Stranger Than Fiction

Spoiler Warning : Don't jump to climax.Read in order.

I am going to write this.

It was 11 am in the morning and the sun was spraying heat like a furnace. Parking my bike, in a nearly barren land, where I could not even see a tree, i started walking towards the hill taking the only lone path.


I was all alone; there is no other soul to cry for help, except for the bright day light, if anything
unexpected happen. Which, I was thinking will happen.

At that moment, there in the distance I saw a girl in her early 13, red shirt, black skin, big teeth, stood frozen in the sun with a stare that will really send a chill inside you, with a basket in her hand selling flowers.

“Selling Flowers!?” I thought “Man this is the most strangest of the things you have ever seen so far.

She is selling flowers, where there is almost no one to buy it”

I went to her and said “Hey girl, are selling flowers? Who is going to buy this? I see no one here except you and me?”

The girl, with an unfriendly look and an even more unfriendly voice, told me “You will know” and
ignored me.

I left the place with a strange feeling, rather with fear deep inside my heart, I continued my walk to wards the hill in the lone path full of surprises.

I started to climb up the barren hill, carefully pressing my foot close to the rock hoping that it will give me some grip to climb on. Among the other things that occupied my mind I was also thinking about the girl and what she was up to. Few meters up the hill through the path with lots and lots of twists and turns there was no trace of any further , turning back to see down my path , I dint find it,there is no path, no route ,only rocks, all around huge and high .

I told to myself “May be I was lost in my thoughts, and just walked up without noticing” .I started to climb up, hoping to find a route from there .At a point, there was no road ahead, there was a gap,though the gap was not huge, still I have to jump to reach the other end.

I jumped! Landing up on the other end. I started to walk up the hill, thrilled.

“I dint see any one so far, how is it possible, a place so remote? Strange.” I was completely lost in my thoughts and there, again, I saw a huge gap ahead, which I can never jump.

“Come on. Turn back, start walking down, that’s it. Done” I told myself and started to walk down the hill. But something in me told me that I should try jumping the gap. The feeling was so irresistible that I turned back and started to run towards the gap .I ran as fast as I can and then, when I was about to jump, I gave up. Gasping for breath and thirsty for water i turned back and started to walk back all alone sweating .

On the way down, I was dehydrated and desperately needed water, at least a tree to rest in the shade. At one moment when I can walk no further, I was confused, I was thirsty, I was shaking, my bike, the girl in red shirt, the flowers, the rocks, the gap, the jump all ran through my mind .

Then I heard a bell, and the girl in the red shirt said laughing at me “You will know “.
I fainted.It was almost noon when I woke, still on the hill where I fell. It took few moments for me realize the heat on my back .I stood up with a shock, I cannot stand, there was an unbearable pain in my body and I was thirsty dying for water. But, I have to walk back, down the hill and I don’t have any other option.

Few meters down the hill, I saw for the first time another living being. Its a man, in his forties, tall,black and terrific. He we walking up the hill. In an ordinary situation I could have never dared to start a conversation with him, but today is not an ordinary day with me dying of thirst I yelled at him “I need help. Do you have some water to drink? “ No reply. He didn’t even turn back to see me.

I said to the stranger again “There is no way up there. I just tried going up”

He said “Run Down. Now” went off ignoring me, up the hill and behind the rocks.

I cannot tell what is happening to me, I just started to walk down, though I felt like running.
I almost reached down the hill. “Wait!” I told to myself. The scene there is the weirdest of all i have seen. There were shops, trees, people buzzing all over laughing, it looked very much like a normal busy market which is extremely abnormal for me .I have seen a completely different picture when I started up the hill.

“My bike” I thought.” Where is my bike? Oh my GOD where is my bike”. Is this not the place I
parked? Is this not place I started in the morning” I was confused. I was looking all around for any think that will suggest that this is the place where I started and in a distance among the busy crowd I saw a girl selling flowers. She wore a red shirt.

I ran to her and said “Hey where is my bike, the bike you saw in the morning”

“Who are you?” She asked looking surprised

Shocked I said “I talked to you in the morning. I know, you know about my bike. Where is my bike”

“How much money do you have?” said she

“What do you mean? Why should I tell you that?”

“Then I don’t know where you bike is”

“Ok, I will give you 10 bugs” .She laughed and walked away

“100”, she dint stop

“500”

“Follow me “she said .Confused, exhausted and terrified I followed her.

She took me through a slum like riverside; we went through lot of small paths, over drainage. I can’t breathe the air there for it smelled like a concentration camp. People there stared at me, laughed at me and some followed me.

She took me to a boy of her age “Here he is, Get 500 “she said to him and left.

The boy glanced at me, I thought of beginning a conversation but the environment was so unfriendly and confusing that I surrendered to it. All I wanted is my bike, so that I can ride back home.

“Come” he said and took me to a small house.

“Baba” he said from the entrance, “He has come” The voice in the house asked “How much he has “.

The boy grabbed my purse, I pushed him aside, but he did it with more force and I fell down. I cursed and was thinking how I could have strangled him if I was not in such a pathetic situation.

“5000” the boy said to the voice, counting the money in my purse

“Any Gold” asked the voice

He cleared my shirt color and checked.” A chain” said the boy. He cut the chain too.

“Give him the bike “said the voice.

The boy took me to the backyard and showed the bike “Take it “ he commanded

At that moment I grabbed the purse and the chain from him and ran from the place, I ran as a deer runs for life .I crossed all the stares from people, I ran as much as I can, for I know that the bike there is not mine.

I was thinking “Did I come the wrong way down the hill. Or am I on the wrong side of the hill.
But what about the girl in red shirt? I am sure . I met her in the morning. Then where is my bike “still running.
I banged into a man straight”I am sorry. I was just out of control. I was running for my life. I don’t know where I parked my bike “.I said to him

“So you are the one ha? “ Said he

“Who?”

“The one who parked the bike in front of my gate, there, just in front of the board saying No Parking In Front of the Gate” said he showing the bike near his gate “I don’t believe this. Yes it is TN 22 AV 5013 .It is my bike “.I ran to it jumping with excitement Precisely at that moment my phone rang. I reached for it, only to end my happiest moment. For the fact that, the mobile is not in my pocket, but on the bed near the pillow where I was sleeping. And the ring
is actually my Alarm at 9.00 AM.

I woke up from my bed smiling and thought. “I should write this.”