A Thousand Encounters

Chapter-5

"So how was the day?" A voice halted Nandini's feet.

"You should have been slept till now," she said.

"You know I can't sleep without seeing you," other person spoke.

"Oh well, you can't sleep without knowing how many people I shot," she walked towards that person.

"You can say that," other person said while putting his glasses on table.

"In that case, I am sorry to say I couldn't accomplish the target you gave to me," she said while sitting on couch.

"Take your time, Nandini. I am sure you are gonna bring me heads soon," other person said while getting up.

"You wait for it," she said with a wink.

Other person walked to a room in dark.

"Daadu," she called.

"I made it to the board today. It was just a little away from bulls eyes," she added.

"Not bad, Nandini," he said and then resumed walking.

"Wake me up when you bring me a dead body," he said while entering his room.

She chuckled listening to it.

"Sure, young man," she shouted to make it reach him.

With a grin on her face, she took the stairs and entered her room.

Neatly arranged; beautifully furnished, she wondered how come her room got invaded by super trained maids of her mother. She threw the pillows aside to break the symmetry. She crashed on her queen sized bed and dozed off in no time.

________________________________

Taking one final round of hostel, he entered the dorm. Closing the door carefully, he again checked every window to make sure they all were properly shut. Walking through beds, he finally reached his bed. Empty dorm looked strangely peaceful yet scary. He neatly did his bed and took a book from his side table. Turning the lamp on, he resumed the novel he was reading since 10 days.

"Shadows didn't leave his side as he walked a lone street. He being trader of nights, kept walking bravely. Before he could take one final turn out of narrow lane, he was hovered by darkness. All street lights went off and he could no longer sense the shadows. He took out his sword and tried to read the silence. Before he could make his move, he heard a whisper. His forehead had formed drops of sweat as he turned around. With a sudden blow of wind, he felt something touching his skin. It was... "

Wall clock touched 10 and it chimed. Without wasting a single second, he closed the book and tucked himself in bed.

He expected not to have nightmare like other night. He started to count backwards from 100 to invite the sleep as early as possible. Somewhere around the 50, he realized he had messed up the counting and before he could correct, sleep took over.

____________________________

"No, 50 is too much. That much rounds aren't needed," he murmured in his sleep.

"I am telling you, Nandini. You are already so trained. You don't need training. Just let me go," he kept mumbling as alarm screamed.

"Okay, okay! Stop shouting. I can suspend you for shouting on your teacher like that," he said in sleep hearing deafening alarm.

"Shut up," he mumbled angrily.

Alarm went off. After fine 5 minutes, he shot up and sat with terrified face.