A/N: This is a story. Thoughts of the character are in italics. End of A/N.
Under the gleaming sunshine, a man ambles down the street. He passes by two young women who are engrossed in talking.
“Karma is a bitch” he hears one of them saying.
He stops walking and turns slowly. His face displays disgust.
How bold of them to think that I am a female.
Photo by Nathan Lemon on Unsplash
He grits his teeth. It makes no difference to the girls as he is rarely visible to humans. Since he knows that, he controls his anger and continues, “Tsk, children nowadays”
Karma then pulls out a paper from his pocket. Talking to himself, he says, “Hmm, let’s check the tasks for today. Now, whose turn, is it?”
He glances at the paper and shoots up in the sky.
Karma reaches on to a porch of a house. He reads the name of the house to verify if he is at the correct place. On cue, the house’s door opens and Joe walks out of the house.
“Who are you?” Joe blurts, not expecting to meet anyone at this time.
Karma gives a disgusted smile.
Oh, someone can see me again. What a nuisance.
“It is good to see you again, Joe.” said Karma.
“Who are you? And I have never seen you in my life!” asked Joe.
Joe takes in the physique of Karma. He is wearing a plain grey t-shirt and blue jeans. Although the weather radiates its warmth, Karma brings chills to his spine.
I should be wary of this man.
Karma closed his eyes and took deep breath to control himself.
Time wasting pathetic humans.
Karma instantly smiles. “Hey, I am Karma, nice to meet you.” he says.
“Who Karma, I don’t know any of that sort of person.” Joe wonders.
“Ah, I am the pay back guy.” — Karma moves his hands subconsciously- “Karma gets the payback, that guy.” he speaks.
“And, am I supposed to believe it? Look, at this moment, you are trespassing my property. Are you leaving or should I call the security?” yelled Joe in spite feeling weird.
I want to leave too human, but unfortunately you can see me for today.
In a flash, Karma comes near Joe and touches him. Joe is flashed of all the consequences of his actions.
The punishment when he made fun of a boy when he was in school. The reward when he shared his food with a homeless person. He could see the entire ledger of his doings and the results.
Joe felt energy drained out of him. The man who claimed Karma is really is — and he dare not say anything against him.
What wrong did I do for Karma to come here?
Joe turned his head to Karma and asked slowly, “Why is it that, only I can see you?”
Karma stayed silent. He instead offers his hand.
Joe was confused with a lot of questions in his mind. He had to get answers. Seeing no choice, he complies with Karma and took his hand.
Karma shoots up to the sky again along with Joe.
They land on a roof top of a fabulous villa. Joe looks around the place. It was a windy place with half of the floor covered with glass. He peeks into it.
He sees a man in a suit with hands on his hips. A lady stood facing that man. While he could not hear the conversation, he could make out that the lady was trying to protect herself from him.
Joe realized why they were here. It was the payback time for the man in suits.
He turned to Karma to see what he will do next. He snapped his fingers and points Joe to see into the glass floor.
Joe could now hear what was happening below him. The thunderous slap to the lady made him shocked.
“Wow, that is cruel and unexpected!” cried Joe.
Karma yawns. It was everyday he came across this. Humans belittling other humans. Mocking other humans. Killing their own kind. Nothing was new to him.
The number of bad deeds always ousted the good ones.
“Payback time” Karma said and snapped his fingers again.
The man’s phone begins to ring and after listening the other side, he begins to pace.
Joe could hear the man shouting on his phone, “What! All the shares? What has happened? Who the hell did this?!” And the shouting continued. He sees the man running out of the house. The lady plops on the floor and begins to sob.
“Ah, I was stupid.” the lady’s sighs in relief.
Karma grabs Joe by hand and shoots up in sky. For a moment, Joe felt safe when they reached the porch of his house.
He sits by the stairs while Karma stood over, overpowering his shadow on the ground.
Joe wanted to ask what happened. And why Karma showed him this? Was he showing what can he do?
“He was a rich man. I have made him now bankrupt.” Karma breaks the silence.
“Oh, I see. Do you mind telling in detail?” answers Joe.
“Sigh. He was harassing his wife for 7 years every day.”
Joe stands in an instant. “7 years?! That’s a long time! Why you did not pay him back immediately?” he exclaimed.
“Strangely, she was forgiving him every time he did that. It abated every wrong thing he did to her.”
Joe was able to link why she had called herself as stupid. She was stupid to forgive him every time he had hit her. She could have freed herself from the man earlier.
“Now” -Karma instantly came too close for comfort– “you should think about yourself” he said to his face. He smirks.
Joe’s eyes widen on the realization. He was mentally torturing a subordinate at his work. Finding faults for no reason. He even verbally abused his subordinate just because he wanted to steam off his anger.
But isn’t a mental harassment different from physical harassment? All he did was call names. He did not hit like the man in suit did.
“I did not hit my subordinate” Joe said.
Karma booms with laughter.
“What did you say?” He laughed again. “My, oh my, you drove your subordinate to suicide! But someone stopped him at the nick of the time.”
Sweat began to form on Joe’s head. His body temperature began to increase lightly. He never thought his words would make such an impact. It started only with a heat of moment.
But I began to enjoy it later.
He mocked his work. He made sure that the subordinate stayed long hours to make it better, which was already perfect. And the list goes on. Joe never realized when he was deep into the vertigo of his habits.
His subordinate did not forgive him yet because he never asked for it. He did not even feel sorry for what he did. Now, it came back to bite him. Regret fills his heart. He shivers and collapses on the ground, scared to look at Karma.
He could also feel Karma did not use his power to his full potential yet. What if he decides to blow off steam on him?
What have I done? Thank God, somebody saved the guy.
As if reading his mind, Karma laughs.” You know, only making bankrupt is not the way. I can do many other things. My powers are not limited. I can strike in many different ways.” he speaks.
Yeah, I know the extreme ways Karma works. The more vigorous the action is, the amplified the result is.
“But why am I special enough to see all this?” Joe asked.
“Somewhere out there, someone wanted to believe that you should be given the chance to redeem.” Karma replied.
He instantly thought of the subordinate who had for no reason, once said to him, “I still believe you are a good man.”
He ignored it that time. But now it made him drop to his knees. He still has a chance.
Joe begins to wail; how stupid he has been. He looks up in the sky, grateful that the subordinate had been saved. Even though he treated his subordinate badly, he still wanted to believe he is a good person. He should have been more considerate of others.
Karma or not, I do not have any right to belittle anyone. It is immoral.
After reorganizing his thoughts, he slowly mumbled, “I would ask for his forgiveness. I had no right to treat him badly.”
Karma listened to him with his keen sense of hearing. With his job done, he has no reason to stay here.
If humans could only do good to each other, I would enjoy my job too and do not have to think that humans are stupid.
He turns around to leave but feels his hand being grabbed. Although Joe looks at him in fear, he cannot keep the question buried in his heart.
“But I never forgave my boss?” Joe pleads.
Karma gives a smug smile. “Why are you bothered about that, when I am here?”
A/N: Please let me know your views on the story. I welcome your thoughts!
On a side note, be kind to everybody you meet.