Flowers and Funerals

The evening that day

Ali stood opposite a glass wall, separating him from the morgue, where shiva's body was placed. Looking at the unfamiliar number in his phone, he dialed the call button. But as the rings kept ringing, hesitation crept in his heart if he should just hang up before anybody answers.

But his hesitation broke as he heard a sound from the other end of the call.

"Hello, who's this?"

"Hi, my name is Ali Arya, I'm sh_"

"If you're calling to sell me something, I'm telling you I'm not interested in buying anything. I don't need any loans, and I certainly don't want a credit card. So I'll hang up first."

"Shiva's dead."

Not waiting for the other party to hang up, Ali just skipped his introduction and said his purpose. After some background checks, Emily found the contact details for Shiva's family members.

Though the relationship between Shiva and his family wasn't good, but he still didn't want to burn their son without informing them.

"Who are you?" After a long silence from the other side of the call, a voice came to Ali's ears, asking him his name.

"I'm Ali, for the past 2 years he's been working with me, we were friends and colleagues." Ali said patiently.

"Where'd you get this number?"

Ali heard another question but telling someone he did a major background check on them, and hacked a few government documents wasn't actually nice, so he just skipped it, and fucused on the main thing.

"There was an accident yesterday evening. Shiva_ he died. I've planned to held the funeral_"

Ali was saying something when the other voice interrupted him. "I'm sorry, but you must've gotten a wrong number. I don't know any Shiva. Now please don't call us again."

"Wait _you're Vikram, right? His brother? How can you say that? Didn't you hear he's dead now. Is your personal issues so much bigger than his death." Ali ended up shouting as he heard the other party refusing to admit anything.

"My brother that you're speaking of died 3 years ago. An insane murderer killed him when he escaped his prison. Whoever it is that you know, that's not my family. So do whatever you want with his body , bury it, burn it, I don't care."

"Tut tut"

Ali heard the bitter replies from the other hand and crushed his phone in his hands in anger. "Fucking bastard." He said, as he dialed the number again but found it was switched off Or out of network coverage area.

"I told you not to call them?" Shiva's voice came to his ears as if his ghost was reprimanding him for not following his wishes.

"If I die, just burn my body and throw my ashes somewhere peaceful. - that's what I said, remember. Did you forget it already?"

"I remember." Ali said and turned around to leave. As Emily signaled the doctors to wrap his body up and load it into some ambulance.

While Ali went forward with the procedures for Shiva's final rites and funeral, Vikram, the one he called some time ago just held the phone in his hand and stared at the empty broken and burned house all around him, which held all the memories of his childhood and married life.

"Did you hear it, Babe. He's finally dead. I'm sorry I couldn't kill him with my own hands." Vikram said as a tear fell down his eyes, remembering the scene of carnage he saw three years ago with his own eyes.

It was just three days after his marriage, when even all the rituals hadn't been finished yet. When a barrage of gunfire and bomb blasts destroyed everything around him.

When he finally came to his senses, all he saw were signs of a bloodbath and corpses all around him, and the one whom he considered his brother snapping the neck of the girl he loved.

He vowed that day that he'd kill him for killing her one day, but it seems fate had other plans. Before he got ready enough to face that murderer, someone else killed him first.

"Thank you, God." Vikram said as he looked up at the sky and smiled.

#

After burning the body of his friend in a simple manner, Ali collected the remaining ashes in a small pot and stood up to leave.

Since Shiva didn't believe in any God, Ali didn't hold any prayers or preachings for his soul. It was just a simple funeral with him, Emily, Aarvi, Liv and a few of his other colleagues at the office.

After saying goodbye to everyone Ali asked Emily for an address and take him there.

After a couple of hours long journey the car came to a deserted place and Ali walked out of it.

It was just an empty dialipated building in front of him. Dried out trees, cracked walls and broken windows - all the signs showing no one had been to that place for years.

There was even a full hour long documentary on this mansion, explaining how a massacre had happened here some years ago, and nearly 50 people died in the most horrific ways. The media said that it took police and CBI more than a week to ientify the severed pieces of the various bodies found inside, and gather them for a complete corpse.

That's why some locals even called this building a haunted house, and refused to enter inside or get anywhere close to it. There were even rumors that you could hear the screams of ghosts and wailings of spirits from this house at night.

Yet Ali walked in forward without any hesitation.

His steps came to a halt as he reached the main gate of that mansion and looked at the name plate outside.

Removing the dust covering it from his hand, he read the stuff written there, and couldn't help but smile.

There was just one word, consisting four letters - HELL …

"Well I guess, I know who came up with this name." Ali shook his head and walked inside.

He walked to a giant tree in the center of the garden , just in front of that mansion and stood there.

The big tree was completely empty, with nothing but dried sticks barely hanging with the last support of the deep roots.

"I guess you did know him a little." A voice broke Ali's peaceful thoughts. Turning around Ali saw a middle aged man he hadn't seen in years.

"Rangaa." Ali muttered, signaling his guards who were ready to apprehend this intruder.

"What're you doing here?" Ali asked, feeling a little wary of the underworld boss of their city who ran nearly a hundred of clubs, casino, bars and mainly fight rings.

"I'm just here to say my goodbyes. I did know him longer than you, you know." Rangaa said and looked at the big tree which still had two small letters carved onto its dried shaft.

S & S

"He uprooted this tree from some park and then planted it here. I remember saying him that it won't work, Or that it'll dry down and die. But he insisted, saying he liked the shade of it." Rangaa touched the letters and started talking as if reminiscing about his past with a smile.

"Did it work? Did this tree grew?" Ali asked curiosly.

"Maybe it would've. But one day he got drunk and then set it on fire, along with this whole of HELL. So we'll never know." Rangaa said and watched as Ali pulled the cloth over the pot and scattered Shiva's ashes near the tree.

"I heard you wanted to deal with the guy who killed him yourself, you have two months. After that if I see him alive, I'll burn this whole goddamn city if I have to. Starting with him and ending with Arya's." Rangaa gave a warning and then turned back to leave.

Emily clenched her fists hearing someone threaten her employer so brazenly, but before she ordered the guards to teach him a lesson, Ali raised his hand and stopped her.

"Let him go." Ali said and all the guards gave way to Rangaa, who seemed unfazed by all the anger and annoyance those guards showed. Like he didn't even put them in his eyes.

And he really didn't.

After all, this HELL was once his home turf.. And if he got scared by some newborn bodyguards in his own home, then he's really not worth his title of Kingpin.

Soon after Rangaa left, Ali left that place too.

Driving his car back towards his office, while worrying over the status of Aarvi as the main heroine and his own understanding of his licking dog role and the betrayal that was destined for him according to fate's plans.

"She wouldn't actually betray me, would she?" Ali couldn't help but ask himself, if that happened how he'd feel..

While Ali was busy contemplating his future pain and problems, he failed to notice a couple of sneaking glances from a young girl, wearing a small frock and shining shoes, hiding under his backseat.

##

Author note - This was the last of shiva's past and his part in this story, from tomorrow the main things start and we move forward..

Any idea about the story, it's theme, dialogues, mystery or future - let me know in comments.

Throw a couple of reviews and powerstones for me. And if you're rich and new here, go read my other novel Life of a nobody too.