Vineet felt light headed and slumped onto his sofa. He remembered that night like it was yesterday. But he had hoped and prayed that it wouldn't come to haunt him. They say your karma comes to find you eventually and his seemed to have balled up to knock him in the gut. He didn't know what to do now. He was scared and rightly so. That night had been his fault.
1st January 2011, 12.10 am
He staggered out of Spiral, and sat down on the pavement lining the empty road. Two of his friends came out with him, concerned whether he'd had one too many to drink.
'Yeah you should sit outside for a while. Enough drinking and dancing for you today.'
'No I'll be alright, just give me five minutes! I'm not done yet. Its..its New Year's man. You d-don't go home early! I need fresh air that's all.' he replied.
'No you don't. You can come back in but no more drinking. You've to drive back home man. How are you going to do that if you drink more? Party's going to get over soon, remember the deadline? You've to drive home then.' the second friend advised.
'No! You don't tell me what to do!' he got up to strike his friends, not thinking sensibly under the influence of the alcohol inside him. He staggered and missed, and they pushed him away roughly. But when they bent up to pick him up, he pushed them away and slowly got up. He made a rude gesture at both of them and walked towards his car. He had no mood to be around them anymore. They both tried to stop him but he pushed them aside, got inside and locked his doors. He started his car and drove away before they could do anything more. He tried his best to keep a steady eye on the road despite his moving field of vision. His mind went back to his altercation with his friends and suddenly he felt bad he'd made that gesture at them. He wondered if he should go back and..
Two lights shined into his eyes out of nowhere, and he was blinded for a second. He swerved to avoid the oncoming car, and twisted the steering wheel violently. He avoided the car, but was moving uncontrollably towards the pavement. Frozen, there was nothing he could do. There was a little girl of ten on the pavement, walking, with her father about a hundred paces behind her. Before he knew it, he rammed into her, the impact causing only a dull thud on the bonnet that reached his ears, but flinging the girl many feet, sending crashing into the wall of a nearby building. He heard an ominous crack as that happened, and she fell down, lifeless. Her father roared in anger and came racing towards her. But by then, he had reversed and sped away. But as he passed the father, who was running in the dark towards her, he saw the man's pair of eyes looking directly, feet not pausing, but the eyes registering how he looked. He couldn't look at the face in the dark. But there was an anger and pain in those eyes he had noticed that made his blood turn to water. He wanted to get out of there.
He got back to his penthouse, and went back and cleaned his car's front, making sure there was no blood anywhere. He then unscrewed the registration plates of his car, replacing them with a pair of old ones from his previous car that he hadn't discarded yet. That done, he want back up to his flat. But there was no sleep for him that night. He cried and sobbed through the hours. He withdrew into a shell over the next few weeks and wouldn't answer anyone's concerned queries at work. But as they say, time heals all, and with the growing months, he regained some of his normalcy. But he had given up alcohol, partying, and all of that. He lived a straight life with his work being his worship. As a result, he had grown even richer, but still that gave him no joy. He seemed to be walking solemnly through life. He hoped someday he would have rid himself of the debt to owed in lieu of his crime.
But then, there was someone who wouldn't settle just for a reformed version of him. Someone wanted him dead.
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