Chapter 1
“Old people disappear all
the time here.”
This made me uneasy. The first person I try to
make an acquaintance with has already been successful in making me apprehensive
of this new town.
New town. New people. A new life.
Same old dread.
All I ever wanted was some peace of mind. So I
left my hectic, high-profile job for a quieter life. A nice, small place where
I wouldn’t be bothered and would live my life happily forever. And now this.
Talk about irony.
Trying to comfort myself of being still in my
mid-20s, I joked, “Well what about young people?”
The man opened one of his eyes and leered. He
spat and looked at me again. Then he spoke in a low, grave voice. “Young
people? What young people?”
I looked around. Most of the people either had a
walking stick or trudged with great difficulty. Wrinkles, bald heads and saggy
skin. This was definitely weird. No young people around. Not one. Except me.
I had moved into a small house with a kitchen
and a room. Nothing fancy. Nothing that could remind me of the past. I had left
it all behind—the expensive studio, the Vividus bed, the Rolex watch, the
Lamborghini Aventador, the pregnant wife, the dying mum, the dead dog. I had
deleted all my online accounts, thrown my cellphone into the river on the way
here. I took out all the cash I had. I just wanted to disappear. I got up, undressed
and went into the bathroom. I looked into the mirror and smiled at myself.
Handsome face, decent jawline, a muscular Adonis in the prime of his youth. I
looked closely at myself. A white hair! Shit. I snatched at it like it was some
weed and sent it whirling down, slowly into the dustbin.
That night I couldn’t sleep. Each time I tried
to close my eyes, something or the other woke me up. The slight scratching on
the window, the probable knock on the door, the howling wind, the rustle of
leaves. Hours passed. Somewhere around morning, silence ensued, and I fell
asleep. I started dreaming.
I was relaxing myself on the beach. A sunny day.
Boys playing volleyball. Women sunbathing in their skimpy outfits. Children
building sand castles. Peace of mind, finally. The very next moment, it all
turned dark. I stood up and looked around. There was nobody. The waves that
seemed pleasant earlier had now started billowing. They seemed to get larger
with every passing minute and then, they started chasing me as if they wanted
to devour me.
I ran. I looked back. The vicious waves chased
me like a beast pursuing its prey. I turned and ran for my life. I could see
something far away. Some light, something. “A door!” I shouted, “The door!!”
I woke up in a frenzy. Unconsciously, I ran for
the door but my knees began to buckle. My back was hurting. I felt impotent as
I reached the door with great difficulty. I looked at my hands. Thin and weak
and wrinkly. As I opened the door, I found the same man I’d met earlier leering
at me. “It’s time,” he said and spat.He was wearing an old hoodie and had a
rusty scythe in his hand. He kept looking at his watch. I tried to make out the
time but couldn’t. I tried to speak but found my tongue lolling freely in a maw
with no teeth. My head began to spin and I desperately clasped it with both
hands. I was bald.
