Once upon a Midnight

1st Chapter

Loud sound of lightening jolted me out of some silly dream. I must have fallen asleep while working on my computer. I rubbed my eyes clear and placed the specs in place above my nose bridge and stared at the computer screen, it was blank. I don't remember switching it off. I tried to reboot it but it didn't work.

My room was in complete darkness, except some light filtering through the window. I walked to the light switch on the opposite wall and switched the light bulb on but nothing happen. Maybe the lights were out. It always happens when strom hits. Thankfully Tanya was at my sister's place.

My daughter Tanya hates strom and more then that she is terrified of darkness. I remember when last year the strom came and whole town was out of power for whole night. she made me burn the whole stack of old newspapers to keep the light glow in her room till she fell asleep. And as the strom past we ran to the nearest mall and bought an extra emergency light and 10 packets of candle to be prepared for next time.

The memory of that night always brought smile on my lips. It was really funny that Tanya was so scarred of thunder stroms, considering the fact that our last name was also Strom.

Stroms or darkness never bothered me much when Tanya isn't around. I lay down on bed cursing my twisted luck. I actually planned this quite weekend. I took Tanya to my sister's place knowing that she wouldn't want to come back with me after meeting her best friends, my elder sister Reeba's twin daughters Jane & Jesse.

And i was happy about spending the whole weekend alone. Its not that i don't like Tanya around but she disturbs me too much with her continue chatter. I always enjoy her talkativeness but this week i need to finish my novel and it won't be accomplished by having Tanya disturbing me 24/7.

Now that the power was out and I don't have anything else to do, i was missing her chatter already. I won't be able to do anything except getting bored now.

I closed my eyes trying to sleep but my eyes flew open with the loud thunder and lightening followed by a loud thump on my balcony. Like something flew and fell on it. I could hear the continues sound of heavy rain. I sat up on my bed trying to decide, should i go and check the balcony or just wait for the morning. Few minutes passed and curiosity got better of me as i stept down from my bed and slowly inched towards the balcony, a old baseball bat in my hand, ready for attack if somebody was trying to break in my house on this forsaken stromy black night.

I quietly slipped the latch down and open the door to make a crack and peeped out. At first i couldn't see anything except the dark sheet of heavy rain. Then i saw a human body (a very big human body) laying face down on the balcony floor, definately a man.and i also noticed that the water was filling around him very fast. Maybe the water drain got blocked by something. Unanticipated what to do next i closed the door quickly. Who is this man? What is he doing here? How did he get here? Although there is heavy strom blowing outside but the wind isn't that high that it can blow the man his size to my 2nd floor balcony.

"what should i do now" i thought aloud. I ran to the phone but that was dead to like my computer and lights. I searched for my cell phone and found it on the computer table. I checked it but the signal was out. "arrhhh..." i growled in distress. I was stuck in a flat on 2nd floor with no power and no means to contact anyone, there was a dead stranger in my balcony.

Soon the reality kicked in. Oh god... Is he dead? He can be... But what if he isn't? What if he is just unconscious? Should i help him...? Well i have to do something because if he is not already dead then he'll soon be as he is laying face down and balcony is filling with water. He will drown in that.

I can't even check the drain without going near him as he lay right beside it. Atleast i should clear the drain so he wouldn't die if already not. I opened the balcony's door again, wider this time. I tried to throw light on him by my cell phone and saw that water was risen more and his hair was floating by his outstretched arm. His head rested on his arm. That means maybe his nose was still above the water. Then I noticed the water around his head was darker then normal. "oh my god... Its blood! He is injured"

please comment if anybody wants me to go ahead with this story...