Not again!!!

Ordering that last one for the road proved to be a drastic mistake. As me and J stumbled into the deserted platform, we realised we had missed the last train home. And except for a few beggars bundled up in newspapers, there was not a single bastard in sight. The walk home was about 3 Km from the station, and it was not a very nice one. Especially on that cold, deserted winter night.

Perhaps the whiskey took the decision to start walking. Perhaps it was some suppressed desire to emulate adventurers who had plunged into the unknown to discover new lands. Whatever it was, it was a mistake.

This was a section of the city which was largely avoided by the everyday crowds. I mention the word 'city', but this 9 odd square kilometres could have been copied from here and pasted in Nevada and it would not have been out of place. It was a dumping ground at one time, when the municipality decided to turn it into a park. And as expected from their efficiency, the dumping stopped but the park was not constructed. And so it was now a deserted wasteland, used for drug deals in the daytime and dumping murder victims at night.

Thankfully it was a full moon night. To me it looked more of a fool moon night. Walking through the deathly silence, through mountains of waste bathed in that horrible cold white light, I finally realised what fools we had been in trying to attempt this. J must have started having misgivings as well, for he suddenly stopped. I turned to ask him what was wrong, but he was staring fixedly at a point about 100 yards to our right, and following his gaze I saw whatever it was that was staring back at us.

It was partially hidden behind the remnants of a smashed up maruti, but the upper half was visible. My screaming brains told me not to panic, that this was a human form, at worst a junkie who will whip out a knife and rob us, at best a beggar or a deranged man who probably stays here at night. But in my thundering heart I knew that junkie or beggar or lunatic - whatever it was, it was when he was a breathing, living man; now he was a creature from the other side.

to be continued (perhaps)...