Bombay Shaman - episode 2: The Haunting Hunter

PART VI: Nightmare in nightmare

In the office of Prithvi News, Shilpa was in her quarters, immersed in work. She was so lost typing her work that the office atmosphere was literally non-existent to her; the only thing she could see was her laptop screen, the only thing she could hear was the sound of the keyboard her fingers smashed, and the only thing she could smell were the many cups of empty coffee piled on her desk. Nothing distracted her until that moment. All of a sudden, the mundane office chatter in the background stopped. There was pin drop silence. The  atmosphere of the room changed drastically. It became gloomy. It was strangely and awfully cold, and yet sweat trickled down Shilpa's temple.

"What the fudge?" She whispered under her breath and looked around. The whole office was empty. "Where did everyone go?"

A feeling of dread fell upon her. Squeezed heart thumped loudly against her chest; so loud that she could almost hear it. Her shoulders leaned inward. An involuntary shiver jolted her body. Breathing became heavy.

Following these frightful feelings, her shoes unexpectedly had the sensation of being slightly wet with some thick liquid. Slowly, she swivelled her eyes down, somehow knowing already that something bad awaited her notice.

She was standing on a pool of dark red blood. It spread past her feet in leisure, branching out like thick veins. It was flowing from behind.

Her eyes widened and her hands started to tremble.

Before she could turn and see where it was coming from, fear locked her. She knew a horrible gaze was set upon her. Turning around seemed like climbing up a steep mountain. She wanted to know what was behind her, and yet she didn't want to look at it. Against her paralysing hesitation, she peeked over her shoulders.

The view made her heart explode all the way up to her choked throat. She clutched her mouth and smothered a shriek.

A little away, Pankaj lay dead in her own blood, sprawled on the floor just like back in the hospital ground. The one and only thing frighteningly different — her eyes were frozen on her.

"Pankaj..."

Those dry, tattered, and colourless lips of Pankaj curved up on her upside down face, appearing disturbingly distinct. That creepy smile was back in a creepier way.

The listless body of her friend sprang up and twisted while her head remained fixed in its angle and position. Limbs crackled and bent, hands and feet slamming on the floor gaining a footing. The head pivoted on her body, rotating back to normal position. The lips curved again, maintaining the smile — the transition of its tips making its way to the ears from the edge of the jawline was grisly to behold.

Shilpa stepped back and gagged, her gulp stuck dead in her throat.

"You can't escape me, Shilpaaa." She hissed in that same demonic voice and opened her mouth wide, wider than was normal or even close to normal. Black teeth lined her black gums.

Shilpa took another shaky step back.

That thing was not Pankaj. It was anything but Pankaj.

"Stay away... from me..." Shilpa couldn't remember basic words in her fear.

Pankaj — no — that thing that looked like Pankaj shook its head. Spontaneously, in the blink of an eye, it lunged toward her, bellowing.

Shilpa shrieked.

"Shilpa?" A similar voice came and she felt gentle pat on her shoulders.

She startled awake on her desk. Immediately, she shot up her chair and whipped her head back at whoever or whatever was patting her.

A human face stared back at her, concern over its face. It was a work colleague of hers.

She looked around. The office was full.

It was a dream.

"You okay?" He asked.

"Ugh," she closed her eyes and held her forehead, annoyed and full of fatigue. "I'm fine. Just tired." She sat back in her seat.

"I get that."

She leaned back on her chair lazily, letting her eyes aimlessly wander around the office. But they froze when they met with the intimidating eyes of another similar face, one lit with a psychotic smile. That was a face she could never forget, not after acknowledging the way it tortured and murdered innocent civilians. It was the serial killer, standing right out the door of the working quarters, hidden in shadows, murderous eyes killing her courage with mere intent.

The shocking thing was, the staff were walking around casually. Had nobody noticed him, she thought. But that was not probable, and it was also not probable that they had forgotten that face of ruthless torture so soon; the face their company had made known throughout Mumbai.

A man walked past him, covering him from her view. When the view was unblocked, that person was gone. He was no longer there.

"Where did he go?" She asked, her voice trembling with fear.

"Who?" Her colleague asked.

"Over there... out the door... That man... You didn't see him?"

"I see nobody there," He replied, "which"—the voice changed drastically. It was no longer human—"man?"

Shilpa found herself locked in fear again. She knee, it wasn't her colleague that stood behind her, not anymore.

The whole office paused, a dark tint all over it.

Like a rusty door, her head turned, eyes round in fright.

A horrible, black, demonic face came close to hers and screamed terror at her, its tongue dancing menacingly in its wide open mouth that had daggers for teeth. Its slitty eyes peeled off her courage.

She squalled, opening her eyes. Her work desk was right in front of her.

By then, her heart was literally trying to smash its way out of her aching chest.

She looked around.

Another staff sitting two cabinets away gave her the freak stare.

She turned back to her desk; it was a nightmare within a nightmare.

A pinch on the arm was very necessary to make sure she wasn't in yet another nightmare.

It was a relief to find out she was finally back in reality.

Inclining on her desk, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She stayed there, relaxing her berserk emotions. When she was normal enough, she lifted her head like an ostrich bringing its head out of the sand.

Memories of the day rushed back to her. She had chosen to work despite her boss telling her to take the day off; she thought letting her mind be free would've done more bad than good. And apparently, she just realised she might've made the wrong call deciding to work the day away.

It was past six in the evening, and the night lights had been switched on over the individual cabinets of the quarters. Most of the staff had already left a while ago probably and only few remained to work a bit late — she knew they were the desperate bread winners like her.

But after that nightmare, she no longer wanted to stay there for even an extra minute.

She switched off her laptop and shoved it into her bag along with her other important things. She shouldered her bag and strode out of the quarters.