He awoke with a sweat. His body burnt with fire of vengeance. His mind went back to that fateful day when inter-faith riots had broken out. The scene of his friends being butchered alive by the rampaging mobs was seared in his memory.

He had a fortunate escape and sought refuge nearby. The local preacher said, service to God required revenge. The path to heaven was paved with sacrifice including one’s life or taking others’. This had only fanned his flames of fury.

He hailed from a family with reasonable means and had come to the city to study engineering. He had grown up having friends of all communities and had never paused to think of what faith he belonged to or the other belonged to before making friends. It was the person he liked for company and their faith never bothered him. Till now!

No one knew what sparked the riots. No one had tried to reason it out.  But its onset had brought out the worst in people. They did not think twice before picking up weapons, attacking strangers they never knew or killing innocents who were unconnected in any way. All that mattered was a vent for their hatred-though, if asked, they would be constrained to explain what their hatred was targeted towards. It was senseless violence as a group. Each member thought the decision to reason was not his but someone else’s responsibility. Consequently, everyone had abdicated that responsibility.

Today was a very important day. The other community would be paid in full for the wrongs done on his. God had chosen him to deliver the message.

Sitting on his floor was a cylindrical device connected with wires. It was a crude bomb assembled with things one could find in any hardware shop. It contained enough explosive to kill an army of people. The ball bearings and glass pieces added in the mix would become deadly missiles and injure or maim many more multiplying the impact of the explosion.

He armed the bomb and loaded it on to the van that would be left in a busy place in the city. As he started driving carefully, he saw vehicles slowing down at a police picket and got in line for inspection. He was nervous when he was called out and asked to drive into another lane for closer examination. The bomb was ticking away.

Intrigued? Curious to know what happens next? Look out for part 2 of this story to be posted shortly.

This is my #Post8 /#Week4 for the #MyFriendAlexa campaign. I would love to hear your thoughts on my attempt at fiction. You can read my previous posts for the campaign as well.

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