Chapter 8
Stephen’s POV
It’s been more than a month since Mr Luke died. His last 15 days were torturous for him as well as for the people to see him suffer. He would collapse in a glimpse of an eye as for the growing tumour in his brain. However he continued to work with endurance in spite of my repeated requests for him to take leave.
After Mr Luke left this world, the accountancy work began to pile up in my firm. There were so many applications reaching our enterprise tempted for the high salaries we offer but there was hardly any prospective candidate who could manage the complicated accounts of our multilateral firm. Our purchase executive who is an accountancy postgraduate is presently dealing with the numbers but I know he wouldn’t be able to manage for long because of the growing requirement for an accounts professional. Apart from taking care of purchase ledgers Mr Benjamin is a prospective employee of our company to grab the next promotion of being chief operation officer of the company. I am getting more frustrated with each passing day. The interviews conducted during last week too failed miserably.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.
“Hey brother! What’s the plan for today? It’s been Friday evening man and time to chill and enjoy. Come let’s go to a club and loosen up.” My brother sited with excitement. I thought about the proposal and waved a green flag to him. “Let’s catch up at Ramola’s.” Eros beams.
I went home after work, showered and dressed myself in denim jeans and a white T-shirt. Applying a little bit of gel to my black hair I was perfectly dressed for the weekend chill. I sprayed my favourite perfume and looked at myself in the mirror to check myself. All set I jumped into my black Ferrari and drove off to my favourite nightclub which I also owned “The Ramolas.”
I went to the bar to grab a glass of Tequila and drowned myself with alcohol when my brother interrupted me. “Hey bro! Be a little slow or you will drop down.” I just looked at him with dripped eyes and a blonde came to me swaying her hips. I decided to taste her and waved a hand to my brother taking the woman to one of the five stars hotels that I owned.
At around 2:00 am in the night, I got a call. The person on the other line spoke “Hello we are speaking from Breach Candy hospital. Am I speaking to Mr Stephen Collomen?” I answered in the affirmative when the receptionist of the hospital told me that my brother had been admitted in the hospital for an accident on drunk driving.
Within ten minutes I was in the hospital along with my parents comforting my mom who had almost turned hysterical after looking at the motionless form of my brother. Dad was trying to console mom when he was breaking too. The doctor entered the room and I followed him out to know the health status of my brother.
Making a note of my anxiousness he appraised, my brother had meagre chances to survive with a multiple organ failure because of the accident. My legs became shaky as I learned about the crucial veracity. Dropping myself to the chair I listen to the doctor’s diction wrecked in a chaos. I was losing all my sanity at the moment. I am the person responsible for my brother’s death. The naked truth was torturing me to odds and ends. Had I been vigilant on my drinks and used my rationality on choosing my brother over a whore, my brother would have been alive today.
I let my brother drive the car in his half conscious state because I had succumbed to carnal pleasures. I chose an unbound woman over my brother. My eyes go moistened, suffering the guilt. Making a lone implausible decision had cost me a sin of perpetuity which changed my life forever. How long am I to suffer the weight loss of my brother? The doctor looked at me with consoling eyes, patting my shoulder. He left the room giving me the privacy that was most required for the moment but before his departure I had one question to ask him.
“Doctor, I want to have the details of the family that lost its kith and kin in the accident of my brother.”
May be I could amend some of my sins by helping the deranged family.