Martin nodded. “And you say it happened in your office?”
“Where else do you think it would have happened, Martin?”
“I apologise, ma’am. But I am really trying to understand what happened. You see, I have been in my office all this while and I did not notice any fluctuations of any sort.”
Katrina blinked at him. “You mean you did not notice the fluctuations in the light? It was very pronounced. Surely, it must have affected other offices.”
Martin shook his head. “If it did, other staff would have complained as well.”
There was a knock on the door. “Yes, come in,” Katrina said.
A man wearing overalls and carrying a tool box came into the office. “Good day, ma’am. I am the electrician. Martin said you wanted me to come to your office.”
“Yes. Yes, please come right in. It’s my lights and my laptop. They were flickering like crazy, as if someone was playing with the switches,” Katrina said.
The man came in and shut the door. “The lights were flickering?”
“Yes, they all were,” Katrina replied.
The man frowned. “But I changed all the lights just last week. They cannot be burning out already.”
“Well, maybe they are. I don’t know,” Katrina said.
The man checked the switches and then the bulbs. After a while, he shook his head. “No, they are all in perfect shape, ma’am.”
Katrina glanced at Martin. “Are you sure? What about the laptop?”
“What happened to your laptop?” the electrician asked.
“The screen was disoriented,” Katrina said.
“Disoriented?” the electrician repeated as he examined the laptop.
“Yes. Like something was interfering with its operation,” Katrina explained.
The electrician brought out a meter from his tool box. He attached it to the laptop and began to run some tests. After a while, he put the meter away and shook his head again. “I am sorry, ma’am. Everything is just fine with your laptop as well.”
“It is? But that is strange. I am sure about what I saw,” Katrina said.
“Well, your laptop is in good working condition. When did you notice the lights were flickering?” the electrician asked.
“Not quite long ago. Maybe about five or ten minutes ago,” Katrina said.
The electrician looked at Martin. “Have you been in the office within the past thirty minutes?”
Martin nodded. “Yes, I have been indoors all day.”
“Did you notice any lights flickering?” the electrician asked.
Martin shook his head. “No, I didn’t.”
“Well, ma’am, I don’t think it was anything serious. You know, whenever there is a surge in power like the one you mentioned, it always affects other offices. This is so because of the central wiring. But in this case, it is isolated. So that means it is nothing serious to worry about,” the electrician said.
“You are sure?” Katrina asked.
The electrician nodded and picked up his bag. “You don’t have anything to worry about, ma’am.”
After they had both left, Katrina returned to her desk and sat down. She turned on her laptop and began to work on it. But after a couple of minutes, she found herself gazing at the lights again.
The lights were not flickering, but she found herself visualizing the way they had flickered continuously not too long before.
Katrina looked at the package on the table. Still filled with curiosity, Katrina pushed aside her laptop and pulled the package closer. She began to open it again, but suddenly changed her mind. She glanced at the wall clock. The time was just a couple of minutes after four in the afternoon.
Katrina packed up her laptop and picked up her bag and the package.
As she stepped out of her office, Martin stepped out of a cubicle. “Leaving already?”
Katrina nodded. “I am going to see if I can get some rest at home. I’ll try to do some work when I am refreshed.”
Martin smiled. “That is okay, Katrina. Besides, the day is already over. You might as well call it a day and get some well-deserved rest. How about your office lights? Did you notice any more fluctuations?”
“No, Martin. The lights are perfect now.”
Martin pointed at the package in her hand. “Did you order something?”
“No. I think it is a gift.”
“A gift? What is it?”
“I wish I knew, Martin. I’ll find out when I get home.”
“I see. You’re saving the surprise for yourself alone, right?”
“Well, it is my gift, isn’t it?”
Martin nodded. “Yes, you are right, Katrina. It is your gift.”
Katrina continued to walk towards the exit. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“Don’t forget to tell us what the gift was,” Martin said.
At the car park, Katrina got into her car. She then placed her belongings on the seat next to her before starting the car.
Just as she was about to reverse out of her parking spot, something caught her eye, making her brake suddenly and shift the car into park. It was the package. It seemed to have moved on its own.
Katrina frowned as she looked closely at it. She recalled that when she had entered her car, she had placed it on top of her laptop, next to her bag. However, the package seemed to have moved and was now underneath the bag.
This is wrong, Katrina thought to herself. The package was supposed to be by the side of her bag and not under her bag. Katrina reached to the side and pulled the package from underneath her bag.
Satisfied that the package was once more visible, she proceeded to engage her gear into reverse and drive out of the car park.
She had driven for just a short distance out of the premises when her eyes strayed to the side and she caught sight of her belongings. She gasped and slammed on her brakes again.
The package was now underneath the bag again.
The engine of the car was still running as Katrina leaned over and pulled out the package from underneath the bag. She held it in her hand for a few seconds, wondering how it could be that the package had gotten under her bag again.
Out of curiosity, she held the package close to her ear and shook it.
Katrina thought she heard something move within the package. She was not too sure.
She then placed it on her lap and opened the cover. The red piece of note was still folded on top as she had left it earlier in the office.
Katrina looked around just to make sure that no one was coming around. She then began to open the red piece of paper.
As Katrina flipped open the red piece of paper, her car began to splutter and shudder. It was as if the engine was running low on gas. Katrina held onto the paper and looked at her dashboard. The fuel gauge indicated that the tank was still full.
She turned her attention to the paper and began to open it again. This time around, Katrina noticed that the engine was spluttering and the electronic indicators were acting erratically. She closed the paper, and everything was back to normal again.
A smile began to play on her lips as she picked up the paper again. Obviously, someone must have decided to play some very shrewd prank on me, Katrina was thinking.
First it was in the office, and now it was happening in her car.
And the strange occurrences seemed to be tied to this piece of paper, and maybe the package in her hands.
Katrina shook her head defiantly. “Nobody is going to get the satisfaction of scaring me today,” she said out loud with a firm resolve before forcefully opening the piece of paper.
As the paper flipped open, the car shuddered again. But this time it was so violent that Katrina had to hold onto her dashboard. It seemed as if some invisible hand of a giant had gripped her car and was shaking it violently. At the same time, as if in sync, the dashboard’s controls and indicators began to flicker and display random messages and functions. The inner lights were going on and off rapidly.
And then, just as everything had started without warning, the strange occurrences suddenly stopped abruptly.
Katrina’s hands were still on the dashboard. She shook her head to clear her mind from the drowsiness of the violent shaking and looked around her environment. She was still in the car, but the vehicle was now dead.
She turned the key in the ignition. There was no response. None of the lights and indicators on the dashboard were working. She tried to turn on the interior lights but none of them responded.
Katrina sighed aloud. “Great. Now my car is down,” she said aloud to herself.
How was she going to get home? she wondered.
She picked up her smartphone and tried to dial a number. The phone did not respond. The phone was also dead. She tried to turn it on, but it refused to respond.
Exasperated, she tossed the phone aside. “When did the battery run down so fast?” Katrina asked. She was sure that it was still well charged before she left her office.
She looked down at the package on her lap. It was still there where she had left it all this while. On the floor, she could see the red piece of paper. It was now open.
Katrina reached down and picked it up.
She turned it over and began to read what was written on it.
“Katrina, you should never have thought of breaking my heart.
For dare thinking of doing this to me, I break everything around you.
Your life will remain broken from now on.
Always,
Paul.”
Katrina frowned as she read the note again.
Paul?
Who?
Katrina could not control herself as she began to curse out loud. A sudden wave of rage engulfed her and she squeezed the red piece of paper and tossed it away. She also pushed the package off her lap and it fell on the floor of the car.
Katrina was fuming as she looked outside the window. She gripped her hair and began to scream out loud, like someone who was deranged.
After a while, she stopped her screaming and tried to control herself.
“So, Paul was the one playing all these stupid pranks on me?” Katrina asked aloud.
She shook her head and bit her lip. She needed to tell him just how she felt about his pranks. She could still remember the wording on the note.
Your life will remain broken from now on.
She shook her head. “Who on earth is Paul to make such a remark about me? Was it just because I decided to end our relationship?”
She picked up her phone and tried to make a call. It was still dead.
“No problem. I will just drive straight to the idiot’s house this evening and tell him what a broken loser he is,” Katrina said, turning the key in the ignition. There was no response.
“What the hell is wrong with this car?” Katrina screamed.
She could feel her heart racing as she looked around, frantically thinking of what to do. At that moment, her eye caught sight of the package where it lay on the floor of the car, just close to her leg. Something was glinting and reflecting light.
Katrina bent down and picked up the package. As she lifted it up, something slipped out of it and fell on her lap. She dropped the empty package and picked up the item on her lap.
It was made of a black, hard wood. Its edges were rough and uneven. There were strange markings on its sides.
Katrina then turned it over. She was suddenly startled at seeing the woman in the glass looking back at her. But when she got a hold of her emotions, she realized that she was looking at herself in a mirror.
Katrina relaxed and looked at the mirror. There were several cracks on it, which made Katrina’s reflected image look haphazard and queer.
“Of all the gifts that a loser like Paul could think of sending to me, it is a broken mirror?” Katrina asked.
She kept the mirror down and tried to turn on her phone. It refused to come on. She then tried to start her car again. That too refused to come on.
Katrina thought of what she could do. As an idea came to her, she snapped her fingers. “Of course, yes. What was wrong with me all this while? I could rush back to the office and call someone to have a look at this damned car. And while I am there I could also make use of my office phone to call that stupid Paul and let him know just how I feel about his stupid gift and pranks,” she said to herself.
Katrina then picked up her bag and laptop. Just as she was about to open the door, her eye caught sight of the broken mirror. “Well, why not? I can take you along with me,” Katrina said as she picked it up.
She opened the door and got out.
It was when she turned to leave that she heard the sound of screeching tires. And then there was a loud bang, as if a huge hammer had hit a huge drum. It happened so suddenly and the sound was so loud that its echo reverberated continuously, like something not too far away.
Except that it was happening so close to her.
In the midst of the shrill tire screeching and the sudden, loud bang, Katrina found herself being hurled backwards by some invisible force. She landed hard on the bare ground and screamed out loud as she bruised her hands and arms.
CHAPTER 2 There was smoke everywhere and Katrina was coughing. As she tried to clear her head of the dizziness, she could hear footsteps running towards her direction.
“Are you okay, miss?” someone asked. Katrina looked up into the faces of several people. They were not familiar to her. She only nodded and muttered something incoherent at them. She looked in the direction from where she had been flung.
Her car was now a complete wreck. Its windscreen and windows were shattered, and its tires were completely deflated. Behind it was an SUV whose front fender had also been damaged.
Katrina struggled to sit up again. “Take it easy, miss. Are you sure you are okay?” someone asked again.
Katrina looked up into the face of a man. “Well, I think you should be the one to tell me. I mean, someone has just crashed into my car, and I have just survived being flung quite a distance. So you tell me how I am supposed to feel.”
“I apologise, miss. But what were you doing parked in the middle of the road like that?” the man asked.
Katrina felt her face redden with rage. “Parked? Excuse me, mister. Did you say I was parked in the middle of the road?”
The man nodded, and so did the other people with him. “Yes, you were parked in the middle of the road. You do know that this is a very busy road at this time of the day.”
Katrina remembered the engine that refused to start. “But I was not parked there. I was stuck there. My engine refused to start.”
“Why did you not put on your hazard lights?” another person asked.
“My engine was dead. Everything was dead. Nothing was working,” Katrina said.
“Then you should have gotten out of the vehicle and put up some warning signs, like your triangle,” another person said.
“But I did get out of the vehicle,” Katrina protested.
The man closest to her shook his head. “But there was no sign to warn other motorists of the danger you posed. You are lucky to be alive. I don’t want to imagine what would have happened if you were still inside your car, or even close to it.”
Katrina shook her head. “I was close to it. Maybe I was lucky not to have been too close to it.”
Someone stepped forward. “Are these yours?”
Katrina nodded as she identified her bag and laptop, which were handed to her. “Thank you.”
“What about this mirror?” another person said.
“Mirror?” Katrina repeated.
“Yes. Sorry, it seems to have broken when you fell,” the person said, handing it over to her.
Katrina collected it and looked into the broken glass. As she did, she gasped as she saw what looked like a replay of a video. It was all playing out in the mirror, like a broadcast of a programme. Katrina saw herself getting out of her car, holding her items. And then the SUV came around the corner and began to rac
e towards where she had left her car.
Katrina’s back was facing the oncoming vehicle. And just before impact, its tires screeched loudly. Katrina saw herself suddenly frightened. The SUV rammed into her car forcefully, just as Katrina was flung into the air and fell on the hard ground.
“Are you with us, miss?” someone asked.
Katrina blinked as she seemed to snap out of a trance. She blinked again and stared at the mirror in her hand. All she could now see was a reflection of herself.
“Miss?” the same person said.
Katrina looked up at the same man. “Yes? Were you talking to me?”
“I was asking what we could do for you,” the man said.
“You were?” Katrina asked.
The man nodded. “I was suggesting that we take you to a hospital. You still seem shaken by the accident, sort of lost and out of focus. Worst still, you might have been injured from the fall.”
Katrina stood up from the ground. “No. I will be fine.”
The man looked at her. “Are you sure about that, miss?”
Katrina nodded and looked at the wreckage. “I am sure. But my car. What about my car?”
The man nodded. “Yes. I was about to get to that. I was the one who hit you from behind. So technically, I am supposed to handle the damages.”
“Thank you very much. But it is so badly wrecked,” Katrina said.
“Well, isn’t it better that it was the car alone that was wrecked? If you were injured, I doubt if anyone would be talking about the condition of the car right now,” the man said.
Katrina ruffled her hair. “You are right about that. Thank you.”
“It is all right, miss. Here, have my card. I am Nicolas,” the man said, handing her a card.
Katrina collected it. “Thank you, Nicolas. I am Katrina.”
“I am going to call some mechanics and towing vans to come look at both vehicles right away,” Nicolas said, bringing out his smartphone.
“That would be great, Nicolas,” Katrina replied.
As Nicolas began to dial some numbers on his phone, Katrina caught sight of the broken mirror again. At the same moment, she recalled the message that was on the red piece of paper: Your life will remain broken from now on.
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