1.
James awakened suddenly. Two yellow lights coming closer. Headlights coming closer. He remembered that he met with an accident.
He looked around and saw shadows and silhouettes. Shadows and silhouettes. It was dark here.
Was he dreaming?
He heard mechanical beeps and whirring.
The nurse saw the risen silhouette at once and came to him. "Lights will be back in a mo-" The lights sparked on. A dizzy black shadow saturated in front of James's eyes. His head was heavy. The nurse was saying something "--feeling, sir?"
He looked at her "What...happened?"
"You were—"
"What time is it?"
"Huh?" she got puzzled at first, then raised her wrist. "9:28?"
"Shit-shit—" He started to jump out of bed, but nurse's hand came right above his chest in a big red STOP! manner. She was big. Don't-mess-with-me big.
"You don't understand. I have to go." James said.
"You can. But there's a procedure for it."
He missed his 9:30, but there was another train leaving for Pottsmain at 12A.M., that meant in just two minutes.
He ran fast for a skinny man who met an accident 6 hours ago. He didn't have any major injury, only few minor cuts. His taxi was side slammed by a multimillionaire's son who was being blowed by his girlfriend in his new Ferrari, and also jumping a traffic light. It will be the national headline in newspapers tomorrow, he thought and smiled.
But no, he knew what tomorrow's national headline will be: "STEPHEN KING'S TALE ON LOOSE: MORE MISSING IN POTTSMAIN."
2.
Inside the tunnel, the lights of the carriages flickered. All of them were empty, except for the 3rd carriage. Three people were present in it. Two of them were standing by the door.
Alan was saying to Will "--was the biggest kid of my class. He came and asked what had I brought? What was in it? I said cheeseburgers. So, he pulled it from me. I pulled it back and seized it to my chest. He said "Gimme that like a good boy." I didn't. Then he said "Gimme that like a good boy or I will fix you." Then someone shouted "FIX HIM!", then the whole class was chanting that. So he started fixing me He punched me on my back two-three times, but I still kept holding it to my chest. Then he grabbed my head and banged it on the table. I woke up in an ambulance, and you know what? it was still in my hand."
"It was still in your hand!" Will said with fake enthusiasm.
It was still in your hand, he had said. James tried to concentrate on the moving trees outside, on the full moon above them, but mind is that entity which cannot be contained.
It was still in your—
James was back in that night when he mounted the stairs. Girls in the street were checking him out when he passed by them. Some of them even turned. Of course, he was looking handsome in his Dad's coat, he told himself.
Three more floors to go and he remembers when he couldn't find a razor, he went to the counter. A beautiful girl in white skirt and denim jacket was standing there. When he looked at her the world slowed down and he wanted to keep looking at that pretty face forever, but instead he said "Where are the razors?" She turned, took two steps and bent to a box on the floor. Her skirt rose. His chin dropped.
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The Empty Hospital
हॉररThe city of Pottsmain is known for its world class hospital, but recently it's in the National news for the terror that has struck this city. The streets are empty. The people have locked themselves in their houses. By the time the government sends...
