Catherine Part 3

Posted by Soumya Mukherjee at 9:20 PM

They shut down the rear side gates of our school grounds yesterday. Apparently, there was some kind of an unnatural sighting in the evening after we left school. 

Some conspiracy theorists online are saying there has been some kind of unidentified sightings. Some trees have been felled. Some vehicles are missing. 

There was a power surge last night but I didn't notice it.

They are also saying that Catherine has disappeared.

---

"I live through you."

"You cannot."

"I do."

"It's a grand facade."

"It's all been the same, always."

"It's always been a grand facade for the past few decades."

"Why?"

"I wish I knew. We have been following instructions and nothing else. We had to create habitat replicas. Replicas that would be bubbles actually. These habitats would help us to live." 

"Why are you telling me this, Catherine?"

"Because you have seen through our bubble, Sam. You saw through Suraj. Through me. I think you are someone we never thought could exist."

"There's a conflict in my head since I was born. A haze. But I have learned to live with it. What do you mean I am someone you never thought could exist?"

"I think you are one of us, but not quite."

"You mean.."

"I mean.. impossibly, your ancestry lies with us."

"What? And, Impossibly..?"

"Something had happened, where we come from. We cannot procreate. We cannot co-exist with a different kind. And yet.."

"My head hurts again."

"I'll come to you tomorrow. I'll go now. You be well, Sam."

"Catherine, I have so many questions.."

---

<to be continued>

Catherine Part 2

Posted by Soumya Mukherjee at 8:57 PM

Something stops me from writing much today. 

I couldn't observe Catherine, my fascination almost seemed to be that of a stalker's. 

I couldn't think much today. My class participation was not so great.

What is happening to me?

Words aren't failing me but I am not finding the courage to write. I wanted to tell the world about some of the strange occurrences of the recent past.

I will try again tomorrow.

Catherine. We need to start the deployment. We are being watched.

Some thoughts are beginning to reveal a little. Catherine does well in the Geography classes. She is fond of minerals and rocks. E-309--

Hold on, I am unable to think again.

Catherine! The boy knows too much. We cannot hold him back for longer.

E-309--

30--

Catherine! We are losing him.

What is happening to me?

!

<to be continued>

Catherine Part 1

Posted by Soumya Mukherjee at 12:03 PM

I see her. Well, not in the way you'd imagine. But I see her. I say this while telling you that I see her what she does. An identity that she hides.

I mix words. My sentences are short, but my thoughts are messy and long. Once I saw Catherine bring a fruit salad to campus - lots of it - in her lunch box. She ate it very quickly, in a matter of seconds. She sits alone, she is charming but she still does that, and manages to hide from everyone else. She is strong. I have seen her move a car once it was a bit dreamy, to be honest.

There used to be a boy we liked. Catherine used to love her I think. 

But that boy stopped coming to school a few weeks after Catherine arrived. We used to say 'Suraj just disappeared!' and it did feel like it.

Suraj and Catherine were never seen together, though. Suraj was a friendly guy and was an excellent runner. He'd run with the wind, no sweat wasted. And he never tired out. 

I mix observations too sometimes, my bad.

 But I remember this one cloudy day when we were practising a 100m sprint in school. The track was not good. It was slippery to be very honest. One was sure to fall if they ran at their usual best speed. 

Four boys tried a run. Everyone else fell but Suraj did not. 

One thing really caught my eye: Suraj ran faster that day and it was a little cinematic to watch him do that.

My mind confuses slightly this time, but it felt as if he was trying to keep slow and he was failing. It was as if he was trying to avoid being seen to run this way.

Why would he feel that? 

It's fine right if others watch the star athletes do well in school?

Suraj disappeared the next day. It's been a year since then. And now Catherine, it seems to me that she is trying to avoid being seen too.

I read fiction a lot. I have grown up with the whims of Stephen King's characters. I am just experiencing something similar whenever I come to school. And I never skip my school days you see.

Catherine, why are you such a private person? Is someone watching you?

Is someone watching, us?

<to be continued>