The Lost

Beep beep beep, my phone beeped. I was surrounded by the dark. My hand ran on the side table, searching for the lamp switch. Tik, bright yellow light poured out of it. My phone still vibrated. Where is my phone?, I thought. My hands searched all around me. On the side table, No. Under the lamp,no. Under the pillow, no. Under me? Well, yes. By the time I could get all this together, I had missed the call. I looked at the time, 3 in the morning. Who the hell called me this late?, I thought. Well I was answered, it was James calling me. James? He is my best friend since uni, n also my co-worker at News Network. NN, being the biggest news channel world wide we decided to give it a try, well we were pretty successful in it. I am a news reader over there n James, he looks after all the computer stuff. Pretty complicated. But, James is a real jolly person. He has a very wicked sense of humour, but I like him anyways. The phone in my hand vibrated fast, I had almost dropped it.

"Hello? Jane, where have u reached? Didn't u see my message? Boss needs you now? Where are u?" The words swung so fast in my ear that my dear, sleeply, brain just skipped some of those words.

"Hello? Is this James Kisby?" I asked dazed.

"Oh come on Jane. It's me. But where are you. Boss is in real rage. Are you in sleep?"

"James, who is awake at 3 in the morning?And what message, I didn't get any?"

"Yeah I know. And the message, oh it's a long thing. See, there's a very big news for today. You have been called at office. Now. Boss wants to telecast a news on our PM's speech, which he gave yesterday. I am already there. Come quickly."

"What is Clare there for?"

"Oh Clare, she is just, not well. On a leave. Bye. See ya."

"Yeah."I said. He was so fast for all of this. Without a second thought I got to the floor, pulled some clothes from my small wardrobe, pushed it inside the bag and I ran to the door. Something pulled me back. Yeah, a final look at my reflection. I rushed down the stairs, to the hallway, my legs took me to the kitchen and me hands did the work of checking if everything was switched off. Once my brain confirmed, I ran outside locking the door. My car looked at me. I am a pretty good driver, but I am not a night owl. I called the cab. My fingers did the work. I opened the front gate and I stood on adjoining road.

The air was cool. My skin tingled. I looked at the mango tree in our neighbour's house. The road was lifeless, houses slept, windows hidden behind the curtains. I stood there, observing, as the night grew more cold. I looked at my phone's screen, 15 minutes for the cab to arrive, it said. My legs were cold. I was still in my pyjamas. Suddenly, I saw bright light heading towards me. It grew brighter and brighter. I shield my eyes with my hands. As the light came closer, I could see a black Car, just for a fraction of second. Within no time the car hit me hard, sending me flying across the road. I landed hard on my stomach. Swamps of pain jolted through me. I hit my head hard on the ground. Pain shook through all my body. I tried to open my eyes, but alas. After several tries I could see a blur of vision around me. I saw a man, moving towards me. I guess he owned the car. My eyes didn't support me more. Finally my eye lids gave up and, made my vision black. Minutes passed by, slowly my pain start to ease, or the pain so much that I had become numb? I thought. I opened my eyes, the vision was good. I pulled up myself to my feet. My legs were a bit shaky. I felt so light, that I could fly in the strong wind.There he was, the man glared up at me. Chest nut brown hair, icy blue eyes, and a fair skin tone. I could feel the blood running in my temples. With a pure rage, I went up to the man and said," Can't you drive? You almost killed my there. Who are you?" I could see he was too shocked to reply. I went right up to him to give him a tight slap, which would swell his cheek for months. With a velocity, I pulled my hand to slap him, but......... to my horror my hand went right through him. It didn't even touch him. Now, it was my chance to be scared. I looked at the man standing. He just pointed behind me. My neck turned around.

Behind me, there lay a lady. Her head pressed against the road. She lay in the pool of her own blood. I recognised her very well. It was me laying head first. It didn't take much time to know, that...... I was dead. My eyes were so cold. I was cold. Rather, I was dead. I looked at myself, or now my astral body. The night before I didn't believe in astral bodies n stuff, but now..... I have ended being one.

The man standing next to the car, was as shocked as me. Suddenly, our eyes caught a car coming towards our way. The head lights were a lot bright. That yellow light seemed to penetrate through me. With a harsh sound of brakes, the car came to a stop. The light went back. Only street light poured some dull light. Soon I recognised the car. It was the cab!. I had called the cab which came now. I saw the driver getting out of the car. He looked at my body lying on the road. Without a second thought he pulled the phone out of his pocket. I could see he dialled 911! The phone rang, once twice, the a lady spoke,

"Hello? You need any help?"

"Yeah, I need an ambulance. On Lambork street, house 445. Yeah there's an accident. A lady and there's a black car. Yeah quick. Thank you." The cab driver spoke breathlessly. He checked for my heart beat. I am sure he didn't hear any. With a flash he ran into the car with me or my body on his arms. Did he notice me?, I thought. He took the car away. Now, I was left with the man standing behind me. He was still perplexed as to what was happening. I couldn't look at him any more. My attention was taken but the beep of my phone. The cab driver had left mg phone here. I saw at the screen, it was a text from James:

Hey, Jane, there's an awesome news. We can take a holiday today, for the part time we did last night? So, I just had a plan in my mind to celebrate this holiday. Meet me at coffee shop, sharp 9. See ya.

What? A holiday? But his call.....?,I thought. What was this all happening? He just called me and now he is saying a holiday?. I really wanted to text him back that, what was he up to? What is this? And am I dead? I had to search this out. I had no choice left. The only person on this earth who could see me was the stranger. I turned to face him. With a low voice o started" Am I dead?" He just stood there still. I knew what he thought. He must be thinking the same as me: if I am dead, then how could he see me?

I took a step towards him. He lurched back to the car. I knew how he felt to see a ghost. I stayed back. I didn't want to scar that poor man more. He took more steps back. His hands reaching for the car door. But......his hands never reached. He utterd a low moan as he saw into the car. My pupils caught the vision. We saw a man leaning back on the driver's seat. Head covered with blood. His white T-shirt was damp with the red liquid. On the another second I recognised the man. It was him, the stranger. He was too,.......dead? This was enough for the night. The man's astral body shook. The wind that night was too cold, so was I too. The air was damp and cold, i could feel it even through my astral body.

I couldn't take any of this more. O looked away. This is when I saw a man. Standing behind the mango tree. He felt like he was covering himself in the blanket of darkness. He waved someone to move away. Then, I saw a man appearing from behind the tree. He ran so smoothly, for a second I thought he had no feet. He ran with a tool box in his hand. The man who was hidden behind the tree came forward. He moved with very ease. I felt he was floating just few inches above the ground. I could see him. He wore a black Cape. His face covered with one end of the cape. He grabbed something from his pocket. Slowly he pulled out a knife. A knife which was the thing I was afraid all my life. The knife had a golden brown handle, a tough one. The caped man came towards us. His eyes were the prettiest things I have seen on this earth. One was blue and one was green, still it didn't lose the beauty that possessed. He slowly pulled the knife up and slammed it into the driver's chest. Real rage, I thought.The driver or the stranger whose astral body now stood besides me moaned.

The caped man, grinned. I couldn't see his face though, I pictureed, he could grin after puncturing the man chest. The cape fluttered behind the man. He took a step forward, his eyes on my house. It seemed that he looked at us. Did he see us, I thought. Well the answer was yes. He looked at us, standing there against him. He took a step at us. Moved smoothly and slowly. Then, he spoke with a hoarsh, yet firm voice, " Oh, dear Jane, and, Mr. Jameson, How..Did..you two.. feel ..after dieing....??