The Untitled Story: Part 1

"You should not be here so late in the night," I jolted to an eerie touch on my shoulder, while the undertone of the whisper sent a shudder down my spine. I turned around to find an old man's sullen eyes penetrating mine. Had it not been for the loud barks of two dogs who started quarreling in the vicinity breaking out just then, I fear what might have happened. As soon as the spell broke and I came back to myself, I decided to avoid his hypnotic eyes and lowered mine a little. His tattered shoes with the thumbnail peeping out of one came into sight. His clothes looked a hundred years old, although still not older than his hideous beard. I could barely make out that he wore a pair of trousers and a torn shirt, with tons of dust coloring them homogeneous. As if the odds of him being a real human being weren't less already, I noticed his skin color—a speckled mahogany with no signs of life. Flies swarmed all around him. How could I have been so ignorant.

My heart sank, throat went dry, limbs became numb, and the brain refused to signal any action. I thought I should run away, but my feet were cold, and heavy. I felt choked if I tried to speak. All along, my eyes didn't bat an eyelid, as if hypnotized. It seemed like I had lost all sense. I was trembling with fear.

"What are you afraid of, my child?" this time, his own voice broke the spell. "You," I mindlessly uttered. "Me? Haha!" he brayed, exposing two teeth, half-broken—all that he had. The leaves under his feet crumpled as he took a step closer towards me. I ran for my life.

Around one kilometer and an eternity later, I decided to slow down. My mind had been playing games all along, at times applauding me for my well-timed courage and spontaneity, at other times cursing me for being rude to the only sign of life I had found after hours of searching, thus losing the last opportunity to find a way out of the uncanny place I had foolishly chosen for my first adventurous outing—which, I secretly feared, could also be the last one. I damned the day my stupid friends decided to come for this trip, and more the day when I agreed. Those were two different days, by the way. I was never sure about the whole plan. Something in me was telling me that it is not right. Don't go, it said. Whenever I have ignored my instinct, I have ended up suffering. 

When it comes to things and people, the most beautiful ones are also the most deceptive, and alluring. Man still doesn't know how to deal with mystery, how to ignore the unforeseen, the unpredictable, the dangerous. The beauty of this place had hexed me no end when I had seen it in the day. If only I had remained content with that, I would have saved myself this phantom of an experience.

I was still lost in deep thought and rumination when I felt something gooey clinging to my leg. It was slowly tightening its grip and sliding higher. There are times when you are so lost in your thoughts that your eyes freeze, limbs go numb, and you refuse to take action even if the brain signals you to. This was that moment of languid inertia, thanks to which, it took me a bit too long to look down. And when I did, I went blue. My body felt paralyzed again, but the inertia this time was more out of horror, than torpidity. I was transfixed. Never in life could I imagine that I could be so at ease seeing a deadly snake clasping on to my body. This trip sure was turning out to be full of surprises. I feared what might await me after this moment—if only I survive it, that is.

(to be continued...)