At the bank of a silent and still river stands Yudi in his duffle jacket and pair of jeans. The frigid climate of this place is unbearable, yet there appears not a single line on Yudi's chisled face that would be a testimony of the same. Yudi's face expression mirrors the state of the river - if said so, it won't be a hyperbole!
The thick layer of fog rests calmly on the upper half of the trees hence making the trees partially visible. The colour of the sky is a shade of blue-green and black, hence dark! The nightfall has started suiting Yudi only recently. The depth and stillness of the night matches his vibe - the vibe that he has cloaked since last one week.
She said she would come to meet him here but only on a condition that he is allowed to get a glimpse of her from a certain distance. How much distance - the idea of it is still alien to Yudi. The thought of her presence in front of his eyes is reason enough to accept any clause set by her.
The dream was so vivid! She was there right in front of his eyes. After a week of mourning over the loss and realising by the end of the week that he not today; not tomorrow or any day thereafter would be courageous enough to lead his life without her, made him to cry hard for god knows how many times! He cried himself to sleep too that night.
He was transported to an entirely different world, a place he was absolutely unfamiliar with before that moment. He turned all around with a hope of getting the hint of presence of any other creature, let alone human. But luck might not be favouring him that day that he ended up realising that how hard might he try but won't succeed in finding anyone there.
Why was he there at the first place?
It was bone chilling weather there and he was not even wearing a full sleeved shirt, quivering. The level of the temperature was proof enough to tell him that he was somewhere beyond the surface of Earth's crust because it is not a temperature fit for a human being to survive.
In his state of horror, when blood was rushing to his iced ears, a sound - that could provide him relief to some extent as it would be a proof of the presence of someone there, missed to hit his eardrums. He shouted -
"Anyone's there?"
His voice broke, thanks to the temperature and his level of fear. He trembled profusely more by the thought of lack of help of any sort than by the temperature of the place.
His life had surely turned upside down. The nightfall of his life seemed to be far stretched with apparently not a single ray of hope sighted anywhere around the parameter or beyond it.
"Ma...in... ma..in... kahan hoon?",
Yudi began to sweat out of fear, constantly looking here and there.
He wrapped his arms around himself. His eyes wide opened, not wanting to miss any movement what so ever that he might witness any moment.
"Bhai!"
Yudi freezed to his spot upon hearing her faint voice. No! This cannot be real! This is one of his hallucinations he is having off late. He turned around in horror but discovered no one. He knitted his brows in confusion.
"Neelu?!",
he called her out in desperation.
"Haan Bhai main tumhare paas hi hoon. Tumhare saamne.",
replied Neelu, her voice reflected her emotion of sadness and happiness mingled.
"Ka...han... Neelu? Ma...in... ma...in... tumhe dekh nahi pa raha!",
said Yudi, forcing his voice out of his choked throat.
Neelu's brows relaxed out of surprise that she now was audible to him. A smile of satisfaction stretched on her face.
His eyes gradually welling up.
"Pl...eas...e... please mere saamne aao.",
pleaded Yudi.
He got greeted by silence.
His heart almost stopped beating upon not receiving any reply from her.
"Neelu?!"
"Main aapke saamne hi hoon bhai. Magar aap mujhe dekh nahi sakte.",
she said, helplessly, sadly.
Yudi shut his eyes tight and tears rolled down his cheeks, unstoppable.
"Main... main tumhe ek baar dekhna chahta hoon. Aakhri baar hi sahi!",
pleaded Yudi, folding his hands, crying profusely.
"Mujhe permission ki zaroorat hogi uske liye.",
came Neelu's reply after a brief silence.
"Permission? Kiski permission?",
asked Yudi, knitting his brows.
"Yahan jahan main hoon wahan bina ijjazat ke kuch nahi kar sakti main.",
she said.
It was then that it dawned upon Yudi that he might still be a human but his sister was then a creature of another world. She was leading a life - paranormal!
It was now Yudi's turn to turn speechless. What could he say about that? How could he argue about something he was unaware of? All that was left with him was to submit to her words; her rules.
"Hmm... theek.... theek hai... to jakar ijjazat maango.",
said a helpless and disheartened brother in Yudi.
After a long stretched silence Neelu called him out,
"Bhai?"
"Haan!",
Yudi straightened up immediately, anxious to know the decision.
"Unhone allow kar diya hai."
Yudi's eyes twinkled with joy. He failed to understand how must he react to that, as that was something happening beyond his imagination. He had lost all hope of seeing her beloved sister again but here he was hearing the best news he had heard post losing her.
"Ma..t...Matlab hum mil sakte hain?",
asked Yudi just for reassurance.
Neelu replied,
"Haan!"
Yudi's happiness knew no bounds at that moment!
"To... to aao mere saamne!",
said Yudi rotating his eyeballs left-right-left in quick succession with a hope of getting a glimpse of her.
"Abhi nahi!"
The two little words succeeded in breaking Yudi's heart immediately after his mind registered them.
"Abhi nahi? To kab?",
asked Yudi, broken hearted, totally at Neelu's mercy.
"Do (2) din baad aath tareek ko!",
said Neelu.
"Aath tareek!",
mumbled Yudi.
Wiping off his tears Yudi smiled and said,
"Thee...k.... theek hai Neelu. Aath tareek ko milenge yahan."
"Nahi yahan nahi.",
said Neelu.
"Phir?",
Yudi got alert.
"Jis shamshaan ghaat mein mujhe le jaya gaya uske peeche ek nadi hai. Wahin nadi ke kinare aana. Main wohin milungi.",
said Neelu.
Yudi agreed after a brief thought.
●●●●●
Yudi decided to keep this conversation he had with Neelu hidden from his family and friends. They would not believe him he knew and he was not in a state to explain them; argue with them.
He rubs his hands together to generate heat out of them.
"Agar Huda ya kisi aur ko pata chala ke main itni raat gaye yahan aaya hoon akele, to meri jaan le lenge.",
murmurs Yudi and laughs a little, thinking of his friends, fondly. The joy and excitement were more about seeing his sister once again than thinking about his friends.
Yudi's heart skips a beat as his eyes catch a glimpse of a lady standing on the other side of the river. Yudi soon recognises her as his sister Neelu.
"Nee...lu...!",
he murmurs initially, before shouting at her, calling her out,
"Neelu! Neelu!"
Screeching through the silence, his voice echoes.
With in moments he discovers Neelu, in the water, floating forth, her lower body submerged into the water and upper body standing erect outside of the water.
Yudi gets tensed wondering what is she doing in the freezing water at this hour of the day and in this weather!
"Neelu bahar niklo!",
shouts Yudi in shock, running towards her, extending his right hand to help her to get out of the water despite the fact that she is far away from him.
Without turning to look at him Neelu stretches her right hand backwards and gestures Yudi with four of her fingers to get to her.
Shocked Yudi could think of nothing beyond saving the life of her sister.
"Neelu nahi mat raho wahan. Bahar aa jao.",
Yudi tries to persuade her to get out of the water but to no avail. By now he has reached the bank of the river.
Succumbing to the demand of the situation Yudi walks forth and into the water, following Neelu, never blinking his eyes. It feels like she has casted a spell on him. Soon enough he floats on the water as if lifeless.
A hand of a female, filthy which would have looked to any spectator, had it had one, as the skin is rotten and scaly, grabs Yudi's neck from behind and pushes his head into the water. Yudi squirms, trying to get out of the water; his eyes opened wide inside the water; his nose flared and soon in front of his eyes inside the water floats the body of his dead sister, rotten. He shouts her name incoherently because of the water nevertheless he didn't give up calling her out in helplessness and shock. He gets pulled out and forced to look behind him. A large hoarding board that read
☠ D A N G E R ☠
❌VISIT PROHIBITED AFTER DARK❌
falls on him pushing him back into the water and the street light at the bank of the river falls into the river due to the violent wind and thunder as a result of which current gets generated. The cold, silent and still river would turn out to be his cold-blooded murderer, Yudi had not the slightest idea of it when he reached this spot.
This nightfall turned the darkest and the last one in Yudi's life!
☠☠☠THE END☠☠☠