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A crowd gathered around a tall tree, detrimental shadows loomed over the ground, even the leaves frown in their presence, uncivilized people were mocking while others, puppet-minded brains were yelling and their burning eyes fixated at the canopy of tree, long branches, voluminous mass of leaves, underneath someone cowered themselves from the intimidating eyes and suffocating hands.
Maddening murmurs, frustrated noises, and dominating menacing voices, shouting at someone protected by the strong thick branches, stiff fingers held a branch in a death grip, and frightened eyes peek at the crowd, wishing for her fall, growling and sneering at her like hyenas.
A cold, distressing voice, impatience rolling off his tongue, rage at its peak, but the sharp, fine invisible threads wrapped around their necks, became evident through their choked noises, ear-splitting to her ears, even she could visualise the nasty smile spying on the blindfolded muscles mass beings sprawled beneath her.
A harsh speech, unbearable tone, but an audible terrorised tongue is the common emotion, she noticed in their chatterboxes, aside from their unbothered hearts asking her to hand over her life to their cage. And, the rest of them were scoffing with a detested tone while greedy hands, biting nails, ready to claw her out and sell her in trade for favours and coins, “Come on, bring that girl or just push her to death, otherwise, our boss might starve us to death.
That sick devil, boss of ours! No doubt, someday he will be dragged to hell for torturing us. Tch!
Drag that girl out of the tree.
Enough drama and time has already been wasted on this foolish girl.”
The young lady expected such a welcome, but their deceiving facade worked like a real skin, tricking her brain skills for a short period. Before her feet could save her, their plan had already reached the final stage: to clear her out, even a trace of her existence was in danger.
She was trying to escape from the heartless crowd, chasing her, stealing the inner peace she came here with, to relax in nature, but instead was hunted by wolves, caught her trace through their observant senses and trailing her clumsy body movements, rushing through the forest, away from the tents to the dead end.
A Dead-end, her escape seemed impossible, her nerves ran wild, head spun for a moment, black spots covered her vision and her heart beat rung like siren, her aching muscles sore from ripping the stubborn thick atmosphere, led to encouraged friction, dragging her speed down and survivor brain put out all energy, exaggerated pressure applied on her legs, leaving her exhausted and numb.
Still, somehow she managed to gather all her wit, eyes scanning the background like a machine, and the tall, weighted tree, thick muscles, strong arms, and voluminous leaves and rough ring-shaped ridges spread throughout the trunk lit up her mind, her shaking eyes stuttered less, and heightened pressure on arms lowered down only a bit.
Without giving a chance to the hunters, she climbed the tree, whose canopy looked like an umbrella, taking her under its care, and reached at a height, safe from them for now.
She shrunk her body like a traumatized kid, one hand gripped the branch and the other hand held a phone, her grip gentle and desperate, the only light came from the screen, a closed window frame, a young female figure in alarmed stance, on the other side of the window, her face pressed to the window, her lips parting open and close but no sound came out, however her short-hair strands hitting the air here and there, flying everywhere, depicted her state of mind.
The girl on the video call is anxiously moving her arms and is rambling something, but it doesn’t ease the motionless lady clinging to the tree as her last hope, and her rationality slipping through her mind, her neutral face long forgotten and now only one corner of her brain is still switched on, the pressure-breaker corner, designed for pressurized situations or circumstances or outcome.
The young lady’s arms, hugging the branch with desperate fingers, dig deeper into the uneven texture of the branch, tormenting her fingers with its harshness.
However, she doesn’t mind the pain; the desperation in her veins is more painful and pinching than the scratches and bruising on her fingers, and the dwindling hope in her eyes is glued to the bright-lit screen.
Her eyes couldn’t focus, her breath was heavy and noisy, and ears were ringing, putting her ears in distress, and her patience was on the brink of collapse. She can’t give in, she thinks, looking around, only trees surrounded her, except for the lake, dividing the forest into two, and she is on the right side of the forest and across the lake, the other side of the forest appeared untouched and protected, but the lake is in the way.
Her attention diverts from the beautiful lake to the screen, bouncing with notifications, not just one, but with 10 or more, containing the same message from a familiar number. Her hopeless eyes found some hope; however, her brain didn’t agree, but her gut is calm.
She could hear the crowd sneering at her, with smart weapons in their hands to throw her off somewhere far from where she wouldn’t be able to return, but, the most unnerving noise came from her phone, a message notification from a far familiar number, sending chills over her bones, contradictory to the hopeful flame burning, also invoked by a message from a number, carrying a sense of homely familiarity, willing to surpass the cyclones revolving beneath her.
However, the flame starts flickering wildly, the cold-sharp tone lingering in the message ate her hopeful warm tone carried in another message in one swallow, and the lady’s face pale in hue, a colour of unfamiliar fear stretching to every cell of her body.
The ear-pinching ringing in her ears scatters, and loud haunting mocking whispers and wicked laughter fill her ears, and coincidentally her eyes catch a few lean and bulky figures, approx 2 to 3 people, are climbing the tree in a queue to catch her dead. She could hear the rapidness of their legs and arms wrestling against the trunk.
As the crawling sound became audible and clearer with each second, her pupils began wobbling like a leaf, and her body felt heavy like a stone. Her heart beat running as if she is on a marathon race, and her eyes settles on her impossible escape but how her situation has turned into, now the impossible is only possible thing she can do to survive through this somehow and the lake situated close next to the tree, in her sight, remains her only escape now.
The lake in its darkest shade invites her to safely jump into her arms, like a mother opening her arms for her child. She thinks,“ This is my only hope to save myself from these miserable people and return safely to my home. It’s now or never. Here I come…..”
The young lady jumps, a risky move, but desperate circumstances call for desperate decisions. She feels like diving in the air; her body feels light-weight, and the time moving in slow motion, gives her the illusion of her body as an autumn leaf against the starless night, slowly falling into the lake, ready to embrace her until she feels safe. Her cinnamon red hair is flying like wings flapping against the fast-paced wind, and her short fringes moving like an untamed animal, aimlessly flying everywhere, especially the baby hairs making her face itchy and irritating her eyes.
She realizes in midair that her body is flapping like an injured bird, falling to be defeated at last. She feels her body slowing down and the cricket’s noises humming lullaby numbing her into an unconscious sleep. Meanwhile, the younger girl who is still on the video call witnesses the scene, her eyes bulging out, shivering hands, fearful fingers touching the window screen frequently as if her hand would penetrate the window and grasp the young lady’s hands.
But the girl on the other side only met with glass screen instead of water, encasing her in helpless state and the lady in endangered state. Surprisingly, the young lady’s benumbed body still had some conscious will, fingers wrapped firmly around the phone, and the phone still fighting for its life underwater, is quite a strange strength found in the owner of the device and device itself.
Her face visible, the young lady’s body sinks further rapidly, dragging her to the blackout, complete darkness, even the phone’s loud brightness became dim lit, suppressed by the towering bleakness sucking the light like a kid swallowing a cotton candy.
The only source of light appeared like a tiny star in the sky and the dim lit screen, slowly losing its power. On the other side of the window screen, the young girl’s eyes squints to an extent it appears like two tiny dots in the face, even so, the stuttering pupils are evident.
Her breath stuck at her throat, panicked breathing as she could only access to void black screen staring at her, her pulse seems to heighten, unable to think, gently patting her chest with one hand and her other hand stoned, pressed against the table.
Out of the blue, the young lady’s eyes open, wide awake as if born for the first time, the memories hit and realization rushed into her completely chilled out body, starts flapping her arms, moving in upward direction, however, her body has already been losing its power, and the last ounce of power is also about to leave her cold in the dark water, isolated, scared, and, anger gnaws her heart.
She feels her breath slowly leaving her body, her mouth wide open mimicking a fish grasping for a single molecule of oxygen, and unwilling to lose, she fights, flapping her fishy arms.
But her arms weigh like a ton, and moving them, a hopeless task. The young lady’s eyes land on the phone caged in her palm. She notices the video call is still on, numbing her fear partially, but not for long, the dim lit screen flickering, breathing its last breath like her.
Gathering the remaining breath, her partially numb cold fingers trace the screen, pressing on the msg icon, wishing it to work somehow wishing it to work somehow and bringing it close to her face, her face, her mouth stiff to even utter a word stiff to even utter a word, so her fingers do the talking, the tiniest chance, she spends her all energy out.
A message meant to send, surprisingly message is sent, and the message read by the young girl, currently heading towards the lake, seated in the passenger seat, surrounded by a few young people, same age as her, yelling at her friend for being a bad driver and random rants. The last message displayed on the young girl’s phone screen, “Evaanthe-save-save your sissss…” All of a sudden, the phone switches off at that moment.
The young lady sinking further and further beyond the jet blackout, her numb heavy body suddenly felt being supported as if something held her, immovable, her brain in a mess of nerves, and the wildest fact, her lungs seem to breathe sufficiently.
And miraculously, the dark shadows clouding your shut eyelids, swiftly replaced by tiny spark light balls ignited one by one, like a domino effect, leading to chains of balls assembling, encircle her body.
Observing her closely like a kid curious about its new toy, a current of shivers electrifies her body, making her feel helpless and alone for the first time. The only spark of warmth she can feel is from her eyes, shut closed yet tears shedding while her body weighs her far down into this bottomless pit.
A blinding blue light born out of the tiny balls’ weird dance, gravitates her body faster, her back burns as she nears the charismatic luminous-blue hue triangle, illuminating her figure. She feels something dragging her as if scorching hands took hold of her body, quietly engulfing her. Her face contorts in excruciating pain, her arms are immovable, and she even tries to scream, but her voice remains muted and only bubble liberate from her mouth.
Something scratching her back with sharp edges, even so, the water remains tasteless and no trace of iron or reddish hue mingled with the surrounding water yet, she is luckily alive till the present moment and can breathe somehow.