painfully he had blood in his hands. His medicines had destroyed lives and families.
Sam was crestfallen as he feeling hopeless. If it wasn’t for his wife, he would have killed himself long time back. His wife Stella would be heartbroken if he killed himself and Sam too could not bear to live without her. If only there was a way to get out of the mess, he would repay the debt and live a simple life with Stella for the rest of his life. Sam had never given up in the face of problems before. If he did so now, it would mean deserting Stella. And what would Stella think of him if he killed himself. A coward who could not even tolerate a business setback. No, that would not do Sam thought. He would live and somehow survive the ordeal rather than disappoint Stella. Yes, Sam thought, I will live. All he needed was 30 million dollars. That was the amount he needed to repay the debt. After that, he could start with a clean slate. His many years of business experience and his business acumen would ensure he got a decent job which would mean that he and Stella could atleast live a decent life with that money. He remembered that he had made a 100 million dollars contribution to the Bill Gates Foundation a few years back. He would go to Bill Gates himself and surely his request for some 30 million dollars would not be refused. Sam smiled. There was hope after all. Once he repaid his debt he would save enough money to construct a Cancer Hospital to redeem himself from the guilt that he was feeling every day. After a long time a wish to survive developed inside him. And all this was due to his dearest Stella. What would he have done without his dearest Stella? He bought a bunch of sweet smelling flowers and almost ran back to his home. Stella would be so happy to see a smile on his face after such a long time, Sam thought. He opened the door and saw Stella talking on the phone. Stella's shoulders were drooped in a defeated posture. That would all change Sam thought. Then Sam saw Stella talking on the phone " Now that Sam has lost all his money, there is no point in staying with him. I have already called up a divorce attorney. I wished he had been bankrupt 10 years back. Atleast I would not have been with such a boring person for these many years"
Sam was no longer confused after hearing these words. He jumped out of the balcony and killed himself
The axis of evil
"I have heard God" said Janus.
"You are crazy" his friend Mott replied. “What did your God say? That you are his chosen one or did he tell you that you are his son"
"My God says that I will have to be a Savior from evil"
"Savior from evil eh. Very original. I haven’t heard that since the New Testament. Quit Joking buddy. I have other things in hand. I have a whole newspaper to handle"
"I have to pass on God's message to the people. Can you publish it for me?"
"You really have gone crazy my friend. I have to arrange a meeting with a quack for you. You can tell him whatever Mr. God told you."
“I am only asking you to publish a couple of paragraphs. Surely you can manage that."
"Look. I know you for 10 years. And you are among the sanest people I know. I will publish your thing but I am going to give a humorous touch to it, or else I will be the laughing stock. And after that you have to promise me you are coming with me to the psychiatrist once it's published. Only God knows what’s gotten over you"
"God's word has to be known. He will be pleased. Spread the word that due to the degeneration of the people, the Devil wants to take over everything. The forces of devil are merciless, cruel and powerful. In USA, thousands will be dead this month. This is the word of God"
"Buddy, my newspaper is read by millions of people. There is no room for conspiracy theories in there. But your God knows that people need a laugh nowadays. I will make sure that your message is taken as a joke."
“The believers just need a sign. Just a word from the almighty is enough. You may laugh now. But once the forces of evil are at your doorstep you will realize God's word"
"I am arranging the meeting with the Doc this Sunday and your message will be "spread" tomorrow"
“Let the war with evil begin"
Two weeks later.
"Janus, you have to come with me to see the doctor. I did as you said, but you have to keep your word"
“My word is not important. The wishes of my Lord are important. His words are important."
"God, Janus. What has happened to you? Please come to your senses. You are becoming delusional. God did not speak to you. You imagined it. I have to be honest with you. You saved my son's life. And I will be forever grateful to you. And that is why I am being brutally honest with you. I haven’t slept for a week now because I am so worried. You are driving me crazy too Janus. Atleast hear me out Janus. You can watch the TV later"
"You need to watch the TV but. Maybe then you will believe God's word"
Mott froze when he saw the news shown on TV. He wouldn’t believe it. 50000 people were believed to be dead in one of the deadliest terrorist attacks. A very high intensity bomb exploded in a skyscraper in Chicago during office hours and the whole building collapsed. Mott thought that this was some sort of a cosmic practical joke till he saw the dead bodies on TV"
“This has to be the Chinese venting out their hostility. But they will pay for this. This is unimaginable"
“These are the forces of evil. My sweet lord had warned you and the people already. I was just his messenger"
"You almost seem happy that this attack happened. You think that you were right, but let me tell you that this was a random co incidence. Nothing else"
"I will leave that for the people to judge. They have read the Master's message some time back. This prophecy is enough for the faithful"
"Yes. This would be enough for most of the people who read your message. I don’t doubt it. Sure enough. 20000 people have already commented on our message about your message. Looks like they believe that you are their savior"
"And I am. This time I will communicate my sweet Master's message through the internet'
"Janus, this is not the time to fool around. I request you not to do that. You will cause panic and make the situation worse. Please be logical. I used to envy your logic. You seem to have lost it but"
"My logic is intact. That is why I am the Chosen one and you are not. The Lord tells me that a very important person of USA will die. We have to be ready for his death. I need to tell the believers to search for the successor to take on the evil"
"Surely Janus you cannot publish that on the net. Can’t you see that you just got lucky? You just got lucky. Don’t you understand it?"
"You are foolish and ignorant. I can’t waste time talking to you. A lot of responsibilities are on my shoulders. The word of the Creator has to be posted"
A week later, Mott was at his office when he heard that the President was assassinated in a suicide bomb attack. The suicide bomber was a white male"
"Maybe the Russians are involved in this Mott. Why don’t you track that line? I will send you a bunch of investigative journos" The chief Editor told Mott
"Sure Boss. That would be Ok" Mott replied. His eye had a faraway look. He knew that the Russians were not that important to him as much as the flurry of activity that would be happening on the net due to Janus' prophecies.
"Mott, we have an issue. The CIA chief just called. One of the contributors to this newspaper predicted both the events. He must have been an insider. Gosh, these are exciting times for the newspaper"
Mott had already left the place to leave for Hotel Sheraton in New York where Janus was residing. When he reached he saw Janus surrounded by a coterie of followers. Janus had started keeping a beard and hadn’t trimmed his hair for quite a while. Inspite of everything, Mott smiled. No matter how good Janus was at prophetic skills, he scored low on originality. Janus saw Mott and gave him a triumphant smile
"Mott I am glad you have come. I am scared without you. I cannot handle my follower’s adoration. You have to manage them. I am the reincarnation of an oriental deity. That’s what my followers say I m. But I don’t like to be glorified like this. I am just a messenger of
truth"
"Janus, I still don’t believe you. Do you know that there is a woman who won the national lottery twice? In today's world, prophecies like the ones you made can pretty much happen. You just got lucky with the timing"
"Mott, you disgust me. I think that you are jealous that you do not have the visions I do. Because you were my only friend I used to have, I will give you one more chance to believe me. Very soon, the axis of evil will try to do a daredevil stunt that will stun the world. When this vision comes true even you will believe me. Now I have to leave. I have an interview with the media scheduled
800 kms away, a group of people were celebrating the President's assassination. They were a secret society who called themselves Satanists. They believed that they were the descendants of Satan himself and prided themselves to be evil. The society existed for centuries and its members were quietly planning an event that would mark their arrival to open society. The proclamation from Janus in the newspaper was a sign that they were looking for all along. That got the machinery moving that they had put in place.
Their head was a nuclear Scientist for a US reactor and it was Child's play for him to steal the chemicals required for the high intensity bomb.
When Janus next proclaimed that a very important was going to be killed, the Satanists took that as a sign. A Satanist blasted himself a little distance away from the US