The Dream

The sun had set. I had almost finished my work in the field. I was alone in the field as both of my parents weren't able to work all day. So, after working for a few hours, they had gone home. The job at the field today was making canals to drive the excess water from the field. The canals were made around the field and were connected to the canals of other fields and would finally be connected to the river. The monsoon was on its way and if the canals weren't made, the crops in the field will die as the water level rises uncountably. After a long day of work, I was finally able to connect the canals to a nearby river. Now, these empty canals will drive all the excess water and protect our crops.

After a long, tiring day, the work was done. It seemed like it was already past late evening. I looked at my watch. The face of the watch was covered with dust. I wiped my face with my shirt. The was shown that it was already 7 pm. Normally, I would not work this late. Even though the routine was broken, the work at the field had to be done; otherwise, the monsoon would have ravished our crops. Since it was already late, I had to reach home as fast as possible. When I looked at myself, my hands and legs were covered in dust and dirt. I needed to clean them, so I went to a small river nearby and cleaned myself. Then, I proceeded towards the village. All of our fields were outside the villages and took 5–10 minutes to reach.

I started walking towards the village. As the monsoon was approaching, the weather was cool, and you could hear the rustling sound of the wind. I was walking slowly. My hands were folded. I could feel the cold wind striking my wet hands and legs, causing Goosebumps. I was looking at all other fields, the yield was good this year. It was getting dark, so I increased my pace. I was constantly looking for people who might still be working in their fields so that I wouldn't have to go home alone, and also I wanted some company. But there was nobody in the fields or on the road. I figured that since it was already late, all of them had gone home. I was approaching the village but, I noticed something strange.

The village was awfully quiet. Usually, there will be activities all over the place. Old people would gather and talk about their times and how things have changed over these times. And often curse the young generations and consider them stupid. Children would be playing and sometimes even listening to the old people as they gave advice. The delicious aroma of food would spread all over the place signifying that the food was ready to be eaten. But today, there was none of them. Everything was quiet, there was no gathering of old people like usual. Children weren't playing and the air was filled with stench. The stench of something gruesome and evil. Even after my hands had dried, and I was no longer feeling cold, I was getting goosebumps experiencing this silence of the village.

I looked around, there were no lights in the houses and no sound of any activities in any house of the village. I thought to myself that the electricity might have gone out and since load-shedding was not common, people might not have spare battery lights. But those assumptions couldn't explain the reason behind no activities of people. I paced up towards my house. I opened the gate. Usually, the gate would be open, but the front door would be closed, and you had to call people inside to open the front door. So I reached the front door and stood there and called my father to open the door. But nobody opened it. I called my mother too, but there was no answer at all. I banged the door once so that they would hear me, but strangely the door opened.

This was strange because my parents would always lock the door and only open it if somebody called. I entered the house, it was dark, and I could see nothing inside the house. Fearing that something bad had happened, I took out my phone and turned on the torch. I called my mom again, but there was no answer. I tried calling my dad too, but still no answer. I started walking in the hallway, I looked at the kitchen, but mom wasn't there. I looked at the study room where dad usually sat and read newspapers, and magazines and listen to the radio, but he wasn't there either. Now, I was afraid thinking about where they might have gone or what might have happened here. As I was walking the hallway, I reached the living room. Upon looking at the living room, my whole world went upside down.

There in the living room were lying both my parents on the floor. I rushed towards them. I grabbed both of them. I tried waking them up. Calling them again and again and again. But both of them lay lifeless on the floor. I rushed towards the kitchen and grabbed the glass and started filling it with water. It wasn't even full, then I gain rushed towards where my parents were. I kneeled and started sprinkling water on their face one by one. But still, none of them responded. I couldn't think straight and was having a thousand thoughts as to what might have happened and what put my parents into this situation. I rushed outside and started calling my neighbour for help. I called him again and again, but still, nobody answered. I even banged on his door, but there wasn't even a slight movement in that house. I again rushed inside my house.

I reached my parents and saw them. I knew that they need immediate medical support. I thought of calling the ambulance. I called, but again no one answered my phone. I tried 2 to 4 times, but still, no one answered. Tears started rolling down my cheeks as I find myself in this helpless situation. I felt like I wouldn't be able to save my parents. I thought to myself that I failed as a son. I am a failure of a son who couldn't even protect his parents. I started banging my head with my hands in frustration. As I was going on, I felt some movements inside the living room. Somebody was moving. I pointed my phone's light in that direction.

There in the dark living room, I saw my Dad moving his hand. I rushed towards him and placed his head on my lap. And started asking if he was alright. When he saw me, his eyes widened and his face looked as if he was frightened or surprised, I couldn't properly take into consideration his expression and what it said. All that mattered was that he was awake and was fine. I started assuring him that everything was gonna be alright, and he would be fine, and the ambulance was on its way. I lied because the ambulance hadn't picked up my call at all. My only thought was to assure him that he was gonna be alright. I started asking him what had happened to him and mom and the whole village. He started mumbling strange sounds. He grabbed my hands and mumbled strange sounds, ra ra ra ra. He started making the sound ra ra ra. He was having difficulty in breathing but still making sounds, ra ra ra ra. I told him to calm down and again assured him that everything was going to be alright.

My dad was trying to say something. Then he forced all his remaining strength to form the words and the words came out of his mouth that said Allen Run Run Run. At that very moment, I felt that there was somebody else in the room other than the three of us. My dad shouted, Allen run! And the moment I turned back I saw two sets of glowing sets of red eyes that grabbed me and I blacked out.