Imagination

via Daily Prompt: Imagination

There he used to have his world. He lived there. That for him was his own world. He had a family, the love of his life and their little one. They were safe there, untouched by everyone. It was his heaven. Apart from his world he also had the other people who used to come & visit him often. It was a rare scenario that he let the other outsiders meet his family. After all, being a spy, he knew that anyone could be his enemy. Cherishing what mattered was the only thing he always knew.

There is this one day he will always remember, when the others had almost reached his paradise and tried to destroy it. It is a usually, breezy evening, when they decided to have a barbeque for themselves. They were busy preparing and setting up the table. It was almost 2 years today they had a day to themselves. Before this, he was posted in Iran for 3 years. These 3 years were difficult for all the three of them. The lines of communication being stringent there was not much they could so about it. However, they all still thrived.

Today, they were all here together, at this table with each other. This did matter. It always will for him. The others were waiting patiently in the shades, keeping an eye open towards them. Looking out for a perfect opportunity to strike him. They had clear instructions to leave the family alone unless the situation demanded. This kind of scenarios were tricky and unpredictable. The instructions were crystal clear, to finish the target with little damage and to leave the family alone. They all did have an unwritten contract to not touch the family after all. The wait continued, till they found the perfect time to go in and finish the job.

Approximately, in an hour, they started making their way into the house. The house was now quiet, as the family had settled down in the backyard to have their lunch. As predicted, the spy’s gun was on the holster which was now in the now sitting in the living room. They waited for them to finish and come inside. After all, if they shot him outside in the backyard, someone might witness it.

He knew that a car was always present outside his home. Earlier, he began suspecting that someone was outgo get him, however, after complete 3 weeks of surveillance. He decided that it was given for his own protection and started ignoring it. The lunch was amazing, with their daughter squealing and laughing in between them. This was the dream which helped him get through the tough times in Iran. The possibility of them being together in future, kept him going. His wife asked for a refill for her favorite white wine and decided to get it for them. She walked into the curtains towards the kitchen. It was almost 10 mins she yet had not come out, he felt an uncomfortable nagging about the same. The surveillance car today seemed to be in communication with someone else today. This did not seem right to him, something was not right yet he could not place a finger on it.

He thought to check on his wife, the moment he was near the kitchen, he found a pool of blood. He started to look for his gun, when he saw some movement in the periphery vision. He immediately took cover behind the sofa and screamed for his daughter to run. After that, all he remembers was bullets raining with his daughter’s painful scream in his ears and nothing more.

He woke up, sweating profusely, screaming for help. The doctors rushed him to put to sleep after dosing him with a tranquilizer. The psychiatrists tried to bring him out from his imagination where he had a family which now he believes is dead. But, he was just a boy of 13 created a world in his mind from which he refused to come out.