Abraham's Dream

Chapter 1: The dream

Abraham looked up and wondered if they were light blue cotton candies floating in the sky. The colors of everything seemed brighter as if living in an 80’s movie’ reality with much more clarity. There was a light breeze which made the day look like a holiday. 

The place was crouded still a secluded romantic spot it seemed like. There were so many flower shops nearby and the color of each flower was captivatingly beautiful.  He could smell them from a distance as if from the hair of a beautiful woman. He looked away and there she was, as always with a smile on her face standing on the other side of the road.

Which road is it?? Not sure..!!

Abraham had a sadness of which the reason he was not sure of but definitely she was part of that. He grabbed a bunch of beautiful yellow flowers when suddenly she raised her hands and gestured him to cross the road and go to her.

That was when he saw the mysterious woman. She had a strange tattoo on her right hand’s wrist, which was unclear but something that catches anyone’s attention. Abraham stared at it but looked away when  she notices. He tries to walk to the road when suddenly he stumbles on something and falls down. The flowers scatter on the ground. The mysterious woman walks to him and helps him to pick up the flowers. He looks at her eyes and those are the most beautiful pairs any woman could possess. She notices him staring at her eyes and then he looks down to her wrist. She shows the tattoo to him and then walks away. 

Everything starts to fade when suddenly he realizes that she was still waving at him on the other side of the road. But he goes blind and could see nothing.

It took 5 seconds for Abraham to realize that it was the same dream he saw yesterday, day before yesterday and the day before that. There had been several dreams but this one was strong enough to keep him awake for the rest of the night. It was a different dream, tht he felt the calm breeze and the smell of the yellow flowers from it. 

the woman who stood on the other side of the road..

that was his wife.. not sure if she still was.. because she left him.. and he was desperately waiting for a re union with her.. He expected her to come back everyday and that hope itself was the only thing which kept him going. The only thing he loved in the dream was her smiling face...

Most of the dream, Abraham couldnt remember its details, but there was one thing he couldnt easily getover with and that was the mysterious woman. He never saw her in his entire life... and her tattoo... 

It was a number..  73545

Chapter 2: The advice

Abraham is so upset as his company got bankrupted and his wife left him. He couldn’t handle the grief… he got almost paranoid because of the loneliness he was going through and was really haunted by the continuous occurrence of the dream and the mysterious number that followed in the dream…

his only visitor was a close friend of his named Dev, a doctor who worked in a super speciality hospital…. Abraham has not eaten properly for last 1 week.. he was weak… everytime dev leaves him money but Abraham couldn’t live such a low life… his ego and inferiority complex was on peak.. He never prayed to god as he was an atheist… never depended on anyone in his life as he believed in him with great confidence…. But then he had his wife who just left him… he couldn’t live without her…

The emotional outburst and mental trauma led to several failed suicide attempts which he tried out secretly.

he was so sure he couldn’t start anything from scratch as he lost his wife who he loved so dearly… the feeling however was not mutual at all.

Abraham took a knife and decided to cut his forearm and bleed to death… he couldn’t think of anything else… he had his pocket knife which was way too sharp to cut even a small piece of wood… he wrapped a piece of plastic on his wrist and was about to cut ,suddenly the calling bell rang.. and he accidently cut his wrist a bit… blood came out… he took a piece of cloth and stopped the bleeding.

Abraham opened the door and it was dev

Dev:

“what took you so long to open??”

Dev asking this gets inside like a boss and goes to the kitchen to drink water..

He has the freedom to come inside like that

Abraham:

“just got up… was gonna prepare some food”

Dev:

“what is that on your hand…blood???”

Abraham:

“its nothing …accident”

Dev goes inside the kitchen sink and notices the pocket knife and the plastic both  blood stained…

Dev:

“dear god… I cant believe you did this Abru… Are you crazy?”

Abraham:

“it is not what you think it is …. Please don’t make a scene”

Dev is really angry:

“Abraham… its been more than 3 mnths since she left… she left you because you were not there for her.. you were busy all the time… it was your fault… killing yourself wont help….”

Abraham:

“I am sorry dev.. but I cant live like this… I have no money..no dignity,… I cant depend on you. All the time…..i m done with this life… pls leave me alone… it s my choice .. I don’t have any dreams to fulfill… it is over… period..”

Dev gets upset and sits down… silence in the room… Abraham feels ashamed  and sits on the ground…

Dev thinks for 10 minutes and tell Abraham:

“I want you to meet someone.. you talk to this person and you might feel good.. he is a great guy”

Abraham:

“don’t ask me to see a doctor.. I am not a psychopath… ”

Dev:

“I ll make an appointment  and they will call you… I know you are an atheist….but just make an effort to go and meet the man.. Also …he is not a fcuking docter… and make sure you don’t do anything stupid… next time I find you in like this,  I am gonna kill you myself… I mean it!”

Abraham:

“ok .. I ll see him..”

Dev is really angry.. when he is so pissed off he use such harsh words … that’s why Abraham agreed ….he walks out …before going Dev takes takes away all the knives from Abraham’s apartment..

He gives a card to Abraham that read “JESUS 4 U”

Chapter 3: The Meet

The appointment is at 4pm. The address in the card was not far from where Abraham lived. On his way Abraham sees an old man sitting on the roadside looking so weak. He might have not eaten anything and looked tired and hungry. Abraham sees him but keeps walking past the beggar as he didn’t had much time to spare and also the beggar was none of his business.

The building in the address is a 5 storey one and the Jesus 4 u talk was held on the 2^nd storey. When he enters the room he see a lot of depressed gentlemen and women sitting there. The hall was not big enough but was spacious enough and didn’t felt congested at all. He takes a seat slightly away from others and sat alone as he didn’t wanted to talk to any of the other people there.

It was then a well dressed man entered the room. Everyone stands up in respect but Abraham sits only. The man and the people at the hall immediately notices the new guy with the attitude.

Man:

 “good evening everyone, thank you for coming but todays meeting had to be postponed to next week as I need to meet someone very urgently. I apologise for that. “

Everyone lets out a sigh and the man smiles gracegully. Abraham felt a relief as he could get out of there as soon as possible now.

The Man continues:

“But before going I will give you a small homework to do. You will have to give me the result during the next session. It will be very interesting and its not an easy task as well.”

Everyone are excited as if the man regularly gives them such interesting tasks. Abraham notices the croud’s enthusiasm and couldn’t help not let out a  mock yawn and the man notices it with a smile.

And then the Man asks everyone:

 “Are u ready??”

Everyone shook their heads.

Man: “well I have 3 things for you to figure out this week. Although it sounds simple at first, think about it deeply as this could even change your lives for good.”

Everyone are so deeply listening to the man as the room goes into a pin drop silence. Abraham starts to listen as he wonders what the 3 tasks might be that could change lives.

Man:

“When you get up in the morning , I want you to look into the mirror and ask yourself 3 questions. Question# 1: Who are you?”

The man stops for a while and observes everyone…then continues

“Question#2: Why are you here?”

Again he stops and his eyes making sure everyone is listening… he makes eyecontact with everyone

“Question#3: What is the purpose of your life? I hope to hear from you all individually. See you next week.”

Abraham lets out another smirk and the man notices it.

Everyone gets up and starts walking to the exit. Most of them walks to the man and tells things and he started conforting them.

Abraham gets up in relief and starts walking to the exit when suddenly someone stops him by calling his name.

He looks back and see a lean young boy walking to him.

Boy:

“Are you Abraham? Friend of Dev???”

Abraham:

“Yeah. Is he here???”

Boy:

“No he only comes for the monthly meetings. Well Mr Jain asked me to take you to his office.”

Abraham:

“Jain !!!”

Boy:

“The person who did the talk just now. Can u follow me?”

Abraham:

“See I don’t have time.. I was thinking to leave. “

Boy:

“Dev told you were here to meet Jain. Well if you are busy I ll inform him. “

The boy starts to leave. Abraham stops him as he didn’t want Dev to think that he didn’t took the meeting seriously.

Abraham:

“Ok see I ll meet him now. Its fine”

Abraham follows the boy to Jain’s office. The room is small and simple. Everything was kept neat and tidy and the items on his Desk were neatly put. There was a picture of Jesus on the wall. Jain stood up and welcomed Abraham to his room. The boy leaves the room.

Jain shouts:

“Thank you Chidambaram”

Voice of the boy on response was heard:

“Always Welcome brother”

Abraham was anstonished at the childish behavior of Jain. He had an inbuilt smile on his face. It was hard to imagine his face as upset or angry. Jain welcomes Abraham and asks him to sit down.

Jain:

“How are you Abraham. I heard you are  close friends with Dev. If you are friend of Dev, that itself makes you a special person.”

Abraham was surprised at Jain’s mentioning him by name. He felt terrible for behaving indecently during Jain’s talk.

Jain:

“I found you really bored during my talk.. I don’t get that quite often you know?”

Abraham:

“well I don’t believe in gods…. so such talks make me bored..”

Jain:

“you mentioned Gods..!! is that what you thought our group discussions were about ? So you are an atheist ….?”

Abraham:

“When I say I don’t see light… that doesn’t mean I see darkness… that only mean I don’t see light…period”

Jain laughs:

“mmmm!!! That is a loaded statement.. I like that”

Abraham:

“how do you know Dev?”

Jain:

“well.. I am a doctor actually… we are workmates.. also he helped me to run this talk.. I like meeting people.. I like to guide them to their purpose.. Dev thinks I am gifted so he with some other good friends of his sponsored to arrange this talk for mentally weak people who had gone through some hardships in their lives.... I just motivate them to live life peacefully with hope.. ”

Abraham takes the paper weight from the table and says:

“mmm.. interesting… well I am not supposed to be here at all… ”

Jain:

“well I thought that’s why you were here too…you being an atheist and still we met… isn’t that great…do you believe in coincidence Abraham?? ”

Abraham:

“I believe in randomness… and so there are probabilities…”

Jain pauses for a while and continues:

“so you don’t believe in fate, coincidence, destiny or anything like that”

Abraham:

“Coincidence, fate are all beliefs… can you prove them… ? silly people need something to fight for, descriminate and make sides with… their minds are abode for religion and gods… If religion is for peace, then why are there war in the name of it??? Why cant your God bring peace to the believers and end these war and violence??”

Jain:“God’s job is not to stop war Abraham.. he is inside us.. we have to find him ourselves….when you look at that picture, what do you see Abraham” 

Jain points to the picture of Jesus in the cross

Abraham:

“I just see a picture of a man suffering. That’s all.”

Jain:

“Why do you think he is suffering?”

Abraham:

“It is said that he is sacrificing his life for mankind. ”

Jain:

“What do you think about that Abraham? Is it necessary to suffer for fellowbeings.? Why cant he just live his life. That would have been much easier right?”

Abraham:

“According to you believers he is the son of the so called invisible not-out-there guy. I think it is stupid. Stupid to believe in such things. And stupid of him to die for his people. To me these are just fables”

Jain:

See… I don’t blame you for thinking that way. As you are an atheist… pardon me.. ..a non-beleiver… it is casual of you to make such statements. Me on the other hand is a true believer”

Abraham: Arent we wasting each others time…??? I should be going now."

Jain:

“See you don’t even believe in yourself so you cant even handle your life “

Abraham:

“How did you assume that? I believe in me. I have believed in me all my life.”

Jain:

“Like what happened today morning..? How self believing is that? You tried to kill yourself because someone left you??”

Abraham got upset at the very mention of his wife

He tells Jain:

 “She was my wife. And I don’t wish to talk about it any further with you.”

Jain:

“When did you stop believing Abraham? U can tell me… “

Abraham keeps silent. Jain sighs and continuous by looking at the picture of jesus.

Jain continues:

“Abraham,…when I look at that picture, do you know  what I feel……..”

He stops and then continues:

 “Everytime I look @ him……. I see a man with flesh and blood. I see a man going through tremendous pain for his fellow beings…  I feel his care for those who torture him… I feel his unconditional love for the ones who wants him dead. …“

Silence in the room. Abraham is listening to Jain emotionally

Jain continuous:

“I feel his feelings for his loved ones… the pain of separation..which you are going through right now… I feel the blood pouring down the forehead and dripping through my chin..”

Jain closes his eyes and stops for a while and continues:

“When I look at him Abraham… I see a symbol… Symbol of love, care, affection….and submission to love… unconditional love … 100% submission in the name of love…suffering in the name of love…the  real love jihad.. ”

Stops and looks down at Abraham… he is still….

Abraham:

“I don’t understand this. What do you want me to do? Become a believer and pray…submit 100% of  myself ?? ”

Jain:

“no… I am not asking you to convert to a believer……I want you to be the same Abraham as you who entered this room a few minutes ago…100% is too much to ask for … I just want 5% of you”

Abraham looks at him not able to understand what he is trying to say

Jain continues:

“I am asking to to give away  5%... 5% of your care to your fellowbeings….5% of you that not everyone has seen in you for years….that 5% in you… the real you …that’s what I want ….i am sure there is that 5% left inside….  I am sure that 5% will change your life… I am sure you have been living a very selfish life all these years without that 5%.. that 5% of goodness…gratitude..that 5% of Jesus in you..”

Abraham looks down and realize how worthless he was… the old beggar comes to his mind…

Jain:

“Yes Abraham… I want you to believe in that 5% of you…”

He pauses and then continues:

“now I need to go … pls don’t come here again if you have no belief in urself… I hope to see you again..“

Jain left the room… without saying a goodbye… that was too much for Abraham.

 Abraham feels different after listening to Jain. All he could understand was that he was so selfish all these years. On his way back he sees the beggar sitting in the ground. He looked more weak now. Abraham couldn’t walk past  him this time. He bought some food for the old man and after that he felt good. 

Chapter 4: The number

Abraham was really worried about the number in his dream. He had been seeing it quite a lot of times recently. The dream was always the same. The mysterious lady in the dream with the tattoo ..her face became more familiar to Abraham than before… the tattooed number became more and more clear each time he saw the dream…. He wondered Why he see the same dream again and again. Why that number?

 The same number…. 73545

Does that have anything to do with my life? Abraham thought.

Is the number anyhow related to him in some way??? 

Abraham kept worrying about this. He wanted to tell this to someone… if he told Dev, he would think Abraham is crazy and would ask him to meet some psychiatrist.

He went home and slept and woke up having the same dream… the dream ended with the number 73545.

Abraham was so upset… he was so confused on why the number kept haunting him.... he took a pen and looked for some paper to write the number.. then he found the JESUS 4 U visiting card that Dev gave him…Abraham wrote the number on the card.. 73545…

He kept staring at the number… then suddenly Jain came to his mind… he thought about what Jain told him about his life and felt that he should do something to make a difference… 

He looked at the number and kept thinking… he casually drew a circle on the JESUS of the visiting card… he kept thinking how when he bought food for the old man he felt better… 

Thoughts kept coming and suddenly he felt something… He looked at the number and the word JESUS….. 

Below the 7 he wrote a J… 

below 3 he wrote E… 

for 5 he wrote S … 

for 5 ..S again… 

He realized that the spelling of jesus and the number 73545 had something in common but the 4 which he wrote as A dint make sence as it read JESAS… he striked the A and wrote a U… and now it read JESUS…

  

73545

JES4S… then he wrote the correct spelling and wrote the 4 outside the letters

JESUS 4

Maybe it should be 4 JESUS

He  suddenly realized that the 4 and U were really interconnected as together it read JESUS 4U…. it was really connected to his fate even though he didn’t believe in it…

Abraham opened his laptop to check his email. Suddenly there was a housefly on his keyboard.. he hit the keyboard and the fly flew away.. he noticed that while he hit the keyboard random letters were typed on the monitor…. He began to start deleting it when he suddenly stopped doing it in shock… he stared at the monitor and observed the random letters….

“Kjdunfeihfgvbeleivewbf,';khjhfcukjo”

He observed that there was a word beleive which was accidently typed on the keyboard… he wondered if it was a coincidence or something relating to his dream… 

Chapter 5: The 5 percent

The next day Abraham set out to visit Jain. He wanted some advice on the dream and thought Jain might provide him some insight into the matter. But unfortunately Jain was not available at his office. He was busy with some medical case in the hospital. Abraham tried his mobile but none answered. So he returned home not knowing what to do.

 On his way back on the street, he saw a man buying a lottery ticket and walking out. Abraham couldn’t understand why he noticed the man as his instinct told him to. He didnt care and walk by.

Abraham bought some milk from the near by store and was walking home when he saw the same man from the lottery shop. The man was actually a thief and he was trying to rob a thin man and beating him up.

 At first Abraham decides to walk away but he couldnt…. He walks to the 2 of them and the thief when he saw Abraham, grabs the young man’s purse and run away… the young man is on the ground and got badly hit on his groin. On the ground he begs Abraham to help him

Young man:

“Please help me. That purse has my fees… I need it… please help”

He was crying and begging for help and Abraham couldn’t just ignore his request.

Abraham asks the young man to call police and runs behind the thief.

The thief runs faster and when he realizes that Abraham is following he stops by an abandoned road.

The thief shouts at Abraham:

“Hey man… don’t follow me… go your way or I ll hurt you like I did to your friend there”

Abraham:

“yeah I can see that you have beaten the guy who is too small for you…why don’t try someone of your own size?”

saying that Abraham takes a long wooden stick. The thief sees this and becomes extra cautious.

he gets surprised when he sees Abraham breaking  it into half.. then the stick becomes long and sharp and  he throws it at the thief…

the thief catches it and feels safe now… he thinks Abraham is stupid as he gave the thief the advantage of attacking Abraham who is unarmed.

The thief asks Abraham:

“what r you doing?”

Abraham:

“I thought you wanted something to attack me.. Are you not tough enough??”

Thief gets angry and says:

“I think you are an idiot.. you better run”

Abraham:

“not so fast…. wait”

Saying that and Abraham  takes out his sharp pocket knife from his pants and opens it.. he  bites the knife and holds it and then folds his shirts’ sleeves… After that he holds the knife and gets ready for a fight.

Abraham:

“ok…now we are even”

Thief seeing this gets disturbed and says:

“you are crazy… I ll kill you.. you better run”

Abraham:

“yeah you better kill me or you re gonna be in big trouble… coz as you said I might be way too crazier than you think…who do you think will walk around with sharp weapon like mine….”

The thief gets intimidated by Abraham. He doubts if Abraham is too dangerous for attacking. Even though he holds a smaller knife, still he is confident enough to attack. The thief realizes it stupid to attack Abraham.

Thief:

“ok.. if you let me go my way, I ll divide the money from this purse… how abt that???”

Abraham:

“haha… so you are not even worth a fight… I ll tell you what…you got 2 choices here… you either give me the wallet and walk away or ….”

Thief:

“Or…??”

Abraham:

“Or kill me… because if you don’t, I ll make sure every inch of muscle in your body will go through immense pain… ”

the thief gets really scared by Abraham and thinks Abraham is crazy and is about to kill him unless he leaves the wallet.

Thief:

“Christ … you are insane”

Saying that the thief leaves the wallet and runs away…Abraham takes the wallet and return it over to the young man and walks away without saying anything.. the young man asks for his name but he just walks away saying

Abraham:

 “thank the 5% in you… it is the same as that of mine…”

Chapter 7: The coincidence

On his way home, Abraham sees the old man sitting in the same place… he buys the old man some food and walks to his place…

When he reaches his building the sun is almost ready to set, darkness crawls in and the shadows slowly fade…  there was a mysterious figure waiting for him.. there were no much people around and the figure pushes Abraham from behind. Abraham falls to the ground

he looks back as he tries to get up… it is the thief… 

Thief:

“you asshole… I ll show you what immense pain feels like moron…”

Saying that he stamps Abraham who is on the floor.. Abraham tries to get up and push away the man but as he is injured he couldn’t resist much and takes the beating ..while pushing the man away Abraham tears away his shirt pocket …. the thief pushes him down and continues to stamp Abraham until he stops moving… Abraham lost his consciousness and the thief runs away…

Abraham cries on the floor in pain… no one is there to hold him…

After sometime he gets up slowly and manages to go to his room… and fall on the ground..

Lonely, helpless, tired and beaten up…He cries and tries to get up from the floor..

He cant move his left hand and fingers … they are closed as if its holding something… the thief stamped on it and some bones must have broken… he tries to open his fingers and finds the thief’s torn shirt pocket piece inside… he somehow opens the hands and couldn’t stop crying because of the pain…

He lies on the floor and sleeps because of tiredness, pain and hunger….

The next day Dev wakes him up…Dev helps him to dress his broken hand and prepare him food… he then shows Abraham the newspaper

Dev:

“what is all this? What are you up to? Why the hell did you confront the thief…?? Look what he has done to you…these people are dangerous… you could have got yourself killed!!”

Abraham:

“coward.. he attacked me from behind….. ”

Dev reading the newspaper says:

“Well.. they have wrote good things about you”

Dev show the paper to Abraham…the young man who Abraham helped was a topper in his college…When the police came to the young man, the media also got involved… the young man told them how an unknown stranger(Abraham) risked his own life to get back his money which was sponsored for his higher studies by a rich person… they have wrote about Abraham’ bravery in detail but there was no name….

Abraham reads through It and smiles and tells Dev:

“An unknown stranger…Anonymous..!! They didn’t knew what happened to the stranger afterwards..“

Dev tried to change the subject:

“bullshit….how did Jain’ class go…? R u gonna meet him next week”

Abraham shrugs his shoulders as if he is in doubt…

Dev:

“mmmm.. I know what you mean… anyway I need to go…. Got some work…will meet you tonite…t ake the painkillers and don’t go outside or get into trouble or I ll break your legs and admit you in my hospital..”

Abraham:

“i know you ll do that… ” laughs at dev

Dev:

“take care” and he begins to leave

Abraham:

“thanks for everything… ”

Dev stops and looks at Abraham in surprise

Abraham:

“too many favours from you and if I don’t thank you that would be unwise”

Dev laughs and leaves the room

Abraham sees the torn pocket piece of the theif shirt and takes it to throw in the dustbin when suddenly he notices there is a lottery ticket inside the pocket… he remembers seeing the thief buying a lottery  ticket and comin out of the lottery shop, the first time he saw him.,… he throws both the ticket and the shirt pocket piece into the dustbin… he goes to his room and takes the newspaper and reads it for some time… he brouses through all the pages.. then feels tired and goes to sleep…..

After 3 hours Abraham gets up seeing the same dream about the number and the mysterious lady…. He feels something is gonna happen to him..like a message or a sign which he got earlier in his keyboard….

By now he realizes that everytime he sees the dream, it’s a sign of something he is about to pursue… is the dream leading him somewhere… He looks around his room and finds nothing…  

Then He opens the paper and read the news written about him… suddenly he brouse through the pages and sees a lottery ticket ad…

The winning ticket number was 6673 3873 5454 7484  

He closes the paper and decides to call Jain and takes Jain’s card

The phone rings and Jain picks up the call

Jain:

“hello”

Abraham:

“Its me.. finally I had to call you”

Jain:

“hi.. I am so excited to get your call brother… how do you feel.. ? that 5% ..is that worth…??”

Abraham:

“very much… that day you asked me about how I become a non believer right??”

Jain:

“yeah.. I was just curious..”

Abraham:

“I ll tell you now…I had a sister…Anisha… 3 years younger to me.. very beautiful… brilliant in studies….but couldn’t walk as she was parallised from waist down…”

Jain:

“ohhh”

Abraham:

“she was weak…. Always had these fevers and headaches… she passed away when she was 16… ”

Jain:

“I am sorry for your sister Abraham”

Abraham pauses and continues:

“I couldn’t bear it… I hated god for making her like that… but I hoped he will bring some goodness to her.. so I prayed to him… I grew up seeing my parents  crying during nights whenever they saw her suffer …. I gave her everything I had… I wanted her to be like any other girls in her school… god made me helpless… when she was gone that was too much for me to take… I was weak… anisha’s loss was enough reason for me to loss my faith in god… and afterwards I become rational about everything ”

Jain:

“I don’t know what to tell you Abraham.. but Anisha was lucky she had a brother like you… ”

Abraham :

“I just wanted to tell you this… see u next week”

Abraham puts off the phone and sits in the chair and the newspaper comes to his view.. he sees the lottery Ad and looks at the number and keeps thinking about Anisha….. It is then it strikes him.. the number.. it is there

6673 38 73545 4 7484

He realize that the number is trying to  connect him to something he is supposed to catch hold of.…

It is fate…. Suddenly he realizes the lottery ticket that he threw in the dustbin.. Abraham opens the dustbin and takes out the crumbled piece of paper… checks the number… to his surprise it was the same….!!