By Abhyuday Kiran Hadal
As I stared out the ebony paneled, clear glass also known as a window; I could see the distant park with massive maple trees with their crimson leaves scattered over the park grounds, the hue of scarlet almost seamlessly incorporated into the shades of crimson and amber this produced a beautiful symphony of colors. But, the immense dark of night obscured the true beauty of the Autumn foliage.
People flitted like moths back and forth in a city that stayed awake all night. I had zoned out for a good ten minutes if not for the sudden gush of bone-chilling breeze that rapped against my face. I was startled.
My warm, green-tea smelling breath had clouded the window and made it hard to see the car and building lights. But it didn’t deter the cars from making obnoxious honking noises.
I immediately turned and noticed there was a slight opening from where the dry and cold breeze seeped in from. I had returned to my senses and once again I could sense everything around me, the intricate yet soft Lofi music humming in the background, the invigorating scent of green-tea; strongly overshadowed by the distinct fragrance of a cat. Comfy, safe and homely.
I started working on my assignments. My humanities assignment was due “The unconventional correlation of fear and mirrors”. I had been working on this assignment for almost a week and it was accounted for almost 20% of my total grade.
I poured myself some more tea from the kettle, the steamy hot liquid slowly dribbled out with its strong scent permeating everywhere. As, I poured myself a drink, I listened to the tea plopping into the glass. I observed the thin, smooth stream in which the liquid glugged out; That very thin stream was disturbed and ruptured when there was a sudden knock on the door. It gave me a “minor” heart-attack.
I put down the kettle, and gently displaced the ginger-colored feline from my lap and made my way towards the door, just before I opened the door, I felt a chill go down my spine, quite literally. I looked back and saw that the window by my study-table was wide open, the drapes fluttered in a flurry and my cat was purring loudly. But the reason for this sudden occurrence was unknown. I ignored this “incident” and opened the door, to my surprise nobody was on the other side.
All of this just felt a bit “out of place”.
Of course, a human couldn’t barge in through the window after all my apartment was located in a high building. I shook all of this off and sat at my desk and lifted my pen and just before I wrote on my paper, I was aghast. My assignment about “The unconventional correlation of fear and mirrors” was missing. I panicked and pushed my chair back and in a few quick motions, opened the window and looked down in a vain attempt to locate my missing papers.
I plopped back down on my seat and covered my face, with an inconsolable sadness running through my body. The paper was due in a few hours. Tomorrow.
I decided the complete the paper no matter what, and began furiously scribbling on a fresh paper. I noticed my cat slowly made its way towards the bathroom, that was a few steps away from me. The cute ginger dubiously squinted eyes trying to determine what was in the bathroom.
This scared me, to the extent I could feel my breathing grow ragged, teeth grinding against each other while my jaw was locked, fingers shivering and my legs turning to lead.
But I had to see for myself, what or who was in there.
While I was on the verge of another “major” heart attack, the feline gracefully made its way into the bathroom whose door had opened mysteriously since the “incident”. I could almost feel my cat saying, “And they say scaredy cats!” in a sarcastic tone.
I braced myself, by taking support of my table while forcing my heavy legs to stand, the shaking of my body hadn’t stopped but since the cat was alright, I felt a little better. I called out to my cat in a soft voice but it didn’t respond. Now something came over me, I had to protect my little baby at all costs, there have been incidents when mothers have protected their children by lifting up cars and I was supposed to do the same by overcoming my fear and going inside the almost eerie room. My shaking has stopped and I was purely running on adrenaline. My eyes were moist and bloodshot. My teeth were now gritting and my legs pulsated with the urge to run and shield my baby.
My legs seemed to have a spirit on their own and they moved towards the bathroom and as I neared my destination I peeked inside and my eyes closed in relief while I heaved a sigh of respite. My ginger feline was alright and it had placed itself next to my assignment papers that must have been blown into the bathroom by the wind that emanated from the study table window.
I bended down and picked up the paper and slowly lifted up my head, and read the horrifying words scribbled on the mirror with red “ink”, “Not so scared of mirrors anymore, are you?”.
By Abhyuday Kiran Hadal
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