The Other Side(16)
A greenish glowing pair of eyes stared back at him. Nirbhay scrambled back on his hands, putting some distance between him and whatever monster that was lurking in the shadows of the kitchen.
“Meow…whirr…meow!” A cat jumped out from the shadows. Nirbhay shone his torch at it. It was a black cat. The only shade different on its body was its green eyes. Nirbhay brushed away the accumulated sweat on his forehead and laughed nervously.
“It's only a cat…” he told himself and then proceeded to shoo away the feline. The cat took off as it saw Nirbhay approaching. Nirbhay came out of the kitchen a little more confidently than he had entered and shone his torch in the hallway. The cat had disappeared.
“It must have gone back to some creepy corner. This place is so vast. The cat can keep roaming below. I'm going upstairs. Anyway it's just a matter of a couple of hours,” he whispered to himself to feel his own presence in the silence.
Deciding to explore the upper level of the mansion, Nirbhay took the spiral iron staircase in front. The upper level had six rooms in total, he counted. All the rooms were of the same area and pretty similar, except for the one on the extreme right which was locked. Nirbhay tugged at the lock but it would not budge and the heavy timber door did not move as Nirbhay tried to push it. Nirbhay surveyed the remaining rooms again. Four of them had no bed but the fifth one, the one just to the immediate right of the locked room, was quite a large room with oak beams projecting from the dull ceiling. It had a bed large enough for four people to comfortably sleep on though comfort would have been difficult to experience on the wooden structure as it lacked the bedding. Nevertheless, Nirbhay decided he would take the bed for a couple of hours, have dinner and then rush out of this disturbing place.
The feeling of being watched returned stronger than ever in this room. He surveyed the bland dust-ridden interiors and placed the candles down on the floor, forming a circle of the six sticks near his bed. He placed another one near the door of the room. He lit them one by one and watched the yellowish glow illuminate the room. Watching the flames move in synchronization had a soothing effect on his mind.
Nirbhay peered out of the window right behind the bed and was surprised to notice the darkness outside. Frantically, he checked the time on his wristwatch. It was ten past seven.
“What the… When did an hour pass?” Nirbhay shouted out aloud. He decided it was better to wind up the act soon and leave the place.
He removed the packed food from his bag and laid it out on the hard wooden bed. Folding his legs, he quickly gobbled the four idlis doused in coconut chutney and belched.
“That was good,” he said, replacing the items in his bag and throwing away the crumbled paper in the corner. A soothing cool wind went right through his body, making him shiver. He turned to notice the window behind the bed moving back and forth,
The Other Side
83 making loud creaking noises. Nirbhay walked on his knees and latched it again, suppressing a yawn. “Who knows where will I get to sleep outside in the night? I think it would be a good idea to catch up on a half-hour power nap,” he mumbled to himself and lay down on the bed. He stretched his limbs, yawned again and shut his eyes. Somewhere in his sleep, he dreamt that he was floating in the sky like a bird without flapping its wings. And then suddenly, he began to fall down. He tried to grab something but only air escaped his grip. He opened his mouth to scream and…
“Ahhh, ahhh, ahh…” he opened his eyes immediately, controlling his flailing limbs.
“It was just a dream,” he said out aloud. He noticed himself sprawled on the dusty floor and sat up with a sudden movement. “How did I end up here?” he wondered aloud. He never rolled in his sleep, he was sure of that. He decided it was the uncomfortable wooden bed and the nightmare that might have made him roll over the bed and onto the floor.
“But there should have been a sound when I hit the ground. It should have hurt. I guess I was too deep into slumber to give a shit about anything,” Nirbhay explained to himself.
He tried to suppress another rising yawn with his hand covering the mouth. He saw the dial on his wrist and stood up nervously. His watch had stopped.
“Oh shit, what the...” Nirbhay said, noticing that his watch had stopped at eleven thirty. “I should be out of here. No more time to waste,” Nirbhay cursed.
The candles were still burning bright near the bed and for a moment, he again wondered how he had rolled over them without knocking down even one of the wax sticks. Putting the thought to the back of his mind, Nirbhay hurriedly picked up his bag, abandoning the candles and rushed downstairs. His footsteps echoed across the vacant house. He pulled the front door but it would not budge. He applied all his strength and rammed it with his shoulder yet the strong timber door remained glued to the spot.