Two Tales of Betrayal

  • 21 May - 27 May, 2022
  • Salaar Laghari
  • Fiction

Isaac and Ronald join the Show

That night Isaac and Ronald have dinner at Isaac’s home. Ronald keeps on wondering about something.

Isaac asks him,

‘What’s going on in your mind?’

‘I’ve been thinking that how come Megan got a license and permission to run such sort of show.’

‘Come on, you know there are many other dangerous shows in world as well.’

‘No, I don’t mean that Isaac’ Ronald says, ‘I meant how come such a show which is promoting suicide, is not banned or considered illegal.’

‘Well, you are unaware of the fact Ron, this show is actually run by some political people. Megan is just a host, the real owners of this show are some political people who support this illegal sort of show and sort of finance it.’

‘Oh, like involvement in an organised crime,’ Ronald replies, ‘but I’m only concerned with being part of it.’

‘Yeah me too, we’ll both join this show and then either we’ll get our desires or we’ll die.’

They keep on talking about this show and finish their supper.

Next Thursday, J.L. takes both of them to Megan’s show and they both finally become part of their show. Megan talks to them,

‘Congratulations guys! You are part of my show now. And as we all know that on every Thursday, three challenges are announced by the contestants. So I want any one of you to become A and give a challenge to another who will be our B.’

‘I have a challenge,’ Isaac says. ‘I want to become A.’

‘Good and who is going to be your B.’

‘I will be,’ Ronald replies.

‘Okay, see you guys in ten minutes, you will go with J.L.’

Ten minutes later at Megan’s Theatre, Megan was standing on stage with a collar mike on, and the audience seated was watching her. The camera men were focusing on Ronald and Isaac who were coming towards Megan. Megan declares,

‘Now, we have Mr Isaac with us who will be our A and Mr Ronald who shall be B. So Mr Isaac will challenge Ronald.’

‘Good morning gentlemen,’ Isaac says taking mike from J.L., ‘my challenge to Mr B is that I’m going to give him a glass of drink with poison added, and he’ll have to escape death after drinking it all.’

‘I’ve seen it too many times,’ Megan whispers to herself.

‘I accept!’ Ronald claims taking the mike.

The audience gives them a great applause.

Ronald’s Escape

That night, Ronald was roaming around in his home wondering how to escape death after drinking poison. He searches many ways on internet but is not satisfied at all. His wife Emily wasn’t talking to him since a month. He still loved her; therefore he goes to kitchen to talk to her,

‘So Emily, what’s for supper?’ he asks her.

‘Would you excuse me for a moment?’ she replies making a phone call.

He leaves kitchen feeling a little disappointed with her behaviour.

Next morning, Ronald receives a call from Megan, he answers her call:

‘Hello?’

‘Good morning Ronald, did you plan any escape trick?’

‘Well, I was awake all night figuring it out.’

‘So, did you make any?’

‘Yes, but maybe it’s not too impressive,’ he replies.

‘Doesn’t matter, it’s not compulsory to reveal the trick to audience.’

‘Really? Are you sure?’

‘Yes it’s my show, and I make the rules. But you have to tell me the trick.’

‘…Well, Ma’am Smith’ he says after thinking for a while,

‘as you say that fraud tricks are allowed, likewise I’ll be doing the fraud trick.’

‘Okay…what is it?’

Ronald explains Megan his escape plan and she approves it.

An hour later, Ronald was sitting at a restaurant waiting for Isaac to come. He sees Isaac coming towards him. Isaac sits next to him on a chair and says:

‘So Ronald, what’s up?’

‘I’m good just wanted to talk to you…’

‘No, just tell me why did you call me here?’

‘Well Isaac, I asked you to bring that poison with yourself.’

‘I have it,’ Isaac says taking out a bottle of poison and showing it to him, ‘you can have a look’

Ronald takes it from him and says:

‘Tell me something Isaac, according to you, are we both friends?’

‘Well, don’t mind Ron, but according to me we are just partners.’

Ronald keeps on talking to him, but secretly opens the bottle of poison and sees the poison in powder form. He empties the bottle by throwing powder away and cleaning it with a cloth. Then he adds another harmless powder in it making it free of poison.

Isaac was still talking to him but as he remembers that Ronald didn’t return him the poison bottle, he stops talking and says:

‘Ron, can I have my bottle back?’

‘Oh sure,’ Ronald says pretending as if he forgot.

He gives back the bottle to Isaac. Isaac takes it and shakes hands with him and leaves. As Ronald sees him walking away, he smiles giving a cunning look,

‘The fraud trick, the bottle you’re holding right now is free of poison and now I’ll escape death looking in your eyes.’

Next day, on Saturday evening, Isaac and Ronald were standing outside the same restaurant with Megan and her team. The Suicide Game Show’s entire crew was watching them. Megan was making speech in front of camera men focusing Isaac and Ronald. She was saying:

‘Now, today at the spot chosen by Mr A and Mr B, our contestant Mr Ronald is going to drink poison in front of every one and manage to survive. If he survives then he gets his desire of sky diving…and if he dies, then A which means Mr Isaac will be hanged to death according to our terms and conditions.’

Isaac takes out the poison bottle and adds all the powder in a glass of soft drink. Ronald takes it and says in a taunt:

‘Am I playing to die or to survive?’

However, he drinks the entire glass in one sip and gives the glass back to Isaac.

‘As you told me’ he says to Isaac, ‘this poison is quiet effective, that’s why it must bring death to me after fifteen minutes at least.’

Megan comes closer to them and takes the glass from Isaac. She declares in front of her crew:

‘You just saw what happened, A added the poison in front of us and B drank it…Now if we see Mr Ronald alive after half an hour, it means he has managed to escape death.’

At the same place, another challenge’s escape takes place and within forty five minutes, Ronald returns back in front of Megan. Megan knew the trick but her crew didn’t. That’s why she claims excitedly in front of them:

‘Congratulations! Our friend Mr Ronald also escaped death. He’s alive after an hour.’

Isaac smiles looking at them, as if he wasn’t surprised after seeing Ronald alive. Megan exclaims:

‘Now as promised by our team, my team is going to give him his desire of sky diving.’

Ronald Challenges Isaac

Now, Isaac was having a drink inside the restaurant. He sees Ronald coming towards him. Ronald says sitting next to him:

‘So, how did it seem? Impressive or obvious?’

‘None, but can I ask you that when they were asking the trick, you refused to tell them. Why?’

‘Well, I’m not going to hide it from you,’ Ronald lies. ‘I just vomited the poison as I left.’

‘Look, you didn’t fool me,

but I did…’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I knew that you had emptied the bottle when we were talking here last night. And you added some other powder. But the breaking news for you is that the bottle never had poison in it. It was free of poison from the first place.’

Ronald gets surprised hearing this and straight away asks:

‘Any specific reason, why you didn’t let me die?’

‘Well, I didn’t want to do harm.’

‘Oh, come on, we both know you did it because you wanted a partner like me in this show in our next contest.’

‘Well, you’re quiet smart to guess that’, Isaac says, ‘but remember that I never wanted a friend.’

‘Don’t forget, you can make me a fool, but I can scare you.’

Ronald leaves saying this.

Next day, Ronald goes on a sky diving tour. He sits on an air plane and then jumps out along with his parachute. He enjoys his desire but was more excited about the challenge that he was going to give Isaac this Thursday. He feels bad about his wife that she wasn’t allowed to be with him. But he knew even if he would have asked her to come along with him, she would have refused.

As Thursday comes, Ronald and Isaac go back to Megan’s Theatre as it was Ronald’s turn to give Isaac a fatal challenge. On stage they both are standing holding mikes. Ronald exclaims:

‘Ladies and Gentlemen, I have decided the challenge…as we all know that I’m A this time, so I’ll bring my car on Saturday with the time bomb kept inside it. The car will be locked from outside. And our B which means Mr. Isaac has to escape the death of bomb blast.’

‘Oh, my God,’ Megan whispers to herself.

Isaac feels quite stressed hearing him. Megan comes forward and says to Ronald:

‘Wait Ronald, are you sure about this? Because a year ago, the same challenge was given and accepted. After which B died and A was hanged to death. I advise you to take back this challenge.’

‘My decision is final,’ Ronald replies. ‘Tell Isaac not to accept this challenge if he is uncomfortable.’

‘I accept!’ Isaac bravely says in front of everyone looking at Ronald.

‘Well, this Saturday we are all about to witness something exciting,’ Megan says looking at the audience who was cheering at Isaac.

Isaac leaves the stage, and after a while other contestants come and declare their challenges.

The Fatal Challenge

Next day on Friday, a bomb diffuser from Army team comes to visit Isaac at his home as Isaac had asked him to.

Isaac, who lived alone in his house, serves his guest very nicely, but then he comes straight to the point,

‘Now, let me tell you why I called you,’ Isaac says. ‘I want you to tell me how to diffuse a bomb when it is about to explode.’

‘How can I tell you that?’ he replies feeling a bit weird. ‘I mean first a bomb is examined, I can’t diffuse a bomb unless it’s right in front of me.’

‘…Okay then, let me tell you something. But please don’t give me any extra advises, just give a solution the way I want it. I just have to diffuse a time bomb that will explode in a car in which I’ll be locked. Tell me how can I do it?’

‘Are you a daring stunt man?’

‘Please no questions,’ Isaac says getting irritated. ‘Give me a solution.’

‘Okay then, I have only two solutions in my mind. But none of them are safe or guaranteed to let you survive.’

‘Go on!’

‘Keep me on cell phone, I’ll be guiding you. You’ll just have to give me the description of the bomb and every other detail I’ll ask you. And according to my orders, you’ll have to diffuse it.’

‘Well, works for me. What about the second one?’

‘Break the glasses of the car and jump out.’

‘Not possible,’ Isaac replies, ‘the glasses are quiet strong to be broken away from our hands. Actually bullet proof.’

Isaac and the bomb diffuser finally decide the first option and then get prepared for Isaac’s fatal challenge.

On Saturday morning, Isaac reaches the spot mentioned by Ronald. Megan and her show’s entire team reach the place where Isaac and Ronald were standing. Ronald shows them his car in which he had planted the time bomb. Isaac sees that the bomb was actually kept at the driver’s seat, which meant that it wasn’t planted. He closes his eyes feeling a little frightened going to face death.

As Megan finishes her speech and fires the pistol in air, Isaac goes and sits inside the car. Ronald locks all the doors of his car from outside. The bomb’s countdown begins from sixty seconds. As Isaac takes out his cell phone from his pocket, he finds that there was no battery inside it. He gets very much panicked. He looks outside and Ronald shows him his cell phone’s battery. Isaac immediately realises that Ronald had taken out his cell phone’s battery. As Isaac sees the bomb, only forty seconds were remaining.

He gets even distressed, and remembers the second option in panic. He tries to break the back side glass of the car with his feet. But the glass was too strong to be broken, that’s why he uses his fists as well. His attempts fail, and he gets quite wounded. Only fifteen seconds were remaining now. He has no way out, that’s why he just closes his eyes and thinks about the suicide.

He remembers all the memorable moments of his life and finally waits to die as the countdown was: five…four…three…two…one.

To his surprise, nothing happens, the bomb diffuses itself.

Ronald comes closer to the car and unlocks it for him. Isaac opens the door and jumps outside. Megan looks at them and claims in front of cameramen:

‘Well, according to what we just witnessed. It was Isaac’s luck that let him survive…If the bomb wouldn’t have diffused, he would have died away in a bomb blast.’

Isaac angrily looks at Ronald and takes away his cell phone’s battery from him.

to be continued...

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