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.

A place without non name

It was a day just like any other working day, there was nothing special or different about it. It was just another mundane working day. He went through the motions and had made it safely to the other side. And now it was time to leave and go home. 

It was one those days when he rode to office instead of taking the usual public transportation, so he decided to cut through the forest to avoid the usual traffic. It was route which he was familiar with, a route which he had taken a number of times before (if not a thousand times), a route that held fond memories of a clandestine meeting, a route which he had just taken in the morning. 

As nothing can ever be kept a secret for long, so it was with the route. There were many of those who had discovered it and in doing so effectively jammed the narrow road. The evening was one of those days when vehicles, two wheelers and four wheelers alike, tried to find a way of overtaking, finding an un-obstructed path. So he was forced to take another shortcut, one that was frequented by the wild, one where he used to run. He reluctantly drove down an empty road, as it snaked through the dense foliage. He could feel the breeze on his face as he drove through, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. The air felt cool, the air fresh on his face, refreshing his senses.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, he saw a headlights of a car. Where did it come from, how did he miss it. It was coming directly towards him, at great speed. He tried to move to the left of the road to give it way, let it pass, but somehow it seemed to occupy the whole road. Was it a car or a truck? There was nothing he could do, there were nowhere he could go. This was it he thought, and braced himself for the impact. He thought he saw all his life flash  in front of his eyes.

As the lights approached him, he couldn’t take it, so he shut his eyes tightly, too scared to face what was upon him. To his surprise, he just passed through it, and just as it appeared, the lights disappeared. He was too shaken to understand what had just happened. He took a deep breath and muttered a thanks  for narrowly missing the opportunity to meet his maker. 

While he was relieved at cheating death, his bike began to sputter. This was the last place he wanted to be stranded, you couldn’t tell what was lurking in the dark, behind those trees. He tried everything, but the bike refused to come to life. Maybe it was exchange for his soul, he thought wearily. He finally gave up and began pushing it down the dark road.

As he pushed the bike he felt something strange about the place. Though he was familiar with the road, today it felt different. Did he take a wrong turn somewhere, he thought to himself. He was not in Kansas any longer (well Kansas was several million miles away from him). Not wanting to stop, he continued to push his bike, trusting his gut. Suddenly he became aware that he was walking in a mist, and in that a mist a woman appeared.

She was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. There was something magnetic about that he felt drawn to her, she was intoxicating just by being around her. Words couldn’t describe her, it failed to describe her. She approached him, and he could feel his heart flutter and beat rapidly. He felt like a young boy just discovering love, awakening his senses. He felt giddy, lightheaded. Was this the effect of this radiant creature who was making her way towards him.

He took a deep breath when she finally approached him and asked him what was the matter. He explained to her his predicament, in brief as he didn’t want to bore her. She smiled, a radiant and dazzling smile that made his heart flutter and skip a couple of beats, and told him that there was a village nearby where he could seek help and directions, and she could take him there.

So they walked through the mist together. He was grateful for her company though she kind of, in a strange way made him feel a bit uncomfortable. A while of walking, the finally reached the village she mentioned to him. The place felt strange, there was something about it that made it feel a bit out of place in today’s world. Even though it was quite late, there were children playing outside, laughing and screaming and having fun. They passed a group of women who were quite engrossed in their chatting but when they saw them, they immediately stopped and greeted them with a big smile, a very Stepford Wife kind of creepy smile. He passed a group men who were drinking and singing bawdy and then bursting into peels of laughter. When they saw them they raised their glasses and whistled at her, passing remarks. She on her path didn’t seem perturbed, in fact it felt like she quite welcomed the attention.

They finally reached the mechanic, who had a look at said that he would need to look at it first thing at sunrise. As it was quite late she insisted that she stay in town and go the next morning when his bike was fixed. Reluctantly he agreed to her suggestion and decided to stay for the night. He tried to call home but there was no network. She took him to an inn where he could spend the night, when he refused to stay with her not wanting to give her any further trouble. But the truth was he had this feeling that he couldn’t trust her, he couldn’t trust this place.

As they made their way to the inn, he asked her what was this place. She smiled and told him this place could be anything that he wanted it to be, a place without no name. This kind of frightened him a bit more. When he asked the clerk at the reception about the check out time, he just smiled and informed that he could checkout any time he liked but he could never leave, and then laughed when he saw the frown on his face.

He thanked her for all her help and made his way to his room. He didn’t notice her following him. He entered room and immediately went to the washroom to relieve himself and freshen up. He heard a knock on the door. When he opened it he found her standing on the other side. 

Before he could say anything she threw herself at him. He couldn’t utter a single word because her lips were on his. Anyone would have kissed back this beautiful creature but he was too in state of shock at her ambushing him, besides he had someone special back home. Inspite his non-reciprocativeness she continued to kiss him. She pushed him on to the bed, straddling him she ripped open his shirt, exposing his bare chest, kissing him all over, bitting him and nibbling him. He tried push her off him but in a strange way he found himself aroused, and she could feel it too. She unzipped his pant and and tried to reach for his manhood.

He finally managed to push her off him. Quickly zipping up himself he told her that though she was an attractive woman but he was not into her, he already had someone back home. But she was having none of it, and barely listening to what he said. She continued to claw at him, kiss him, almost maul him, even though he didn’t reciprocate to her advances.

Once again he pushed her off him, and he ran out of the room, bleeding from the scratches she had given him. He had to get out this place, it creeped him out, it freaked him, she scared him. She followed him as he left the room, almost chasing him. He tried to his best to get away from her. He didn’t notice the steps and tripped and fell down. He was bleeding from where his head banged the stairs and began to feel dizzy. The last thing he knew  we she was standing on top of him, before he lost consciousness.

When he finally opened his eyes he found himself lying on the side of the road, with his bike lying right next to him, the same place where he had passed through the light. It felt like the same time, like time hadn’t pass by and all this didn’t happen. Was all this a dream, a nightmare? Did it really happen to him? He felt a strange burning on his chest, and when he unbuttoned his shirt he noticed the scratches that she had given him.

He quickly dusted himself off and tried to restart his bike. To his relief it came to life. He quickly got on it and ride from the place as fast possible, not wanting to spend another moment there. He never ever wanted to return to the place with no name.