A New Life.

Stricken by fear, he falls off the bed. He was exhausted. He was sweating, more than a lot. "The same dream, again!", he said to himself. The same dream, which he had now seen twice. A girl, a beauty comes in front of him and smoke, clouds..Suddenly, that beautiful face starts changing  into a hag's. Andy was a loner, unlike all of those rich birdies living out happily with their families; he was an orphan by birth, happened to lived near the alleged witch's place, in a shabby cabin that his parents left behind. His parents' death had been a mystery to him. A mystery that was covered by the silence of snow. The town was a few miles away from that terrible, yet numb, strange, yet familiar place. So, the guy had to wander all around for the quest of his needs, not wants. His aim was just to bear with his life, he had no knowledge about his past, and no aim for the future. Tall, thin, fair, bearded, pale and dressed in a discolored outfit, he looked more like a phantom. He pulled a rickshaw, for his living. The rickshaw, the more unworthy, was a property of Master Collins. The path from his cabin to the town was the only link of his life. No one in that town ever yielded to Andy, whenever he tried to tell his Master, about himself, he would say, "People keep dying. I don't care a darn."

He remembered all the ambiguity of the compromises he kept making with himself. Every passenger, who boarded on the forlorn man's rickshaw, pretended to keep an account of the unanimous melancholy expressed by him, yet no sympathies were with him, he knew, that as soon as the passenger gets off he'd see no more of them, they'd be busy bees in their own respective worlds, everybody would tend to help or carve him out a solution, but no one is going to accompany him, he knew. He decided to stay quiet, the wiser decision. No expression, absolute no finding way outs to silence the agony, no nothing. From cabin to town, and town to cabin, he'd walk dead, and inert like one.

The witch, who was believed to be present near the shady area, was an unsolved puzzle. A section of the folks had a perspective, that, the witch is nothing but their fear, their terror, while the others were never able to agree with the former group. A lot of people had seen her wandering around the town. The witch was no harm to the inhabitants though. Someone could really imagine, if taken a glance, that something was not correct with her; for she carried along the same face kissed with grief, if her lover had deserted her. "We know nothing about the witch", said the Mayor, turning back the 65th journalist from the town, helplessly. The reporters, at the same time, were keen to find out more about the supernatural. At every public appearance, the Mayor requested his people, for not uttering a word about the witch, though the leaks had already spilled their ears full.

Andy had that dream again, and this time, he almost lost his breath, and cool as well. "Was that the witch?" Andy asked himself, as if he saw her image in his dream. That day, Andy had some scared look on his pale face, his face, which couldn't get any duller, was filled with fear. "Andy?" said that young fellow, placing his hand on his frozen body, from the rear. "Whaaat! Leave me for God's sake!" Andy jerked off his hand in anger, the boy, dressed in black, was frightened. "What's gotten inside you, wretch? I thought you were the most reliable puller in this arena, daydreaming or whaaaat?" Master Collins witnessed the scene. He smacked twice into Andy, who had fallen off on the road, trying to get up, failing every time. "She's not real, she's not for real! I can't give her, what she doesn't have! Somebody save meee!" shouted Andy, thrashed by a visible, yet not real, moving body into him. Andy threw his decency away, and exited from the scene, where everyone was surprised on seeing that dramatic breakdown. "Poor guy, he lives near the witch's place, I think that's playing the tricks on to him", guessed the mason who was passing by. "I'm so sorry, sire, let me get you another ride", said Master Collins in a low voice, normalizing the situation. Andy got back to the cabin, and all that he thought was about the witch, but when his thoughts came in touch with the reality, he realized how foolish he was. 'Believing in the witches? Nothing of that sort really existed, today I'm putting my reliance into them, tomorrow I'll be well familiar with ogres, dragons and all the messengers of devil", he kept muttering. "Life is more than these tales", he kept on telling him; Andy picked himself up, neglecting those dreams and the images of her, which were now leaving its imprints on him. He was lost, he could not stop thinking about the dreams he dreamed, and his contact with the mystique. The sun had gone down, the wolves had started crying, signalling the threat, the visibility was zero, and it was a snowy, windy night, with Andy growing more and more conscious about the thought. Suddenly, his door burst open, "I don't seek anybody's permission." It was a hoarse female grungy voice that almost got him off his bed. "What do you want? Why don't you just leave me alone? I've got nothing, okay? Nothing! I'm just worthless to you." Andy said, hesitated. He was shaken to death; he thought that there was no path left to go, instead of listening to her. Out of the blue, she placed herself in front of him. "You're human.." The woman filled her eyed with tears. "No, I'm not. I'm just an imagination; I'm just an inspiration to somebody." Andy's fear washed away, he thought, why would a woman, who's so distressed and harmless to everyone in the town, can be called a witch? She needs my help; I'm going to be her savior. "Could I be of any help to you?" the woman gained her form, and was fully visible to him now. "Yes.. You Can. Accept me." Andy was dazzled; she was reluctant to fall into his soul. Andy thought nothing, he was driven by her disturbed appearance and didn't say a word; he took her in his arms, and kissed her. It felt that he had brought her into life. She seemed so real, that Andy almost forgot about dreadful reality of his life.

Andy made love with that girl. He went to the town in the morning, where Master Collins disowned him, and helpless Andy sat on the footpath, with almost no place left to go. The mason arrived at the scene. "Need work? Come with me." Andy followed, as if he didn't have a conscience, sometimes, needs are greater than having the consensus on the rights or wrongs that we instigate to earn, he was starved, he didn't even ask mason's name, and followed him. He took him to a site, few miles away the town, and they started working, the mason gave him the stones, which he broke with that long spade. He earned 30 units for the day's work, he immediately took something to eat from the food shop, and rushed to his cabin, he found no one, he searched the woods, the surroundings, everything was clean, and he began to worry. "Where could have she gone?" was the only thought that had occupied his mind. He didn't even know her name, and it was becoming so hard to find her, he was getting nuts. Suddenly, she broke into his cabin. "Where were you!?" Andy asked her, expecting a reply. She didn't even nod her head, and started moving huskily towards the end of the room. "There is no me, if there is no you." she deepened her voice. Andy was shocked, he remained quiet. "You've created me, Andy. I'm yours. Whenever you feel like calling me, just think of me in your arms, and I'll be there." Andy nodded his head in agreement, and provided her with the food he had brought, though it was little, they ate it merrily. This routine encounter with the woman happened over and over again. Andy was all occupied with that woman. One day, while lying with her, he asked, "Why do you love me so much?" Andy never had anyone in his life, whom he could love, or who could really bestow his/her love upon him. The woman got up, and took Andy by storm, where, out of the puff, he saw a gate. "This is our world, my beloved, this is where we belong." Andy couldn't be hit more by the surprises, he was completely out of his wildest dream and this was when the reality was actually embracing him. "Come with me; join me, my beloved, for there is no one for you in this world, who could understand your misery and your loneliness." Andy thought hard, "She's right, so many years have passed, and no one, no one in this town has asked about that sad and dull face I put up everyday, no one really cares, if I live or die, no one has asked about the reason behind my loneliness, to hell, with such people, such selfish world!" Andy kept murmuring. "Make your choice," the woman said. As soon as Andy could let those words out of his mouth, the gate slipped open. Both of them, with their hand in hand, marched inside it, looking in the eyes of each other. "Where are we going, exactly?" Andy asked. "To our place, where nobody could control our lives, nobody could take us for granted, a place where we can be together, without the fear of anybody - a place where we can love, away from this greedy world! Close your eyes, my beloved, close them." Andy closed his eyes, and lay motionless in the arms of the woman. They reached to their world, where Andy was no more a loner, a wretch, or whatever the town called him. The woman was his one and only relation there. They lived, they loved, and they did it all together, without the fear of the world, living in their own abode. This went on like, forever, and they got every gap filled with love in their place, where both of them lived carefree, and cherished every moment of that time zone. There were no worries, indeed; everything came to them just like that. Andy asked the woman, "Are we ever going back to our world?" - "We're already there." Said the woman.

Andy was found dead on the grass by a woodcutter, working in the nearby woods, around the cabin.

No mason ever worked in the town.

The witch rumors, faded away with time.