The Anklet

Page No. 1

    Author's Note :  

This my first shorty story here on Wattpad, hopefully you guys will like it.

And all the characters and events in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance with any person or event in real life will be coincidental.

Happy reading ❤️❤️  

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             A night without stars
             Cuddling up to the clouds
             Calling to storms
             Is dancing wildly
             On her anklet's melody.

                                                   ©Elif Hoorain.

             🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸
   

                             

   
         Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel and humming along some Urdu song, he was driving his jeep on the deserted roads of Sikandarabad. The sky scraping mountains were his companions, as he drove fast, leaving behind a smoke of dust on the road.

Suddenly something flashed in front of the windshield, and he hit the brakes at once.

“ What was that?” he muttered to himself and against his will he got out of the jeep. He stepped in the yellow light headlights and crouched down on the road.

“ An anklet?” he muttered to himself, fiddling with the gold ornament hanging down his fingers.

'Was it already here or someone just dropped it? And what had exactly flashed in front of my jeep, a human, an animal, a bird or something else? ' Lost in his thoughts he stands on his feet and putting the anklet in his khaki jacket's pocket, he hops back into his driving seat.

There was lying a camera on the front seat beside him and a rucksack on the passenger seat. His eyes were moving back and forth between road and GPS on his tablet in the jeep. He was the alone passenger on the silent road, under a night sky without stars.

“ Ah, here is finally a guest house.” After an hour he pulled in the parking lot of a resort and stepped out of his jeep. He took his belongings out of the jeep before walking towards the reception area.

With  his rucksack hanging down  his shoulder and trolley bag dragging behind, he entered the resort. A man in his 50s, pushing back his glasses on his nose bridge smiled at him at the reception.

“ Welcome to Rosa guest house. How can I help you sir.” he looked at him with sleepy eyes.

“ I am here to stay for one night.”

“ Did you make any reservation already?”

“ No. I haven't. Actually I was supposed to be staying at my friend's house, but unfortunately the weather will probably get worse as you can see it is already lightening in the midnight and my friend's house is more two hours away from here so...”

“ It is fine. You don't have to be worried. We do have a spare room ready where you can rest for the night.”

“ Oh, thank you so much. By the way my name is Zain Ahmad.” he grinned at the old man receiving a mild but forced smile from him.

The receptionist did the formal duty of noting down the necessary information about him before calling for a servant.

A young boy with a lean figure, wearing a black leather jacket over his brown shirt and jeans, helped him with his luggage and took him to his room.

“ Thanks young boy. Just put the bag right here near the bed.” The boy did as he was told and stood straight.

“ The room is small but looks comfortable. I am sure that I can sleep good on this single bed.”  he roamed his eyes over the small mirror on the wall, two chairs with a small table between them and a single bed against a window before throwing himself on the bed.

“ If you need anything sir, use the wireless telephone set, right on your left side table. If you need anything to eat then do inform me.” He pointed towards the telephone set.

“ Yeah, sure. I will. Thanks and no I won't eat anything at the moment. I shall sleep now.” Zain gave him a tip of a thousand, and he went out of the room with a smile on his face.

'Now let's sleep MR photographer. Tomorrow is a long day.'
He removed his shoes, slipped under the covers and drifted off to sleep in seconds.

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The night sky  was unleashing the tantrum it had been holding for God knows how long. The thunderstorm echoing through the walls of the resort could not wake him up, but a sudden ferocious knock at the window made him jolt up from his sleep.

Zain switched on the table lamp and glanced at the wall clock.

“ It is 1 : am. I must have been dreaming.” He rubbed his eyes with his palms before lying back on the bed. He was about to close his eyes when he again heard it.

A timid knock at first, getting stronger and louder gradually. He got up and stared at the curtain fallen over the closed wooden-window. This was the only window in the room, but this room was on the top of the resort's building.

“ This must be the storm.” He wiped off the beads of sweat formed on his forehead and stepped towards the curtain.

“ Don't open the window. It is just storm.” A sudden echo of a coarse voice startled him, and he turned back instantly.

“H...how did you come in?” His voice was less audible due to fear.

“ You forgot to lock your room. “ The old man who was at the reception, took a few steps towards him.

“ This is just a bad storm. So don't be scared. “ He readjusted the purple curtains.

“It didn't sound like a storm. It was an actual sound of constant knocking. See it is stopped, but the storm isn't.” He furrowed looking at the relaxed demeanor of the old man.

“ Do you think that I am mad?”

“ Certainly not sir. But I suggest you to sleep well and ignore all the sounds you may hear. And one thing more, don't open this window before the sunrise.”

“ What do you mean by before the sunrise?”

“ Oh... I meant to say that hopefully the storm will be silenced in the morning then you can enjoy the fresh air.” He smiled at him a pretentious smile.

“Hmm. Ok. thanks. Now you can leave.” 

“ As you please sir.” The old man turned towards the door and went out.

Zain immediately locked the door and got under the covers.
Now the knocking had stopped and the storm was fading gradually, but the sleep had vanished from his eyes.

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