“Was it a dream or reality???..”
As I walked down the lane on a moonlit night, my mind was just hovering over the metaphoric view. It was dark and the pallid sky was covered with inky clouds, the night was silent and still, no glittering stars. At the vaporous distances laid the moon covered with misty veil... I just wondered how darkness could be so luminous. I walked down the lane enjoying the moonlit night and staring at the sky, just then I stumbled against something.
I stepped aside and walked forward but some strange thought crossed my mind and I stopped to see what it was. I bent down and found that somebody was crying in pain.
As I tried to upturn the body my hands were completely wet. I gazed at my wet hands in the moonlight and figured out that it was blood. It was the mortal wine …crimson red which streamed down his body. For a moment I went completely blank, not knowing what to do. Strange thoughts haunted my mind, I wanted to scream aloud for help but I couldn’t utter a word. Before it was too late I needed to help. Finally I cried out for help but no one was there in the forlorn lane. Just then I saw a vehicle approaching. I shouted for help but the vehicle just passed by unawares. I had never felt so helpless in life. In a state of paranoia I fell on my knees and yelled for help. At the far end corner I saw a silhouetted figure approaching. He heard my voice and rushed forward. He held his hand and checked his veins…he was still breathing. In a while few people arrived and arranged for an ambulance. I watched the ambulance as it took its way.
It was an eerie experience for me. I walked down the lane to my flat. I stared outside the balcony and I thought,” Was it a dream or reality?”
But my blood stained hands made me believe that it was reality. I washed off my hands. I had a queer feeling as I saw the blood drain down the washbasin. I retired to bed but there was some kind of unrest in my mind. A thousands questions striking my mind…”Who was he?”…”How did it happen?”. The more I thought about it, more questions haunted my mind without an answer or any clue to any of them, of the most I just hoped he would survive. The night was disastrous as I struggled to doze off…Whenever I closed my eyes; I could see my blood stained hands.
Amidst all these thoughts I could hear the chirping of birds signaling that it was already morning. I drew the curtains and saw that it was a bright sunny day. Last night the sky was cloudy and I thought it would rain but there was no sign of any downpours. I got ready and left for office. At the far end I could see a group of people conversing. I thought of enquiring about the last night’s incident. I came to know from one of them that some stranger had been stabbed and few people had hospitalized him. Another person added that he was severely injured and he had profusely bled so doctors couldn’t save him. For a moment I felt as if the whole world had come to a standstill, I felt a shiver run down my spines. All night I had just wished and prayed for his survival. He was a stranger but I felt as if someone close passed away. May be, had I seen him before or had the ambulance come a bit earlier he could have lived but all these thoughts were absolutely vain.
For a few days there was commotion about who had stabbed him to death. Days passed by and people forgot the story and the stranger’s life become a history. But even today when I walk down that lane the whole scene vividly comes to my mind and leaves me petrified. I met a stranger on that treacherous night and he will remain a stranger for life!!!!!
