Lunch #WattysShorts

CHAPTER 3

A naked female body.

Akruti

Lightning struck her body. Streams of tears exploded from her eyes, only mildly expressing what she was experiencing. She watched helplessly as the man dragged her body to where her face became clearer, confirming that it was indeed, her little sister.

Her gut wrenched in apprehension, forcing her to act, to do something. Each nerve in her body compelled her to run towards them and somehow save her dead sister. But the paralyzed state that her body was in, refused to cooperate and she stood there, seething and internally dying with each passing second. Her heart hated her and refused to beat faster to save her.

She agreed with her heart.

The two men just took a look at it curiously and then threw the distorted leg away, barely leaving any flesh clinging to the exposed bone. And then, one of the men started towards the body lying on the ground.

He moved closer to the body, but the tears flooded her eyes. He smelled her sister's body, but it was her breath that hitched.

The man who had brought her body went ominously close to her face, and then bit off a huge chunk of flesh from her cheeks; huge enough to show the blood covered inside of her mouth and teeth.

Shruti collapsed to the floor. The wringing pain that should have left her cursing on landing hard, didn't go noticed. She couldn't contain her cries anymore. The silent squeaks morphed into loud moans and shrill cries of agony and loss filled the empty void. She had killed her sister.

She couldn't mourn any longer though, for someone awaited her on the other side of the door.

A violent knock came on the door and her attention diverted. The wails got stuck in her throat and the liquid flowing coming from her eyes was drawn back in alarm. Her eyes were trained at the direction of the barely visible door. Warm gusts of air moved in and out of her mouth, off-sync with her palpitating heart. Seconds passed and nothing happened. Her heart was now beating at its peak, racing in her throat ready to jump out any minute.

"Aaagh!!"

A loud scream erupted from her lungs. The door went flying to the stairs and the three men walked into the house.

The man with the handkerchief in his eye, spotted her timid figure curled up on the floor. All three of them started moving towards her. She shrieked as she comprehended what was going to happen.

Their distorted steps brought her death closer to her, but the shock didn't allow her to move her body, despite the raging commands from her brain to run, move, attack. She was stuck; frozen on that spot.

She counted her last breaths.

Her eyes reflected her death.

Unable to speak, cry or stand up, she saw her death coming towards her, getting closer... until they were in front of her, ready to tear her skin off.

"Huuunh!!"

Akruti's eyes flew open, releasing her from the clasp of the nightmare. The dark room seemed to engulf her and she screamed louder and louder till her throat ached and her parents came running to her, wearing worried looks on their faces.

"Akruti! What happened?"

Her mother hugged her daughter's profusely sweating body, warming her up in her embrace. And she hung to her mother's clothes as if it was the last strand of reality that she could hold on to, to keep herself from falling back into that deadly abyss. The horrified look on her daughter's face already told her what she wanted to know.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Her father asked, turning the lights on.

She started crying softly and nodded, still not recovered from the holy terror.

Water was soon brought to her and the comforting hug of her mother calmed her enough to realize that it was a mere dream... only a simple nightmare. And nothing had actually happened to her elder sister. Or her.

Finally bringing herself in talking condition, she cleared her wet throat before asking,

"Mummy, where is Shruti?"

"Why? Shruti just now came from work." Her father replied, slowly caressing her head.

Ah. Relief finally rested on her disheveled face. The knowledge that her sister was at home after work just like every other night, seemed to calm her.

In the flick of the next second, her eyes bulged out of their sockets when she realized it. She whipped her head in a flash towards the clock on the wall.

The clock whispered the time: 12:32 am.

Friday, 17th May.