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I actually tried writing an FF before but never got a response, however I realized I didn't really like my own concept. I know many of you don't know me, so this is a nerve wracking experience, because I don't expect to garner a mass amount of readers. But whatever little readers I get, I will appreciate :). And try my best to please you. I am not good at writing character sketches, so I will just begin...do leave your suggestions etc. It is a bit of a thriller/crime drama as well. This is a small beginning excerpt.
To Live Another Day
Part 1
A hand slammed loudly against the desk in the dimly lit room. Arnav looked up, recognizing the face stepping out from the shadows. He knew this face all too well, it was a face that brought him the onset of trouble, while still brining him the wishful thinking that his life would come to have meaning some day.
"Max," Arnav whispered under his breath "it's such a sad thing that we always have to meet under such conditions," a sarcastic grin spread across Arnav's face.
"You were never good at introductions were you Arnav?" Max replied in his monotonous voice.
"Arnav? I don't know who that is...not like I exist," Arnav muttered, mostly to himself but in ear shot of Max.
"Nobody exists Arnav, not me, not you, so stop trying to bring some kind of miserable meaning to your life, you knew from day one that people like us have no other life," Max said, in the same unemotional, monotonous tone.
Arnav didn't usually mind Max's voice, but today he could hear the cold, unemotional soul beneath the words. What had Max become? Were they the same two young men who had entered the program together? Was his voice now as devoid of emotion as Max's voice? Was he slowly becoming devoid of emotion? But of course he wasn't, he was still conflicted, still confused, he still had desires and hope...he hadn't become a robot, not yet anyways.
"Arnav?! Did you hear me?!" Max yelled, but with no hint of anger.
"What?" Arnav said, snapping back from his thoughts to the cold and dark room.
"Khushi Kumari Gupta," Max repeated slowly.
"Is this the name of the new project?" Arnav asked, confused.
"Yes, it is. Open the file," Max said pointing to the file he had slammed on to the desk before.
Arnav slowly dragged the file towards himself, the least bit interested to start a new project. He opened it slowly to find a picture of a girl, black and white, walking through a rain storm, attempting to wrap her coat around her from the raging wind. "What am I to do Max?" Arnav asked, as if he was a machine ready to take on a command.
"Your next mission is to pretend to be her husband-" Max began but was sharply cut off by Arnav.
"What?!" Arnav said, getting up out of his chair "this was never a part of the job description."
"The job never had a description Arnav, and stop getting so excited and sit down, your acting like you haven't seen a woman in years," Max said, a hint of humour in his voice.
"Max," Arnav said, trying to suppress his anger at Max taking a jab at him "I've never been on such a...a...mission" Arnav tried to hide how idiotic he thought the task that was being given to him was. Mission would have been the last thing he called this.
"Arnav, this girl was the reporter we had spoken about earlier, she's our key to busting one of the biggest drug cartels in the country and unmasking the faces behind them," Max said.
"Then what is the point of me acting like her husband, what, am I just going to walk in and convince her that I am her husband?" Arnav said, his anger starting to rise.
"No, we're not idiots Arnav, and I think you know that. She was hospitalized after the incident, we spoke to the doctors and her memory of the past year of has totally been erased. Retrograde amnesia. That's where you come in, your going to help her get her memory of that incident back and report everything back to us" Max replied.
"Why can't we just tell her what happened and put her in to protective custody? How can I help if I'm not really her husband? I can't invoke any sort of past emotion or memory," Arnav tried reasoning with Max.
"That's why you will be working with a team of neurologists, psychiatrists...we don't give a damn if her memory ever comes back, we just want her to remember that one incident before her accident. And since she doesn't have total memory loss we can't put her in to protective custody, she wouldn't cooperate" Max replied cooly, oblivious to Arnav's rising anger.
Arnav cooled down before speaking, "and why is that?" he mumbled.
"Because when she was young, her father had seen a crime and was killed while under protective custody, she's always had a mistrust for authority figures since...and the whole crime fighting force in general."
Arnav sighed, "and look what a predicament she's in now, heading towards those she loathed," Arnav sighed once more, beginning to feel pity on what was supposed to be his mission.
"We just need the memory Arnav," Max said. "Anyways, I will meet you again tonight, introduce you to the team you will be working with, we need you to get on this right away. Your not only going to act like her husband, but your also going to protect her like one. We hid her away in a very remote hospital, where nobody will be able to guess where she is...but they will find out, and come after her."
"Got it," Arnav whispered. With that Max began to walk away, "Max!" Arnav yelled to Max's back, before he was about to step out of the room. "Why did you choose me for this?" he asked, letting his curiosity get the best of him.
A smirk crept up on Max's face, but not a sarcastic smirk, a smirk mixed with emotions of apathy and some kind of emotion conflicting it. "Because Arnav, your the only one who still cares," he replied. And with that Max left the room, leaving Arnav baffled.
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