Blind man's buff

Its amazing what you could overhear in a metro ride, or the theatre or even the men’s loo. Sometimes there are good stories, sometimes sad and sometimes secrets. What is it that makes these public places and complete strangers so trustworthy? Maybe it’s – who were they going to tell? Or other times – they will probably forget it.

I have had people tell me all kinds of things; affairs, losses, toe fungus? - breakups, performance issues? But there was one man who said the weirdest thing of all!

I was in a metro and a person next to me was listening to some audios or probably videos, I do not know, of woman moaning or maybe groaning, it wasn’t clear from the soft sound coming of their earphones. I coughed a little, just to let them know I could overhear, but he or she, was engrossed. A few minutes later, I thought I heard a woman scream, and that made me very curious, what was this person listening to.

“Hello, neighbour, can you pipe down the volume?”, I requested.

“Ummm oh ok!,” he replied.

But the sounds continued, infact got louder and it was definitely not a woman moaning. So I turned towards him and said sternly,

“Hey dude, not nice, keep your creepy stuff to yourself.”

He laughed,

“Don’t tell me it isn’t intriguing,” he whispered in my ear, “Isn’t it mesmerising?”

I stiffened, “Listen, I will have to report this if you do not stop this moment.”

“Oh is it,” he teased, “Won’t be the first time!”

I was shocked, how did I ever know this person. I got agitated and stood up, shaking open my walking stick,

“Run where you want, I will always follow,” he sneered.

I gritted my teeth and started for the door. What an asshole! As I alighted, a good samaritan guided me to the stairs. Out of the metro station, I stopped at my favorite book stall.

“Hey Jim, what’s on the news today?”

Jim smiled sardonically (I always thought he mocked me) and replied,

“The city is going to the dogs, we have two brutal murders this week. The police are looking for some crazy lunatic who carves people’s eyes out.”

I shivered at that statement,

“Well I should be relieved then, mine are already carved out!”

Jim was suddenly silent and I realised it was a poor joke to make. So I cleared my throat and continued my journey to the Music store a lane ahead.

Oh! How rude of me to not have introduced myself! I am Adam, a blind musician, a guitarist mostly, and an employee and instructor at the Gramphone music store.

The bell jingled  as I entered the store and Larry the owner hollered,

“Welcome to Gramophone, what may I indulge you with today!”

I suppressed my chuckle and called back,

“Hey Larry, good morning! Its just me!”

Larry didn’t respond which meant he was back to his phone, typing away furiously.  With touch screen phones, its frankly annoying! I can’t make out when people have stopped listening and gone to typing during our conversations.

So I sit down to tune my guitar, waiting for my first student to come. Amelia comes in with her mom that day.

“Who is teaching my daughter guitar?” a question she probably hurled at Larry, who pointed in a general direction with a monosyllabic,

“Him.”

By then Amelia had dragged her mother to me.

“Are you teaching her?,” and after a pause, “You are blind? How are you teaching her?”

I sighed, like several citizens of our city she too thought that being blind made me an invalid.

“Ma’am I have a Masters in Music and I specialise in several instruments, trust me, my vision impairment will not be a hurdle in your daughter’s training.”

I was being polite and Larry noticed that, “Ma’am he’s the best in town, you have nothing to worry.”

“Mr Larry, am not sure, I would like to take her elsewhere. Please take Amelia off your list from next month.”

“Mommy no! I love this class and Adam sir is really good. Please can I learn with him?”\

But Amelia’s mom wasn’t convinced and she dragged a crying Amelia out. I sat down disappointed, despite a year of being on the shop, two took their kids out, sighting my blindness as a reason and this week Amelia was third.

At the end of the day I bade goodbye to Larry and headed towards the Metro station. Somewhere along the street, I smelt the offensive cologne of the gentleman I had encountered in the morning.

“You being a sissy again?,” he mocked.

I increased my pace, but a blind man could just go so much fast.

“Where are you running you wimp!”

“Mind your own business,” I yelled back.

“You gonna let that lady trample all over your talent?” he questioned.

I stopped in my tracks. How did he know. I faltered,

“I…I don’t know what you are talking about?”

“Oh don’t you! She bullied you! She reduced your efforts to nothing! If I were you I would show her!”

“What? No….just because people don’t understand, it doesn’t mean they mean harm.”

“You sure are a wimp!”

“Hey stay out of this its my problem, not yours!”

I walked away after that and got onto the metro. My head was throbbing and I rest my head on the headrest and let myself sink into sleep.

A few metres away from the metro station, Mrs. Menezes was putting her daughter Amelia to sleep. She tucked her daughter and went down to the kitchen to do the dishes. She stopped short as the lights went out. She walked along the wall to reach the kitchen, where the fuse was. But as she opened the backdoor, someone dragged her out of the door and knocked her down.

When she woke up, she was in a basement, tied to a chair with a gag in her mouth. She looked around, frantic, and whimpered as she saw surgical tools on the table against the wall.

“Shhhhh, don’t worry, it will pain a little, but after that you will appreciate the world so much better.”

She started crying and the man emerged from the shadows, choosing a blade, his back towards her. As he turned around she gasped. She kept nodding her head side to side as he slowly strolled towards her, the dim light glinting off the sharp blade.

As the train jerked to a stop, I woke up and walked towards the door. My home was a few minutes’ walk from the station. Once home I changed and settled on the couch with my macaroni and cheese and switched the TV to catch up on news.

“Reporting live from the city, this is Kyra Thomas. The police have finally declared the two murders as serial killings upon discovery of a third body with the same MO.”

My fork slipped from my hand, and my eyes glazed over and I heard him say,

“Me you? Two sides of the same coin.She didn’t see the talent you have and so she didn’t deserve to see.”

I shook my head and cried,

“No....no... go away,”

“ You know you can see right? You feign the blindness to keep you from seeing the darkness within you, while I embrace the light and bring those who err to justice.”

I shivered as I looked at myself in the mirror. It was true he was the darkness to my light, both residing in the same body, Me Adam and he Mad, mad enough to kill just for fun.