Part 1:The Confession:https://steemit.com/fiction/@anixon/romantic-novel-fate-s-gift-called-love-part-1-the-confession part 2:The 99.9% Mystery:https://steemit.com/fiction/@anixon/romantic-novel-our-fate-part-2-the-99-9-mystery. Part 3: Coffee,Rain and Kiss https://steemit.com/fiction/@anixon/romantic-novel-our-fate-part-3-coffee-rain-and-kiss.
Part 4
Not Just A Hallucination
At twelve minutes to lunch time, Apsara was getting restless. She was going out on a date with the cute guy Arnav, she had met last weekend at the bar across the street.
On the dot at one o clock, she sprung up from her seat and hurried to the mall nearby. All her way to the mall, the romantic novel of Tanya and Dhruv was telecasted like a movie on her mind. Apsara was still puzzled and the after coming blank pages of the book was a big question mark. On the contrary, She was unable to get it out of her head.“What if Arnav also had a crush on me as I do? What if I and Arnav kissed like Dhruv and Tanya did in the novel? Aww!” she thought with a grin. After a quick lunch, she was at the CCD where they planned to meet. Thus the daydreaming sessions began away till the clock struck five.
The date was lovely. Arnav dropped her off at her colleague Asha’s house, where it was decided both the pals could do with some more dessert. Out came a tub of Ibaco’s chocolate ice cream, which was nearly wiped clean. Apsara was so full that she could have burst out of her new jeans. “Killer dress, hon! I bet Arnav wanted to get into them tonight!”, Asha said followed by a lewd wink. Another predictable bout of laughing and Apsara decided to call it a night. On her way home, she thought about what Asha had said “Arnav is a very good guy, he would make a great boyfriend.”
Just two blocks short of her apartment, something in the shadows broke her train of thought and she instinctively reached for the pepper spray she always carried in her handbag. She turned around swiftly but saw no one, and turned back to continue walking. Suddenly Apsara heard a blood curdling scream so horrific that her senses dulled for a moment, the hair on her neck started bristling. A man’s voice floated in indistinctly, “Help… Somebody help….I am dying…” It ended with a gurgling noise as if the man had been strangulated. Abruptly thereafter there was complete silence. With a sudden mixture of surprise and apprehension, she rushed. She got to her flat as quickly as her legs could carry her and bolted the doors.
Apsara was still feeling nauseous and her heart was beating so fast. But there was something strange going around and she can feel it. “I feel like I am being watched”, she thought in a frightened manner. Adding to the horror, she started to hear something beside her new book on the table. As Apsara got closer, she could see a pale white face with a devilish grin coming out of the open pages of the novel. She blinked twice to make sure she wasn’t having a hallucination. Her soul stumbled. Its teeth were so sharp that she felt like it was going to gorge into her flesh. All of a sudden the already dim lights went off taking away the last grain of hope that remained. She felt the chill of the tear drop in her cheek dripping through her eye.
Apsara felt helpless and impotent and started to weep hard. The grotesque figure moved slowly towards her. Her hands felt wooden and shivered pretty bad.
“It’s rude to stare,” said the so called ghost, in a sing-song voice.
Apsara’s throat felt dry as she looked it. Her brain was whirring like an old motor, trying to explain how a creature would come out of a book.
“Who are you?” Apsara managed to whisper.
He raised an eyebrow and with a wicked smile at the corner of his mouth, he answered, “I am Dhruv, the character you are reading in this novel. And you know what? Be prepared because I am going to kill you!”
“W-What…!” Apsara gulped as her forehead felt wet with perspiration. “It’s not hallucination!”, she thought.
To be continued.....Image source:https://pixabay.com and https://giphy.com, https://steemit.com