"29" :: Chapter-15

Fabrice could feel the breath of the old man behind his neck, the blade still touched his neck. They were walking the road with deserted sidewalks on either sides. It seemed that Emilia knew where they were going. She was leading the way, walking in a very playful manner, taking double strides with every leg, like she knew it all.

The road which was four lanes wide now led to a concrete bridge. The bridge hid the area below, from Fabrice's view. After leading him to the middle of the bridge, "Get down on your knees" said the voice behind.  Fabrice felt something tying up his hands. After his hands were tightly tied, "Now lie down" the voice commanded. Fabrice had no choice, and he lied down with his hands at the back making his shoulders hurt. But the pain didn't matter at that very instant, when he saw the face of the one who was tying him up.  He was a she, only sounding like a man but not looking like one. It was a woman he knew very well, it was his step mother, Martha. He couldn't really understand the madness that was happening, it was as if the shock had paralyzed him and he didn't retaliate as she tied his legs together. All through, she had a plastic smile on her face that she wore every time.

After a while Fabrice couldn't spot her face moving around, he could feel the rope tightly piercing the skin of his calf. Suddenly Emilia and Martha appeared from either sides. Fabrice saw both of them were smiling. Martha came a little closer and kept something on Fabrice. He bent down to see a pair of blue eyes staring from a long, slender body. It was a serpent, black in color with a peculiar pattern of yellow over its head. The serpent, lying on Fabrice's chest, raised its head in an attacking position and looked at Fabrice. Fabrice could feel the vibrations inside the snakes body on his chest. Behind the snake, Fabrice's attention focussed on an approaching object. It was a wheel, drawing closer and closer. Once it was close enough, Fabrice realized that it was a two wheeler with huge wheels, approaching right towards him, to where he lied. Fabrice screamed for it to stop. But it didn't.

Fabrice screamed again, but the vehicle honked twice and still kept on moving closer. The thickness of the wheel increased as it drew nearer. Fabrice screamed for one last time, the loudest and there was a screech of brakes which was again followed by the sound of the engine accelerating. Just then, he heard Martha's manly laughter, it seemed as if Martha and Emilia were right there, looking at him die. The timer in the sky struck the 13th hour, at a very apt time indeed.