In pure panic he woke up; something strange; he was drenched in sweat, throat dry! He was not only sweating but also panting, as if he was just back from a race. Pitch dark, where the hell was the door? Wasn’t it supposed to be? Where the hell was he? What was that mossy smell? Stale like,…………like what?...... Ok ok, cool down Ken!
From the beginning now! First, where was he, what was he doing there? Outside, there was this wailing of a dog, or was it a wolf? A loud howling and sounds of some scuffle and a scream, eerie, feminine, blood curdling…
Maybe that was what woke him up. In his tired half sleep world these noises sounded like they were from some far away dream. But why was he sweating? drenched?. Was that scuffle between him and something; and was that why he was panting?. As he thought about that, he carefully sat up and tried to put his leg down and hit it hard on the floor, and that hurt. He wasn’t asleep on a bed but on the floor, but as his stretched foot touched floor he found it rough and soft like mud. Then he recognized that mossy smell, cow dung! So what was he doing in that cow dung floored room?
That howling and that eerie scream, again, and running feet… and something new, Ghungroo!!! Then he remembered, he was woken up by some strange sound and when he had opened the low door of the small thatched house he had seen that woman, in a flowing white saari and two persons, tall, muscular and, even in this darkness, intimidating in their looks.
‘What are you doing here?’ he had shouted and suddenly one of them had turned towards him with something glinting in his right hand. As he wondered what evasive action he should take, he had remembered his licensed .32 revolver and had abruptly turned and ran inside that house, totally forgetting the low door, hit it head on, and had collapsed inside.
He might have been out only for a few seconds, and then, as he heard the scream once again, picked up that revolver and ran out towards the sound of receding footsteps and he heard again,…………..that jingling of the ghungroo, …………very close!.
In total darkness, fumbling and falling he reached them, The howling and screaming continued once more and as his eyes got adjusted to the darkness all he could see was a woman standing, draped in a glowing white saari and……, he was sure, waiting for him. Where were those two goons, he wondered? As he carefully closed the distance he felt her move away, and a shiver ran down his spine. She wasn’t walking, she was just gliding away……., slowly and smoothly. Was she human or… some kind of spirit, or even a ghost?
His curiosity had got the better of him and he followed.
Though she seemed to move slowly he had to run to keep up with her and in sight, his breath shallow and by then definitely panting.
As he ran, he thought what made that ghungroo jingle, she was floating, wasn’t she, then that ghungroo??
Suddenly he saw those two goons again, just crossing her path. Not as human beings, but on all fours, like some animal. What were they, he wondered, but fearing they may harm her, he took out his revolver. She was moving ahead, but that ghungroo jingled very near, much nearer to him, than her. She was gliding faster now, followed by those galloping goons, and, as he followed, he saw her moving into a small thatched house and before she could close the door, the goons reached her, too, and muzzled in, like pet dogs. As he dived head long to stop the door from getting latched within, the doors closed and he hit the door, his head hit the frame, his body crashed on the panel. He felt the door give way and half conscious, his head throbbing in pain, disoriented in the total darkness………… collapsed on to the floor…
Epilogue;
In pure panic he woke up; something strange; he was drenched in sweat, throat dry!. He was not only sweating but also panting, as if he was just back from a race. Pitch dark, where the hell was the door? Wasn’t it supposed to be? Where the hell was he? What was that mossy smell? What was that jingling in his pocket? How did this ghungroo come into his pocket? what happened to the revolver?? Ok ok, cool down Ken….
--------------------------------------------------Ken Featherlite
