It was a cold winter evening in the city of Duisburg; as I was arriving back home from work, my eyes kept on gripping those blurred decorations on either side of the road, which signaled the stream heading towards Christmas. My strenuous eye movements came to a stop, when I was alerted by the taxi driver to aboard. The taxi driver was a middle-aged man with a thick white mustache that protruded out like a trademark. As I stepped out of the cab and after taking a few strides, it came to my consciousness "I forgot to pay him". But later on, while searching my pocket I found out that the driver handed me a blank bill which had a note that says, "You are in an inevitable Loop". The concussion state after reading the message made me myopic about the things happening around me. On my way to my doorstep, I could notice the neighborhood having a barbeque party; the small chunk of new faces gave me an odd look that left me with a hasty move evading them. I made myself comfortable in my hall room, by setting up the fireplace and heating my body with a warm cup of dopamine. Then came a point where my thoughts flowed to a particular incident that occurred two months ago and still plays like a live reel in my mind, therefore I laid myself on the bed and let the wave float.

The incident happened in the mid-autumn season when life was much more exquisite and surrounded by a bunch of amiable people. The company that I work for; Finverse, was having a successful marketing campaign party where our sales team along with the managers, board of directors, and some major stakeholders were present. It was a dinner party at the nearby hotel, "The Traum"; our company was one of the eminent customers because of our financial tie up's with them. I was accompanied by my best buddy Harry who was heading our sales team and was one of the best mentors I got right after graduation. He didn't differentiate our relationship in terms of superiority, which was one of the unique factors that I always admired about him. And at the office also, when both of us were seen going out for lunch, our colleagues would remark to us by saying "The way both of them are walking by; we could explicitly say that they are brothers". A lot of our physical characteristics matched each other.

The party was flagged off by our sales VP Mr. Ivan Dominic; the man with a charming face that makes it difficult to penetrate deep into the veil, where the traits that are too toxic exist. I always wonder how those evil traits act as a beneficiary for a person in his life, excluding the harmful impact on the people who they find a threat to their path of success. During the meeting, the project's success report was presented to the audience by our sales team who got a huge round of palm meets.

Later on, while we were having dinner along with the notable stakeholders of our company, I could see everyone embracing Harry's work. And all of us were surprised by the sudden announcement made by our CEO Mr. Sam Morris, that from next week onwards Mr. Harry George will be placed as our new Area Sales Manager. We were all happy to see that except for one face, Mr. Ivan's which was giving a fake smile while his stomach was churning with acid reflux. On the other side, I congratulated Harry for his achievement and felt proud to see his growth. The dinner got over, but the bar lounge was active with people enjoying their post-dinner drinks. I could notice my friend having an important discussion with the board of directors in the other room which was transparent enough to see Ivan's face struggling to wear a smile on the company's new move. I led myself up to the lounge and ordered a Cognac as an appetizer. As I was part of the sales team for over a year, I know a lot about the deep layers Mr. Ivan has that were covered up in front. He was one of the bosses who take credit shamelessly for the work carried out by his subordinates. Thus turning my imagination flow towards various means he can use to reach a stage where nothing lies as a barrier to his path of success.

Their meeting took place for around 30 minutes and after everyone left the room, I could see a one-on-one conversation between my friend and Mr. Ivan. I watched their talk with ardent speculation while sipping up my drink. Later something within me boiled up, giving out a sense of danger and threat which remains constant in my mind. Then Harry joined me at the lounge, where we had a wonderful long conversation about his new achievement and plans. While I was listening to him, my thoughts were drawn towards the innocence he had by taking the words of Mr. Ivan as friendly and trustworthy. The crowd was diminishing with time, but we maintained the conversation continuum discussing his future goals and our long vacation boating plans. Since the hotel owner was Mr. Ivan's college mate I could see both of them fidgeting around the hall with regards to some matter that lies as a mirage. My mind flowed to a random thought "What would life be if we could understand those inhuman traits of people which lies as the last layer and can't be easily perceived at first sight".

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We were interrupted in between by one of the hotel staff, who requested my friend to follow him as per the request of the hotel owner, who wants to meet him. I sat there alone ordering another round of drinks to suffice my time waiting for his return. After a while, I found it out to be strange that the whole party hall was empty with few staff working on the closure. A point came where curiosity made me burst out from the shell of waiting for his return, which was hopeless in finding out what happened to him. As I was following the path through which he was taken the whole ambiance was eerie. The owner's room was at the end and on my pursuit, I could hear a distinct noise from the far end that resembled a person being asphyxiated.

Finally, I found the room, and bashed open the door; the view was heart-aching for me to see my friend being beaten up and suffocated to death. My mind was filled with remorse towards the feeling that if I reached the room a bit earlier, like a conscious thought; I could have saved my friend. Out of agony, I shouted at the people who surrounded me and I even took a picture in that fraction of time to prove that my friend was killed by Mr. Ivan and his mob. But it was strange to me that no one attacked me and out of pain I went forward to Mr. Ivan and shook him up asking; "Why did you kill him", why ?. He in return pushed me down to the carpet and then stood there looking at me with a grin, he sarcastically delivered a statement "Mr. Ivan you are the one who killed Harry on your boating trip".

After hearing that statement my consciousness shook me to the other side of my memory which escaped the regression stage, which led me out of the room thinking about how I can do that to my best friend. While walking through the corridor I could see that the path turned out to be a never-ending maze. Then later after reaching a particular point my foggy eyes were attracted to a switchboard that was visible on the wall. And in sheer curiosity, I tried to switch on the emergency alarm, but later I realized the switches were not working and the lights can't be shut down. That gave a weird signal in my mind, which made me more conscious by getting several signals in my mind about reality.

Later when I attained the half state of consciousness, I noticed two walls getting attached, which was leaving me in a helpless spot to be smashed between the walls. As the walls approached, I reached the state where I could not escape, I burst out my vocal cord to sort out for help, thus leaving me all awake on my bed which was covered with a pool of sweat. My eyes caught the photo frame struck on the wall, which was the last photograph taken during our boating trip, a few seconds before his death. The reality gave me another sort of excruciating pain that cannot be eschewed. The pain that won't leave my whole body system, which is triggered by thoughts on how good he was from a viewpoint that was overtaken by a malicious perspective that dominated my mind. As I took out my sleeping pills another shooting thought came into my mind, whether my present consciousness is reality or a dream. Certain actions done in the waking world haunts you throughout your life, thus making it complex to experience reality. Hence the only way to end that thought would be to escape this state of consciousness and move into a higher state of consciousness where I could forget that single act that followed me like air.

THE END