It’s Now or Never

On a cold winter evening, as he sat by the fireplace, Mr. Whitelaw thought to himself of an event that had been disturbing him for a while. He was a silent, pensive, and passive man. After the death of his wife, Mr. Whitelaw became the sole inhabitant of his house. Mr. Whitelaw had revealed during her funeral that Mrs. Whitelaw had died in a car accident. People declared the cause of his wife’s death to be fiction. The real cause for this tragic incident, thus, remained unknown. Ever since the death of his wife, Mr. Whitelaw had been more distant from those around him. He skipped meals. He rarely went for a walk. He barely spoke to his neighbors even when they happened to be his colleagues.

He had been hesitant in displaying weakness but cared deeply for his wife. He needed to avenge her death to be at peace. At the time of the accident, Mrs. Whitelaw was with her colleague, Dr. Blackwell. Interestingly, Dr. Blackwell was a good friend of Mr. Whitelaw. Speculations of a bad marriage soon went around and only intensified when Mr. Whitelaw blamed and attacked Dr. Blackwell for his wife’s death. His only regret, you ask, was that Mr. Whitelaw did not kill his friend.

Mr. Whitelaw was a lover of fine wine. At present, he sat with a glass of red wine in his hand. He was unaware of when the glass turned into a bottle and a bottle into more. He kept on drinking till he started to feel nauseous and dizzy. He seated himself in an attempt to give meaning to what he saw. It truly was Dr. Blackwell in front of him. He was overwhelmed with anger that turned to vengeance. Dr. Blackwell dodged the glass Mr. Whitelaw threw at him. He ran towards the door, grabbing the keys to Mr. Whitelaw’s car on his way out. Mr. Whitelaw followed immediately.

Dr. Blackwell sat behind the steering and Mr. Whitelaw next to him. He found a dagger next to his seat as if he was already aware of its whereabouts. He figured it was the dagger that killed his wife. “It is now or never,” Mr. Whitelaw repeated to himself. Dr. Blackwell started the car with similar intentions of killing Mr. Whitelaw. There was a secret that had been kept from Mr. Whitelaw that Dr. Blackwell knew. Dr. Blackwell was his alter ego. By killing Mr. Whitelaw, he would gain absolute control over the body. Mr. Whitelaw fought for the steering but in doing so, crashed the car into a bridge. Both the men stood outside in the middle of nowhere, facing each other. “It is now or never,” Mr. Whitelaw yelled. “It is indeed, my friend,” Dr. Blackwell replied. Both men were strong, but only one had a dagger. Odds did seem to be in Mr. Whitelaw’s favor but fate took its turn. Dr. Blackwell became the victor when he stabbed Whitelaw with the dagger he now possessed as he said- “It is now or never and now, I am in charge of your life.” The tale ended with Mr. Whitelaw avenging his wife but if only he knew, the murderer was his alter ego.