I woke up early next morning and the sky was still dark blue meaning Uncle hadn't left home still. I had slept like a log in a fetal position on the red polished floor and my entire body ached. It took me a long 5 minutes to prepare myself ready to get up and another 5 to actually get up achingly from the floor. But it was all in vain
An image of the red eyes from the night before flashed in front of my eyes and I fell back gasping and panting on the floor. I craned by neck again towards the window from my sitting position on the ground to see if it was still there. It wasn't. The fence was empty of any strange creatures and so we're the trees and roofs of the neighborhood.
I knew the creature wasnt a dream. Maybe it had got tired of waiting. Or maybe Dhara had saved me. Dhara. Forgetting all my body pains, I was up in an instant, brushing my teeth and running out the door quietly but as fast as I can to the bookshop.
It was still dark as I ran along the concrete lane without slippers on. No light was on in any of the houses I passed and it was so quiet that the only sound I could hear were my own heavy footsteps as if someone else was chasing me and my heartbeat thumping in my ears. It seemed like everything around me was waiting, silent and calm, preparing for the monster to come.
I didn't stop until I reached Dhara's house. It was the same as the others, dark and silent. I ran up the to the front door of the shop, trying to open the handle. The door was locked, obviously. But it was locked from the outside, just like the second day I had gone to see Dhara and she had locked the door from the outside as she left to drop me home. This time the door was bound with a thick metal chain and locked with a heavy padlock that seemed a little too serious to guard a book/gadget store.
I knocked on the door hesitantly. I knew I shouldn't bother her this early in the morning, but I needed to talk about what had happened last night. No answer. Both my fists came down harder on the door. The silence continued deafening around me. I leaned on the door, my ears glued to the door, but there was no movement inside.
A hole was beginning to form inside my chest. Yet, somehow, I wasn't surprised. I knew that she wasn't in. She was gone. She had left me with the monsters and nightmares tonight.
I knew I shouldn't be feeling this way about someone I had met only a few weeks back. But I did and I couldn't help it. I knew we were connected in some way as if I've known her before I met her. I shouldn't have trusted her but I did. I felt safe around her and now she was gone. I felt her loss.
I was insane. Here, I was getting worked up because Dhara had not answered the door. Maybe she had gone out last night or before I came and maybe she would even be back home later in the day.
I shook my head and chuckled. I was being neurotic as I had never been before which was surely, an effect of liking someone so much so fast. Get a grip on yourself, I told myself sternly.
So I walked to the back of the house where the well was, deciding to be around until Dhara arrived.
The back of the house was dark as it faced a high wall that covered it from any view of the houses or streets beyond. The wall clearly belonged to the next-door property as it did not cover the other parts of Dhara's house the same way. The house had no doors leading to the backyard, so Dhara probably never really spent time there. It was obviously unkempt. The yard was overgrown with long grass that was now wet by the cold mist and they were sloshy under my bare feet. There was a large mango tree to provide shade when the sun was up.
I walked around to where the well was. It looked old and unused, with rusty casings and a low wall made of granite. Dark green vines grew over its wall and covered the opening, making it look like a large lump of green even though the well was clearly recognisable. Lemongrass grew on the ground, surrounding the well.
