Unusual Short Story – THE SNOWFALL (Part 1)
Photo credit: click from morguefile.com
I said it aloud “i did it mom”. My mom was very happy on knowing that i got the tender at last for which i was working very hard on. All that happened when i had started my own construction company and put a tender for the government project which was going to start at Shimla in Himachal Pradesh for a bridge over rail. My mom was really happy with tears of joy rolling down her cheeks and that happy smile on her face which made me the happiest person on the planet. That night i had a nice and sound sleep as the next day was going to be very excited.Next day the alarm set off on my mobile phone at 6.00 AM in the morning. I brushed my teeth, and had a bath before leaving for the airport to board a flight for Shimla. I was already late for the flight and my friend Aashish was already waiting for me at the baggage counter.
Aashish is my childhood friend, we were from the same neighborhood when we were kids later he went to another locality due to his father’s job transfer. I fell fast asleep as soon as we boarded the flight. I woke up due to some loud thud sound from the back and rather more cold temperature and cold wind around me. I slowly opened my eyes to see that i was in a empty wooden cabin. I slowly stood up freaked out thinking about how i got there and went towards the old creaky door of that wooden cabin and slowly opened it to find out that i was in a forest covered with large mass of snow. I being completely freaked out started moving out of the wooden cabin, as soon as i stepped out the snowfall started and it got very heavy and all of a sudden someone came from behind me and closed my eyes with the left palm and strangled my neck with their other hand and started choking me. I started to fight back and with a lot of difficulty i pushed off that person behind me and opened my eyes only to realize it was a bad nightmare.
Aashish asked me “what happend Akshay”, I replied “No nothing!! it was a bad nightmare”. We heard the pilot announcing that he was going to land the flight and that we have reached Shimla.
We took our luggage and headed out towards the exit as soon as we and got in the car sent for us and headed towards the government cottage where we had to stay before we went to our location where the project was going to start. As soon as we crossed the city limits of Shimla. The outskirts were very beautiful with those snow clodded mountains and the tall pine trees covering the mountains. Among all this the one thing which caught me was a old wooden gate with a lock and our cab stopped right there and said us that this was the location. We got out of the car into the cold and chill temperature and that freezing breeze touching our face and making us shiver due to the cold. We headed out towards the gate and opened it and went into the cottage which was old from the outside but really beautiful from the inside with an antique ambiance to it. We met the housekeeper who showed us our bedrooms and gave a tour of the house and said to that we can call her anytime whenever we need anything.
We got freshed up and had a cup of tea and left for the project location and which was located deep on the highway in the jungle 15KM from the cottage with no sign of any contact from the outside world as we lost our mobile networks too. Then we got to the location were the project was going to be started had a good look at it and discussed everything in detail about what to do. It was really late and it was getting dark so we headed back to the cottage.We had our dinner at the cottage which the housekeeper had cooked for us. Though not tasty it did fill our stomachs and then we went to our bedrooms and fell asleep.
The alarm rang on my phone and it was 1:00 AM in the midnight, i thought i might have set the time wrong and set the time for 6:00 AM in the morning and was going back to sleep but suddenly i heard some whispers which were coming from the hallway as i went out to see who was speaking in the hallway i got down from my bed and went towards the hallway it was pitch dark with no lights in the hallway, i moved towards the whispers which started getting louder by the minute i went towards them , then suddenly the same hand came and closed my eyes with its left palm and tried to strangle my neck with the right hand and choke me hard and whispering,”SHE WILL GET YOU ….. YOU NEED TO LEAVE…. LEAVE…..LEAVE…..LEAVE….LEAVE….SNOWFALL…..HEAVY SNOWFALL…SHE IS WATCHING YOU…”, i got unconscious after sometime i woke up to the alarm sound on my mobile and was surprised to see that i was on the bed in my bedroom.
I went to out of the bedroom to the dining hall and saw the housekeeper making tea.I went and asked her if anything had happend last night. She said nothing happend and i asked where is Aashish, She said he is in his bedroom and suffering from cold. I went to his room and saw he was really sick so i decided to go to the site alone so called the driver who said that he has some urgent work so he need to head back to Shimla. So i decided to go on my own.
I came out and started the car and started driving with some old country songs playing in it. I got on the highway and started driving towards the site which was 15 KM and 1 hr 30 Min drive from the cottage.Unaware of the distance i covered and the music which was playing i realized i lost my way and i took a U turn and started heading back. Luckily i had some network on my mobile phone and i started searching for the route while i was driving. i took my eyes off the road for a second and suddenly i look at the road and i see i was going to hit a girl on the road so hit the break but due to the snow the brakes were weaker and the car skid and hit the huge tree on the side of the road. The front glass shattered and my head hit on steering so hard that i was in pain and i saw in the rear view mirror that the girl had fell down on the road. I tried to control my pain and got out of the car and went towards the girl to help her out.
I went near her and asked her if she was OK while she was facing the other side. She said she was OK and turned around to look at me.I was really stunned to see those small beautiful eyes hidden behind the optical frame less glasses she was wearing and that cute smile and the fair color of her skin to which i was really fell in love with. I held her hand and pulled her up to make her stand up on her legs but her foot was hurt really bad and she was unable to stand up so i gave her my shoulder support and led her towards my car made her sit inside it so that i can take her to a doctor or any clinic nearby.
She was really quiet not speaking even a single word., and i went sat in the driving seat and gave the car an ignition but the car was not starting. I went and checked the car from outside and saw that all the petrol had leaked from the car. I told that girl the same thing. She gave that soft innocent smile and said “thats not a problem we can go to my house which just 2 to 3 minutes from here”. I was completely OK with that and said “OK I need to call my friend”, and got my mobile out only to see that it had no network in it. I asked “do u have a mobile ? “, she replied “I don’t but i have a telephone at my house you can call your friend from there”. I said “OK”. I introduced myself saying, “Hi I am Akshay”. She replied in return “I am Gunjan”.Then we headed towards her house for which we had to walk for 5 minutes.
We reached her house and then she welcomed me inside her house which rather more beautiful from the old cottage which we were living in and then she showed me the telephone and went to the kitchen to make some tea for me. I picked up the telephone and dialed Aashish’s number but i realized that the phone line has been cut out. I called out for Gunjan but i didn’t get any response from the kitchen so i walked towards the kitchen and saw that she was not in the kitchen and back door was open. I thought she might be in the backyard doing some work so i went out towards the backyard. In the backyard i saw something which made my eyes wide open in shock as i saw the same old wooden cabin which i had a dream about when i was aboard the flight. I was completely freaked out as i started moving towards the wooden cabin whose door was open and then i heard a strange sound behind me. I turned back to see that the house was completely disappeared from there.
Then i moved towards the wooden cabin and then suddenly the snowfall started and got even more heavier by each second but out of curiousness or fear i moved towards the wooden cabin and as i was moving towards it i heard gunjan calling out for me to come into the wooden cabin and i went inside it only to find that it was completely empty and then suddenly the door behind me shut and it was completely pitch dark inside and i was hit hard on my head which made me unconscious for quiet a while, i was awakened by the cold temperature and the chill wind around me.
I moved towards the door and i was guided by the small ray a light which was coming through the bottom of the door as i moved towards the door i felt a lot of pain on my head and leg. I gathered a lot of courage and moved towards the door and opened the door to find a lot of snow covering all the paths around the cabin. Suddenly i heard a sound which sounded like a siren of an ambulance and i walked towards the sound to find that an ambulance was over there. I ran with all the energy i had towards the ambulance and i found that the ambulance was near my car which hit the tree and i saw Aashish there and i ran towards him and called out his name loudly but he didnt turn towards me.I went near him and called out to him “Aashish what are you doing here, i tried to call you but i had no network in my mobile….”, as i was speaking to him i saw a body removed from my cars driving seat and put on the stretcher and i moved towards that stretcher to see whose body it was and that body looked familiar, a lot familiar it was me lying dead on the stretcher. I saw Aashish calling my mom to inform her about this as i called out to him “Aashish look i am right here behind you”, but he didn’t turn back. I knew i was dead but it was really hard to believe as a lot of questions were in my mind right now, HOW? WHEN? AND THE MOST IMPORTANT WHY?………………
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(to be continued….)
So guys this is my first short story if you liked it please comment and if you people are really interested in the second part then please like it and please do give your suggestions. thank you. (Ashayl)
