THE OTHER BEING - KARNO

It was 2 a.m. in the morning and he needed to get out. He needed to get away from the space he had been obligated to occupy for the past three hours, in order not to be noticed or heard. He went to the pile of UFO books and novels he had collected ever since the third grade and started rummaging through them just to get out of that state of mind.
He selected one such book, and started whimsically flipping through the pages to get him to ‘happy place’, but it was all in vain. He threw the book onto his bed and became more agitated.
He was frantic and made his way out to his second-floor balcony. This was a daily routine for him. It was time for another nicotine break for the nineteen-year-old-teenager.
“Fresh air”, Rashib sighed jokingly as he lit the stick and stared out at the front yard and the night sky, taking a drag or two.
It was a cloudy and windy night. His parents’ yard looked exactly how it had when he moved out to college two years ago; clad with a clothesline, Ma’s terracotta puppets resting on the lawn and a mud chime hanging from the branch of a jackfruit tree his father had planted some twenty years back, and with the crab grass swaying, the front yard seemed alive at the moment.
One puff.
Rashib’s mind was full of thoughts –about college, his subjects and the recent phone conversation he had had.
Do I want to know her anymore? I spoke the truth. She asked me for it. Now she refuses to talk to me. What did she mean by ‘We’re good friends still’? I mean, when exactly were we friends, let alone adding an adjective to it?
Two more puffs.
He looked up toward the night sky to rid himself of these thoughts.
… I mean, I don’t even care for her. It was just that time when we... no. I do not care for her; otherwise it’d be…”
Aah!” The cigarette had died with a flurry of sparks burning the boy’s fingers. He flung the butt out onto the pavement, missing the neighbourhood garbage bin by a few feet.
He stood out on his balcony for a few more minutes just before deciding to withdraw into his room, when he heard some rustling sounds and then a CRASH. He edged to the railing of the balcony and tried to locate the place where the noise came from. He could still hear some rattling sounds when he went to wake his younger brother up.
His brother, Kisho, younger by two years, woke up with a start at the constant thumping at his door. Before he could let Kisho even reason with him, Rashib grabbed his younger brother by the arm and pulled him into a frantic run down two flights of staircases into the living room, out the main door, into the front yard and then out of the gate to where the neighbourhood garbage bin stood; now lying on the pavement with its contents scattered all around it. Apart from this, there was still that rattling-rustling sound, only now it was louder.
They could also sense something that was constantly in motion and Kisho asked his older brother if they were out to catch an alley-cat and then mumbled some swear words at him for being awoken at such an ‘unearthly’ hour.
The truth of the matter was that Rashib hoped for it to be a mangy little cat that was looking up a late night snack, but he wasn’t sure enough. His mind wandered back to all the books on UFO’s he used to read as a kid and how UFO incidents began as innocent little incidents.
Now his curiosity got the better of him;, he plunged towards an animated object covered in filth, picked it up and darted towards the house. Kisho followed suit. They ran into the house, locked the main door and made their way up to Rashid’s room.
He kept the thing on his study table and moved back, keeping a safe distance from it.
Both sides were now stationary, waiting for the other to react. The tension in the room was building up. Rashid, in a complete state of turmoil,was constantly looking to and from his UFO books and then towards this new object. Kisho simply looked on, still sleepy.
Rashid’s eyes never left the body of filth that lay on his table. Then came that familiar rustling sound. What happened next was something Kisho would never let his older brother forget for the rest of his life.
Rashid screamed when he saw their guest walking towards them. It took 3 steps forward then made a back-flip and walked another 3 steps ahead followed by another back-flip; and it kept on doing this except when it stopped for a moment to flap its hands.
Kisho, now filled with courage, went up to their guest and cleaned off the filth it was covered with. Beneath all that filth was an old electronic penguin, a toy that was quite a rage with the kids in their neighbourhood. But this one had been discarded, probably by some rich kid who got a better toy to make his day.
The next day saw Rashid putting away all his UFO books into a carton in the basement.

(ENDS)

Avy comments
YOU CAN TRY TO BUILD THIS INTO YOUR FINAL STORY BUT I HAVE SERIOUS DOUBTS. YOU CAN TRY – LET ME SEE WHERE YOU REACH. THERE IS SOME POTENTIAL HERE BUT THE PENGUIN AND STUFF IS FACILE.
I SUGGEST YOU BEGIN WITH A STORY THAT EMERGES OUT OF THE SPACE YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO LOOK INTO IN SCIENCE.