THE RENEWAL

“A few more hours and I will be out of this irony hell”. I was quite unsure of the joy I felt when the thought reverberated in my mind. I was at the superintendent’s office when the cuckoo cooed four. He was waiting in there; the stubby man looked at me out of his metal rimmed spectacles. Offering me a seat close to him, he took out a thick dusty book from one of his drawers. The nameplate, “Officer Barbrody”, was lettered in gold. He opened the book quite slowly, taking care that no dust found his nose, and he showed me a column to sign, right next to where I signed 8 years before. The ink had faded off, congruent to the joy in my life.8 years of solitude, 8 surly years. Memories gushed into my mind, with incredible momentum, just like a waterfall. It was quite clean a plan, no loopholes. The Queens diamond at the Citycenter Museum was the burgle. It was worth a billion.Franko, Sarah and Nicky were in the plot. All went according to plan. I was ready on the roof. Nicky created the false alarm and aroused the guards, drawing them off the exhibit room. Sarah had already hacked into the system.She disabled the lasers,and shut down the cameras. I was lowered into the exhibit room by Franko,40 seconds was all that I had got. I snatched the diamond off its stand and replaced it with the fake one. On the thumbs up, Franko switched on the motor to pull me up.It started with a buzz,whirred and pulled me up,the sirens were approaching from a distance.At about 12 feet from the ground, the whirr started to lose pace,and it halted. Gasping for breath and sweating all over, I was swaying in mid air when the cops arrived.

I still remembered the sound of the hammer on the court-table. “Adrian has been sentenced to 8 years at the Peaktown Prison on charges of theft”.

The tap on my shoulder pulled me out from the tangled web of memories.

It was quite difficult for me to make the signature. I was unable to hold the pen properly.

I marked something on the paper, which came close to my sign, and thanked Barbrody.

The smell of freedom was ineffable.I turned back to look at the huge metal gate.The white walls of the prison and the shining gates are so nice a camouflage to the ruddy acts inside.

The sunshine was soft on my chest. The warm autumn air swirled around me like a whirlpool. I was celebrating freedom, enjoying the feasts of Nature, when a white Chevy rode up to me. It was Nicky. “Hop in man”, he shouted.

We were driving downtown, when he asked me, “ So.. you heard about Sar…”.I raised my palm at that, and I told him sternly, I did not want to hear her name.The letter was still in my pocket. “Goodbye Ad, Franko and I are flying to Austria,SORRY!-Sarah”. She ditched me so coolly, the witch. I loved her so unconditionally yet she repaid me like this. “So where to?”, Nicky questioned. I replied peacefully. “The church”. The car screeched to a stop and he looked at me with bulged eyes and an open mouth. “What? To Where, I thought I heard u say church.” . “I did.”. “What’s with you man?Did the cops take out all the spirits in you? I thought you were back on the team”. “There is no team.I advice you to live shipshape. Trust me, you don’t want to go in there”. I smiled at the rear view mirror and my image smiled back at me.Oh! how I wish that was fate there, in the mirror.

We parked the car close to the entrance.The huge spires threw down their shadows on me.Was it a welcome? I did not know.I walked into the church slowly, with all respect, it was for the first time in 20 years.I had faint memories of the last time my mom brought me here.She had gripped my hand tightly, to keep me from running away.She knelt down at the altar and prayed . I knelt down at the altar. I never came back, there was no one to bring me here after my mom was shot dead.The memories of my dear mother, the only love I ever had, brought a paroxysm of tears down my cheek.

I closed my eyes and began to pray. "Dear Jesus, I was a thief, I had no one to teach me how to pray, You took my mother away when I was just 3,and after that,all that I was taught was to pick locks and to drill through safes. I am here with a new soul, I know that you can see my old self behind the high walls of prison.Please help me follow your path of righteousness and all the 9...oh no..10 commandments the God gave the world.UPLIFT ME FROM THIS DANK DITCH OF SINS MY LORD.”

I felt a drop running down my cheek and it stopped at the chin,as if it were waiting for someone.Some other drops joined the leader and it fell on my folded hands.

Quite suddenly, I began to feel different; the air around me was rendered balmy by some undefined force. I felt a thick warm drop on my thumb. I was unable to open my eyes. I had a vision, I saw an intense white light, It seemed much brighter than the sun,but it did not hurt to look at that extra-humane beam of love. A very radiant palm stretched out towards me, but there was something more to it.

I was stunned to senses by Nicky. He was shaking me violently; his eyes were fixed on the altar wall. Horror was calling out from his eyes. The sight was incredulous.

It was the crucifix of Christ on the altar, right above where I was kneeling. It was bleeding, from head to toe. The floor was flooded with blood, Christ was bleeding profusely from his arms and feet, the nails in them were incarnadine in no time. The hands, the hands..........., the nail mark on it, was just like in the one I had in my vision.

We ran out to get the Rector of the Basilica. The tall bearded man stared at us in disbelief when we narrated the incident. He led us back to the chapel, determined to see it himself.My jaws dropped open when we reached the chapel.The floor was spotlessly clean. The Crucifix was gleaming in the sunshine which poured in through the stained glass windows above it. It was as white as the marble in which it was carved. There was not a single drop of blood anywhere. The old priest snapped on us for lying and hurried back to the monastery.

The miracle had switched Nicky to speechlessness. He was wearing an expression of speculation when we walked back to the car. He threw the keys to me in reaction to my asking for it. I was sure that he has not yet digested what had happened.

I put myself in the drivers seat, and rev’d up the engine. The roar of the engine announced the happiness of my soul. Eternal satisfaction, the immaterial joy, it was inexplicable.I looked at the mirror,and this time, I think I REALLY FOUND FATE smiling back at me.I lifted my hands up to the steering, and then it caught my eye…my thumb, it was stained RED!