SHORTS

FACE LESS

"Yes ma, Just unpacked."

Chehar, in his late 20s, is walking in the backyard of a farmhouse. He is in his shorts and T-shirt, and there's a 'Triangle' tattoo on his wrist. He is on a call.

"It does look pretty good. I mean the house looks really cool-I know mom, I selected this house solely for the reason, that I can write peacefully. There's no one house for miles."

"Where do you want this?" a voice whispers at him

He turns around to look at a woman, in her mid-30s, standing near the glass wall holding a painting.

"What?" he asks her pausing a second

"This" she holds up an old painting, with a faceless man on it.

A little confused he replies, "That's not mine"

She just stares at him without any word, standing still as a pole.

"Just keep it somewhere in the house" he says

She turns around and walks away disappearing into the house

"Who was it?" asks the voice on the mobile

"Huh?" he comes back to his phone "oh no one, she's a caretaker of the house. The owner told me she will come every morning to help me with food & cleaning. So, I said 'why not'; yes ma! it's with the house, I'm not paying anything extra. I'll call you tomorrow. Good night"

It's getting dark outside, he walks back into the house.

"Avilasa?" he calls the lady

There is no reply. He walks into his room to find the painting hanging on top of his bed. He stares at it for a few seconds, then continues with his work; opens his laptop, and starts writing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The clock hits 3:15 am. Chehar is immersed in his laptop, eyes locked onto the screen. He leans back into his chair, eyes still on the screen, and grabs the water bottle. It's empty.

He gets up, grabs his bottle, and walks out of his room without noticing the difference in the painting on top of his bed. It's empty.

Chehar takes out a water bottle from the fridge and walks up to the glass wall while taking a sip of water. He looks into his backyard, it's as dark as his eyes. He breathes onto the wall; his cold breath fogs up the glass. He draws a boat on it and stares at it with a proud smile. His eyes widen a little, he sees something. A white object, shining in the backyard, popped out of the nicely cut green grass.

He slides the door open and walks out with intrigue on his face.

The water bottle slams on the ground. His face is filled with fear and shock. The white object that popped out of the ground is a finger.

He sits on the ground, his body shaking. He reaches and touches the finger and taking a gulp he pulls the finger a little. Pop!

A hand pops out of the ground.

Terror in his eyes. He runs back into the house. The clock hits 03:25 am.

Within a few seconds, he returns with a shovel. He starts digging in the ground. Like a pirate digging for his treasure.

He is breathing heavily, standing and staring at the ground, which now has a grave hole in it.

There's a body in it. But it doesn't look like a human body. It's as pale as milk, with its right hand and left leg missing.

Chehar stares at the body. He lets go of the shovel. It slams onto the ground.

With his eyes completely affixed to the body, he walks into the hole. Standing right at the legs of the body and staring with his eyes locked onto the faceless head.

The faceless body starts floating up slowly, like the second's hand in a clock, it leans towards Chehar, almost locking their heads together, and growls. Its hand and leg slowly crawl around Chehar's waist and Twist.

The clock hits 03.35 am.

Avilasa walks out into the backyard. She grabs the shovel on the ground and starts covering the hole, burying the faceless body, laid down with a left leg, right hand, and a left hand with a faded symbol on the wrist, a Triangle.

"Thanks for lending me the room on such short notice." a girl, in her mid 20s is speaking on a call "Yes, she is here. She must be unpacking my luggage."

"Where do you want this?"

The girl turns around to see Avilasa, holding the faceless painting.