I felt drowsy as I dragged my legs and followed Abhay, Anirudh
and Anaya in to the forest. It was late in the night and I really did not know
why I was following them, where we were and where we were going. We were
walking on a mud path and I was walking behind everyone.
I had come to Germany and we were camping in the Black Forest.
My parents did not come with us and was feeling a bit homesick, due to their
absence. The sky was filled with dark,
heavy clouds making the place look like a cemetery.
After walking for what seemed like an hour, the path came to a
fork. There were three forks each bordered by metal grills on both sides.
Everyone stopped dead in their tracks. I asked them what happened. They looked
as if they had been completely immobilized.
In a flash, even before I could think of it, they broke into a
run, into the darkness of the first fork. Now it seemed as if I had taken their
place. I stood there rooted to the spot, wondering what happened. It took me a
few seconds to realize what had happened.
Then I said, “Guys, this is not funny. I know you’re trying to
scare me”.
I felt a chill run down my spine even as I said it. Where did
they go? I couldn’t understand why they were scaring me. Also, while walking
with them I felt that they were hypnotized. Then, suddenly out of the first
fork came a blood curdling yell.
I felt the ground shaking. Was it an earthquake? Definitely it
could not be, since it felt as if it was coming towards me. A loud howl came
from the first fork. The thing that was shaking the ground seemed to be very
close to. Then from the horizon, came the earth-shakers. A pack of twelve to
fifteen wolves ran in a second into the first fork, even without looking at me.
At an instant, the air was filled with howls of the wolves and
yells of my dying friends. I didn’t want to go back. Who knew how many more
wolves were waiting there. Because three was my lucky number, I decided to
enter the third fork.
As soon as I ran into the third fork, the ground began to
shake again. About twenty wolves, their yellow, sharp teeth bared at me were
chasing me. I knew they were faster than me and there was no way I could get
away from them, I still decided to give it a go. I ran with all my energy.
Then, with one mighty howl, the wolf right behind me pounced on me.
I fell down, right on my back. I heard a soft crack from my
back. The wolf’s mouth watered. A voice in my head said, “Let it go, my dear
boy. There’s no way you can survive”. Then another voice, that sounded brave,
said, “What is the need to die, young man. You have a long life ahead of you.
Try your best to survive”.
I felt that I could survive. I landed a hard kick, right on
the wolf’s stomach. It fell off me and I began to run. The wolves pounced on
me. I was so filled with adrenaline, that I could fight them off me. A boy, one
or two years younger than me, was running beside me. It felt really good to
have company, making it feel like a god sent gift.
Then to my horror, the fork came to an end. As the saying
goes, when none of the doors open, try the windows. At the end of the fork, I
saw a few rocks. With all my energy, I jumped up, onto one of the rocks. The
boy beside me did the same. The wolves, unable to climb the rocks, stopped
following us.
Instead of feeling better, I felt as if everything was lost.
We were stuck between the demon and the deep sea. If we jumped back, the wolves
would gobble us up. It would be really difficult to fight all of them at once.
And the rocks we were standing on were moving slightly ahead, threatening to
fall down the valley.
The only hope of surviving was to jump off the rocks, to the
other side of the garden which was about three to four yards away. I decided to
risk it. I took a long breath, steadied my legs and jumped. As soon as I did
it, the rocks slid off the platform and slipped down the valley along with the
boy.
The wolves ran away
from the fork. But definitely, there was no way I was going back to the fork. I
walked ahead into the other side of the garden. There was nothing of interest,
only trees, bushes and shrubs. I walked for some more time and came to a
mountain. On the top of the mountain I saw a blue object.
I decided to climb the
mountain to the blue object. There were small gaps in the mountains which I could
use perfectly to climb the mountain. After an hour of climbing, when each and
every part of my body ached, I reached the blue object. It was something I had
never expected. A helicopter!
But this was the strangest
of its kind that I had seen. It was cuboid in shape with an entrance like a
submarine’s. Everything else was like a normal helicopter. I went inside it,
but there was no one in side. Because my legs aching due to walking so far, I
sat in the pilot’s seat.
I rested my hand on the
platform in front of me, which were full of buttons. To my horror, my elbow
pressed on one of my buttons. The blades of the helicopter began rotate. I
froze as I felt the helicopter rise in the air.
Now there was only one
thing I could do: Control the helicopter. But how could I. I didn’t know a
single thing about helicopters. I took the steering wheel and pulled it back as
hard as I could. The chopper rose higher faster into the sky and shot forward.
My hands filled with
sweat, and my head started to ache. The helicopter seemed to listen to my brain
more than the steering wheel. It carried me along for a long time until I felt
cold air enter the chopper. I looked down and saw I was flying above the
Mediterranean Sea.
Then as if the sea was
huge magnet it sucked the chopper down into its own waves. I tried hard to
control it with my mind and steering wheel. But it was of no use. The bottom of
the chopper was touching the surface of the wave. Water entered the helicopter.
In a few seconds the water was up to my chest. All hope was lost and there was
nothing else to do other than pray. There was a small locket and quite stupidly
clutched it tightly in my hand.
Then a huge wave crashed
against the helicopter. The door of the helicopter snapped open. The water was
almost up to my nose. I tried my best to increase the altitude of the chopper,
but in vain. My worst night mare was true. The water filled the helicopter
completely. There was no way I could swim up to the door and open it in a
moving helicopter.
Then suddenly the
helicopter rose from the sea level. It was gaining altitude. Then in a few
minutes all the water was drained out from a small hole in which I guessed it
entered. In few hours the chopper was flying over my home town, Bangalore.
Then a jerk caused turbulence
in the helicopter. There was a small blast in the engine and it was losing
altitude. In a distance I could see my apartment. Not now, not when I’m so
close to my destination, I thought. The chopper began to heat up. It was so hot
in a matter of a few seconds that I felt the locket in my hand would melt. I
clutched it so tight my hand started aching but I didn’t let go.
“Sonu ... Sonu wake up.
It’s time for your cricket class”, came my father’s voice. What was happening?
The scene was dissolving. I woke up, sweating completely. It was a dream! It was
all an illusion showed to me by my brain! I was never so happy to see my house!
It was a dream that I could never forget! But was it I felt my palm burning and
paining dreadfully and when I opened my clenched fist, I was most shocked to
find the locket stuck hard to my palm!!!
THE END
