The night was almost completely dark saved for the occasion distant
flashes of lightning. The thunder storm showed no signs of letting up and the tropical
rain poured down as if the sky had cracked. Standing on the side of a small
country road, Ali was shivering in cold. He was completely soaked to his skin. The
heavy rain drops fell on his raincoat with such strength that he felt hurt. Whipping
viciously through the open field, the strong wind howled around him. His heavy
soaked raincoat was flapping fiercely in the wind as though it would carry him into
the air. Rain water had flooded the dirt road and he could feel the flow of a
small stream up to his ankle.
Ali cursed himself in silent. His father had advised him
against traveling on a full moon Friday night. If he had listened to his
father and delayed his trip, he would have been at home and enjoying hot
chicken soup and steamy curry with rice. Now, he was wet, cold and miserable,
besides feeling really hungry. He hoped a car would pass through that road and
give him a lift to the nearest town.
As if his prayers were answered, he saw dim head lights of
an approaching car. Not wanting to miss this golden opportunity, he ran to the
slow moving car, opened the back seat door and jumped in.
He let out a big sigh
of relieve and thanked the driver. To his horror, the car was empty except
himself, and it was moving down the road in a slow pace. He picked up a pungent
scent in the air. It was like the mixture of rotting food and tobacco. Amid the
noise of pouring rain made on the car, he faintly heard sound of heavy
breathing close to him. Stories about bad spirits and ghosts flashed through
his mind and he could feel his heart pounding hard against his chest.
In the dim head lights, he saw a sharp bend in the road
ahead and he thought the car would surely crash into the barrier. Then, out of
nowhere, a dark hairy hand without a body appeared and steered the
car around the bend. The road ahead was slightly down hill and the car picked
up speed and moved faster. All Ali could do was read out all the prayers he
knew loudly and hoped the bad spirits would leave him alone.
He felt the car was moving slower and the heavy panting
became louder. It was as if someone was breathing very close to his ears. Then,
Ali saw the lights of a petrol station far ahead of the road. He gathered all
his strength, opened the door and dashed out. He didn’t stop running until he
was inside the petrol station. Still shivering and panting hard, he told his
story to the workers at the petrol station. They laughed at his tale but
nevertheless helped him to dry up and offered him a hot coffee. While Ali was
sipping his coffee, two men walked into the petrol station. They spotted Ali
and looked at him intensely for a short while, as if they were trying to make
sure. Then one of the men let out an angry groan.
He said “This is that stupid
idiot who got in our car while we were pushing it just now”.
No comments:
Post a Comment