After Shaun left for his uncle’s place, i was feeling quite lonely in the hostel!! and with not a single soul living in rooms around me, i was completely alone in my corridor.  I thought of watching movies but soon got bored!  Then I tried reading a book, but it only increased my sense of isolation. Occasionally, I glanced outside, in the direction of badminton court,  but no one was playing.  Eventually, I  closed the front door and went up to bed. The room was hot , but after moving my bed directly underneath two  fans , I soon fell asleep.

I am dreaming. I am walking alone along an endless country road. It is an old  bog road bordered by trees. There are no turnings or junctions, farms,villages or any sign of life.  Gradually, night falls but I must keep walking. In the darkness, a pair of eyes stares at me – they are filled with malice and could belong to a bird of prey, possibly an eagle or vulture,(if they are not extinct!) .  What happens next occurs suddenly and with some violence. A long thin hand, it might even be a claw, appears from nowhere and hovers above me. Then, without warning, it plunges down and grabs hold of my bedding. There is the sound of a gale howling as the bedclothes are torn from me. They fly upwards and disappear, and then there is only silence.

I awoke with a start and sat bolt upright with my heart beating like a drum. Then I gradually relaxed as I realised that this was just a nightmare. The hostel was silent and the room’s door was closed. As I settled down again, I discovered that my pillow and bedsheets were  missing and I assumed that they had slipped off the bed. I groped around but could feel only the cold floorboards. This was strange as it was very hot n humid a few hours ago. A waning moon shone through the  window and threw just enough light for me to see around the room. I.i…i remembered the dream and became anxious and confused. The bedding couldn’t have just disappeared through a brick wall or a closed door, but it was no longer in that room. Where could it have gone and who could have removed it so swiftly?