24 Dhiwan Road

6.2 The Silent Road

24 Dhiwan Road

Chapter 6

The Silent Road

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(AYUSH)

Reality is funny and so are dreams. At one point in time, they both become inseparable like colors and canvas or night and dark. I lose myself completely when I am in my dreams, and I can feel them under my skin, but I can never remember them.

When I meet new people, and when they talk about their dreams, I listen to their words carefully. It amuses me that some can really remember their dreams. I can only recall a very few fragments.

The night was unusual and lonely, as I kept thinking about the girl in the café. But I was relieved that she wouldn't face the memory loss again. Roohi will keep an account of her actions and would report to her. I was excited to see her again. I didn't know when did I fall asleep. These days I am losing control over my senses. I wake up differently with weird memories and visuals.  

When I woke up, I was sweating badly and only possible explanation to my condition was nightmares. I pressed my head and tried to remember the details. Everything was fuzzy. There were a lot of men in the party, and the music was so loud, that I could actually hear it. I also remember a chase in the woods, either I was chasing someone or someone chased me, but it ended up with lots of cries.

I felt the blood all over my body, and I knew they were hallucinations. Despite sleeping for nine hours, I wanted to sleep a bit more, but I went to work. 

Kaizan called me as he wanted to inquire about some of my college mates, whom he suspected. I somehow lost the interest in this case. I had nothing to do with it, and yet, I met Kaizan just for her sake. Had I known about her memory problem, I would have never called Kaizan. 

I went straight to the café after my work and found my mysterious lady sitting there, sipping her coffee, reading the same old book, 'Speak' by Laurie Halse Anderson. I didn't want to waste time so I directly went to the counter, ordered my coffee and sat in front of her. Roohi meowed in excitement.

"Excuse me, mister-" The girl said angrily, "-do I know you?"

"Why don't you ask this stupid cat?" I commented and winked at Roohi, but the cat didn't wink back. Her eyes widened in shock and she slowly brought the cat close to her, almost hugging her intimately. The cat whispered something in her ears, and it almost took two minutes. I enjoyed the series of expressions that my lady made as the cat gave her a summary of all the events happened in the last four days.

"We were supposed to investigate the case, you idiot?" She suddenly roared, "-and here we are having coffee? Tell me what's next!"

"Hold on!" My coffee just arrived, and I took a deep sip, "We were supposed to meet Kaizan but thanks to you, Miss Ekanshi, I had to go there alone, and I still haven't forgotten what I saw there."

"What did you see there?"

"I saw a dead body, of a girl, who looked like you!"

Silence crawled between us like a deadly snake, and something, almost a storm, hit her and she hurryingly left the café. I wanted to finish my coffee but...

...I followed her down the alley. She was walking so fast that I almost had to run.

"Hey girl...girl with no name...hey...you, will you please stop?" I kept on shouting but it didn't matter. She took a turn into an abandoned street, where no one lived, and it opened to a playground which looked so horrific. She stood in the center and turned towards me. Her eyes were red with rage and fury. She was definitely hiding something.