“I would take one single – large”
A week has passed. Now I am here in this mountain village, Karattoor. I have isolated myself completely.
I have flown to this country, India. This hotel is by far the best that I can find here in this town. The reception guy looked to tall and too skinny. When I asked him about the availability of a single large room, he looked me up and down. Then, he asked me to fill the details in a registry. When I done filling the details, he looked at it. As he was checking my details, I asked him, “Can I get a corner room with balcony please?” – I saw the balcony outside this hotel, and I hoped it was available.
He never acknowledged me. Is he deaf or something? Then, he turned back and reached the key hanger. When he returned, he had a tall and slim key just like him.
“Ummm! What about the corner room I just asked? Is it available?”
“…”
He started reading something else as if he didn’t hear anything that I told him. I confirmed that he was deaf. There’s no use to argue with him anymore. I looked the key and the number sticker glued on it!
It was Room No 13. I grinned when I saw that number. Its on the top floor. When I reached the room, I was pleasantly surprised. It was the corner room after all. So, that guy wasn’t deaf. Whatever. I just got the room that I wanted.
I unlocked the room and it was so clean. I never expected this. But the room was so small. I unpacked my bag on the table. I placed my laptop on the table.
I thought of Helena.
My watch showed 11:30 PM. The journey had been an exhausting one. I can feel my legs going numb. I dropped my shoes and socks. Turned off the lights and fell on the bed. Helena came again on my mind. What can I do without her? I must finish this draft. I should able to do it. I have done it before. And my eyes started shutting down slowly.
01:00 AM
All I could hear was the sound of crickets chirping. What is this place? I couldn’t able to identify this place. It is too dark and dense with grass and trees. What am I doing in the middle of this forest? Am I dreaming? I should be dreaming. The last thing I remember was falling on the bed and thinking about Helena. So, I must be in my dream. But I don’t like this dream. And who is that? I can feel somebody else is here with me.
Hello!!! What? I can’t able to talk. Where’s my voice? What kind of weird dream is this? I tried shouting once again. I can’t able to get my voice out of my vocal cord. But I can able to hear sound in a distant. I closed my eyes and listened to the tune. I can’t able to recognise it. So, I wanted to know where its coming from. I closed my eyes again. I can able to hear it now clearly. Or did the sound got amplified? It’s coming from…
Behind me! I slowly turned to know the source of the sound. But all I could see was the bushes and trees. I started to walk towards the music know. As I passed the bushes and the trees, I can see now. I was in the forest located in the back of this mansion. I heard that this mansion marks the end of this town. So, anything behind this mansion was just trees and bushes. At the end of this forest, starts the slope of this small mountain.
The music was getting louder and louder as I was walking towards the mansion. I can clearly see the mansion now. Straight to me was the balcony of my room. My room’s lights were turned off. Am I really dreaming? But still, I can’t able to find the source of this music. It was getting louder and louder though. Then suddenly I saw that. I felt something odd about my view in the front of me. The mansion’s backside was full of balconies of the room. All the lights in those rooms were off except one.
The room where the lights were on was my nearby room. And this room was where the weird music was coming from.
My legs stopped moving on its own as if sensing something that warned it not to move. But my eyes worked just fine. Something was not right about my neighbour room. I could feel it. I just don’t know it. Then it happened.
The music suddenly stopped. Someone unlocked the balcony door and came to the edge of the balcony. I looked closely on that person. That was a woman for sure. On seeing the woman, I had a sense of familiarity. I want to know who it was. That resolve of mine made my legs to work again. As I neared the balcony, I can able to see her clearly. Then the horror struck me.
“Helena” – I can hear my voice again. But the most important thing was how Helena know where I was. And what was she doing on that balcony. I screamed her name and walked swiftly. She looked at me. She is my Helena. She smiled at me. Her smile became laughter and then it turned hysteric. I could able to hear her laughter louder and clear from that distant. I started running towards her.
She suddenly stopped laughing and,
I never in my wildest dreams would’ve imagined something like this…
She had just jumped from the balcony.
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