Janus

"I Have heard God" said Janus.

"You are crazy" his friend Mott replied with a smile. "What did your God say. That you are his chosen one or did he tell you that you are his son"

"My God says that I will have to be a saviour from evil"

"Saviour from evil eh. Very original. Quit Joking buddy. I have other things in hand. I have a whole newspaper to handle"

"I have to pass on God's message to the people. Can you publish it for me"

"You really have gone crazy my friend. I have to arrange a meeting with a quack for you. You can tell him whatever Mr. God told you."

" I m just asking for a 10 line article. Surely you can manage that."

"look. I know you for 10 years. And you are among the sanest people I know. I will publish your thing but i m going to give a humorous touch to it, or else I will be the laughing stock. And after that you have to promise me you are coming with me to the psychiatrist once it's published"

"God's word has to be known. He will be pleased. Spread the word that due to the degeneration of the people, the Devil wants to take over everything. The forces of devil are merciless, cruel and powerful. In USA , thousands will be dead this month. This is the word of God"

"Buddy, my newspaper is read by millions of people. There is no room for conspiracy theories in there. But your God knows that people need a laugh nowadays. I will make sure that your message is taken as a joke."

" The believers just need a sign. Just a word from the almighty is enough. You may laugh now. But once the forces of evil are at your doorstep you will realise God's word"

"I m arranging the meeting with the Doc this Sunday and your message will be "spread" tomorrow"

" Let the war with evil begin"

Two weeks later.

"Janus, you have to come with me to see the doctor. I did as you said, but you have to keep your word"

" My word is not important. The wishes of my Lord are important. His words are important."

"God, Janus. What has happened to you. Please come to your senses. You are becoming delusional. God did not speak to you. You imagined it. I have to be honest with you. You saved my son's life. And I will be forever grateful to you. And that is why I m being brutally honest with you. I haven't slept for a week now because I m so worried. You are driving me crazy too Janus. Atleast hear me out Janus. You can watch the TV later"

"You need to watch the TV but. Maybe then you will believe God's word"

Mott froze when he saw a news shown on TV. He wouldn't believe it. 50000 people were believed to be dead in one of the deadliest terrorist attacks. A very high intensity bomb exploded in a skyscraper in Chicago during office hours and the whole building collapsed. Mott thought that this was some sort of a cosmic practical joke till he saw the dead bodies on TV"

" This has to be the Chinese venting out their hostility. But they will pay for this. This is unimaginable"

" These are the forces of evil. My sweet lord had warned you and the people already. I was just his messenger"

"You almost seem happy that this attack happened. You think that you were right, but let me tell you that this was a random co incidence. Nothing else"

"I will leave that for the people to judge. They have read the Master's message some time back. This prophecy is enough for the faithful"

"Yes. This would be enough for most of the people who read your message. I don't doubt it. Sure enough. 20000 people have already commented on our message about your message. Looks like they believe that you are their saviour"

"And I am. This time I will communicate my sweet Master's message through the internet'

"Janus, this is not the time to fool around. I request you not to do that. You will cause panic and make the situation worse. Please be logical. I used to envy your logic. You seem to have lost it but"

"My logic is intact. That is why I m the Chosen one and you are not. The Lord tells me that a very important person of USA will die. We have to be ready for his death. I need to tell the believers to search for the successor to take on the evil"

"Surely Janus you cannot publish that on the net. Cant you see that you just got lucky. You just got lucky. Don't you understand it"

" You are foolish and ignorant. I cant waste time talking to you. A lot of responsibilities are on my shoulders. The word of the Creator has to be posted"

A week later, Mott was at his office when he heard that the President was assassinated in a suicide bomb attack. The suicide bomber was a white male"

"Maybe the Russians are involved in this Mott. Why don't you track that line. I will send you a bunch of investigative journos" The Chief Editor told Mott

"Sure Boss. That would be OK" Mott replied. His eye had a faraway look. He knew that the Russians were not that important to him as much as the flurry of activity that would be happening on the net due to Janus' prophecies.

"Mott, we have an issue. The CIA chief just called. One of the contributors to this newspaper predicted both the events. He must have been an insider. Gosh, These are exciting times for the newspaper"

Mott had already left the place to leave for Hotel Sherathon in New York where Janus was residing. When he reached he saw Janus surrounded by a coterie of followers. Janus had started keeping a beard and hadn't trimmed his hair for quite a while. Inspite of everything, Mott smiled. No matter how Good Janus was at prophetic skills, he scored low on originality. Janus saw Mott and gave him a triumphant smile

"Mott I m glad you have come. I m scared without you. I cannot handle my followers adoration. You have to manage them. I m the reincarnation of an oriental deity. That's what my followers say I am. But i don't like to be glorified like this. I m just a messenger of God. A symbol of truth"

"Janus, I still don't believe you. Do you know that there is a woman who won the national lottery twice. In today's world, prophecies like the ones you made can pretty much happen. You just got lucky with the timing"

" Mott, you disgust me. I think that you are jealous that you do not have the visions I do. Because you were my only friend I used to have, I will give you one more chance to believe me. Very soon,the axis of evil will try to do a daredevil stunt that will stun the world. When this vision comes true even you will believe me. Now I have to leave. I have an interview with the media scheduled"

800 kms away, a group of people were celebrating the President's assassination. They were a secret society who called themselves Satanists. They believed that they were the descendants of Satan himself and prided themselves in being evil. The society existed for centuries and its members were quietly planning an event that would mark their arrival to open society. the proclamation from Janus in the newspaper was a sign that they were looking for all along. That got the machinery moving that they had put in place.

Their head was a nuclear Scientist for a US reactor and it was Child's play for him to steal the chemicals required for the high intensity bomb that could kill 50,000 people.

When Janus next proclaimed that a very important person was going to be killed, the Satanists took that as a sign. A Satanist blasted himself a little distance away from the US President's car.

When Janus predicted that the axis of evil would surprise the world, the chief Satanist smiled. It was time to deal with the messenger of good.

The next day, a plane crashed into the Sherathon hotel killing 300 people. It created chaos and panic all over the world. Janus was right yet again. The event stunned the world. But it was the last prophecy he ever made. He was among the 300 killed.