A Human Story

Dude, Where's My Home?

Deeraj ran for almost half an hour, through streets he never knew existed, for reasons he himself didn't quite understand.

Oh, where the heck am I? he thought.

He leaned on a lamp post and dropped slowly to the ground. The sun was beating down on him, hard.

The sun? Is it morning already? It can't be.

He turned back, having decided to try to find his way back. Streets led to other streets, which led to smaller streets which led to dead ends. As he made his way through the maze his area had suddenly made itself into, his stamina was being depleted and with it, his hope.

There was no one on the streets, which was highly unusual especially at the time of the day it appeared to be. His phone was back home, which was actually the reason he didn't know his own locality in the first place. After another half hour of exhaustion, he finally gave up and gathering all his courage, rang the bell of a random house.

The door opened after about a minute. There was no one inside. It closed, almost. A few seconds later, it opened again - this time eerily slow. A pale man's right half peeked out the door.

"Yes?" he said. His eyes bulged spookily.

"Um, I think I'm lost. No, actually. Very sure. I'm very sure... I'm lost. Do you know how I can get to Gandhi Street?" Deeraj managed to say, his anxiety off the charts talking to a stranger.

"No." he said. There was no motion, no blinking and no talking for a short while. "Okay." he said, nodding and shut the door very slowly again, all the while maintaining eye contact.

The heck. What kind of neighborhood is this!

Deeraj sighed and moved onto the next door. He had to repeat the entire gut wrenching process again. He sighed once more and rang the bell. No one answered. He was about to move onto the next house before the door opened. There was no one there. It closed, almost. Then it opened again, eerily slow.

A man's right half peeked outside.

"Yes." he said. His eyes were full of excitement.

"I'm lost. Do you have any idea where Gandhi Street is?" Deeraj said.

"You can see me?" he said, his voice quivering.

"Well yeah. Why? Am I not supposed to be able to?"

"No, of course. Come in. Come in." he said me opened the door wider.

"Oh no, really. I just need direc-" What. The. Crap. The man's left arm was like that of a baby's, totally out of proportion with his moderately sized body. It seemed like it was growing back from being amputated. Full on Deadpool-style.

"Come in. You look tired." he said, cheerfully. "I'll tell you what I know."

Deeraj entered and reached for the door.

"Oh no. Can't open the door too much. They'll wake up. And they don't like that." the man said.

"Ummm. Okay. You live with someone else?" Deeraj asked.

"One could say that. Yeah. Also also, my wife. Chitra! Look who's here! And guess who he can look at!" the man shouted but also seemed to not want to make noise.

Hehe. Reminds me of... Um... Mom, yeah.

A tall, thin woman blacker than what was considered normal came tiptoeing slowly. So slowly that you'd know she was coming only by the sound of creaking floorboards. Someone audibly whispered to someone else in the room next to them.