Hunted

“I was running riotously through that dark alley. I couldn’t make out the place, all I knew was that he was right behind me , his footsteps getting nearer by  every minute that passed . I mustered up all the strength in me and sidetracked it into my legs so that I could exceed my pace and elude him. It was dark and there was no living soul apart from me and that man at that hour. The only sound I could hear was my own heartbeat shooting into my ears and the heavy footsteps of that man following me in that darkness. I screamed for help but only silence was my answer.

I ran through many streets and alleys but the man followed me in-distinctively wherever I went. I looked for an open shop, gas pump or even a house so that I could take asylum there for the night but all I saw was complete shut down in the environment. I was sweating in that cold night, the sweat drenched off my shirt and hair. I was worn out but the mere fact of my death kept me moving , kept me aggravated . I glanced back to catch a glimpse of the man following me but in that thick fog I couldn’t see him. But I could hear his footsteps loud and clear that pierced through my spine like an arrow piercing through a body, shredding it into pieces. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep up like this but in my heart I think I knew the answer pretty well.

I was troubling in breathing, it seemed as if someone had ripped out the lungs right out of my body and I, dreadfully trying to breath, to live . My whole body was smouldering  blazing from the inside .I focused all my concentration to seek the sound of the footsteps that were following me but I couldn’t hear it.

“Maybe he has gone” I thought to myself. I felt a wave of relief passing through me, soothing my nerves. Finally after covering two to three blocks I found a market that was open at that late hour of night. I hurried inside the market and took a sigh of relief. The shopkeeper, seeing me like this came over to me and investigated for my terrible state. I couldn’t tell him what happened. I opened my mouth for the words to come out but they just didn’t, no matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t speak. I was pretty traumatized .

“I-I  … -I” those were the only words I could say to him .

“Calm down . I’m gonna get you a cup of coffee ,okay.” The shopkeeper exclaimed.

I nodded.

The shopkeeper started walking to his counter and I heard something that made me jump right off the chair. The sound of his footsteps were the same horrifying one I just heard outside. The sound was exactly alike, same loudness, same graveness, same dreadfulness. I couldn’t accept as true what was happening with me. The same man I saw murdering a child was right here in front of me. I tried to scream but the only thing that came out of my vocal cords was complete silence.

The man reached for a knife and started coming towards me. He was gaining at me, I didn’t know what to do. I was so flabbergasted, so stunned that my legs weren’t moving even though I tried a hundred times to move them but they just didn’t nudge. I saw my death coming towards me, gaining on me. The man was right in front of me now, staring me, excited to taste my blood, smell it. He held out the knife and I closed my eyes. He ripped off my throat. I screamed with my full vigor and …………….”

 

“Aliza ! wake up ! wake up!”

Aliza woke up chocking and found herself bathed in her own sweat and screaming.

“ it was just a dream dear , just a dream .” a woman tried to calm her down.

She glanced around the room to validate that either that woman was telling the truth or not . Lastly, finding herself in her own room calmed her down, soothed her. She hugged the woman of which she thought as of her mother tightly around the waist and sobbed.

“its okay dear . I’m here with you .” the woman said .

“He will kill me mom! Kill me” Aliza screamed.

“No he won’t. I’m right here with you okay.” The woman whispered her.

After an hour or so the woman left her. She kissed on her forehead and shut the door behind her. Now Aliza was alone in her room afraid of sleeping because she was terrified that if she slept the same man will hunt her in her dreams. It was around two o’ clock in the morning. Aliza got out of her bed and stood right in front of the window. The moon hung like a locket in the sky casting pearls in the lake that stood right in the centre of the city. In that faint but sustaining light Aliza’s tears sparkled like stars in the night. Her face looked tired that proved her restless nights in the fear of that man.

The dreams that Aliza had were a mere flashback to what happened to her a year ago. All that happened to her in the dream was true except for the part where she was killed by the murderer. In reality the police showed up just in time at the market where the man tried to kill her. The man was arrested and put into jail for the murder of his own kid. No one knew the reason for why he did that.

“How can a man be so cruel as to murder his own son ?”

Everyone had the same question but no one knew, no one . Even though he is in prison, he hunts Aliza , tries to kill her in her dreams . It was more like a psychological trauma she inherited in her mind after the accident. Since that day Aliza hasn’t left her bedroom. She became so frightened to go outside because of that man. Even though that he is in jail Aliza could sometimes hear his footsteps lingering in the corridors ,taunting her, frightening her . She has lost her appetite since the accident. Her whole body was now nothing but a mere artifact of bones .One could count the bones jutting out of her face. Her skin was pale and thin. Many specialists tried to remove her fear but it was of no use.

Once she was taken to the jail so that she could see the man with her own eyes and believe that the man was in jail and he couldn’t hurt her but that too went worthless. No matter how hard her parents tried they just couldn’t fix the puzzle of Aliza which was now the most difficult puzzle that needed to be solved.

She was still stationed right in front of the window as the sun ascended the sky, its rays blazing across the whole city. The morning light gleamed into her room, making everything clear. The bed was covered with a white bed sheet, pillows covered with red silk, a lamp placed on a table to the side of the bed. The walls were painted cream and a blue carpet covered the floor.

She was standing in front of the window in the same pose in which she was four hours ago. She wasn’t dead because her breathing sounded grave in that silence that conquered the room. A sudden knock on the door sidetracked her attention from that beautiful view of the city . She went over to the door and opened it. She was now staring at a figure that looked rather familiar to her. A woman, nearly thirty years old wearing a white dress and a badge that spelled Mehnaz was grasping a tray with two slices of bread with  a fry egg on the side with a cup of warm milk .

“How is my sweetie doing?” the woman said and entered Aliza’s realm where she was the queen with no subjects and no public.

Silence.

The woman helped Aliza do her breakfast. Surprisingly she ate it all today. A sudden disturbance in the room startled the nurse. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She was trying to find someone else besides Aliza who was speaking into the situation because Aliza didn’t talk much but when she saw Aliza’s mouth she could see it moving, mouthing those words that made their way into the woman’s ear .

“Where am I ?” Aliza spoke after a long and unmerciful silence.

“You are in your room dear, I take care of you or more like baby-sit you.”

“You  know he can come here  .”

“Who can come here dear.”

Aliza’s expressions suddenly changed and a fright took over her.

“He! He can come here. He can come anywhere.”

Suddenly she lost her mind and went wacky. She stood up screaming at the woman , throwing everything she could find at her . The woman got frightened and rushed outside the door and called for someone that Aliza couldn’t make out. Aliza was still in her room, screaming. It seemed as if she will tear her own throat out. Some men came in, grabbed her and forced her to her bed. She was still screaming, trying to get free , kicking those men who handled her . They tied her legs and arms to the bed with rubber belts and injected her with a fluid that calmed her down . After a while Aliza dozed off. Her face looked peaceful but her mind fought within with the nightmares she was always afraid to have.

The men left the room and clogged the door .On the top of her room to the outside a board was glued to the wall and the letters encrypted on it were dancing clearly in the surrounding. They danced and sang. And every time they sang the sang the same exact words:

 

Mental Hospital

Room No. 7

Aliza.  

-_END_