Monday, November 20, 2006

Close Encounters of a Shady Kind! [Part I]

He was breathing hard. His heart beat was easily doing 150 beats a minute. Sweat was pouring down the edges of his eyebrows and trickling down his cheek and drowning in the collar of his shirt. Inspite of the heavy exertion, there was nothing but absolute concentration on his eyes as he stared rigidly ahead like a horse on blinkers would.

Hold on... you have almost got it... he urged himself on silently, but he never let his guard down even the slightest. This was his judgement day. He crouched down silently in a dark corner waiting for his prey. Now, he was ready for him.

Suddenly, there was a bluish streak of light and before he could react, he was blown to pieces of muscle and the blood spattered all over the floor. Silent Warrior wins! He flung the keyboard across the room in fury and pulled at his hair wildly in a gesture that showed despair and a hint of something that was difficult to comprehend. His mouth opened wide in a 'No', but no sound escaped his mouth. It had died out in his throat. He had been fragged by Silent Warrior again. that too when both were 19 frags each and he was one frag away from claiming victory himself.

After a while, he steeled himself. A cold emotionless look returned to his face that was almost death itself. he picked up his keyboard, placed it front of him, and uttered a single 'Yeaaaaaaaaaah'; that was his characteristic warcry; it was not a show that he was putting on for anyone who might be watching him play at the moment, but more to re-energize himself before another gruelling session.

Three hours ,a pool of sweat on the floor, five discarded coffee cups and two broken keyboards later, Silent Warrior was still standing triumphant and undaunted. He gave up for the night resignedly. Every dog has his day, was the last cliche that sprang to his tired mind as he collapsed on his bed and went into a deep but troubled sleep.

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