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"And the award goes to Jimmy. He has won this award for the fourth time in a row. What an achievement," the announcer says in excitement.
Jimmy jumps out of his seat and runs toward the stage and grabs the award. He kisses the award and says, "I would like to thank everyone for this award. Getting this award four times in a row is a big achievement but……….."
"Jimmy sir. Please wake up!" The maid shouts.
Jimmy wakes up in shock and looks around. He finds his maid cleaning the room.
"Was it a dream? What a lovely dream it was. Margret, you should have allowed me to sleep so that I could have completed my dream."
"Dream? Today is a busy day. Did you forget? Tonight is the award night. Please get ready," Margret says.
"Yes, I am excited for tonight. If I win tonight, it will be four awards in a row and history will be created," Jimmy says in excitement.
"Yes, sir. Now, please get ready."
That night, at the grand auditorium the award night begins. Various celebrities arrive on the red carpet and greet each other. Press is clicking photos and taking interviews of various people.
Jimmy arrives at the auditorium. His arrival grabs media attention. He arrives on the red carpet.
"So Jimmy, are you excited about tonight?" One of the media persons asks.
"Yes, I am excited. Why wouldn't I be excited? Today, I may create history," Jimmy laughs.
Another media person asks, "Jimmy, this time you have tough competition with the newcomer Ross. Are you scared that he may win the best actor award and break your streak?"
"Ross? Who is he? No one can break my streak," Jimmy shouts.
Then only, Ross arrives on the red carpet and the media turns attention towards him. Ross is a simple and sweet person who made a debut in the movie industry and got nominated for the best actor category. Jimmy looks at Ross, makes a bad face, and goes inside the auditorium.
The auditorium is filled with a large audience. The function moves smoothly and the time for the announcement of the best actor arrives.
The presenters arrive at the stage and open the envelope. They read, "And the winner is……"
Jimmy stands and starts walking towards the stage.
"......the winner is Ross."
The auditorium fills with the noise of claps. Jimmy stops and is lost. He is unable to digest what he just heard. He looks at the stage where the presenters are giving the award to Ross. He is just standing and starts feeling uneasy. He looks behind and sees everyone in the auditorium laughing at him.
He shouts, "Stop! Why are you all laughing? This isn't true. You can't do this to me. This is fraud. This …this…..," he faints and falls on the ground.
He wakes up on his bed the next morning and finds Margret sitting in front of him.
"What happened?"
"You don't remember anything?" Margret says. She points to the television where the news channel is covering the previous night's drama.
"I did that? And the award? Who won it?" Jimmy says in amazement.
"Ross won the award and you did this drama," Margret brings juice for him and keeps it on the table beside him.
"That's not possible. I should have won that award. It belonged to me."
Jimmy opens his mobile and finds some emails. He opens them and gets shocked.
He screams, "No. This isn't happening. What the hell."
"What happened, sir? Why are you shouting?" Margret asks.
"Why is this happening to me? What did I do wrong?" Jimmy becomes emotional.
Margaret opens a news app where she finds the news of companies removing him from the position of brand ambassador. He lost all the deals he was a part of.
Jimmy doesn't eat anything the whole day. He doesn't receive any calls, not even from his so-called friends who were with him when he was famous. He starts feeling broken and falls into depression. He stops eating food and instead starts taking drugs along with alcohol and cigarettes. He keeps thinking the whole day while sitting on the sofa.
One night, he picks up his phone and dials a number.
"Hello, Jennifer."
"Jimmy, how are you?" she says in an excited tone.
"Can I talk to you? Something is bothering me."
"Yes, friends should share if something is bothering them," she says.
"I thought I don't have anyone but I have you. Thank you," Jimmy says in a sad tone.
"Shut up, earlier also you acted the same. No need to thank me. Tell me what's bothering you?"
"I feel lonely, Jennifer. What should I do?"
"Poor Jimmy. Do you remember what I used to tell you earlier? Don't overthink and keep yourself busy with something," she says.
"But how? I don't want to overthink but my fucking brain doesn't listen to me. And about being busy, all my work was snatched from me."
Jennifer doesn't say anything for some time and then says, " See Jimmy. You have to change or it will create problems in the future. Keep yourself busy with anything."
"You please don't leave me. I have no one left except you," Jimmy starts crying.
"Jimmy, why would I leave you? Don't talk senselessly. I will always be there for you but if I am busy sometime what will you do? That's why I am saying that you need to change this behavior. It will be for your good only."
Jimmy doesn't say anything for some time after which Jennifer says, "It will be better if you sleep right now. Take proper rest and try to change yourself starting tomorrow. Good night."
AFTER 1 MONTH
Jimmy is nowhere to be seen. Almost everyone in the industry has forgotten him. Ross is now a big actor and is shining everywhere. Every director wants him in his or her movie. Every company wants him as its brand ambassador. His value has increased. On the other side, Jimmy's health has worsened due to constant smoking, drugs, and alcohol. Due to this behavior, Margret has also left him. He's all alone. Even Jennifer hasn't called him
since last month. He's carrying a heavy heart in the silence. He has given up and doesn't have any will to do anything. His apartment looks shabby as if it is not cleaned in the last few days and the openings are covered due to which there's darkness inside the apartment.
He is lying on the sofa and smoking a cigarette. He has lost weight and has grown hair and a beard. There's a knock on the door. He doesn't respond. The knock on the door continues. After a few minutes, he stands and walks toward the door in a crippled manner. He opens the door and a flash blurs his vision. Before he could understand anything, the cameraman clicks some pictures of him and runs away. Jimmy closes the door and tears start falling out of his eyes. He thinks, "I have become a joke now. Once these people waited to click my pictures and now they come, knock, click and run away. Why is this happening to me? Why? Everyone left me. Why? I have no one."
He wipes his tears, washes his face, and wears the same clothes he wore on award night. He leaves his apartment and goes to Ross's apartment. The guard doesn't let him in. He shouts at the guard and tries to run inside but the guard catches him and beats him. Ross runs outside and stops the guards.
He picks up Jimmy and says, "Jimmy, is that you? What have you done to yourself?"
Jimmy doesn't say anything.
"Come inside. Let's talk," Ross takes Jimmy inside his apartment.
Ross's apartment is bigger than Jimmy's and full of expensive things. Jimmy and Ross sit on the sofa. Ross's secretary and some other friends are in the room. Everyone is amazed to see Jimmy as no one has seen him since last month.
"Ross, can we talk alone?"
"Oh, you want to talk alone. No problem. Everyone, please give us space," Ross says in a softer tone. Everyone leaves the room.
"Where were you hiding Jimmy? Everyone was worried about you," Ross says.
"Please don't lie. No one was worried about me. No one was missing me. No one wanted me," Jimmy says in a lower tone.
"That's not the case. You are overthinking. Everyone will be happy to see you back."
"Just fucking stop," Jimmy shouts.
Ross doesn't say anything.
Jimmy shouts, "You have friends, family, a loving partner who all support you, and so much more. They tell you to be grateful…."
Ross interrupts, "What the hell are you talking about? You also have all these people."
Jimmy shouts, "Everyone left me. That one night changed everything in my life. Do you know what it's like to be lonely? You struggle with feelings of loneliness. You blame yourself for feeling this way. After all, you shouldn’t feel lonely – you have so much in life, so much love. But deep inside, you feel an emptiness that starts to consume you day by day. You feel lonely every day and night. Then you feel ashamed because it makes you sound ungrateful. You wish you could just feel happy and accepted. You want to feel fulfilled and satisfied, you want to feel less lonely. But you don’t know how. This feeling consumes you and turns you into your worst enemy. Every day feels like torture filled with endless loneliness. And you don’t know how to stop it. You lock yourself in your apartment with your thoughts hoping that this feeling is temporary and will fix itself. You hope that one day you’ll wake up and not feel lonely at all. You pray that this day will come. And that it will feel like all the clouds that were separating you from happiness will disperse in seconds. You patiently wait for that day to come and guess what. That day never comes."
"Wow! So, you read all this about loneliness in an article or what?" Ross chuckles, "See, Jimmy. You are just overthinking. There's no such thing. Everyone is lonely at some point in time. It only depends on one's perception. In your case, you are overthinking. Nothing else."
"I am overthinking? That's rubbish. The truth is that you took everything from me. Fame, money, films, and most importantly, people. But what's the fun of telling you? You won't understand," Jimmy raises his voice and punches Ross.
Ross falls to the ground and his nose starts bleeding. Jimmy kicks his face and blood comes out of Ross's mouth.
"Now, what are you trying to tell me? About the pain?" Ross chuckles.
"Fame has made you mad. You won't understand," Jimmy leaves the building.
At his home, Jimmy is sitting alone in his room when the police arrive.
"Mr. Jimmy, you are arrested for attacking Mr. Ross. You are charged with murder attempt," the policeman handcuffs Jimmy and takes him out of the building. The media is present outside the building and this becomes breaking news.
In court, Jimmy is given a 10-year non-bailable jail term according to section 307 IPC. At the jail, Jimmy doesn't talk with anyone and stays alone in his cell. He tries to attempt suicide many times but is stopped by someone every time.
AFTER 10 YEARS
Now, Ross is given the title of superstar and megastar. He is dominating the industry and no one dares to cross his path. People, media, and the industry have forgotten Jimmy who was once a superstar. Jimmy comes out of jail. His appearance has changed. He is now skinny and his skin has wrinkled. His hair and beard are long. There is no expression or emotion on his face. He goes to his house and enters it. The house is the same as it was left except it's covered with dust. He doesn't clean anything and sits on the sofa. He doesn't receive any calls and no one comes to meet him. He doesn't eat or drink anything the whole day. He starts overthinking, his nerves burst, and blood starts coming out of his eyes. He doesn't wipe the blood, stands, and goes to Ross's house. It's raining outside. The guard doesn't let him in. He shouts at the guard and tries to run inside but the guard catches him. Ross runs outside and stops the guards.
He says, "Jimmy, is that you? Your jail term is over then? What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to meet you and apologize to you," Jimmy says in a lower voice.
"Apologize? No need for that. You can go."
"Please, Ross. Don't go. I want to talk to you. Can we talk inside in privacy?"
Ross smiles and says, "After what you did last time, you think I will believe you?"
"I have already spent ten years in jail. I don't want to do that again. Believe me," Jimmy begs.
After thinking for some time Ross agrees and asks Jimmy to come with him to his room which is on the third floor.
They both sit inside the room. There's silence for some time after which Ross says, "So, what do you want to say?"
Jimmy clears his throat and says, "Before I was jailed, I got to know the real meaning of loneliness. When you have nothing to do, when no one wants to talk to you, when no one wants to be your friend, when you realize that people only talked with you when they needed you. I thank you because it was all your giving. You made this happen to me. When I went to jail, even there I didn't make any friends. I was alone all the time. I didn't talk to them, and neither did they. You know this loneliness has become my partner. It comes with me everywhere. It is even present in this room. Can you feel it? No, you won't be able to feel it. How would you feel about it? For you to feel loneliness, you have to experience all that I have experienced…."
Ross interrupts, "What nonsense are you talking about? You are here to talk about all this and waste my time? Please go if you want to talk about all this bullshit…."
Jimmy interrupts, "You know this is neither nonsense nor bullshit. It is the truth. I will make you experience what loneliness is. You call it madness or revenge or whatever you want to say but I will end it tonight."
Before Ross calls security, Jimmy comes close to Ross and grabs his hand. He makes Ross's hand hit his cheek. Jimmy tears his clothes, shouts, and jumps out of the window. He falls on the road. Security comes running towards him. Jimmy is still breathing and points his finger upwards. Security faces upward and finds Ross standing near the window staring at Jimmy. Jimmy's arm falls and he dies.
The police arrive at the scene of the crime and arrest Ross on the charges of murder. Based on evidence like slap and punch prints on Jimmy's face which had imprinted on Ross's hand, Jimmy's torn shirt, Jimmy's help screaming which was heard by bodyguards, etc the court declares Ross guilty and he gets life imprisonment. The news spreads like fire. The producers cancel all his projects. The companies kick him out of ambassadorship programs.
After two years, he comes out on parole. Now, he has no work to do as no one wants to work with a convict. He has no deals left. Almost everyone in the industry has forgotten him. Another newcomer has replaced Ross and is shining everywhere. He spent six months in jail in a difficult state and wants to come out of jail but he's got parole for just fifteen days. After coming out, he realizes that now he's all alone. His heart feels heavy. He spends his day alone in his house. He has given up and doesn't have any will to do anything. He now understood what Jimmy was saying about making him feel lonely. He spends twelve days in his home alone with no one to talk to. On the thirteenth day, someone knocks on Ross's door but he doesn't open the door. After continuous knocks, the person breaks the door and screams. He finds Ross hanging on the ceiling with writing on the wall, "There is a loneliness in this world so great that you can see it in the slow movement of the hands of a clock."
ns 15.158.61.52da2
