Ch-1 : That Night

"The butterflies in her stomach were more enchanted than ever and her face had turned complete red. Is it really so hot or only she is feeling the 101 degrees fahrenheit? Though watching the hero and heroine of the movie dancing on the screen in front of her, she very well knew that sitting beside her on the couch, he was gazing at her only. She had been avoiding looking into his eyes. Its not that she did not want to, but she just could not do it. Oh his eyes, they were so overwhelming. Her heart was pumping out so loud, she wondered if even he could hear it!
Just as she was trying to steady her self, his cold hands came around her face and now she was looking directly into those light brown eyes. She melted. He inched his face even closer, his lips now on hers and her heart skipped a beat. Closing her eyes, she handed herself to her love.."

Ecstatic, Jiya turned the page and whoops, all went black.
"Hunh! What timings for the current to go off dammit.", she was pissed. She obviously did not want to leave the story here right now. Suddenly, there came a deafening noise from the dark on her left and down came the shattered window glass. She choked.
Oh God! Breathing heavily, she was scared to death and could not even find her voice to shout. But then there was no one at home and shouting would not be of any help. Holding a romance novel in hand was she becoming part of a horror story!
She could feel a pair of dark black eyes staring at her through the broken glass. Horror-struck, she shut her eyes.

Several minutes passed and she was sweating now. Neither the electricity came back nor could she sense some movement. Thus she decided to take a chance. Slowly opening her right eye, she figured that she could now see things, rather make out their shapes, due to the beam of light coming from the window. What to do, her mind was blank. Mobile! Yes, where is her mobile? It is always in her pocket but now when she needs it the most where the hell is it hiding! Finding no answer, she kept sitting on the bed hugging her pillow and chanting God's name. Some more minutes passed and still nothing. For how long could she wait after all. Left with no choice, gathering all her courage, she got up from the bed to find either her phone or a candle.

As soon as she exited her room, she shut the door behind. A kind of relief surfaced her being; she was out of that dreaded place now. Some one might have sneaked in from the broken window and killed her, she thought. She immediately ran to the kitchen with some caution as there was no light in the house and started searching for a candle. Finally she found it in the second drawer of the last rack and lit it using the gas burner. Next she grabbed the key of her room and went back to lock the door so that even if some one comes in, he is unable to get to her. Suddenly, the electricity came back. She deposited the keys in her pocket and moved towards the kitchen to put the candle back.
Feeling a little safe now, she went to her parent’s room to spend the rest of the night. As she entered and switched on the light, Jiya caught a glimpse of the wall-clock hanging on the wall in front of her; it was half past midnight. Sleep was no where in her eyes; the present situation was too horrifying for some one to sleep of course. To distract her self, she switched on the T.V. and went back to sit on her parent’s bed. Flipping through the channels, she thought of calling her mother but then it was too late. She thought better of it; she would tell them in the morning. Lost in thoughts, she did not realize that after an hour she slept with the T.V. turned on.

Jiya was not a very beautiful but smart, twenty years old girl. She was the first child of her parents and always enjoyed their love and support. Her confidence and belief in herself was a reflection of this only. She was far more attractive than all the make-up-clad-dolls in her batch but only to the eyes which understood what beauty really is. Though she had a certain charm, she was not the most popular girl in college. But her friends loved her and life was good, that is what all that mattered for her.

It was a weekend night and her parents along with her sister were at grandma’s place; she did not feel like going and thus was at home alone. If she had known this night would turn out to be this way, she would have been the first one to get into the car.
She stirred from her sleep and opened her eyes only a quarter bit. One of the sports channel was airing some tennis match; though a sports buff she searched for the remote on the bed and switched the T.V off, this was certainly not a time to enjoy tennis. Opening her eyes fully, she checked the clock and found out that she had slept for only about three hours as it was four in the morning now. She was sure sleep will not care for her soon, so she got up from the bed and went to the kitchen to have some water as her throat was all dry after the terrible night. Her waist length hair were all crumpled as they were on all mornings. She ran her hands through them one or two times out of habit while walking.

After having a glass of water she checked the refrigerator for something to eat but then refrigerators barely have something interesting when mothers are not at home. Closing the door she started walking back to the master bedroom when she saw the door of her locked room. Should she check inside if something has happened? Even if someone was outside the window, he must have left by now! And how stupid she was to think that someone can actually enter the room from that small window with broken glass! She cannot be such a coward; she decided to go in.