it was summer in the town now. since the country is a tropical one, almost all the trees had bore fruits after giving burst to blossoms earlier. there stood few jack fruit trees in a garden tall, green, luscious. they had widely branched out with lot of fruits, at various stages of maturity hanging here and there.
two young women were climbing trees. mina reached a sturdy branch and held a football size jackfruit hanging near in her hands and cut it's stem really carefully so that it doesn't get damaged.
'yum, looks so delicious. come to me delicious'.
"um mina, i believe my mom is still in shock after you started flirting with brook" robin laughed at mina. "what are you saying. when did i flirt?"mina said nonchalantly as if it wasn't she who was in the hall earlier. robin suddenly burst out laughing. "o mina, my dear mina. maybe my mother can be fooled, but i have been with you since ancient times. how can i not know you?"
"and what do you know?"mina smirked at her laughing friend.
"oh i know that you were just honey trapping my brother. you used this same trick on a senior in college who spread rumours of you two dating and hence you wanted to punish him. after you unleashed your 'honeytrap killer flirt move' on him, he became so hopeless and really fell for you. even after knowing that you revenged him, he begged you so desperately to accept him but you heartlessly rejected him."
"oh, that. it wasn't that i was heartless, but he just isn't...". "just isn't what mina? Tell me? "
"my type" mina shrugged. robin's jaw dropped low hearing her friend's answer. 'just because he isn't her type, she got a revenge on him when he spread rumours of her. my friend is sure scary. why didn't i see this before'.
the girls went about their business, cutting fruits from the trees, laughing out loud talking gossips. a young man was peeping at them from behind a window pane in the second floor of Robin's house. he took a peak at mina and shied away, blushing and laughing like a teenage girl in love. his mother saw this from the stairs landing and looked at him as if her son had sprouted more limbs.
the setting sun had cast twilight everywhere. in a desolate part of a street, quite some far outside the garden, where any human would hesitate a little to wander even in the light, an inconspicuous figure stood in the gloomy shadows of the buildings that cast it. the sallow eyes of the figure, ironically had a sharp gaze directed at mina. the gaze was imposing a pressure that even a third person who is not under its scrutiny could feel it if they were in the vicinity.
mina unknowingly turned towards the place. she felt the presence of the burning gaze and turned to inspect it, only to find an empty shade behind the buildings. she kept staring for a few more seconds, lingering her eyes over and reassured herself that it might be a false alarm. but her heart told her otherwise. she knew this feeling. the one of being watched intently, she had been frequently in this situation for some time now. but still she had no proof of being watched or 'stalked'. she can only worry inside not showing to others.
while in the deeper shadows of the building, the same inconspicuous figure, crept slowly into the dark and darkness more and more. till it merged completely in it and vanished without a trace, leaving behind only the intensity of its stare and the girl being watched.
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the music on the floor was blaring. women and young girls in colourful, provoking outfits were drifting around men like butterflies. many men were enraptured by the women in front of them, some sneaking glances at other women while the lone men openly ogled at all the beauty they could lay their eyes on. some were secretly stealing glances over other men too. the bartenders were pouring shots and rounds to their customers on the sturdy glass table in front of them. the place was filled with chaos, but if one looked closer even there can be found, an order.
in an isolated transparent glass room in the pub, separated from the chaos outside and soundproofed, on the first floor, sanders was sitting in a couch, throwing shots down his mouth. he looked disturbed. while zero stood silently behind him with worry apparent on his face. he didn't know what was bothering his boss otherwise he would take away the burden from him and bear it all by himself.
'if only he would let me...'he was frustrated by his inability. zero had grown up with his boss. they were childhood playmates and his father worked for Sanders's father. he naturally succeeded his father in aiding the boss, since he admired his friend's father and him since he was a child.
sanders forehead had visible creases out of the heavy thoughts he was having inside his mind. he closed his eyes and laid back his head on the couch. yesterday's dream haunted him again immediately. 'a girl in grey clothes. she was lost in that place. he never saw that kind of place before. it was bleak, dark and had no light to illuminate the place. it seemed like the partially visible objects were emitting light innately from within them and that's how they were visible. the deeper shadows were filled with humans. no they cannot be called as humans. then what are they? they aren't any other creatures he ever knew or read in fictions either. they looked like humans, but disfigured, deformed, horrifying, blood curdling. she cried standing in the middle. "help me! somebody help me!", that voice!'
he jerked open his eyes to find himself only drenched in sweat and to realise that he unknowingly drifted off to sleep. zero's worry intensified over the time but he can do nothing. he continued to watch carefully at his boss who was gasping for breath and wiping off his sweat. His hands were curled into fists to hold himself back from touching sanders. His vein were pulsing at his temples from all the restraint he had to commend at that moment.
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somewhere, in an unknown space, stood a weak girl in grey. she found herself surrounded by unknown existences that she never even dared to dream of. they looked at her with vicious eyes, burning with malice, all kinds of hatred, all kinds of despair from deep down the pupil of those hate filled eyes. she didn't know where to escape. she cried for help. in an obscure place, away from her eyes, stood another figure, pitying for her.