Lift Please..

At the stroke of midnight the Old Station road of this small town was totally unoccupied, chillness of night was increasing by every passing minute and to add on, this was one of the darkest nights of the year as it was Pre Diwali Night. This night indeed has its own beauty. But there was something else also attached to this which can’t be defined.

Shekhar was happy & contented as today his shop’s sales were maximum since he opened this shop of electrical items three months back in old station road. He closed the shop after accounts verification, it was midnight and quite late but he was satisfied with his shop’s performance, it was worth staying late.  He tried to start his hero majestic on which he use to carry his electrical goods. It was not responding. He checked the petrol and sparking plug, everything was OK. He was sweating in the chilled winter night for two reasons, one he was tired physically due to his efforts to start the dead vehicle and second the stories which are attached to this old station road’s night version. Most of these stories are sufficient enough to make old station road a haunted road in the night, though this is the busiest road in the day time. Most famous of them was the story of a young man, aged in mid-twenties who ask for a lift in the night, anyone who give lift to him has to face very bad consequences like losing mental balance, high fever and death also in some cases.  All these stories were adding to the anxieties of Shekhar. His house was just opposite the railway station and for that he has to cross the road.

 It was getting late and he doesn’t want to spend whole night at the shop as he had promised his 2 years son that he will come back and make the candle which he wanted to put on the balcony in the morning. He gathered some courage and decided to go by walk as he has to travel just 2 KM to reach home. He lit the cigarette which gave him some comfort from the chillness of the night as well as keeping those stories silent for some time.  Slowly but confidently he started walking. Just after half kilometer he saw a motorbike coming. He stopped there and asked for the lift. The rider of the bike slowed down. He was a journalist of the local newspaper as Shekhar saw him moving in market area near old station road covering news on encroachment in the city by shop keepers. Suddenly that person accelerated and disappeared from Shekhar’s view.  Shekhar was surprised to see that. The story of young man flashed in his mind once again. He realized that he is also into mid-twenties. He was no more surprised.

He continued his mini marathon and lit the second cigarette  After 1 km from his shop he again saw a bike but this time it was coming from station side toward which Shekhar was moving. He once again asked for the lift with minimum expectation of bike getting stopped. But to his surprise, the rider stopped the bike, Shekhar saw a well-built man with a cigarette between his lips and when he came closer he smelled like old monk. That man was drunk and that to so much that he was not able to open his eyes properly. His bike’s number was suggesting that he is not from the town. Shekhar decided not to take lift from him.

“You want a lift”, BIG man asked.

“No, its OK, I am going in opposite direction and almost reached my destination”, Shekhar told with confidence.

“Then why you asked for the lift?”

“I have not asked for, you might have got confused. Please carry on and thank you for asking”, Shekhar told with a fake smile.

Big man started his bike and soon got disappeared. 

Shekhar moved fast and reached his house safely. His family was quite happy to see him. They hugged him as if he has come from a battlefield. After that he made the candle and went to sleep.

In the morning his wife wake him up shouting that he is lucky to be alive as the ghost of that young man of old station road had killed someone last night on station road. He took the newspaper in hurry and saw the picture of the victim. Within no time he recognized the bike & the dead man. He was the same drunk BIG men from some other town. The reporter who covered the story had written that he himself had seen the ghost last night. He asked him for the lift, he slowed down & found a young man in mid-twenties and with no time loss he accelerated the bike and saved himself. This man being from other town is not aware of the story and might have given the lift to the ghost of young man and ultimately faced the consequence. Shekhar knows that the ghost was inside the dead man only. And you also know that. Don’t you? Think…..

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda