Break

The train arrived at ten in the late evening .The woman was dressed in an olive green coat. The cream-colored dress showed through her unbuttoned coat. She had been waiting for the past four hours on the platform, in a remote corner, not wanting to be noticed. Her wavy raven locks were tied up in a smart ponytail with bangs hanging over her keen face. She held a satchel close to her deliberately hiding it from preying eyes.

When he alighted on to the platform, his eyes were probing for her. He had just a suitcase with him, so he gave way to the others in a show of courteousness, even helping some with their suitcases. When the momentary crowd had dissipated, he had briskly jumped on to the platform and looked around. Just then, the train left. He expected her to be waiting on the opposite platform. Nevertheless, he did not have to go across, for when he turned around to pick up his suitcase, she had materialized.

“Hello”, she did not seem too eager. “How was your journey, Dylan?”

Dylan did not reply. Instead, he grabbed her satchel from her. She rolled her eyes and sighed. He never did change. Not even his sickle sweet cologne she so despised.

“I asked you something. Be patient, grasshopper. It’s not in there.”

She searched her coat pockets, took out two mint lozenges, and offered them to him. He impatiently grabbed the mints and put them in his mouth. After he cracked through the lozenges, his eyes rested on her.

“You got any water that I can drink?” he asked. Dylan ran his hand through his tousled blond hair.

She always carried contingencies like water, especially when Dylan was around. She handed over the bottle of water to him, and he gulped it down callously spilling it all over himself.

“The train wasn’t too comfortable, but considering the fact that you would be here waiting for me, it didn’t seem so bad. Constance, can you help me with this suitcase? If you could hold on to it for a while, I could make an important call. Just tell me where and when I should meet you. I’ll come”, he rushed.

Constance mumbled something and took the black suitcase from him. He nodded thanks and took out his phone from the pockets of his trousers. “Meet me at my place. In two hours, or I wont be there.”

He turned around to face her and started walking backwards, with a deep frown on his smiling face and a phone in hand. They had been rushing to the exit. She took in his attire wholly – khaki trousers and a light blue full sleeved t-shirt that ominously said –‘You’re next!!’ What had the world come to, she smirked.

“What?! It’s not so stupid!” laughed Dylan, turning all defensive now.

She shook her head and turned around. Her brother was one thing that still had not been changed in her life. Dylan was what she thought would come close to her definition of love, ignoring the fact that he was human. Love according to her was anything that was not played havoc with by time. Love was infinity. She hummed a tune and glancing in his direction once more before parting ways, she said, “Nothing”, and walked away with the suitcase.

It was about half an hour later that she reached home. She picked up her phone and checked for any messages. She saw her brother’s text.

It read-

I’m very sorry Connie, I’m very sorry! I was totally preoccupied, I forgot to ask you why you won’t be home after twelve. Going anywhere? :)

There was a smile on her face after reading this. People don’t change.

The tune had been stuck in her head for a long time and she’d been humming it throughout the day. She poured some cold coffee into her mug, sat on the carpet in the study reading the day’s newspaper, while wondering where she’d caught the tune.

She was taken aback when she saw a blurry image of herself on the cover page of the newspaper. At least she thought it looked like her, with her wavy hair all over the place and petite body.

The news had the header:

“KILLER ON THE ROAD!! NIGHT TREADERS, BEWARE!!

In a shocking course of events this week, three innocent men have lost their lives, all brutally murdered in the same manner. Nail marks were seen on their faces and post mortem reports suggest death by asphyxiation and bleeding. The dead bodies were left on the roads of the deserted highways, with their jugular veins exposed. We know that it was a woman, with a few of her hinges loose. The surveillance cams have caught a few blurry pictures of the mad woman while there is otherwise not much information that could be traced to the identity of this psycho.

The woman appears to be in her twenties, with black wavy hair and a slim figure as can be seen in the featured photograph.

The police have issued a warning to late night wanderers who are likely to fall prey to the woman who has been dubbed “Jason”. Detective Roger Mahoney is reported to be investigating this case. The three deceased are Joe Mislem, 24, Michael Morey, 29 and Savio DeAngelo, 21. More on this in the Open Page section.”

Constance felt a pang in her chest. She felt something in her churning around, ringing shrill warning bells; whoever it was, was still out there in the wild. She needed to tell her brother; she couldn’t let anything happen to him! He was so careless; he would still need his nanny to feed him food lest he spill it. She immediately pulled out her phone and called him.

“You have reached the voice message of Dylan Rogers. I’m busy right now, so call me later?” said Dylan’s recorded voice.

She started panicking. Her hands started shivering with fear and beads of perspiration appeared on her forehead. She was breathing in short spasmodic gasps, through gritted teeth as she tried his phone again.

“Pick up the phone jerk, answer the call!”

She tried to calm her nerves thinking of how afraid he was of deserted places. Constance rarely panicked but when she did, she looked like she had just killed someone. She jumped and  almost dropped the coffee mug when her phone rang;

“Jesus! Where are you Dylan? I have been worried sick! Where are you? Get your butt here right now!” she shouted into the phone.

“Whoa Connie! What’s wrong? Seem like you’ve been -”

“Just get here now!”, she cut him off, “Just get here now.”

“Okay. Whatever. Be there in ten.”

He cut the call. She was so relieved that she gulped the coffee down in one.

Why can’t these papers stop spreading such havoc, she thought, snorting away now.

She sat down again, and decided to read comics instead. Impulsively, she took out her phone and dialed Tony’s. She ordered a double anchovy thin-crusted pizza for her brother, making sure to ask for extra cheese.

Fifteen minutes later, it was almost eleven ten, and Dylan had not yet reached. Constance had dozed off on the carpet. The doorbell rang.

No answer.

It rang again. No one answered.

“Anybody home? Pizza delivery, double anchovy with extra cheese…”

The boor bell rang again. Yet no answer. The delivery boy waited there for a few more minutes.

“You can collect your fresh pizza from Tony’s. Now, this”, he said, grinning wide at the pizza in hand, “is going into my mouth. See ya round!”

It was eleven thirty when Dylan reached home. He could see lights in the study through the windows. There was not any detectable life around the house except for the incessant whining of the neighbor’s dog.

“Oi! Connie! Open the door!”, he shouted. Thinking she might be sleeping when no response came, he slowly tried to turn the doorknob and open it. Suddenly, he felt something move behind him.

He thought he was imagining things because when he turned around he didn’t see anything. But then, he heard a whimper. This time he was somehow sure he wasn’t being imaginative. He heard another whimper; it sounded like someone was trying to call him.

Alert now, Dylan searched for the source in the dark.

He noticed a dark trail leading to the shrubs that aligned his house.

He saw his sister’s shoe lying on the ground. He was sure someone had tried to break in.

His sister was in danger!

Frantic, Dylan called out for her- “Constance! Come on give me a sign! Where are you? Constance! Connie!”

When he saw a leg sticking out of the shrubs, he felt somehow relieved. But what he found there left him speechless. A boy lay there drenched in blood, heaving breathlessly. Nail marks covered his face.  His pupils were dilated and he was trying to tell Dylan something. He tried to lift his hand in way of pointing but the relief that had washed over his face was too short lived. He died a grotesque death. The pizza boy lay there motionless.

Dylan shook him but no response came. Crouched right there next to the corpse of the boy, he took out his phone, made a call. He was utterly shaken by what he’d just seen. He understood. He stood up and turned around expecting to see her. But she wasn’t where he expected her to be. She had somehow managed to get her bloody self up to the roof. She crouched at the tip, watching his every move. She revealed her teeth in an evil unconscious grin.

“Detective Roger Mahoney here. I have identified the killer. It’s my sister.”

__END__