Grey Butterfly

Medium Rare

Though I have moved three jobs, meeting at least fifty acquaintances, I have always kept my private life to myself. Never had any friends from my workplaces ever. It always catches my colleagues with surprise when I explain where I lived. They always wondered why anyone would live that far or would take the bitch of a commute to reach work everyday. Some people usually think that I am making things up so that I do not have to invite anyone home, which partially is true. I would not want anyone home from work. My personal time and space has always been with myself, which I would like to keep it that way forever. Things that I experienced today have shaken me in ways I have never felt before. That makes my ninety minute commute to my home terrifying. To make things worse, I need to travel through places that are mostly unoccupied. No stores, no gas stations, no car repair shops, no police stations, or no hospitals. It is a long winding drive towards the top of a mountain, where I take a right in almost the middle of the climb. I live in a small hill township with fewer than eight hundred people. I have always loved the silence, greens, and the rains. Now that I mentioned, there is still no rain since morning.

Once I crossed the city limits, I noticed the distance between street lights increasing gradually.  It is a known fact that those lights are eventually going to run out, making me dependent on my head lamps. Usually, this would have been the perfect time of my day. Riding through these twisty roads with rare sightings of another vehicle. But today is no ordinary day. As I can see the street lamps diminish in number and noises getting muffled out, I have this weird feeling which I had at the office. This time though I am pretty sure that I am combining one odd thing with a perfectly normal thing. Still I was not ready for the trees to take over both sides of the road, blocking whatever light was remaining that ensured that I am among people. Now it felt like I was all alone in this endless roads that lead to, hopefully, my home. The last of the street lights just moved past me as I sped up the mountain road. My head lamps were the only thing that showed if anything was in front of me.

It got so cold inside the car that I had to lower the air conditioner to a warmer setting. I noticed that the temperature still remained low even after dialling up  my air conditioner setting to a significant level. That has never happened before. I lowered the driver side window a few inches to let the outside air inside as I turned off my air conditioner completely. It was beautiful to inhale the natural air combined with the smell from all the greens I am driving past. When I saw yellow lights coming from the opposite direction, I was expecting one of those rare vehicle sightings. But after a few seconds I realised that the light I see is not moving, but I am moving towards it. Expecting a robbery attempt, I closed my window and geared up to zoom past the source of light, whatever that may be. When I was almost ten or fifteen metres away from the light, I realised it was a bonfire. There are tribes who call these mountains home and it is not strange to see them light a fire to stay warm amidst their journeys on foot. Relieved, I slowed my car just to give a friendly wave to them.

As I was so close to the fire, I could not see any people around it. It was so weird as the tribal people never walk away when the fire is still on. They are very careful about not harming the forest and this is never their practice. That made me practically stop the car with no hesitation. I thought there was some trouble and I needed to do whatever I could to help them. Slowly I opened my door and walked near the fire. The silence was so brutal that I could hear ants talk. Just then, I heard twigs and leaves crush beyond the fire. The fire was so bright that I could not see what or who was beyond that. My already dwindling state of mind went into panic mode, which made me walk backwards while keeping my eyes fixed on the fire. As I almost felt my car door handle, I could see two men come out of the shadows from behind the fire. They were vividly tribal men with their signature clothing and feathers. Their mouths were covered with red substance and charcoal. The sight made me so uncomfortable that I basically started to have a mild panic attack. When I thought that I could jump into my car, I saw what was in their hands. They were holding a half burnt human hand which belonged to a woman. It was distinctly noticeable with that women's ring and wrist watch. By the looks of it, they were eating that hand. Every sense in my body told me to climb inside the car. In no time I was in my car with the door closed and gear on. That is when the two men started laughing, which I could only see but not hear as I had closed my window. The other man who was there raised his wooden club then hit the fire so fast that it sent splinters all over in the air. That was the moment when I noticed, it was a person in the fire, made to sit up straight and lit up. By the looks of it, it was a woman, whose hand the men were eating.

I pressed on the gas so hard to leave that place as fast as possible. I have driven at least a couple of hundred metres as I kept looking in my rear view mirror. I was so occupied looking behind, I missed looking in front. Once I composed myself, I focused on what was in front. The strength of the man's blow has sent broken charred body parts everywhere, but the head has landed on my bonnet, with the face looking at me directly. Every part of my soul was cold at the sight of that head, I could not react or do anything. I kept driving a few metres until I realised that the decapitated head on my bonnet was moving its eyelids. I braked so hard that my nose hit the steering wheel so hard. I saw the head roll off my car bonnet, crossed my headlight beam, then exited the road towards the valley beside. I pressed on the gas again until I saw a township on the way, where I stopped near a shop which was about to be shut down for the day.

I rushed out to get a cigarette. That is when the shopkeeper informed me about my nosebleed. I told him that a deer had run past and I barked hard. He gave me water to wash my face and some first aid to arrest the bleeding. We had a small talk as I said where I was going towards as I smoked away the cigarette. I paid him for the cigarette, thanked him for the help, then walked towards my car when the shopkeeper called for me.

"Are you not getting anything for her?"

My body has never experienced this level of shivers ever before. I turned back to the shopkeeper and asked in a trembling voice.

"F... F... For Who..om?"

The shopkeeper looked at my eyes, confused as he pointed his fingers towards my passenger seat window.

"The woman in the rear seat of your car."

I shakingly looked back at the passenger seat window to see that half burnt head of the woman looking at me. As I was looking at her head with fear cracking my brain, her head caught on fire as she opened her eyes and screamed in a blood curdling voice. I sat down on the road, covering my ears tight with my eyes shut tight to a point I felt pain in my skull. Then there was a flash of silence as I opened my eyes. I was in my bed, at home. It was a morning with green grass and cold tea beside me. All I could say at that moment was....

"What the fu..."
"