I walked on the cold, crackling leaves. Terror was taking over me. I shivered as I walked through the cold night. I heard faint, distant roars and some bustling behind a thick tree. The forest was pitching dark. I breathed heavily and carefully eyed my surroundings. Nothing! My eyes reflected fear and then...a sudden change of color! Oh no, I am sure I saw someone move from here. I started screaming boldly. Who could it be? My heart raced...a creepy laugh echoed through the thin air. God save me! I tried to walk away on tippy-toes. My hand, someone caught my hand! I was being pulled somewhere and I couldn’t see anything. I rubbed my eyes.
I think it must have been an hour since I have been lying on this stack of hay. Little insects were crawling all over me. I saw stars dancing over my head. Where was I? Who brought me here? I tried to move, but soon realised I was bound by thick ropes. Was I kidnapped? I asked the heavy man who he was. He laughed in an eerie and guttural voice. And then a surprising change to hysterical tears. I repeated my questions, my voice quavering. Why was he crying? I fought a bizarre of thoughts and recurring images.
“I am your father,” his deep broken voice boomed through the emptiness.
“My father?!” I let out a fearful laugh. “You can joke well. Please leave me, I have to get home!”
“How can you deny that?” He challenged in fiendish merriment. Was he mad? I tried to maintain an air of serenity. “You are never going back, you cannot leave me,” his sorrowful words hung naked in the frightening silence. My pulse rose very high. I plucked up enough courage to challenge him.
“You better leave me otherwise I will have to call the officers.” He caught me by the arm and pulled me inside a hut made of raw leaves and straw.
“Where are you taking?” I started crying.
“Come!” He stared at me with wild, devil- eyes. I shrieked and jumped back in horror. He twisted my arm! Ouch, he was an evil! I looked around through the blackness. I saw the man’s face all around me, laughing at my idiocy. I started trembling with fear as the man dragged me inside the ruined hut.
His crooked smile and red-bulging eyes suddenly dissolved into a new set of emotions. Tears rolled down his red cheeks. This frightened me even more!
“All your questions will be answered now,” he spoke in a low, timid voice.
“If you confess you are my daughter and that you will never leave me, I will tell you everything. Is that a promise?” he showed his wheat- colored hand. I stepped back and looked on and on, back and forth to his face and hand. I hesitated but I really wanted to open the folds of this mysterious man. Maybe he is not harmful or dangerous...maybe he has good intentions....
“Promise,” I said softly.
“Give me Ganja, please,” he suddenly begged.
“Huh?” My heart pounded. “From where?”
“From somewhere,” he bellowed in rage.
“Are you on drugs?” I stammered, barely able to meet his eyes. Huge billows of smoke rolled out his gigantic ears, blood gurgled round his ball, his fist clenched and he pushed me very hard. I fell to the ground with a thud and tried crawling away from him. The grass under me hissed and the wet mud was all squishy. I messed myself but still didn’t care. He was evil! The only thing ringing in my head was to escape from the clutches of the beast. I managed to stand on my feet and hopped a few steps, ignoring my bleeding knee. He followed me, his heavy steps vibrating the ground below.
“I am not your daughter,” I shouted, tired of it. “Let me go!”
He caught me by my leg as I turned once again to escape. This time he didn’t care. He dragged me along the poky wet grass. I was then pushed into a room and I heard the lock click into place. It didn’t take me time to realise that I wasn’t alone. It was entirely dark and just one little dangling thing shone. It was a silver pendant, it was the man!
I waited for him to do something. I chanted all the prayers I knew. After what seemed like ages, I realized that the man had taken a corner of the room and was hugging and hitting a piece of frame.
Oh no! There was a knock on the door and another figure with long wild hair entered with a lantern. And now I could make out that it was an old lady, sympathetic and sad, as she looked! She came running towards me. What was she going to do? My heart leaped out of my weak rib cage and my tummy crawled into my throat.
“I am really very sorry, dear,” she said with a frightened face. Not another mad person, I already had enough of the man!
“No, don’t be in the impression that I am your daughter,” I said innocently.
“Nothing dear, nothing. I will tell you everything and you can trust me,” her eyes watered. She took me with her to a warm room where a small fire crackled in the hearth. It reminded me of home!
“The man, my husband, he is gone under depression. He is mad. He is a tired pendulum between joy and sorrow. He gets excited when he sees little girls,” she forced the words out. I was bewildered.
“How? Why?”
“It was about a year back...everything was perfect and we led a happy life in our little family. We had a very young daughter. One night she went out to get some fruits for the dinner, further deep in the forest. It took her long, very long! We waited and waited and finally the sun came up. But still there was no sign of her. This was very rare because she used to go there often. When we went in search of her, we found just a corpse, half eaten probably by some wild creature. The wildest creature! And then we knew our destiny,” she cried. Tears rolled off my eyes and I didn’t know what to say. I saw her face reflecting pain, a lot of pain!
“Bipolar?” I asked.
The man suddenly walked in and started laughing. I could sense his lost mind. The lady ran before he could attack on me and hugged him hard. I stood there struck and just watched the two of them cry endlessly!