The Known Stranger

The place was dark. Pitch dark. So dark that it could easily scare night, the darkest time of the day. Still, she carried on with her journey. Not because she was too brave but because she had no other option. It was the last hope that she was trying to protect with all her might.

It was suffocating and painful to move. Every movement felt like a stab at the limbs, the body, the heart. Nothing was visible nor could she hear anything. Not even her heart beats. As long as she could see, if she could, was all covered with the dust of the nether world. It was paralysing, to say the least not being able to use the sensory organs even though they existed and were perfectly in working condition.

She was imagining, hallucinating. The sudden sparks that came by were so quick and short termed that she was now scared to even look at the source. The source that horrified her at the first glance.

There lit a flickering bulb at the source almost a mile away. Though it was a little distant, she could see the outline of the figure standing beside it. It was a lady. Maybe in her late thirties or early forties. There was nothing strange about her. Elegant white shirt with a beautifully pairing black checkered skirt, nude pumps and a nude purse in her left hand all of which she seemed to be flaunting from her gait. It was all she could see from a distance. Though the image wasn't disturbing and looked all friendly, she had a nerve telling her, "Something is Wrong!". She didn't want to look at the source out of her intuition, but the urge to live through this situation was so strong that she finally found herself being subconsciously dragged to that unknown identity.

She was slowly and steadily moving forward at a constant speed towards her. Half a mile, one-third, one-fourth and finally just a bare ten steps apart. It was at this point that she realised the lady in the front was no common person as she observed the dark circular mark going around her neck. Her face wasn't visible nor did she speak a word but it was all clear that she wasn't a helper from God, that she wasn't there to help her out. The only thing unsure was whether she was there to wait for the perfect time to kill or was she too weak to do so.

The young girl horrified as she could be, screamed at that sight. But no help appeared out of the blue as it does in novels and films. She was about to run when suddenly the other lady started speaking in an unexpectedly calm voice.

"Don't run."

She stopped.

"I ran just like you and here I am"

The young lady did stop but she didn't dare to face the unknown lady and stood there with her back to her.

"Are you here to kill me?"

The stranger laughed –"I can't until you are in my arm's range. I can't move. You are safe for now. "

"I am confused. Do you want to save me or kill me?"

"I have no feelings, no emotions, no desires. I do what I need to. If you stay there I will do nothing but if you do come near, none will be more murderous than me."

"Do I need to stay here for my whole life? Till the day I die naturally? I can't run away else I will end up like you. I can't come near else you will kill me. Do I have to wait for death to save me from death?"

"You need to live."

"Leave? Where?"

"To leave this place you must live. Stop killing yourself every day."

"What?"- the young lady turned toward the stranger in agony and she couldn't believe what she saw.

The psychotic stranger that stood ten steps ahead had the same facial features as her. The same nose, same eyes, same lips. Only, she looked a lot older.

"It's not possible! Who are you?!"- the young lady shouted with a shaky voice.

"I am you. Years after. From the day you hang yourself to death."

"No"

"Stop overreacting. You knew this was your fate. Didn't you?"

"No! No! I can't do that!"

"Yes, you can. And you did. Come closer and see for yourself what you did to me."

The young lady nodded her head in disagreement with tears rolling down her face.

"Embrace the ultimate halt you sought. Come closer. Come. I am waiting for you."

The stranger widespread her arms and it seemed as if, her arms were elongating. Like rubber bands, or it was just another hallucination she was seeing. The young lady screamed at a voice she didn't know she could ever reach.

"I don't wanna die!"

She sat up straight on her bed. It was still night but not as dark as it had been. Her heavy breaths showed how anxious and panicked she was.

After a few minutes of trying to stabilize herself, she came down of her bed all sweaty and was on her way to the bathroom when the shiny piece of metal on the side table caught her eyes.

It was a blade placed near a bottle of sedatives. All the memories from last night started claiming their presence at once. Her cries, her helplessness and finally the failed attempts.

She sat down in horror opposite the side table. Her eyes all red with tears and body shaking with frights finally sobbed "I don't wanna die. Please let me live." She crossed her arms around her knees and rested her head on top of it. The warm salty tears rolled down from her chin to her bosom as she felt the coldness of the stranger behind her. Maybe she was even closer than before. Just a little more than how much the known stranger's hands could reach. Had it been a few hours back, she would have put down all the remaining barriers by now and handed herself over to the unavoidable fate whatever it might have been.

But this time she was desperate. She wanted to escape, not from someone else but herself, her self-harming desires and pessimism. She looked straight in her eyes and said – "I will live. I WILL LIVE. YOU CAN'T KILL ME."

She dragged the table near her and knocked off the tablets and blade down it.

"I can" – whispered the stranger in her ears.

"No you can't "- she put the lights on in a hurry and there was no one to be seen. Not a single soul. The threats to her life were gone. Maybe not forever but for then. She was tired of going through all this again and again day after day. Presently, she had a bit more courage left in her. The courage that somehow managed to spark at the critical moment. But who knows how long can she resist it?

She picked up the bottle of sedatives that had rolled to the corner of the room, the blade from the floor and threw them out. It was disgusting to even see them there.

"I am going to live. And I am going to be happy." – she said, with a trembling heart panting heavily.

The dogs cried outside. Might be they knew where the stranger was going and followed her down. But she, the stranger, was a master and she had many ways of coming back. Only the young lady there knew how to tackle her. Only she did. No one else.