Sabr.

Sabr - 4

That night, I was up till 2 a.m working on the upcoming cultural programme and science exhibition that our school was going to host. Teachers were strictly advised to actively take part in it. I was given the work of preparing the list of the students who were taking part. I was also told to keep an eye on the participants and report to the principal how are the students progressing with their work. "This week is going to be hectic!" I sighed. I stretched my hands, entwining the fingers of both hand together. It made several cracking sound. A yawn escaped my mouth which made me realise how badly I wanted to sleep.

As I was about to close my laptop, the bell rang. I looked at the time. Who could it be? It's almost 2:15 a.m. I looked here and there. Finding no one, I nervously bit the bottom of my lip. Everyone were fast asleep and I didn't want to wake them up. The house was extra ordinarily silent and calm. If there was any sound, that would be the ticking of the wall clock, my breathing which got heavy after hearing the bell and the stridulation by crickets coming through the window that I left open to let the fresh air in.

The bell rang again, alerting my consciousness. I clutched my scarf and tied it around my head, covering my hair. 'what if it's some thug?' Sweat started to form on my brow and my palms went clammy. 'No' I shook those obscure thoughts away. I was acting like a child now. The best thing I could do was to be forearmed. I clenched my fists and walked into the kitchen. I grabbed the first thing that came in my vision, a bottle of black pepper and started taking small steps towards the door. 'Ting-tong ting-tong' this time I almost made a run thinking it'll be better if I just open the door and deal with it then to let that person forcefully break into the house and kill my family.

My fingers were hovering over the door knob. I shut my eyes tightly and reluctantly unlocked the door. As I opened my eyes, I saw a person's back but he turned around in slow motion when he heard the door clicked open. My eyes went wide. There was a moment of silence which was giving me déjà vu. He had broad shoulders and was easily 6 feet tall. It felt like I saw him somewhere but knew not where. I was so immersed in my thoughts, I almost forgot his presence.

"Ahem" the person in front of me cleared his throat and that was when the vague image of the guy in my thoughts matched his face. Isn't he the guy who was leaning against the car in the background while Chelsy was being dragged away from my house? Also he looked older version of that boy who appeared on my doorway and tugged Chelsy. Yes! I lifted my right fist and bumped it against my left palm, overjoyed to have figured him out. Oh Lord, I completely forgot about the pepper in my hand. But it was too late, the particles went flying in the air. When it reached our nostrils, it made us both sneeze abruptly. My whole body jerked. I rubbed my nose with my index finger and slowly looked up on his face. His nose and eyes were red. He stared dastardly right in my eyes, sending shivers to my body. His bold features were exacerbating the scary look on his face.

"Huh? Sorry?" It came out more as a question. His expressions were malevolent. It seemed like he badly wanted to shove me away and stab me in my chest. I was waiting for him to reveal the dagger from his pocket and torture me. But nothing like that happened. Instead,

"Tsk" he shut his eyes, gritting his teeth and outstretched his hand which had a medium sized paper bag. Baffled, I looked at him and hesitantly took the bag from his hand. I slowly opened it and peeked inside only to find my sister's clothes. I lifted my face up.

"Wanted to return it." He snapped. For the second time, he looked up. His gaze was icy cold. I flinched back and forced a smile.

"O-okay." I sputtered. Regaining my composure, I broadened my shoulders and continued, "well you could have returned it tom-"

"There is no tomorrow."

"Uh.... alright ." Then he went away without saying a word. Weird he indeed was! I slammed the door shut. Packing all my stuffs in, I hurried towards my room.