologer lay down amidst the plates of vermillion and turmeric powder and his tongue was cut and was lying close to him. ‘I won’t be prophesying anymore,’ his words still rang in my ears.

I knew, I had no work there and I started to walk back, with so many thoughts flooding my mind. It was still drizzling and the clouds loomed the entire sky. Athiva’s dead and so was Aman. First it was Athiva, and then somehow, I managed to escape. So the prophesy’s gone wrong and hence the astrologer couldn’t prophesize any more. And then it was Aman. This is vicious.

Let me get back to Aman and Athiva, as I started to walk along the street. Let me inform the police, first. And I reached for the cellular in my pocket. There was a missed call from Aman. I dialed the voice mail.

‘Hey, the prophesy is gonna be true. The only way we can prevent ourselves from being killed is to stop the astrologer from foretelling the future again. And this can be done…’

So, it was Aman who slashed the astrologer’s tongue. But he still got killed. My head was reeling and I was confused. Should I be happy that I am still alive and that the prophecy has gone wrong in my case or should I lament over the loss of my two dearest friends?

And my cellular started to ring all of a sudden. A call from some unknown number.

“Son, I just wanted to warn you. Today is the particular day, I’ve spoken about. I tried to call Aman and Athiva. They were unreachable over the mobile. So I am calling you,” a recognizable voice from the other end spoke.

“But, how could you sp… speak? I was dumbstruck to hear Guruji speak. “I mean I came to your place and I saw you lying in a pool of blood,” I told him.

“Some murderer came over to my place and they slashed my disciple’s tongue, before he fled the place,” was his answer.

That could be true. I saw a man lying in a pool of blood and in that utter chaos and tension and also in the dark, I dint bother to look at his face or his body. All I saw was a man, lying still, in a pool of blood.

“But you pointed out to Athiva, me and Aman, stating that we would die in a sequence,” I asked him.

“When did I tell that you are gonna die in this sequence,” he said.

When I realized where I am gonna be in my future! Hell!

There was a heavy gust of wind and the trees started to shake violently. Occasionally a loud thunder would deafen my ears.

I rushed to my home. The windows banged against the sills due to this wind. I rushed to the windows to close them when I heard a purring sound from behind. I turned back and I could see the black cat.

It slowly moved towards me. My hands shivered as I bent down and took the cat into my arms, running my fingers through its fur.

“Had a nice meal, my baby?” I kissed it and looked at the mirror. I was standing infront of the mirror with the cat in my hands. My eyes looked blank with two dark black lines cutting across the whites and my canines were still dripping blood and the claws slowly retracted.