In my local paper, there was a contest to write a fictional story. The condition was that the story must be of no more than 500 words. The subject matter? Simple! The story is to start with the line "On a dark and foggy night, a small figure lay huddled on the railway tracks leading to Bangalore station ..."
This is what one professional wrote for the contest.......
Surprisingly, it was adjudged 'the best short story'
On a dark and foggy night, a small figure lay huddled on the railway tracks leading to Bangalore station. I was taken aback to see someone in that position this late at night with no one around. With curiosity taking the front seat, I went near the body to investigate. There was blood all over the body. It laid face down. It seemed possible that a ruthless blow by the last train could have caused the end of this body. The body was of a man of around my age.
Amidst the gory blood flow, I could see a folded white envelope fluttering in the midnight wind. Carefully I slid the blood stained envelope from the shirt pocket and was surprised to see the phrase "appraisal letter" inscribed on it. With curiosity rising every moment, I wasted no time in opening the envelope to see if I can find some details about the dead guy. The clothing tag around the body's neck and the jazzy appraisal cover indicated that he may have been a software engineer. I opened the envelope to find a shining paper on which the appraisal details where typed. Absolutely wonderful report!
Thunder broke into my ears and lightening struck my heart when I saw the raise awarded to the dead guy!!!
My God! It was not even worth the paper it was written on! The raise did not justify the report. My heart poured out for the guy. Voices echoed inside me, "No wonder, this guy died such a miserable death!"
As a 'fellow' worker in the same industry, I thought I should mourn for him. Just for the sake of respect I stood there heavy hearted thinking of the shock that he must have experienced when his manager would have placed this appraisal letter in his hand. I feel certain that his heart would have stopped and eyes his would have gone blank for a few seconds looking at the near nothing increment in his annual salary.
While I mourned for him, I was stunned to note the employee's name at the top of the appraisal letter! Hey, what a strange co-incidence, this guy's name is same as mine. Including his initials. This was interesting. With some mental strength, I turned the body over and found myself fainting for a second. The guy not only had my name, but also, he looked exactly like me. Same looks, same built, same name.... it was me who was dead there!!!
While I was lost in that shock, I felt someone patting on my shoulders. My heart stopped completely, I could not breathe and sprung in fear to see who was behind me .........
Splash! went a glass of water on my laptop screen as I came out of my wild dream to see my manager standing behind my chair patting on my shoulder, "wake up young man! Please come to the meeting room number two. I want to discuss your Appraisal!"
PLEASE NOTE: Origin of this Story is unknown. I would like to thank the person who created the story. It inspired me to modify and add it to my website.