Chaos

Chapter 7

With each passing moment, Jeff’s struggle to maintain a grasp on reality became tougher. He was still lying there, by the tree, unable to move an inch, watching with horror a scene unlike any other he had ever seen in his life.

As the man’s footsteps advanced, the woman, who till a few moments earlier looked indifferent to just about everything in this world, changed. Her expressions changed. The unfazed look was slowly turning to anxiousness and maybe even anger.

“Why are you here?” She snarled.

“Come. Come Eleanor. Let’s not get angry. Shall we?”

“You think you can do better, huh? Go back Zarvin. This is not the place for you.”

“And it is for you? Do you seriously believe you’ve been managing this well? I think not Eleanor. And I am not the only one with those sentiments.”

“He’s unstable. And he’s different. Plus that old man is relentless. We’ve been underestimating him all this time.”

“Have we, Eleanor? Don’t blame the Clan for your amateur fallacies. You know you’ve faltered. And you know you’ll be punished. Don’t try to run away from your mistakes woman. Face them, and you might get some respite.”

The man’s calm composure seemed broken now. The woman who called herself Eleanor seemed almost on the verge of tears. All around them, the scenario was that of destruction and doom. And yet these two souls were untouched, unharmed and unaffected, lost in their own conversation.

“It is not entirely my fault.” The woman was sobbing now. “He behaves differently. And I’ve never been trained for this. I could finish him with a single flick of my hand. But...”

“And I believe you. I do.” The man was smiling again. “But tell me, were those the orders you received? No. Now go. We’ve reached the end of this discussion, Eleanor.”

The woman, now looking slightly more in control of herself, turned. Jeff, who had watched all of this with his breath held, saw yet another change in the woman’s face. She half smiled, like a child would smile if given a chocolate as consolation after losing out on a game.

She turned back, and said, “You’re obviously aware of our visitor, aren’t you?”

Jeff had once gone to swim with his father in a lake, while they were living in his native town. The lake was no more than a few feet deep. Jeff didn’t know how to swim. At a particular instance, he dove inside the water, and wasn’t able to come up. He thrashed about wildly, cried, and shouted, till his father pulled him back up. The terror that Jeff experienced that day under the water still occasionally gave him nightmares.

If that feeling was terror, Jeff had no idea what he was experiencing at this moment, because this was far greater in magnitude to that terror. His blood froze. His heart stopped beating. And his vision nearly doubled.

It was then that the man, Zarvin, turned his head in Jeff’s direction. His eyes locked with Jeff’s and stayed there. Very casually, the man lifted his palm up in the air till his chest’s height.

The wind went berserk. It seemed as if all the air in the world had just coalesced beneath him and was lifting him upwards. His legs left the ground yet again. He rose, and rose. He wanted to scream, but couldn’t.

He was now at a considerable height, higher than most of the trees. The man and the woman were looking up at him. Then all of a sudden, everything stopped, the noises, the wind, everything. The world fell silent. He could hear his heart beat.

Then, Jeff started falling. Jeff started screaming.