I was seated at the lobby of my transient home guesthouse. A loud siren from the plant a few hundred steps away began to dominate the silence of the night. There were rushing sounds of footsteps from the outside. It was 11PM, end of the 3rd shift duty. Roaring engines were fading. Again, there was silence – an eerie silence. Even crickets seemed to have slept too early.

Even with a tiny light from my laptop, I noticed how strangely serene the night was. The walls painted with sun-bleached yellow seemed to illuminate in the dark. A man-made landscapes of some tiny hills and bonsai trees surrounding the 5-feet deep swimming pool casted a shadow that seemed to have a life of its own. I bet the janitor cleaned the pool early that day. I could see clearly the moon reflected through it. Blue reflections from the water looked as if they were splattered on the velvety ceiling. Some luscious green Bermuda grass kissed the margins of brown bricks along the aisle and through the poolside. Instead of doing something on my laptop, I spent a few minutes enjoying the grail in front of me. A rejuvenating moment…

The rain began to tickle on the roof. A sweet cold wind touched the uncovered parts of my skin. It was like an ecstasy indulging my troubled and tired soul after the day’s work. I had slept on the couch for a few minutes, I later realized. I decided to go to my room and sleep. It was almost 2 AM according to the wall clock at the lobby. When I was shutting down the laptop and fixing my things, I heard footsteps coming. It was moving slowly. It sounded like it was coming from under the floor. What the hell is an old person doing in the middle of the night? I was perplexed. I waited to greet him/her good morning. I heard some whispers. It sounded like a serious conversation. I stood up and waited a little longer. No one showed up.

The footsteps were gone. The whispers vanished. I was alone. Then, I heard a reverberating sound from my heartbeat.  It seemed so loud. The wind became unpleasantly colder. And it didn’t feel good. I wanted to go back to my room as quickly as I can but my feet got so cold. I was panting hard. Walking through the empty corridor seemed like a long painful journey. As I opened the door, there was a loud crack sound from the somewhere in the dungeon-like silence of the dawn. The rain poured harder. Then there was total darkness. Brown out… Damn!