The Paint Can Himmatnagar, UP (2011)
It was nearly seven o clock in the evening when Arijit reached the train station. It was a singular platform that stretched about a kilometer on each side. It was not really a big railway station and Arijit was the only passenger. Arijit too found it strange that it was only he and no one else.
Arijit started walking up and down the empty platform. The atmosphere was so dark, silent and eerie that he could here the echo of his own footsteps. Arijit paced up and down for a long time, he was feeling tired and was looking around for a place to sit when his eyes saw a solitary green wooden bench on the other end of the platform.
Arijit had just taken a step in that direction when the platform radio coughed beeped and started playing a pre recorded message "attention all passengers, train number AC234 to Baroda is delayed by six hours, we regret the inconvenience caused and hope you have a pleasant day ahead". As soon as the announcement ended Arijit kicked the platform floor with his shoes. It was his train which was arriving late, he was coming from a conference somewhere in the city and the platform on which he was standing was hours away from there. Though, from a very well to do family Arijit had taken this shortcut to take a quicker train home to his family.
After realizing that he could do nothing much to change his fate, he slowly started walking to the bench. Once near the bench Arijit sat down on the bench and made himself comfortable. He looked at the time on the watch it was nearly 8:00 pm in the night and he had an excruciating long wait of six hours. He was not sure of finding a descent accommodation nearby nor could he hear any public transport near or on the road outside. Arijit thought it would be best to lie down on the bench and wait. Arijit lay down; though small the bench was very comfortable. Arijit did not realize when and how slowly looking at the array of stars he drifted into deep sleep.
Arijit woke up with a start, he was pretty unsure of how long he had slept. In his state of utter confusion he hurriedly turned to face the platform watch. What he saw worsened the state of his confusion. As per the clock it was only 7:00 pm , the time that Arijit initially had stepped inside the platform gate. Arijit for a while thought that the digital watch must have developed a malfunction. He reached out for his smartphone in the pocket to check the time. To his horror the smart phone was also letting him know that it was only seven o clock in the evening. Arijit was trying his best to come out of the utter state of confusion when he heard a faint magnetic interference coming from the other edge of the platform.
To Arijit it sounded like an old radio which somebody was trying to tune in to listen to a favorite channel. Arijit was very sure he was the only living soul in the platform then who would be carrying a radio with him or her. Arijit got up from his perch and started following the static noises of the radio to the other edge of the platform. The noise was coming from the other end. Arijit reached the other end only to find a small radio kept on the ledge of an abandoned ticket counter. It was in bad shape and somebody had tuned it wrong so there was more of white noise and very less of understandable words.
The presence of the radio gave Goosebumps to Arijit. He was feeling as if a thousand ants were crawling up his spine. He slowly started walking backwards one step at a time when he tripped over something and fell. Arijit got up dusted him self and looked at the ground. There was a small tin of green paint and a brush lying on the platform. Arijit was beginning to feel really scared with the passing time. He was very sure that he had seen everything on the platform and there was nothing on the floor and suddenly out of nowhere this paint can and brush.
