Behind you.
By
Dev Thakkar.
Have you ever felt like you are in control of something completely, even if you can't blink without their wish?
What do you feel when you see Ahom? A devil which I named it. I don't know how to describe it, but, indeed, one who sees it would not be able to sleep for months, I am certain about this fact because I know how it feels, like you are in the mouth of hell, screaming for escape, but you don't utter a single word from your closed lips, you never know where were you or will you survive? My eyes ache a lot when I see something like that for the first time, but a decent thing happened when I got out of the park as soon as I realized what I saw was true, I just ran out from there but the image of Ahom was not getting off my mind.
After that day, to date, I haven't found any night where I completed my sleep cycle, every time I see it present in my room, I find it a nightmare but every day the same thing is disgusting.
My mother noticed my unusual behaviour, but she remained silent for a few days until I screamed at night. A week ago, She ran into my room, waking me up as if I was screaming in my dream. She mentioned that I was sweating a lot that night, just like you saw some unpleasant thing.
"Arjun, wake up dear nothing is wrong." She said, rubbing my head with her soft hand which was more than enough to bring me out of hell. I opened my eyes to see her, and that softened my heart, still, my breathing was fast as if I ran a marathon.
"Just a dream, calm down, what did you see?" She asked.
Taking my head into her arms,
Thoughts in my mind were too fast then my words, but still I tried to put in words,
"I-I s-sa-saw." I was unable to complete the sentence because of heavy breathing.
"Take a deep breath, I am here, don't worry." She said I looked into her eyes, I was aware that she was feeling sleepy, why wouldn't she? I woke her up in the middle of the night, I tried to take a deep breath, which helped me to calm myself down.
"I saw a devil, Ahom, he is a scary mom," I said the image appeared in my mind as my words were done.
"What, Ahom, what is it?"
"Too scary, it has been haunting me for months, through nightmares," I said, every bit of my body was freaking out just by mentioning him.
"Why didn't you tell me before?" She asked.
"He said that he will kill you all," I said recalling the warning he gave me inside one nightmare.
"Oh my goodness, you should have told me."
"No, I am afraid he will kill everyone because I told you about him."
She laughed as I cracked some joke, my eyes were fixed on her, unaware of what she was thinking, but it was not a joke.
"I will see, you know I called your aunt just a few days ago, she said that her son, you know him, he is…"
"Aditya, I remember him," I said instantly, the name blinked in my mind.
"Yeah, exactly, you know he did his graduation in psychology, and he tends to be a counsellor."
"Yeah, that's good," I said, unaware why she was saying such a thing, was it to change the topic or I don't know?
"I think you should meet him." She said, "He will help you out, you know they can solve your problems."
I knew the term, but I never experienced it, why does she think he will help me out, can he stop my dreams? Anyway, I think I should give it a try, but what if he kills everyone?
"Will he stop my nightmares?"
"He will, certainly."
"Then call him, I will be amazed to meet him, as we have never met for a long time."
She smiled, it was sort of like she had solved my problem, but still the face on my mind, the black face with flesh on the right cheeks, which grumbled my stomach after seeing it, the eyes, the hell red eyes of the monster.
I can't think of that anymore, I saw her, and she stopped towards the door.
"Would you like to come into our bedroom?"
Those words gave me comfort like I was in soft hands, a smile approached my face, and I nodded with twinkling eyes.
That night I slept completely, all eight hours, without any dreams.
The next day, she told me that we were going to Aditya's house which was just 20 km away from our Village, and it was Sunday so no school. I agreed with that, going into my room, and packing sort of things for a small trip.
After breakfast, we picked up a bus, which provided transportation to that town every hour, so it was never difficult to catch the bus. We often visited the town, but we rarely visited my aunt's house where we were going at that time.
We took our seats on the bus, on the way to my cousin, he is a good cousin, I remember the fun time we had together during the marriage of my other cousin, it was fun, I enjoyed being with him all five days, I still remembered all the dishes he ordered for me to eat, as eating is my hobby more than a requirement.
After that, I did miss him but many years passed, and now I am going to meet him again. He grew up as I did.
When we reached his home, a wave of thrill and excitement passed on my body. I desperately needed to end my nightmares, and there was a possibility that he would cure me, so that was a great bet to play.
"Hey buddy, what's up." He opened the door and shook hands with me, and a broad smile appeared on my face after seeing him. He has grown up more than I imagined. When I saw him last time, there was no beard in his jaw, but now it was infinite.
We ate lunch, my mom was happy to see my aunt, they started gossiping, which gave me time to talk with Aditya.
"Are you having nightmares?" He asked with raised eyebrows.
"Yeah," I said.
"What do you see?"
"Ahom, above me every night, staring at me but always in dreams."
"That's scary, don't worry dude, we will sort it out." He said winking at me with a smile.
I smiled, it was the assurance all I needed.
After completing the meal, we went inside his room. His room was plastered with white colour. There was one painting, in which there were several trees in a belt. In the middle, there was a clean river passing through some vast stones, and straight to my eyes above the river, there was one hill.
The picture made me so calm, the drawing inside was so real that you would mistake it for a print.
There was one desk, maybe his desk in the corner of the room. He passed me a chair, and I took my place, examining the room, there was one bed, where he sat, adjusting his specs.
"Hello, little brother, how do you feel now?" He asked.
"Good, that painting, it's very good," I said.
"That, it was a gift from my teacher, when I performed beyond his expectations, he got impressed and gifted me, which was meant to calm your clients."
"Oh, that's good."
"So tell me about the devil."
I stared at him for a few seconds, not knowing further words to describe it, but still, I needed to put down everything in words.
"Ahom, he has a black face, with red eyes, visible flesh on his cheek, bloody teeth, and, and." I started saying but ended up dropping my face in my hands.
"Okay don't worry, have water ." He said passing a glass of water to me.
He stood up to take his diary from the desk, then sat again with an open diary, and the pen's tip ready to write anything.
"Where have you seen that devil? in any movie?"
"No, " I said flatly.
"Then?"
"I saw him at one park, I was sitting there alone, thinking about the reason why I hate school. The smell of wet grass and the cool air was healing my headache, which occurred that day, but I knew the cool environment would help me to clear my mind.
I saw children playing on the ground, some of them were playing kho kho, some of them were playing cricket, and I was sitting in the audience. I thought I was alone like an audience, until I saw a child, sitting like me.
But when I drew my eyes on his head, I saw Ahom, his pointed nails were on the back of that boy, but his eyes were threatening eyes of mine, like saying to me that you are the next target. with a bone-chilling smile which was more scary than any horror film." I said.
"Oh, that's scary, I guess you like horror movies?"
"Yes, I only watch horror movies."
"Okay, which type of horror movies do you like the most?"
"Um, for example?"
"Supernatural? Paranormal? Or horror movies containing monsters?"
"I think movies containing monsters fascinate me," I said with a broad smile.
"Okay. Your favourite movie?"
"There are many. I loved the Insidious movie series, then IT, just because of Pennywise, and there are many."
He nodded, taking some notes in his diary, but there were hardly any expressions on his face.
"So, I think you might have hallucination problems, but it is not good to be certain about the hallucination problem, that's what I think, but you must have to visit a counsellor." He said.
I glared at him, with my blank face,
"Hallucination, that is a term which is used when you see something that does not exist, like it is not there, like the devil, Ahom, you see."
I nodded, I thought I would be satisfied with his answer, but no, it was not what I expected. I stared at the floor, thinking about what he said. I don't think it was my hallucination, making Ahom true.
"Don't be afraid my brother, it is so easy." Said Aditya.
"No, it isn't that easy," I said, my eyes above his head, my heart pounded dreadfully, and my eyes were showing a hint of fear.
"You can do one thing, you can stop watching horror films." He suggested.
I was now not looking at my brother's eyes because it was stuck, I wasn't able to move my eyes.
"Tell me one thing, Arjun, did you see him again after that park with your naked eyes?" He asked, I was aware that he didn't see my dreadful eyes.
I nodded, slowly, I felt my eyes free and turned. I turned my eyes to the floor, so innocently thinking that it was my hallucination.
"Where did you see?" He asked, curiously.
I raised my fingers towards his back,
"B-behind-behind yo-you," I said slowly.
First, he looked at me, suspecting what I was saying, because it might not reach his ears because of my slow words.
"Behind you," I repeated.
Ahom was standing behind my brother, with the same kind of smile, and everything, his nails were stabbing his shoulder, Aditya still not looking behind, he was still believing that it was all a joke.
"Look, I was not hallucinating," I said pointing my finger behind him.
He turned his head behind,
and all I need to say right now is please don't look behind in search of him, especially at night or you might…..
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