Fiction: The way home

He glanced at his watch nervously as he pedaled faster. His glasses were beginning to get misty from his perspiration but he did not stop to clean them. He could see the road as a blur and he was fine with it. He knew that not many people would be on this road this late in to the night. Not this road. Not this late.

Earlier in the evening, his supervisor asked him to stay late and finish the accounts for the month. Naresh noted that the supervisor did not really ask him if it was alright with him. He just told him to stay late and finish the work. He knew very well that Naresh did not really have a life after work. A poor engineer who chose to work for pittance, managing accounts of a rice mill had desperation written all over it. The supervisor never hesitated to take advantage of Naresh's situation. Naresh could not afford to lose the job but he could not really think of leaving late for his house. Sivayya, the old sweeper, stroke Naresh's hair as he sat down at the varendah.

"If I were you, I would get working soon and get home soon. I have told you this before too but that road is not safe in the night. It passes through the muncipal graveyard. Bodies are flung over there and barely buried or cremated. If you don't respect the dead..."

"I know Sivayya!" Naresh interrupted angrily. He was easily scared. He recollected the one time at school when he had forgotten his notebook in the biology lab and had to go back alone to pick it up. The room with the skeleton in it. How he felt that something was watching him..

"Don't forget to lock up before you leave. And I am going to look through it the first thing in the morning".

The supervsior left looking at the heavens and thanking God for yet another profitable day.

Naresh went over the evening in his mind, to keep it occupied. He kept pedalling faster, hoping that the next 30 minutes would pass by soon. As he approached the graveyard, he felt a sharp pain crawling up his calf muscle. He felt like he was about to cry from the pain. He shook his leg for a second and got back to pedaling. He tried to keep his eyes focused on the road while trying to stay aware of anything else. He tried to think happy thoughts, he did not want to show fear. However, he kept thinking about the graveyard and what Sivayya said. He considered ringing the bell, to block out other sounds. But he was afraid he would attract the dogs...or worse. The pain in his leg worsened. He kept reminding himself that he would soon be out of the graveyard. His eyes were moist. He could not tell if it was tears or sweat. Wincing from the pain in his leg, he kept pedalling on. The cycle seemed to inch forward slowly. It was not that he was going uphill but he was not moving as fast as he wanted. It felt like something was tugging at his cycle from behind but he did not want to turn back and look. He gave out a loud scream and pedalled away. As he neared the end of the graveyard he heard a dog yelping behind him. It sounded like he was in pain. Naresh did not turn back and look, he was glad that the worst was behind him. He heaved a sigh of relief and eased the pressure on his leg.

That was when the cycle jerked forward and stopped. He almost fell of the cycle but he put his leg down quickly and yelled out in pain. The sudden transfer of weight on to his leg made him let out his fear in terms of his screams. He got off the cycle and rubbed his leg quickly. Without glancing around, he tried to find out what happened. The cycle chain had eased off the wheel. He fumbled with the chain, hurting his fingers as he tried to fix it. His eye caught a white figure in a distance. He rubbed his eye thinking it was something in his eye. When he put his glasses back on, he realised that he was not alone. The lady in the white saree was staring at him fixatedly. She was not angry or sad. She seemed surprised to see him there. Something about her expression made him relax. She approached him as if she were in a hurry. He backed off and lost his balance.

"Excuse me, may I ask you for something ?"

"Um..yeah sure"

"I live about 5 minutes from here. My father dropped his money purse here on his way home. I came to look for it and it got late by the time I found it. Would you mind walking with me till my home ? It is quite late, and I am hesitant to walk by myself."

Naresh felt a smile creeping across his face. All his life he had been a coward. The easily scared Naresh. People got a kick out of planning out elaborate pranks for him. He could never walk alone in the dark. But, here was someone who was asking him to be with her, so that she could feel reassured. He felt himself taking a deep breath and a cool breeze blowing across his face.

"One minute. I heard a dog yelping in the back. Let me go see if it is in pain." he said, before walking back in to the graveyard.