Guest in the Night
As
the cellphone kept beeping louder, Anil woke up with a jerk. Half past
One, it said. He had fallen asleep on the sofa. Strange that the alarm
went off at this hour in the night !!!
The house felt eerie with unusual silence.
The kitchen tap was running. Anil pulled himself up.
Minutes later, as he dragged
himself sleepily to the bedroom, after switching off the lights a
peculiar sensation pricked him, like someone was there behind him,
watching him. He tried to laugh it off, “Imagination!” he thought.
As if to assure himself, he turned around with a force.
There she was! Watching him, bloody eyed
But he looked past her… He could not see her yet.
Yet…
It was hard to say what woke him
up again that night. But there he was, profusely perspiring and
awfully thirsty. As he staggered out of the bed in the dark, a tap was
again heard running! He turned it off minutes ago, didn't he?
The fan was still, was it a
powercut ? Anil, a bit anxious now, started towards the door by the time
he reached the other room, he had heard her.
It was a low, monotonous groan, a
child’s voice but not quite, coming from somewhere outside. With the
bottle of water still unopened. Anil proceeded towards the living room.
Was it from the balcony that the sound came? His throat was parch dry
but something stopped him from drinking the water he held, was it fear?
Or was it what he saw there…
A young girl was sitting there
on the railing of the balcony, knees huddled together and head bent on
her knees, face hidden therein. Anil shaken to the core quaked out a
“Who is it?” to her she lifted her face to him and it was then that he
saw the real her, the face was a bloody mess of raw flesh…fiery red
eyes bulging out of it, “I’m thirsty too” a raspy voice said.
There was a sound of breaking glass.
Anil ran around, locking every single latch of all the doors, windows, even pulling down curtains...
Panting like a dog, he finally collapsed on the sofa, armed with a flashlight.
It was her! Anil’s mind was
racing a car’s screeching brake was heard flashes of a girl’s face,
twisted in pain, an angry crowd shouting as his car sped off…
Could it be?
“I said I’m thirsty too” the voice hissed from behind Anil turned back before passing out into the darkness…
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