It was the 5th of January. I had just paid the bill for my food in my favorite Chinese restaurant down the road from my office. The waitress gave me a fortune cookie like every time. Perks of being a regular customer, they give you the stuff you always have without even asking. For some reason she didn't seem as jolly as she does every time I see her. She didn't even answer when I asked her if she was alright or not, just gave me a little fake smile. It was odd, but I thought maybe she was having a bad day and let it off. I opened the fortune cookie just like I had previously for a million times. I am not really into fortunes, horoscopes, zodiacs, etc, I think they are just gimmicks but reading them and laughing out on the stupidest thing just makes my day a little better. After reading the note inside it, I was a little bit confused. The note read "Your life is in danger. Say nothing to anyone. You must leave the city immediately and never return. Repeat: say nothing."
I then thought it might be them sending creepy notes in between a lot of good notes to sell their cookies. Though it was kind of negative but I still think it is a nice tactic and doing something a little different than the crowd. I asked the waitress to get me another fortune cookie and gave her the money. I cracked open the second cookie and this time the note said "You will become Rs. 10,000 richer today." This gave me instant joy. "This is the kind of message they need to give out if they want to sell their cookies" I said to myself, "This is a kid's item and no kid will buy it if they are bad predictions. If you can't predict the actual future, at least fake a good one."
I checked the time and realized that I was already 10 minutes late to go back to the office. I took my bag and exited the restaurant. While I was heading out, I could feel some people glancing at me and nodding to each other. I shoved it off thinking this was just nothing but my mind acting skeptical and not in senses, whatever it was making me a little bit anxious. I was still thinking about the odd things that happened today when a notification rang on my phone. It was my bank. My salary had been credited. Along with the salary, they had credited the appraisal too. I was happy until I checked the amount. A chill ran down my spine as I checked the amount in the message. My appraisal was Rs. 10,000. For a second I couldn't even move. My phone felt slippery with the sweat.
I came back to reality only when someone bumped into me. I looked at him and the guy was unbothered about bumping into me. He should have been, my phone almost fell because of him. He didn't even look back after bumping. He was wearing a black leather jacket, jeans and leather boots. He looked like the guy people told you not to mess with. He stopped walking, turned his head around slightly, and nodded at me as if he was asking me to follow him. He then continued walking his composed confident walk. I put my phone in the pocket and started walking just behind him. I wipe my hand roughly on my jeans. This guy surely spent a healthy amount of his time working out. Even with the jacket and jeans, I felt as if I could see the muscles underneath. As we kept walking, I came close to my office, I turned toward my office doing a little run to reach quickly. I had not even taken two steps when he coughed a little. Looking at his face, I could tell he didn't appreciate my decision to go back to the office. I turned back and went towards him when he motioned me to move ahead of him. Now he was following me. I could feel his cold stare on my body.
"Did I piss him off?" I thought. As the crowd became a little less, he came closer to me and said "Where is the chit?" His voice was deep and heavy. There was a certain coarseness in his voice which made me feel like he really was a big gun. I was sweating. I was sweating during the coldest days of winters while doing nothing! I asked "Wha.. What chit? I don't have any chit." My mouth was dry and speaking on its own. I had no control over it. I rubbed my fingers against my palm. They were slippery. My hand was wet. "I am sweating too much." I tell myself. While I was doing all this Mr. Strong was just looking at me. Observing and taking mental notes. Only after I had kept my handkerchief back in my pocket he spoke again, "I am not sure you understand the gravity of the situation. I am trying to help you. Cooperate with me, will you?" I was standing there and looking at him. He was a man in his mid 40. He had this invisible thing around which screamed confidence. He didn't flinch once. "Sir I don't have any chit. I have no idea what you are asking about." "Why did you follow me then when I asked you to?" The moment from which I opened that damned fortune cookie flashed in front of my eyes. "Are you talking about the fortune cookie?" He didn't reply to my question, he just grinned. Now we both knew what he meant. He put his hand on my shoulder and said "I need that chit to help you." "But how do I trust you I don't even know you." I said, trying my best not to let him know. Though my shaking legs would have given it away. Before I could say anything more a black coloured SUV stopped next to us. The gate opened. Mr. Strong said "get in." Before I could refuse or think for myself clearly. I feel a stick pressed to my left abdomen. I look at it. It was a gun. He was holding a gun right on my stomach and was standing like nothing was there. I closed my eyes and raised my hands. He cocked the gun and said "Don't make me say it again."