Running Scared

He stirred groggily from his bed and instinctively reached for the alarm that had been annoying. He was tempted to hit the snooze button but woke up nonetheless, after a fight with himself. As he rose from his slumber he mumbled under his breath, cursing himself for having to wake at such an ungodly hour, when the whole world was nicely tucked up in their beds. Why oh why did he have to sign up for another Full Marathon when he had made promise to himself, never again?  But then promises were meant to be broken, and the pull of doing another full can be irresistible, and blame it on peer pressure. Well whatever the reason may be, he had gone back on his promise and signed up for yet another full marathon and now it was time to train. So he woke up trying to rub the sleep from his eyes.

He grudgingly brushed his teeth, drank his coffee black, prepared his hydration, and applied Vaseline in places unmentionable  otherwise there would be great burning from all the chafing, ek runner ka dard only ek runner samajenga, he thought to himself, letting a smile break on his face. He got dressed and put on his running gear. He completed his warm up and patiently waited for his Garmin to catch the GPS. And when it did, he put on his music and off he went.

Initially started slowly and then building pace. It was the weekend long run, so it was endurance over speed. He maintained a steady pace desperately fighting sleep and the temptation of speeding up and getting the run done with. Finally he gave into temptation and picked up his pace.

As ran down deserted, unlit streets, where the streets had no name nor did they have their street lights on, he ran quickly but with caution, lest he trip on a speed breaker or a pothole or a sleeping dog. He could never fathom the need for switching off street lights considering it was still pitch dark outside, and there were times when they remained on evening in the morning light. Something’s you can never understand. He tried to not to think too much about it and continue with his run.

There was not a single soul on the road, a few stray rats, peered from their comfy abode to see which fool had taken to street at this dreadful hour. A few stray dogs stirred from their slumber and gave pace, I mean chase, forcing him to up his pace, or else it would be his flesh and their teeth.

Somehow he managed to get away from them, like he and many runners have always done. But in the bargain he tripped on a speed breaker and had a nasty tumble (with the speed breaker doing its job and breaking his speed). He picked himself up and dusted himself off and checked for any injuries. Beside some minor bruises he seemed fine. So he took off and continued with his run.

A few minutes later, he felt a dull pain. At first he decided to ignore it, after all he lived by the notion no pain no gain (however, inappropriate it may have been at time), but then pain got worse as he continued to run. He had to stop, almost wincing in pain. He couldn’t go any further. So he tried to see if he could find a way to get back. 

Unfortunately there was not a soul on the street, not even a single car had passed by. He hobbled for a bit trying to muster all the strength he could, praying for any form of divine intervention. Low and behold he spotted a headlight coming his way. Was this the light at the end of the tunnel, or just the oncoming train that would knock him over, pass him by. He could make out a silhouette of a driver wearing a cap, which he felt was odd thing to do, but then it was not the time for bordering about men with caps.

To his great relief it began to slow down, coming to a halt right in front of him. He could hear the hallelujah ring out, his prayers were answered! Ok his prayers at the moment were answered. He quickly got into the back seat and thanked the driver profusely for coming to his aid. He tried to dust himself off as the car slowly began to move on. 

He explained his predicament to his saviour. But he felt there was something odd, something not quite right. He tried to ignore it blaming it on the tricks his mind was playing on him. The car was moving at almost snail pace (if snails had one), which he found very odd. Was there something wrong with the vehicle? He asked this a couple of times but got no response.

When he finally peered at the seat, he got the fright of his life. There was no one there, the cap was placed on the headrest of the seat which created the illusion of a driver. Who was driving the car? He thought to himself. The car seemed to be steering itself. To his utter dismay, the car began to catch speed. He tried to open the door but it wouldn’t budge. He began to panic. He could feel his heart beat against his chest, threatening to burst out, tearing his chest open like the creature from alien. He tried to scream, to bang against the glass but nothing seemed to work. 

Today was not his day, or was it his last day. This was not the way he wanted to go. He wanted to go up in a blaze of glory and not blaze and be gory. He began to say his prayers, feeling his heart in his mouth, any moment he would just vomit it out. 

The car began to slow down, coming to a halt near a petrol pump. He felt his prayers were answered, he was saved, or was he? He once again tried the doors. To his delight it opened. He forgot his pain and began to run from there, making a dash for it, as fast as his feet could take him, screaming “bhoot, bhoot!” as he passed by a bemused attendant. He needed get as far and fast as possible from that car.

The attendant looked at him with bemusement. He asked the man who was huffing and puffing behind the car, who the man was? He replied that he didn’t know who he was, he had run out of petrol and had been pushing the car all this way, after briefly loosing the car when it began to go down a slope.