HALL OF MIRRORS
- Rejo John
"Did
you guys hear about the tiger sighting last night?" said Neha.
Her body turned away from Nikhil. She made sure she didn't meet his
eyes.
Nikhil
looked away and pretended he didn't hear her. He bent down and
absentmindedly started fixing his little cousin's hair while the
cousin made a irritated grimace and tried to bat away his hands.
Nikhil
could hear the guys talking and laughing in the background. He was fuming inside, but made sure he showed no signs of it. He cant let
'her' win. He can't let 'her' have the satisfaction that she was
getting to him. He hoped she would walk away for a moment so that he
can get a hold of Mukesh and Vishal and give them an earful.
They
betrayed him!
He had told them not to let Neha know about
today, and they had readily agreed. And yet, here she was!
Presently,
they were in line to get into the House of Mirrors attraction at the
amusement park. It was Nikhil's aunt's idea. Her idea to cheer
Sachin up, her son. Her husband was away on a business trip to
Australia and wont be back for another 3 months. This was her idea
of distracting Sachin from missing his dad.
Sachin,
an 8-year-old, dressed in a loose red T-shirt and baggy jeans, stood
holding onto Nikhil's hand. Nikhil didn't like the idea of the
amusement park. Especially this rundown one. But he wanted to cheer
up Sachin as well. Then he had the unfortunate idea of inviting the
guys to tag along. He had mentioned to them specifically that Neha
couldn't be a part of this. He thought they would understand how
awkward it would be for him. But he was starting to feel that may be
they don't.
"Ya.
There was a footage of the tiger
in the morning news today. The forest department guys are on
high alert! But I think the traffic and all the noise must have
scared it back to the reserve.” said Mukesh with a chuckle. He
then turned to look at Nikhil as if expecting him to add something to
it. Nikhil turned away. He was trying very hard to seem care-free.
After
a few seconds of intense silence, Neha bend down and playfully
pinched Sachin's cheek saying,
“How are you, buddy?”
Sachin
blushed and said he was fine.
Nikhil
felt the person behind him nudge him forward. Neha stood up and
looked towards the front of the queue. An employee of the park was
counting people into small groups and sending them in at few minutes
intervals. Right then, the employee counted Mukesh, Vishal, and Neha
into a group. He was about to count in Nikhil too, but when he saw
Sachin, he paused, frowned as if he was performing complex
calculations in his mind, then finally said, “Okay, you three go
ahead now.”
The
group looked at Nikhil as if expecting him to argue with the guy to
let him join them. But Nikhil just stood there, confused. He was
pissed off at them for having brought Neha along. He looked down at
Sachin and said in a childish voice, but loud enough for 'them' to
hear,
“Its okay buddy. Let them go ahead. We will go with the
next group.” Sachin looked back up at Nikhil with a blank look on
his face.
Mukesh and Vishal shrugged and walked towards the
entrance door with Neha momentarily stopping to look back at Nikhil.
Nikhil gave her a cold stare. She peeled her gaze away from him,
expressionless, and followed the guys. Nikhil started to have a bad
feeling about this, like he was going to regret not joining
them.
“How old is he?” the counting guy said with an
uninterested look on his face.
“I am 8!” cut in Sachin,
excited.
“Okay. Just stay with your brother and keep moving
ahead. You will eventually reach the exit.” said the guy who
suddenly was frowning at something on the ground that looked like a
chewed up chewing gum and started to stomp at it with a bored look on
his face.
The
counting guy was dressed in
a casual
dress. Nobody seemed to be
professional in this park. The park itself
was in a pretty bad shape. It was about
60 years old and in disarray.
The last maintenance was probably decades ago.
Most of the rides were out of order
and have been so for many years. The
few rides that
still remained
working were rarely
on because there were
never enough people queuing
up for them. The stories
about people dying in
freakish accidents
on the rides kept people away
from them.
Most of these stories
started out as rumors, and nobody knows for
sure if the stories are true
or just rumors that went
out of control. One of the
victims
of the
rumors was their
now rusty
roller coaster. Thanks
to the stories about people
being thrown off it and plummeting to their death and
specifically the
one where a girl 'fell off and got decapitated,'
people started avoiding it.
Eventually, the
park stopped manning the
ticket counter. This
further made the people
think that they no longer ran
the ride because the stories are
true. Now it just stood
there as an object of display. Bored teenagers would take selfies
with the rusting roller coaster in the background, then later
when they were headed home and could get a signal on their phone,
they would upload the photo onto their social network sites with
statuses similar to “Chilling out with the cursed roller coaster”
or “-with The Ride of Death.”
The
other thing about the park was that the place where it was built had
no phone signal. Its almost like the phone companies forgot about
extending their towers beyond the nearest town enough to cover the
amusement park. But again, the park literally was in the middle of
nowhere. The 2 nearest towns were an hour's drive away. Nikhil
sometimes felt that parents brought their kids here as a way to get
them away from their phones and from the 'damn Internet!' The
parents felt the young generation was getting addicted to their
phones. This was their way to get them to enjoy the 'outside world.'
Even
though its been only half an hour since they had gotten there, Nikhil
absentmindedly checked his phone for about the tenth time to see if
there were any new Whatsapp messages, and like all the previous
times, he put it away frustrated.
Nikhil
and Sachin stood there watching the counting guy looking at the
ground, lost in thought. Nikhil wondered whether the guy had gone to
sleep standing up and may be he should try to wake him up. They
heard faint screams followed by laughter emanating from somewhere
deep inside the House of Mirrors. One of the screams seemed to jolt
the counting guy out of his sleep. He stood up straight and
proceeded to count Nikhil and Sachin and a young couple behind them
as a group. Then he motioned the four of them to go ahead and the
guy behind them to wait for his turn. But the next guy just ignored
him and walked ahead and joined the group. The counting guy stared
at the him for a second, then ignored him and promptly went back to
probing something on the ground with the tip of his worn out shoe.
"Are
you ready?" whispered
Nikhil to Sachin as they approached the door. Sachin nodded his head
excitedly. A
man standing
next to the door opened
the door for them. Nikhil
and Sachin peered
inside
and
all they could see was darkness
except a
few feet of
the path
in
front of them. The rest of it dissolved
into darkness.
A
chill went up Nikhil's spine. It
looked nothing like the last time he had gone into
the House of Mirrors. But it had been about
4 years. May
be things have changed, he thought.
Nikhil
gingerly
stepped in with Sachin right behind him holding
onto his hand.
Once
inside, Nikhil
looked
up and realized that there were tiny lights
at the edges
where
the walls met the roof. He turned to look ahead and all
he could see was floating
bright images. He
realized it would take a few minutes for his
eyes to get
used to the darkness
from
the blazing
afternoon
sun outside.
The
dim
lights
on
the edges of the roof weren't
helping much.
Nikhil
felt the wall to his left with his hand. The surface of the wall was
covered with some kind of rough paper, and the paper was black in
color, possibly to make the paths as dark as possible. The young
couple and the guy walked in behind them, and they sounded excited
and were talking in hushed tones. It seemed as though the guy and
the couple were close friends. The door closed behind them with
darkness wrapping them except for the dim lights from the roof which
still weren't helping. They waited for a few seconds expecting their
eyes to get used to the darkness. The darkness echoed with far-away
cries of excitement and screams.
Nikhil
almost jumped out of his skin when something pushed him. He held
himself up from falling and heard one of the guys apologizing.
Nikhil let them walk ahead of him. Nikhil felt relieved that, thanks
to the darkness, Sachin won't be able to see how scared he was.
Sachin held onto his hand, but he was squeezing his hand a bit too
tightly.
Nikhil followed the voices of the couple and the man.
Nikhil started feeling better when after a few minutes his eyes had
gotten used to the darkness and he could see better.
At
the end of the path was a door. The door lead them into a tiny
circular room. The room had 4 doors well spaced out with mirrors
covering the parts where there weren't any doors. They realized they
had to make a choice.
“There's
no knob on this side!” exclaimed the girl looking back at the door
they had just walked in from.
“May be to prevent us from
accidentally going back the way we came from.” said one of the
guys.
The other 4 doors had knobs on them. Nobody made a
move, as if waiting for someone else to take the decision. One of
the guys went ahead and randomly opened a door, and just as he opened
it, something jumped out screaming at them. They all screamed in
horror.
It was a freaking werewolf!
Nikhil felt
Sachin's nails digging into his arm. The werewolf then stood quiet
on its hind legs, and then turned around and walked back into the
door. It was a guy in a werewolf costume. They all burst out
laughing. Nikhil laughed along even though he could feel the arm
Sachin was holding onto now trembling. Adrenaline, he thought. Or
may be fright. He tried to stiffen his arm. He didn't want Sachin to
think that he was scared.
Dammit! This was supposed to be a
fun thing! Nikhil told himself that he was going to grab a hold of
that counting guy and give him an earful. He knew the counting guy
was just an employee, but still.
Its almost as if the park
changed the entire setup and forgot to rename the thing. He felt may
be they should have named it the Halls of Scary Stuff, or something
like that.
The group waited for sometime for the laughter to
die down. After a few seconds of speculation, the other guy gingerly
turned the knob of another door and slowly opened it. This time, it
was another dark path. They sighed a breath of relief that nothing
jumped at them and one by one walked in.
The couple and the
guy kept talking something about a birthday party they had when they
were kids and were laughing their heads off about it. Nikhil was
starting to feel irritated by this. May be he should have gone with
Neha and the guys. He wanted to ask Sachin if he was fine, but he
wasn't sure his voice would sound fine. It seemed as though he had a
lump in his throat.
The
path lead them to another tiny round room with 4 doors. One of the
guys again chose a random door. Another dark path.
Sachin
hadn't said a word since they had gotten in. Even though Nikhil was
scared, he was happy that they were not alone. And that's when he
walked into one of them. One of the guys had stopped abruptly
because he 'felt' something on the wall, and now he was feeling his
hand on the wall trying to figure out what it was.
“Guys,
there's definitely something here!” he exclaimed. The other guy
started to help him and a minute later they were prying open a
freaking hidden door!
“Wow!” the girl said amused.
“May
be an old part of the maze. Let us check it out!” said the guy
pulling it open wider. Nikhil moved behind them to get a better view
of what was inside, and all he saw was pitch dark blackness. The guy
murmured something that Nikhil couldn't make out, took out his phone
and turned on its flashlight function. Then, as Nikhil watched in
horror, the girl and the other guy took out their phones too and one
by one walked into the darkness.
Nikhil swallowed hard. He
didn't feel this was right. All he wanted was to just find the exit
and get out of here. He wondered if he should just wait for them to
come back from their little 'adventure.' But what if they didn't?
What if it lead them to some other path or may be even the exit? If
he just stood there, will somebody come looking for him and Sachin?
Will Neha and the others realize they was still inside or will they
just assume that may be they already got out and was somewhere else
in the park 'avoiding' them?
Nikhil remembered what the
counting guy had said. “Keep going ahead and you will find the
exit.” Nikhil grabbed Sachin's arm and started walking ahead. He
stopped abruptly when he heard more screams echoing from far deep in
the darkness that stretched before them. He stopped and suddenly
realized that he wasn't brave enough to go on. And neither was
Sachin. With a sigh, he turned around, took his phone out, and
walked into the dark door which the couple and the guy had entered a
few seconds ago.
All
he could hear were faint noises of them talking. He
turned
his phone's flashlight on and shone
it
ahead and caught
the
back of one of the
guys
about
20 feet away.
Nikhil shone
it around and realized that this was a corridor with many rooms
attached to it. He tried to catch up with the group walking by many
more rooms. The rooms had no doors, just am empty cutout where a
door should be. He could point his flashlight in and see that the
rooms were empty except for 1 or 2 chairs
and
sometimes a thin metal table. They were covered in dust and cobwebs.
He instantly felt something crawl all over his body. He knew it was
just his imagination, but he couldn't help but scratch at his
arm.Nikhil
guessed that
may
be this was like
a place for the employees. May be this was where they rested during
their breaks. But they obviously weren't used in a very long time.
May be its forgotten. May be once the park's popularity had gone
down, they cut down employees, and these were no longer used.Nikhil
saw some light switches on the wall, and tried one of them, but the
rooms stayed dark.
Nikhil
shone ahead and realized the rest of the group were about 2 rooms
away. Just then, Nikhil
noticed
something. On the other end of the room he was looking into, there
was a door. It was shut, but it had a knob on it.
Since the
time he had gone into the little circular room with the 4 doors, he
had started noticing if the doors he came across had knobs on
them.
Right then, looking at the door on the other side of
this room, he had the curiosity to walk in and try to open it and
see where it led to, but noticed that the guys were about 3 rooms
away now. He forgot about the door and hurried after them, pulling
Sachin along. The next room didn't have a door, he noticed, but the
room after that did. Nikhil wondered if they led to different parts
of the paths. And that's when he heard it. An ear-piercing scream.
It was the girl who was now 3 rooms away. Nikhil stopped
in his tracks, Sachin
grabbing onto him in fear. One of the guys had dropped his phone in
fright. He picked it up gingerly while the other guy and the girl
had their flashlights pointed into the room.“Oh
my God!! Is it real??” the girl whispered,
scared. A moment later, they laughed nervously, but it was laughter
mixed with fear.
“It looks so real,” said one of the guys
slowly walking into the room while the other two slowly followed him,
curious, and they disappeared into the room and out of Nikhil's
sight.
The next thing Nikhil heard made the hairs on the back
on his neck stand up straight. A
loud roar. Followed
by screams. Nikhil stood stunned trying
to make sense of what was happening. It must be another guy in a
costume, he thought. He gingerly moved closer to the room and saw
the girl lying down on the floor. Nikhil could see her face. It
looked as though she was staring blankly at the roof. Then, all of a
sudden, one of the guys appeared near the door. His clothes ripped
and bloody. He tried to run out, but something huge pounced on him
dropping him to the floor with a thud. In the harsh reflected light
of the flashlight on the floor, Nikhil saw what it was. A tiger. It
bit into the guy's back. Nikhil heard what he thought was the noise
of his bones being crushed. Nikhil
felt his heart jump up
to
his throat. For
a moment, he felt he couldn't move his body. He felt Sachin
squeezing his arm harder. The tiger pulled the limp body of the guy
into the room and out of their sight.
Nikhil quickly and
quietly turned around
and ran back the
way he had come in, literally dragging Sachin
along
with him who seemed to have suddenly lost the function of his legs.
Nikhil
could hear what he felt were screams coming from back there. Then,
complete silence. As he ran, he wondered if the tiger saw them. Was
it chasing them. Does a tiger make any noise when its hunting down
its prey?
Every second seemed like forever, and the door at
the end seemed far away. Nikhil thought to himself that if they kept
running straight ahead, the tiger could just see them with a glance
outside the room with whatever night vision these freaking cats had
and kill them. Nikhil quickly remembered the doors he saw in the
rooms. He shone his flashlight into the room that he was passing by,
saw it had a door, and ran inside the room. Rushing to the door, he
turned the knob and frantically pushed his body against it to open
it, but it didn't budge. When he rebounded thinking he would give it
another frantic push, the door opened inside towards him. He quickly
opened it wider and, with a backward glance into the utter darkness
for any sign of the tiger, jumped out of the door without looking
where he was headed. When he turned to look, it was too late. He
realized something was headed straight at him at full speed, and
before he could even think about making an effort to stop himself, he
made contact with something hard and then everything went
dark.
***
When he regained consciousness, Nikhil found
himself lying on the floor on his back. He felt groggy and saw spots
of color in front of his eyes. He rubbed his eyes with the back of
his hands and tried to sit up. As he did so, he felt something slid
off his T-shirt and fall to the ground. Frowning at them, he
realized they were broken pieces of a mirror. He looked up and saw
a shattered mirror on the wall. It looked as if someone punched it.
He realized it was he who did it. From what he can remember he had
run into it. He then realized that the thing that he saw running at
him was his own reflection.
Gently sitting up, he felt his
right shoulder hurt. He had turned at the last moment on instinct
before he hit the mirror. He gingerly stood up and looked around the
path he was in now. It was very narrow, but the lights were much
more brighter in here. Or may be his eyes had gotten used to the
darkness. He wasn't sure. The walls were covered in mirrors as far
as he can see. Looking at them, he realized they were all slightly
curved in different ways. He walked around looking at them. They
distorted his reflection. One of them made him look short, one of
them long, one made him look like he had a huge head on a tiny body.
Nikhil wasn't amused. He was hurt and confused. He felt a slight
headache coming on. Then he noticed the part of the wall that didn't
have a mirror on it. It was the door and it was still open. Growing
curious, he moved towards it and saw darkness inside. Then it all
came to him. A tsunami of memories.
“Sachin! Where is
Sachin?!!” Nikhil panicked. He looked around both ways of the
hallway and he didn't see anybody else other than him and his
reflections in the mirrors.
Did Sachin go back in? Nikhil
gingerly once again peered inside the door, but he could not make out
anything. He tried to get his phone out, but his hand was met with
an empty pocket. He felt his other pockets with no success. He
looked around on the floor and there was no sign of it.“Sachin?”
he whispered
and
listened
holding
his breath,
but
all he heard was his heart pounding in
his chest. Then
he heard it: A roar somewhere far away
in the darkness
and some kind of a
snapping
noise. Nikhil
stepped away from the door in fear.No!
Sachin wouldn't go back in there. That
would be stupid, Nikhil
thought.
Besides, Sachin
probably took his phone and went to get
some help.Feeling
uncomfortable leaving the door open with a hungry tiger somewhere
inside, Nikhil pulled
the door close by its
edges as he couldn't find a knob
on his
side.
He heard the lock clicking into
place of
the old thin wooden door and
felt a bit relieved.Nikhil
gambled
in his mind for a moment as to which direction he should go.
He decided to walk
to his left and
try his luck. Calling
out for Sachin in a soft whisper, he
started to jog.
A distant faint scream followed by laughter momentarily
stunned
Nikhil. He quickly recovered and resumed jogging.
Then he
heard it. A faint cry. A familiar voice. The cry kept getting
louder. Nikhil quickened his pace. Sachin was probably right after
that turn in front of him. He ran, but
soon
the
cry
fainted, and then
he
couldn't hear it anymore. Nikhil
shouted for Sachin, but was met
with complete silence. Sachin
was somewhere on the other side of the wall to
his left thought Nikhil.
He
was probably
lost, alone,
and scared.
Nikhil shouted Sachin's name once
again and waited in silence for a response, but, once
again,
he heard nothing.Feeling
panicky,
Nikhil
began to
run.
May
be he can get out and let the people running the park know about the
tiger and about Sachin. May be they will send
some
kind of rescue team. He came across a divide, and he stuck to the
path on the left as he had heard Sachin's voice coming from somewhere
to
his left.
The walls were no longer covered in mirrors and the lights seemed
to be dimmer. The tiny lights were of a reddish hue now.
Probably
to add to the scary
feel
of the place,
thought
Nikhil.
Another divide, but this time he heard some hushed voices from the
path to his right. He squinted and could make out shadows of a group
of people, slowing
moving away,
huddled together. May
be they
could help
him. He ran towards them and before he could say anything, they
turned around and then let out a loud scream.
There
were 2 teenage girls in the back who literally caught hold of each
other as
they screamed.
There were 2 guys behind them who looked at Nikhil with their eyes
wide in fear and their mouths gaping
open.Nikhil
had
forgotten about the fact that the Hall of Mirrors had become the
Hall of Scares without the park guys realizing that may be they
should change the name. Nikhil mouthed a quickly sorry while he
caught his breath and the teenagers relaxed a bit and started
grinning at each other and starting arguing about who looked
the most
scared.“Did
you guys happen to see a kid?” cut
in Nikhil.
“Dude,
good
work! You
really
scared
us!”
replied
one of the guys ignoring what Nikhil had asked. Nikhil frowned at
them. They probably thought he was one of the park employee hired to
scare them.
“What kid?” said one of the girls. Nikhil
explained that he lost his cousin, and when they told him they hadn't
seen him, he walked past them, then remembering,
told
them,
“Just get out of here quickly! There is a tiger in
here!”
The teenagers went
dead silent for a second,
then burst
out laughing.
They
still thought this was all part of a
ploy to
scare them. Nikhil
heard
echoes of cries from somewhere
deep within the dark path ahead.
The thought that Sachin was alone somewhere in there hit him again,
and Nikhil
ignored
the teenagers and started jogging
ahead.
Nikhil suddenly had a thought that may be he was
nearing the end, and may be Sachin
had
gotten outside
and
was now probably waiting with his aunt for him to come out. Then,
all went to hell when something from the wall jumped at Nikhil
with
a loud roar. Nikhil jerked back and lost his footing and fell on his
back. He was sure he saw 2 glowing eyes. He lay on the ground with
his eyes shut tight waiting for the sharp teeth to bite into his
flesh
and kill him. He knew he was too close to even try to get
himself up and make
a run for it. A
few seconds passed, and nothing
happened. He finally opened his eyes and looked up. Nothing
above him.
Sitting up, he saw a dull
shade of yellow light on the floor that was rapidly shrinking into a
thin rectangle. Nikhil looked to the source of the light and saw a
door closing on the wall. He realized that it was nothing but a guy
in a costume. An employee! Nikhil lunged at the door, but it closed
flush to the wall before he could grab at
it.“Hello!
I need your help!” Nikhil exclaimed banging on the door. There
was no reply. He continued to do so
a
few
more
times. The guy finally opened the door
and
peaked
his head out. He had a mask of a dragon pulled
up on his head.
“If
you want to complain, you can go talk with the guys outside.
Honestly, it wasn't my idea to make you fall down. I didn't
even
touch you!” The
guy sounded scared. He looked like he was in his early 20s.
Probably a college kid doing this as a holiday gig.
“No, thats
fine! I lost my little cousin in here. Can
you help me find him?”
“Oh man! Didn't those guys tell you to
stay with
your group??
How old was your cousin
by the way?”
“About 8.”
The guy sighed and said,
“They
really
shouldn't
be
letting
young
kids
in. And you guys should stay with your
groups.
You know what dude? He's probably found another
group and must be alright.”
Nikhil felt it made sense.
“Alright.
Now you do the same. Just find a group and find your way out.”
with that, the guy started to close the door. Nikhil stopped him
saying,
“Oh
wait! There's
a tiger!! There's a tiger in here!!”
“What?”
“I
saw a tiger. I think the one that escaped from
the reserve... its in
here!”
The guy
sighed
and
said calmly,
“Listen
dude. I dont know what you are trying to do, but if you are trying
to get back at me for scaring you, you need to understand that this
is just
my
fucking
job,
man!
I
dont get a kick out of doing this shit!”
“You
need to trust me! I saw it!” Nikhil insisted.
“Just
go. Just leave me alone, man!” he said shutting
the door close.Nikhil
sighed
and started
moving
ahead.
At times he
would
reach
a divide and he would stick to the left, and twice he was led to
those small rooms with 3 other doors to choose from, once again,
choosing the door to the left. He wondered for a moment if he might
end up going in circles. About a half a dozen times he was scared
out of his wits by props jumping down from the ceiling in front of
him, which after a few seconds will automatically retract back up
into the ceiling where they went back into hiding. They seemed to be
doing
this at random times even
when there weren't anybody to scare.
Nikhil
guessed they must be timed to drop down every few minutes or
so.
Nikhil stopped in his tracks when he saw a lump of shadow
far
ahead of him. He
squinted at it.
He
realized it was a group of people. He was relieved it wasn't
some guy in a scary costume trying
to stand
flush to the wall so
that he can jump
at him when
he got closer.
The
truth was, even
if
he saw it coming, he would still
feel
frightened. Nikhil was starting to really hate this place.For
a moment, Nikhil found
himself cursing
Neha under his breath. He suddenly
felt this was
all her fault. It was never his idea to go into the Hall of Mirrors.
This was supposed to be just a day spent relaxing and
helping
Sachin get his mind off from missing his dad.
But then she had to point out the Hall of Mirrors and suggest that
they
go
in. The guys had readily agreed. They said they hadn't been in it
for many
years.
This
was followed by a long awkward
pause as they all waited for Nikhil's vote. Then Neha had
interrupted with,
“I
guess the
ones who are scared
can stay back.”
And Nikhil felt it
prick
his ego. Without losing a beat, he had
said,
“Lets
go!”Unsure,
Nikhil began to quietly walk towards the shadows about 20 feet in
front of him. He could feel a drop of sweat travel
from
his forehead, down
his
cheek, and lodge
itself,
unfortunately,
between
his lips. He wiped it off quickly with his sleeve, but not
in time to stop the salt taste spread through his mouth.
As
he got closer to them, a sense of relief washed over him. It was
'them.' They seemed to be walking in a file with Neha walking behind
Mukesh who was pushing Vishal ahead as if he was a human
shield.
Nikhil ran up to them saying, “Guys! Oh,
thank....”
Neha turned around and let out a scream. They almost
stumbled into each other and fell. Nikhil stood stunned at their
response, then had a grin on his face as he saw them struggle to get
on their feet.
“What the hell, dude?!” said Vishal grabbing
his chest.
Neha slumped against the wall, breathless.
“You
guys alright?” said Nikhil, still grinning.
“We are fine. But
this thing is endless dude. I mean, its like a fucking maze in
here!” said Vishal.
“Well, it technically is. I mean, it
'was.' It was a maze before they converted this into a “House of
Mirrors”. But obviously things seemed to have changed since then.”
said Mukesh wiping his glasses with the end of his T-shirt as they
had become slightly foggy.
“How are we going to get out of
here??” said Nikhil.
“Well, I think all the paths converge
together towards the end. We just need to keep going forward. The
different choices are more or less just an illusion. I think it's
just a gimmick to keep the people coming in again and again. Make
them think they are going through a different path each time,” said
Mukesh.
“Guys!” Nikhil said. “I lost Sachin!”
“What??”
Neha said searching behind Nikhil for Sachin.
“He was with me,
but then the group I was with went inside this hidden room and then
we ended up.... oh my god!! THE TIGER!!!”
Everybody just looked
at him, confused.
“What?!?” Neha shouted.
“Guys, we need
to get out of here! Remember the tiger in the news?? I saw it in
here! I think it killed the rest of the group I was with!”
“A
tiger?” Neha said, her eyes turning into 2 huge globes of white
which seemed to be strangely bright in the dim red light of the
corridor.
“Yes. I know what I saw, but... but I dont know. May
be I imagined it??” Nikhil sat down on the floor beside Neha,
exhausted. For the first time, he wondered the possibility that may
be he had imagined everything. He wondered may be the place was
fucking with his head. Then he realized that he now had a splitting
headache and his shoulder hurt even more.
The guys huddled
around him, trying to cheer him up, even though they were still
trying to figure out what the hell was happening.
“Okay, just
relax. We will tell those park people outside about Sachin. I am
sure they will find him.” put in Neha.
Nikhil nodded and let out
a sigh.
“Alright, lets get moving,” said Nikhil suddenly
realizing that no matter what, he had to either find Sachin or get
out of here quickly and get help.
Getting back with the group
seemed to invigorate Nikhil. He was no longer scared of hidden guys
in masks jumping out at him or mirrors confusing their paths or
freaky noises or scary realistic-looking photos on the walls. They
kept moving ahead ignoring all these or pushing the props aside with
Vishal almost punching one getting a bit too excited.
After a
few minutes of this, they saw a bright light at the end of the path
they were in.
“Oh, thank god! I think we reached the end.”
said Vishal.
“Finally!” said Mukesh who then began to cough.
He felt a burning sensation in his chest. Like his lungs were on
fire. May be the place had bad ventilation he thought.
They
all rushed towards the bright light and ended up walking out into a
perpendicular well-lit corridor. They looked around and saw that
both the ends of the corridor had a door. Besides the door of the
path they had walked in from, there was 2 more open doors from other
paths.
“May be all the paths converge here!” exclaimed Mukesh
with a victorious smile.
“So, this is the exit??” said Neha.
“Why 2 doors?” said Nikhil confused.
“So that you can
use the one closest to you?” said Mukesh turning to the door to
their left which was the closest. There was a piece of paper stuck
on the door and getting closer to it, he realized it had something
scribbled on it. The lights flickered. They stopped and looked up
at the bright lights on the ceiling. Unlike the paths which had
dimmed red lights, here, there were bright LED lights. Four of them.
Well spaced out through the length of the corridor.
Just when
they were about to shrug it off and continue towards the door, the
lights flickered again.
“That's kind of creepy,” said Neha.
A
few seconds later, the lights went out altogether and they were left
with a blue tinged light coming from the wall to their right. The
wall was no longer dark blue like it had been when the lights were
on. They realized that it was more like a one-way mirror. But the
glass was dirty. There seemed to be a lot of, what seemed like mud,
covering it from the other side. Further proof of the park's poor
maintenance.
Nikhil and the others moved closer to the glass.
They could make out that this glass separated them from a room. And
high on the wall of that room was a huge blue-tinged moon. And in
the room were what looked like artificial trees. Plastic ones.
There also seemed to be lots of undergrowth and large dirty grass.
They also noticed lots of pieces of wood and old wall sections all
thrown around. It almost looked as if a huge earthquake had hit just
this room.
The huge blue-tinged moon keep them in
awe.
“Cool!” exclaimed Vishal who was trying to get as
close as he can to the glass being careful not to actually touch its
surface even though most of the dirt seemed to be on the other side
of it. Someone had at least been doing a cursory cleaning of the
glass on this side.
“What is it?? Some kind of LED?” put
in Vishal.
“Looks more like a huge hole in the wall.” said
Mukesh frowning at it. Nikhil took a step closer to look at the
numerous trees and what looked like bushes strewn around. Just then,
he heard something move in there.
“Did you guys hear that??”
said Vishal.
“What??” exclaimed Neha who was started to get
more creeped out.
“Shhhh....” said Vishal who turned on his
phone's flashlight and tried to point it onto the other side, but was
having trouble getting a good look thanks to the dirt on the
glass.
Then, they heard it again. This time, much more
clearly. Then, a growl. Nikhil was the first one to jump back from
the wall followed by Neha.
Mukesh stood stunned, but Vishal
continued to move the flashlight around trying to pinpoint the
source. Nikhil rushed at him and pulled his hand holding the phone
away from the mirror.
“It could be the tiger!!” Nikhil
whispered in shock. Nikhil quickly rushed to the door and tried to
open it, but the knob was stuck. He used all his strength to turn
it, but it refused to turn all the way.
“I can't get it open!”
exclaimed Nikhil.
They heard the growl again.
“That doesn't
quite sound like a tiger.” said Vishal making note of the low pitch
of the growl. Then they started to hear barks.
“Okay, that's
definitely not a tiger.” said Vishal finally pinpointing a dog on
the other side of the glass. He noticed something funny. Its saliva
was oozing from its mouth. It started to bark more rapidly now and
seemed pretty pissed off.
“Its just a dog!!” said Vishal with
a smirk.
“A rabid dog!” put in Mukesh, then looking at it more
said, “Thank god its on the other side.”
Just when they
were starting to let their guard down, the dog ran closer to the
glass and disappeared under it. They heard frantic scratching and
growling behind the wooden panels beneath the glass.
“Whats
it doing??” said Vishal bending down to shine the light to look
below the glass. They saw that the glass wall didn't go all the way
down to the floor. There was about a feet of wooden wall beneath it,
and the dog was now trying to push its way through a loosened panel
which was starting to give away. As they watched in horror, the dog
with its frothy mouth successfully squeezed its head through the
panel and was now struggling to push the rest of its body in. The
noise of its nails scratching against the floor filled the dark
corridor while everybody started frantically shouting at Nikhil to
get the damn door open.
Unsuccessful with the knob, Nikhil was
now kicking at the door with no success.
The dog seemed to be
having more success as it growled and pulled half of its body through
the stubborn panel. Neha shone the flashlight on her phone at the
determined dog, and she could feel its gaze piercing her, long
strings of thick saliva flying of its face and landing on the floor
as it swing its head around struggling to get the rest of its body
in.
Nikhil and Vishal kicked the door together, and the door
finally gave out and flung open. Neha saw the dog successfully get
out of its predicament and charge at her. She stood stunned, unable
to move, but felt herself being pulled by someone and dragged out to
the other side of the door, and the door being slammed shut. They
heard the dog scratching against the door, barking. Mukesh was
holding the door close as the lock was broken. Vishal noticed a huge
stone on the muddy ground beside the door. Trying to pick it up and
finding it too heavy, he rolled it to the door and set it leaning
against it. Mukesh let go of the door to see if it would hold. The
door shook like it was possessed, but it held.
“Whats a
freaking dog doing in here??!!” exclaimed Vishal standing back up,
feeling exhausted. Nikhil wasn't surprised. The structure was so
old, there must have been lots of sections of the walls that were
broken. Easy shelter for homeless dogs. He guessed that must be how
the tiger had gotten in.
“Guys! I think that was the wrong
door.” said Neha who was surveying the huge room they were in now.
Her phone vibrated. She took a look at it surprised thinking that
may be somehow she got a signal and realized it was just a warning
that her battery was down to 5%.
Vishal looked around the room
with his flashlight and recognized the plastic trees and plants
similar to the ones they were staring at a few moments ago. He
realized that this room was an extension of the one they were staring
at on the other side of the glass.
“Shit! I think the door
wasn't stuck. It was locked. This is a dead end!” said
Vishal.
“Now what??!” said Neha sounding very frustrated. The
scratching of the dog continued on the other side of the door. Neha
turned her flashlight on the door. The door stayed shut.
“There's
something here.” said Mukesh moving towards the wall to the left of
the door which was covered with creepers.
Neha moved to the
other side of the room because she saw a bright light. She realized
that the room they were in now met the room that they were looking at
from inside the corridor at a right angle. The huge moon came into
her view. Mukesh was right, she thought. It was just a huge hole in
the wall, and there was nothing blue-tinged about it. She turned to
look at the wall to her right and realized that it was the glass they
were looking out of that was blue-tinged. She could make out clouds
as she squinted at the hole. About 20 feet in front of her, the room
ended. It looked like a dumping ground for the park. More than
twice, she almost lost her balance because she stepped on some broken
pots.
“At least we didn't get bit,” Neha heard Nikhil say
who happened to be standing right next to her. She almost jumped
with fright, but quickly recovered, and looked around frowning,
debating how to respond to him. Suddenly, it seemed like an
important decision. Should she sound mad or pretend like she wasn't
interested in talking to him. “Yup.” she finally said.
They
heard the barking again. Frightened, they looked at the wall and
realized that the dog was probably looking at them now from inside
the corridor. Probably mad. Probably thinking that we outsmarted
it. But they could not see nothing but a black wall of tinted glass.
They heard growling, and then scurrying, and then they heard it
scratching at the wall again, this time from the inside to get back
out.
“Shit!” exclaimed Nikhil realizing what was
happening. Then things got even more worse when they heard growling
from somewhere within the room. Neha cringed. It came from
somewhere within all that mess. Then barks. There were at least 2
more dogs in here with them. It seemed as though the dog's entire
freaking family was in here, and they had just walked into their
living room.
Nikhil pulled Neha and ran around to the where
the guys were, but there was no sign of Vishal or Mukesh.
“GUYS??!”
shouted Nikhil, but there was no answer. He saw a glint of something
metallic to the further right of the wall. He ran to it and pushing
away some of the creepers was pleased to find that it was a knob. He
turned it, pulled, and the door opened without any effort. Neha ran
inside, Nikhil followed, and shut the door behind them.
Nikhil
stood against the closed door, catching his breath. They could hear
faint barking on the other side of the door.
Where ever they
were now, it was completely dark. There was no source of light
whatsoever. Neha quickly took out her phone and switched on the
flashlight again and shone it around. They were now in another path.
She shone it ahead in the path to see if Mukesh and Vishal were
there with them, but no sign of them.
“I think they went
through some other door!” she said.
“Well, I am not going back
in there!” said Nikhil slumping down to the floor.
“I thought
we were at the end! How much more should we go??” she said pointing
the flashlight ahead to see how far the path went, but something
seemed to limit their vision. There was something in the air. Like
fog.
“Whats with the lights??” Nikhil said.
“Probably a
power failure. But they should have an emergency backup, right?,”
said Neha who sat down beside Nikhil.
“I would be surprised if
they actually had an emergency backup.” said Nikhil with a
chuckle.
Neha felt her throat itch and realized that her
throat had been burning for sometime. She coughed uncontrollably.
Then she realized that she smelt something burning. She shone her
light again and realized that the fog like thing was actually
smoke.
“What the hell!” she exclaimed turning her light
towards the ceiling and seeing thick black smoke flowing in through
hidden vents. “I think we have something way more worse than just
a power failure going on here.”
She noticed the smoke was
only coming in from the vents on the wall on the left. She gently
touched the wall with her palm. She had read somewhere that in case
your building was on fire, you could touch the wall to get a sense of
how far away the fire was. The wall felt warm. She then pressed her
ear against the wall. She heard faint crackling noises and some
faint screams. Only this time, the screams weren't followed by
laughter.
Her phone vibrated again. “Battery Low. Connect
your charger.” It was down to 4%.
“Shit! I should've
charged my phone!” she said turning off the flashlight leaving them
both in darkness.
“Wheres 'your' phone?” she asked turning to
where Nikhil would be.
“I lost it. I think Sachin has it.”
Neha
sighed. Then coughed once again uncontrollably.
Nikhil got up
on his feet saying,
“Lets just keep going! We must be close to
the exit.”
They both extended their arms out and began
walking ahead feeling the walls. Neha would intermittently turn on
the flashlight with hopes that she would see a door a few feet ahead
of them with “EXIT” written in big red block letters, but she was
always disappointed. The smoke was starting to burn their lungs.
The more they walked ahead, the more it seemed to be getting
thicker.
“Do you think we are walking 'towards' the fire??”
said Neha.
“Well, we know for sure that back there is not the
exit, so this is our only choice, right?” said Nikhil.
They
kept walking ahead. They braced themselves for mechanical props to
jump at them from the walls or the roof and scare them, but nothing
seemed to happen. Its seemed like the entire place was dead. Nikhil
felt his lungs burn and starting to feel short of breath. He heard
himself start to wheeze.
“May be this is all fake, you know?
Like the smoke is some kind of organic nontoxic thing, and this is
all just some crap to scare us.” said Nikhil with a chuckle,
breaking the uncomfortable silence between them.
“It seems more
like the park has gone insane and is trying to kill us!” said Neha.
“And in sometime my phone is going to give up and we might as well
die wandering around here in the darkness.”
“Were you chatting
with someone special and forgot to charge the phone?” said Nikhil
trying to get back at her, but instantly regretting it.
“May be
I was. Why? Are you jealous?” she said with a sarcastic
tone.
“Yeah, right!” said Nikhil smirking. He forced himself
to smirk as loud as he can so that she can hear him doing it.
“I
am not surprised. Being jealous has always been your thing.” she
said.
“You went on a date with that guy when we were 'in' a
relationship!” said Nikhil in a way as if he had been wanting to
say it for a long time.
“That 'guy' was a friend from my
calligraphy class. And that wasn't a 'date.' It was a
meetup.”
Back when they were in a relationship, Nikhil had
spied on her phone and read their messages. The calligraphy guy had
been sending her flirty messages. Neha seemed to have ignored them
for sometime, but then eventually she responded with, what Nikhil
felt, were flirty messages of her own. And he had asked her about
it. She was pissed that Nikhil was reading her messages. And she
had pointed out the times he had flirted with other girls. It had
led to them to making strict 'rules' for their relationship, which
they eventually broke and led to more fights. Things escalated a
month before their final semester, and they broke up.
Their
relationship lasted almost 3 years. They had met on the first day of
class. Nikhil, Neha, Mukesh, and Vishal were a closeknit
group.
After the breakup, Nikhil had been trying to avoid her.
Whenever she met up with the group, he would pull away at the last
minute because of something 'urgent.' This had been going on for the
last 3 months. This is the second time they had met since finishing
their final semester. The first time was when Mukesh and Vishal had
called Nikhil to go for the Mad Max movie, and upon reaching the
theater, he realized that they had invited Neha too.
Right
now, Nikhil was regretting more that he brought this up.
“And
you starting keeping tabs on me. All of a sudden you wanted to know
where I was and who I was with! I mean, I was starting to feel it
was going a bit too far. I was actually relieved when you said we
should break up,” she said.
Since the breakup, Nikhil had
gone through periods where he blamed her, then he would go through a
phase where he blamed himself. Its almost as if it had given him
more clarity. He was wrong on few things. But so was she, and he
debated whether this was a good time to bring those things up.
“Not
to forget the.....” Neha stopped midsentence when she heard a faint
voice. Nikhil heard it too. It was coming from somewhere on the
other side of the wall to their left, and it was someone calling out
for Nikhil. And Nikhil instantly recognized the voice.
“Sachin!”
Nikhil exclaimed moving closer to the left wall and pressing his ear
against the wall. He began shouting for Sachin, but then the voice
had stopped. There was no reply. Just more crackles and a loud
crashing noise as if the roof was caving in somewhere far away on the
other side of the wall. Nikhil realized the place was breaking down.
He started banging on the wall furiously and calling out for Sachin.
Neha joined in. This went on for about a minute before they stopped
when they heard a roar. It too came from the other side.
“The
t... tiger!?” Neha whispered to Nikhil, her voice breaking. Neha
could hear Nikhil swallow hard. Deep down, Nikhil felt a bit
relieved that he wasn't going insane. There 'really' was a tiger.
Nikhil grabbed Neha's hand and started pulling her along saying,
“We
need to find a way to help him get out of here!”
They were
running ahead in the dark with the now even more thicker smoke
choking them. Neha turned on the flashlight on her phone to make
sure they didn't end up running into a wall.
They heard a loud
thump from behind them. They both stopped in their tracks. Neha
held up the phone's flashlight, but the light barely penetrated a few
feet through the smoke filling up the corridor. Nikhil quickly
grabbed Neha's phone and pressed his hand against the flashlight
blocking the light.
“What are you doing??” said
Neha.
“Shhhh...,” Nikhil whispered. She realized what he was
thinking. They heard another thump and a loud crack. They just
stood there as if waiting for the tiger to find them. To kill them.
It seemed as though they had no other choice. Of course, they could
run, but for all they knew they were going to run right into the
fire. It seemed like they were dead anyways.
A few globes of
light appeared to be floating in the smoke before them. Nikhil and
Neha looked at them unsure. The globes started to shrink in size and
become brighter to form the heads of hand-held flashlights, and out
of the smoke, holding onto one of the flashlights, appeared the guy
who had frightened Nikhil with the dragon mask. The guy stopped,
startled to see them, shone the light at their faces while they tried
to look away from the light, and said, ““Good! Now just follow
me and you will all be safe.” He then walked past them and a dozen
or so people followed him, many holding onto similar
flashlights.
The guy walked about 10 feet ahead and started
knocking and feeling the wall on the right.
“Nothing to
worry people. Once I find this door, we will head to an emergency
exit,” he said as he pulled out what looked like a small metal
ruler, and with his flashlight in his mouth between his teeth, he
began to wiggle the ruler into the wall. Few of the people coughed
and some whispered curses.
“I am sure the fire guys must be
outside right now trying to get the fire under control. Ah, here it
is!” the dragon mask guy said as the borders of a door popped into
view, and he pulled it open.
The dragon mask guy walked in,
and the people followed suit. Nikhil was searching between the
people as they went through, seeing if Sachin was with them. He
heard Neha exclaim something in excitement followed by familiar
voices.
“We just walked in and this idiot didn't hold the
door open! Once it shut closed, we realized we didn't even have a
knob on our side. So, we thought you guys will find it anyways.”
Mukesh was saying to Neha.
“Comon!!” Neha said nodding
towards the door, excited, and walked along with the rest of them
towards the door. Nikhil nodded, but he wasn't comfortable going
along until he had at least a glimpse of Sachin.
Slowly, the
last batch of people drained into the hidden door, and there was
still no sign of Sachin. Nikhil stood there, lost. He heard the
noise of chatter die down. He was once again alone in the path.
Nikhil
considered may be running ahead and catching up with his friends and
asking them for help to search for Sachin. But what if he was
leading them to trouble. May be even to their death. He couldn't do
that to them. He had to do this by himself.
He
also realized that the source of hif light was Neha's phone which he
had grabbed from her when he thought it was the 'tiger' behind him a
few minutes ago. He walked back down the path and saw an open door.
The guy with the dragon mask and the group of people had come in
through here. And he had heard Sachin's voice from somewhere in
there earlier. He once again debated whether he should go out and
seek help.
But what if Sachin wanders away during the time he
was away trying to get help? What if he walks right into the fire?
Or the tiger?
Nikhil walked in and instantly his lungs were
hit with hot burning smoke and he coughed hard. The smoke was much
thicker in here. He shone the light around, but could not see more
than a couple of feet in front of him.
This place was not a
path or a corridor. It was much more wider and there were old wooden
cases and props all over the place. Another hidden room, he thought.
He pulled up his T-shit over his nose hoping that will
help.
“Sachin, are you here??!” Nikhil shouted well aware
that the tiger might as well be somewhere in here and he was calling
attention to himself.
After walking blind for a minute through
the smoke, he finally heard someone cry. Someone sobbing.
“Sachin,
is that you??” Nikhil shouted, and the reply was an instant,
“Nikhil!!”
“Can you see me, Sachin??” Nikhil said trying
to point the phone's flashlight towards the direction where he
thought he heard Sachin, but seeing nothing but smoke.
“Sachin??”
said Nikhil and no sooner had he said it when something jumped at him
from the smoke and almost knocked him off his feet. Nikhil was
stunned, but then realized it was just Sachin who was now hugging him
around his waist. Nikhil let out a sigh and kneeled and hugged
him.
“Where the hell were you, Sachin??!” said Nikhil. Sachin
was sobbing.
“Okay. Its fine. Its going to be fine.” said
Nikhil hugging him again, and as he did so, Neha's phone started to
vibrate wildly and the flashlight went out. Nikhil panicked and
looked at the phone screen and it read, “Battery 0%. Switching
off.” As he watched in horror, the screen went blank leaving them
in complete darkness. Nikhil realized that he had been wandering
around in this place for sometime now, and now he had no idea where
the door was.
“Turn it on!” Sachin said squirming. Nikhil
wasn't sure what to say. That's when remembered about his
phone.
“Sachin, do you have my phone?” he asked.
Sachin
continued to cry as if he hadn't heard him.
“Sachin! Do you
have..... “ Nikhil got frustrated and started feeling Sachin's
pockets and there was nothing. May be Sachin lost it, or may be
Nikhil had dropped it after he had crashed into the mirror.
“Its
okay, Sachin.” said Nikhil soothingly, trying to hide the fact that
he was really scared himself.
Nikhil stood up careful not to
let go of Sachin's hand. He looked around and could not make out
anything useful to guide him back to the door. The crackling noise
of the fire burning through seemed to have become much louder and
closer. Nikhil turned around and started walking with his free hand
extended in front of him so they wont walk into a wall.
They
heard something crash down from somewhere behind them. Nikhil felt
Sachin cringe at the noise. They could now feel the smoke getting
hotter, and it was becoming much more harder to breath. Nikhil
realized that the fire was burning up the oxygen. They had to get
out of here before they suffocated. He picked up his pace even
though he was starting to feel dizzy and couldn't feel his legs
anymore. He almost walked into a wall. Shit! He didn't remember
where he was. Was he even walking in the right direction. With the
last ounce of strength he had, he started feeling along the wall and
walking to his right hoping that he will come across a door or a way
out.
They stopped when they heard it. A loud roar sending
shivers down their spine. It was no longer somewhere on the other
side of the wall. It seemed to be from about 20 feet away, and it
felt directed right at them. A roar of victory? Was it about to
kill them now? He wondered if it can smell them, or may be even see
them. He had heard that cats can fully dilate their pupils to let
them see better at night.
Nikhil heard Sachin sob and starting
to cry in a low voice. Nikhil stood with his back against the wall,
and slowly felt his legs give away and he slumped down to the ground.
He covered Sachin's mouth with his hand to quieten him.
In
the complete darkness, they heard another growl. It was much closer
than the first one. Nikhil's eyes had been burning for sometime now
and he closed them tight. This only made his eyes hurt more. His
lids felt like sandpaper rubbing against his eyeballs. Nikhil waited
for it pounce on them. What seemed like a minute passed by. When he
finally opened his eyes, he saw a faint globe of light. Someone was
walking towards them with a flashlight. Nikhil felt a tinge of
hope.
“Nikhil?” the voice called out. It was Neha.
Nikhil tried to answer her but realized that he had lost his voice.
He felt a tinge of pain below his diaphragm.
Just when Neha's
form was becoming visible to Nikhil, a lot of things happened in a
few seconds. At first, Nikhil thought he felt faint thuds on the
ground, then something huge jumped up at Neha. She seemed to have
seen it at the last moment and ducked away. Her flashlight fell down
to the ground and broke with a loud crack. This was followed by an
even louder thud of the tiger crashing against the wall that Nikhil
was sitting with his back propped up against. Nikhil felt the wall
jolt. He realized that underneath the rough wallpaper, the wall was
more or less made of sheets of wood. Even though the flashlight was
broken, now they had a new source of light. About 5 feet to his
left, Nikhil saw that the wood on the wall had buckled a bit and
split open. A thin line of bright sunlight poured in. He wasn't the
only one who saw this. The tiger was now aggressively clawing at it
until it managed to lodge one of its paw in it and pulled at the
sheet until it gave away creating a small hole in the wall.
Nikhil
realized for the first time that the tiger was not out there to get
them. It had stopped being a predator. He realized that it too was
a victim. It too was stuck with them in this cursed place with a
fire burning away. He felt like he should get up and help the tiger
break open the wall, but before he could finish that thought, the
tiger had bitten at the sheet of wood above the hole and successfully
broke it open to create a sizable hole in the wall. Sunlight
reflected off the its face. The tiger took a breath of fresh air and
suddenly turned to look at Nikhil as though it hadn't noticed him
before and was surprised to see him sitting there. Nikhil swallowed
hard. The tiger with blood stains on its face stared at him from
barely 5 feet away. More noises of things falling apart from
somewhere far away. That seemed to have ticked the tiger off.
Without another glance, it squeezed itself through the hole and was
gone.
For the first time in what seemed like an hour, Nikhil
saw sunlight. He heard screams from outside and faint sirens. The
light burnt through the smoke and made it possible for Nikhil to see
Neha's limp body on the floor. He rushed to her. She was
unconscious. There were no signs of blood, but her left arm was
rapidly bruising into a sick red color. He rushed to the hole and
peered out. He saw the tiger running away towards the 'cursed roller
coaster' and disappearing underneath its metal frameworks while the
crowd of people, who were probably spectators to the fire, scattering
away all over the place. Nikhil turned towards the other side and
saw firefighters. He put his hand out and frantically waved at
them.
*
A few minutes later, they were in an ambulance,
one among the many that were at the scene right then, and many more
rushing in. After they got out through the hole, the EMT had given
them small oxygen masks to help them recuperate from the carbon
monoxide poisoning. Neha hadn't woken up, but the EMT guy told
Nikhil that she was fine, but that it would be better to get her
checked out at the hospital to be sure. She was lying on the
stretcher in front of him. Luckily the tiger hadn't mauled her.
Nikhil guessed that may be the tiger had jumped at the flashlight.
May be it thought the light was somehow its way out.
Nikhil's
aunt joined them in the ambulance. She held onto Sachin and
readjusted his oxygen mask and he tried to irritatingly bat it and
her hands away. The EMT guy closed the doors and the driver started
the ambulance. Mukesh and Vishal were shouting from outside that
they will follow the ambulance on their bikes.
Nikhil felt
exhausted. His muscles sore. His eyes, nose, and his lungs were
still burning, and his heart seemed to be beating erratically. He
heard even more sirens, and he peered through a window to see a few
forest department vehicles rushing towards the park.
“Oh
God! They should have shut this place down years ago! ,” said the
EMT looking out the window.
Nikhil was feeling too groggy to
answer, but then realized the EMT wasn't exactly talking to him.
Then he felt something touch his hand and he pulled it away in shock.
He looked down and realized it was Neha. She was awake now and was
grinning at him through her see-through plastic oxygen mask. Nikhil
realized that he had been unconsciously frowning at her wondering if
the entire thing had given him a case of PTSD. He forced a smile and
held her hand.
***
