The Road Of The Dead

Its late at night. A phone call opts him to set out to the streets in the cold night  for an errand.

Mintu was greatly annoyed to wake up 1:45 pm at night just to check up on his uncle, who lived nearby. Apparently, his uncle was not feeling so well, and had complained about a quite high fever and a massive headache. Mintu had to cross the road by the graveyard and then head over to the very last house at the end of the road. Prior to entering the road intersection, Mintu stopped at his tracks. Just 10 feet away from him was something that Mintu was terrified of: the graveyard. He was never comfortable around them. Still, he gathered all of his courage and and cleared his throat and uttered a small prayer. He began to walk again at a normal, steady pace. Soon, he passed the graveyard.

Just a moment after he passed the graveyard, he felt an unusual breeze on his face. The breeze was warm. ‘But why would there be a warm wind at this time of the year?’, he thought to himself. Not finding an answer to the question, he pressed on with his journey.  Pretty soon, he heard some footsteps behind him. He turned around only to find an empty street, completely silent.

Mintu  felt his heart beat faster. Upfront, Mintu saw a hawker selling tea and headed straight for him. Perhaphs a cup of tea was all he needed. He ordered a cup of tea and and reached for his wallet to pull out a five taka note. As soon as he looked up, the hawker was no longer there. Mitu was puzzled. He definitely saw the hawker with his own eyes. Now Mintu was scared. He closed his eyes and hoped that it was  his imagination, pacing rapidly. But his belief was soon shattered as he began to hear voices amidst an empty road. The voices seemed to speak out to him, telling him something. Suddenly Mitu heard a shrill cry. He looked around in fear, trying to figure out what was going on. Mintu’s most horrifying moment in life came as he turned around. Just a few feet away from him, he saw a girl with the most menacing look. A little bit of the skin in her face  was torn, and the bone underneath was clearly visible. Her eyes were bloodshot, but most terrifying of all, tears of blood were running  down her rotting cheeks. Her nails were eerily long and looked like it could scrape through metal. Mintu felt his whole body become ice cold. Gripping fear seized his mind. He tried to command his muscles to move but alas!, they would move no more. The girl slowly inched closer. And  as she did, one by one, the streetlamps began to go out. Somehow, by some force, he managed to command his mind to run. Without looking back, he ran with the full torque that his legs could muster. He reached the front porch of his uncle’s house and collapsed. he cried out help and just at that instant, he felt  something strong grab  the back of his neck. A terrifying voice barked out “toke ami ebar chere dilam”(this time, I have let you go”. After that, all went blank for Mintu.