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Tuesday, February 11, 2014

An Uncertain Ending

Posted by at 2:21 AM On to the Previous Post
This post is featured in BlogAdda's Spicy Saturday Picks (Feb-15, 2014). Check out the entire list of selections here.



The closer he looked into the mirror, the more he realized that he was getting weaker by every passing second. The world seemed to come crashing around him,  with the saddest of the songs playing live for his passing. He knew that he didn't have much time, yet something in his mind still said that he could still touch a million lives, put a dent in the cliched dreams of the people of the world, and do something that would make him immensely popular, even after his death.

He suddenly had an idea.  He found a pen and a notebook and started drafting words on the pages.  He kept going,  on and on, for the next few weeks-between the routine visits to the doctor and back home, between the chemotherapy sessions and sleeping for small durations - whenever he found time, he would just scribble. He had picked a particularly massive notebook,  and he was using new refills for his pen everyday. He went on writing, and one day, he realized he was done writing an 800-page long book. Satisfied, he started mailing excerpts from his book to the reputed publishing houses of the country. He got promising responses from them, and soon enough, he agreed to sign an agreement for his book with one of the reputed publishers.
When he went to sign the agreement, he had put forth only one condition- they would receive  the last chapter and the title of the book only after his death. The publisher initially refused to comply,  but seeing the plot he wrote being so incredible that it had the potential to become a national bestseller, they reluctantly agreed.
He died two weeks later.  The publishing house received a mail from his mailing id, apparently sent by his friends as he had arranged.  They opened the document.
The first page was titled- 'The final chapter'
The text that followed was as under: "...and thus, the terminally ill Marcus locked himself in his room,  and hang himself from the ceiling fan to death. The end. "
They were flabbergasted as they were not expecting such a shocking ending. Moreover, the demise of the protagonist of the novel, left the story on a cliffhanger. Such was the intensity of the text that when they reconnected the dots from the beginning of the novel to the end, they realized that they had read a masterpiece which will get a cult following in the country for many decades to come. They gasped and sighed for the passing of the author,  for they knew that he would not be there to see the success of his creation , and also,  when the readers of the book will cry their lungs out demanding a sequel (because the plot was a cliffhanger) , they would simply be at loss of not getting to read any further installments of the story.
The next page contained the title of the book. Goosebumps ran through their bodies as they read it. 
"The Planned Suicide" 
 
They had heard from his friends that he had committed suicide the day he died. It did not take the publishers much time to realize why he had intentionally and notoriously left the plot of his novel unfinished.

16 comments:

  1. level up man, very well explained.

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  2. Now I wanna read that book....
    damn!

    too good soumya

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    Replies
    1. I was looking for exactly this reaction. :) Thanks!

      Delete
  3. grips you till the last word ... !!! awesome ...

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  4. grips you till the last word !!! ... errr.... was the book published ... !!!

    ReplyDelete

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