July Writing Challenge- Day 19
The air smelled of cigarettes and damp woods. The car window was half down, but the stench coiled around the passenger like a noose. The drive was smooth, yet the darkness stretched beyond them, impenetrable, silent, absolute.
He should have hitched a ride in the morning. But his friends had partied too late, and now they were here at an hour when even the stars seemed to have abandoned them.
Glancing sideways, he found his friends asleep, their heads slumped unnaturally against each other. Only the cabbie and he remained awake, he, riding a jittery high from too many espressos, his friends dead drunk on tequila. They had laughed at him earlier, teased him for staying sober.
And now, sleep clung to them. But from him, it stayed far, far away.
His thoughts, restless and sharp, darted back to Sneha, the girl who hadn’t shown up. The girl he had dressed up for. The girl he had loved in the harmless, hopeless way only childhood lets you love.
He’d nearly left the party when she didn’t turn up. His friends had dragged him along instead for rounds of tequila shots, bar hopping, and the usual haze.
Now, morning was inching closer, and he would barely make it home at this crawling speed.
One of his friends slumped against him, snoring loudly.
Jay smiled, a reflexive habit from their childhood days, specially during their movie marathon sessions. He was usually the only one who watched the last movie till its conclusion while the others dozed off. Sometimes Sneha accompanied them, and on those days, he made sure to keep the last one a romantic flick. He would steal glances at her to see her reaction, but she would also give up by the halftime.
He missed her.
The autumn air grew sharper. Goosebumps crawled up his arms, uninvited.
Outside, the trees thickened into dense silhouettes, hunched and gnarled. The cabbie had claimed this was a shortcut, though his eyes had flickered when Jay pressed him about reaching Delhi before dawn.
Jay cleared his throat. He didn’t like the quiet.
“Is there a dhaba nearby, Bhaiya?”
“No, sir.”
“Hmm. Please stop at the nearest one you see. Let’s eat something. You’ve also been driving non-stop.”
The cabbie nodded, eyes fixed on the road. Jay leaned back, glancing out.
Something brushed his face.
He flinched. What the hell?
Irritated, he barked, “What, are you eating bananas and throwing the peel at me?”
The cabbie raised both hands, empty except for a string of prayer beads.
Jay tried to laugh. “Didn’t peg you for the religious type.”
The cabbie gave a hollow chuckle. “Sir, I dare you to drive this road and not be religious.”
“Why?”
“Let it be, sir. I don’t want to ruin your night.”
“My night’s ruined anyway. Might as well tell me why this road turns drivers into believers.”
Jay turned to look out the window at that moment, but froze.
Something was running alongside the car.
Not someone.
Something.
Its head hung too low, its limbs too long, its face, or rather its teeth…
He couldn’t look. He didn’t want to.
“Get the window up. NOW!” the cabbie yelled.
Jay fumbled. His hands wouldn’t move. His arms felt pinned down, pressed by something ice-cold and heavy.
The cabbie started chanting, voice cracking.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Jay’s world folded into blackness.
He woke up on the roadside.
The car was gone. His friends were gone.
But he wasn’t alone.
Something stood at the edge of the trees. Watching.
Waiting.
And it had followed him out.
But he wasn’t alone.
Something stood at the edge of the trees. Watching.
Waiting for him to open his eyes.
Fingers in symphony 