THE FOG CITY

A Man From New York

Philadelphia ,Year 2020

Charles was expounding a well known case to me. The reading lamp on my desk shone brightly on his face, making his pale white twenty two years old face exuberant. I kept on adjusting my chair and gazed upon the files , pondering if I could ever get a vacation. But the onslaught of disappearances and missing cases made me more poignant. I did not pay any attention to Charles and thought his theories were all humbug.

" Yes I think they are here. The Greys. I believe they took all those people to their mothership.”

“Charles ! Stop this nonsense and tell me what Mrs. Peggy told you.”

“But sir please consi____”

“Charles the report please !”

“Sorry! ...Mrs. Peggy exclaimed that she was talking to her son as he was driving to some nearby city she called New York. All of a sudden a strange static disrupted the mobile network and she lost connection. After trying for a few days she got worried and contacted us. And the rest of it , you know---”

“Hmm what if a human trafficking chain is involved ?(I did not sign up for this shit.) Whatever we will see to it later, let’s go out and grab a bite.”

I moved away from my chair filled with indolence. Charles, with a sulky attitude, dragged his feet behind mine as if he wanted revenge for not listening to his grand conspiracy .

“Charles you drive the car today!”

Charles’ sulky behavior turned to that of dismay as he kept staring across the street.

A short man crept slowly towards us with blood stained clothes. One of his eyes seemed to be missing and his torn, tattered shoes left a trail of blood as he crept closer. I ran towards that man and asked Charles to get the car ready.

The wounded man spoke very frailly and handed a sheet of blood blotted paper.

“I don’t have much time left. Please go to New York and help those peo___”

I carried the unconscious man to my car and ordered Charles to drive towards the nearby hospital. On the way the man kept on muttering about video games and npcs.

( After admitting the wounded man to the hospital I went near the reception to enroll him in.)

“So you say that this person is from New York,” the receptionist stared at me incredulous.

“Yes that is what his passport mentioned. I searched the google maps for such a city but found none.”

“And what relation do you have with this person ?”

I flashed my Police Id in an adroit manner.

“Ok I will do the needful.”

I walked around the glassy hallways of the Hospital staring at all the caricatures and medical drawings in a spasmodic manner.

“I should be working here as a Doctor instead of____”

All of a sudden a blood curdling scream echoed through the hallway which startled me. I regained my composure and ran towards the source.

In front of the room ; where the wounded man was admitted, Charles stood with a flaxen face unable to believe what he saw in front of his eyes.

The hospital bed was soaked with blood and the wounded man was nowhere to be seen. The blood trail led to a piece of paper wrapped around the little finger cut precisely. I picked up the cursed artifact which read:

" Forget what you see , don’t indulge in things you don’t need to else it will be your head instead of his finger.”

A nervous smile broke across my face as I intermittently looked at Charles and the cut little finger kept on the blood soaked bet. Things just got real for me !

***