The Unpublished Article: Checkmate

Daneal Geofth wasn’t his real name. In fact, he has no name.

Jumble the letters and eureka! You have the answer what he is and not who he is.

An angel of death? Duh.

What is this, some sort of exaggeration?

So he is a mysterious magician who bears no records at all and the world wants to know him very well. But, no one successfully did any report or any articles about this man. That’s why I interviewed him.

An article about him will pave my way to fame. I’ll be the first writer in the history publishing his biography. Because of him, I’ll be rich.

I was waiting for the end of his show at a nearby restaurant for a right timing. After his “Houdini-Houdini” performance at a circus, I approached him in the backstage as fast as I can cross the road without turning back.

Whoops! I’m being blocked by huge bodies of bouncers but Thanks God! He saw me and took me in his dressing room along with his two daring assistants.

I tried to talk to both hot chicks but with my surprise, they sounded sumo wrestlers. They were gays! My goodness! They were too talkative.

After a while, they offered me a seat in a couch and a drink.

Daneal asked me what my approach all about was.

I said “records-“

And there was a moment of silence. Daneal smiled. His assistants noticed him and they moved out of the room.

Why? He was smiling and they moved out?

I heard them from the outside locking the door and leaving us alone. There were no windows or any emergency exits for me to escape. There was no signal. The room was soundproof. Bulletproof or any “proof-proof”.

I was thinking, am I still in good hands? I don’t know him yet. My gosh, I’m hoping he’s not a maniac. Please don’t rape me Daneal.

I was so green and bad minded that time. All he does was to smile and watch me hesitating.

Suddenly, he touched my lap and suggested a game, chess, for us not to be bored during the interview.

What?! A game. Haha. I thought he was going to rape me.

So the game began. He took the white pieces and mine was black. For every move, I was throwing him a question and he was answering back. I recorded his voice replies and I got my pen and paper to jot down his responses. I was very happy that I have now his complete biography. Yes!

I also felt winning the game. I was too confident to move my queen piece to check his King. I knew I’ll win. But, he demanded to pause the game for a while. He sat back in his couch and sang a song I don’t know. His voice was so cold like a dying person.

I asked him why he is called Angel of Death. And, he replied that he delivers souls upon their death to hell or may be in heaven.

I laughed. I dared to ask him when my death is. Then it frightened me when he answered,

“Previously. You’re already dead. Why are you so reckless about your life? Why do you strive much for wealth? You think I can make you rich. You think I can make you famous. ”

“Dead? You’re such a comedian. That’s impossible. I am alive. See?”

He opened the door and we went outside.

I really am dead. There was an accident and I saw my body lying down. Now I remember I cross the road lately without noticing the noise that happened behind.

For the final move, where I’m already gone, Daneal moved his Knight piece and said,

“Checkmate”.