The Weekend
It was the weekend. The corridors and the hallways were all deserted. The HFH building didn't show any signs of the buzzing activity that goes on during the week days. It was a complete contrast. No one comes to the campus, much less the HFH, during the weekends. Well, may be some graduate students who are lured by the coffee machines in their labs or the prospect of watching movies on the big screen monitors in the lab. Some come to appease their conscience by working hard on weekends. Professors have mastered the art of making their labs conducive for the unsuspecting grad students to work 24/7. Grad students, on the other hand, mastered the art of sitting infront of the computer and yet not being productive. Talk about evolution.
It was a bright sunny day after a string of gloomy rainy days. I couldn't understand why would any one come to campus during this time of the day instead of basking out in the sun in the nearby beach. The beach was just a few meters away, so there's no excuse. Me, I came to drop off my homework in the homework box located on the second floor. As I dropped it, I could hear the faint clicks of keyboard strokes...grad students at work. Or infront of the computer. On an impulse, I wanted to go to the top floor and catch a view of the ocean from there. I took the stairs to avoid the boring elevator. As I peered from the glass window of the top floor..the beach never looked more beautiful. Filled with families having barbecues, kids playing un-meaningful yet funny games, surfers showing off their skills and pretty gals sun-bathing. Tiny specks of fishing boats were at a distance. The green mountains were soaking in the sun, keeping a fatherly eye on everything thats going on in the ocean. Its always peaceful and inspiring to watch the beach...especially when your day is not going right.
Reeling back to the reality...I headed towards the stairs. Then it happened. I heard the foot steps which were amplified by the empty corridor. I looked back and saw K coming towards me. K was a very good friend of mine. We did our undergrad at the same college. He was always jovial and fun to be around with. But, there was something wrong in the way he was approaching. There was no hurry, just cold determination. When he was close enough I could see his blood-shot eyes. There was no mistake. Something was definitely wrong. His quick steps suddenly changed into a brisk run towards me, as if to attack me. Without thinking I started running away from him. I had no idea whether he meant to harm me or whether I was just imagining it, but I didn't want to take any chances. As I ran through the convoluted corridor, I realized that there was no line of sight between us during brief moments when I turned into the next wings. The corridor was long and the wings were many. The elevator was at the back and the staircases were way ahead. He was running faster than me and my panic didnt allow me to focus my energy. My mind was searching for questions...wondering at the bizare turn of events...why was this happening to me?
As I turned into the next wing, I briefly lost sight of him behind me. In my hurry, I forgot to take a staircase that would have led me out of the building. There was another one, few meters ahead. But...it suddenly struck me as a flash...my heart skipped a beat. The hallway was eerily silent. It only meant one thing..K was not following me anymore. Where did he go? He might have taken the stairs I passed and might be waiting for me at the next staircase ahead. I could neither go back nor front. I was just stranded there unable to think what to do. I had to make a decision fast before time ran out. Then I saw a room to my left with its door partially ajar. Without thinking, I just ducked behind the door.Unfortunately, this door couldn't be locked from inside. Before, I could even move the door...I heard the foot steps again. I was trapped...I didn't make a move...I couldn't. He was close now...I could feel it...may be just infront of this room. Probably wondering where I vanished..or he already knew! Sweat trickled down my face onto my shoes. I prayed the drops wouldn't make a puddle near the door and draw his attention. I stopped breathing, so that the sound wouldn't give me away.
Why is K trying to harm me. Why is he so angry. Did he just snap after I made fun of him last night? It was made in good humor but it was not the first time people took offence at my friendly jabs. Of course, no one was offended enough to harm me. Not until now. These thoughts raced through my mind, as I held my breath hoping against hope that he would go away. After a few secs, I didn't hear any foot steps...it was completely silent again. I knew he was not near the room anymore. Has he gone? Or is he lurking at a corner just waiting for me to show up. I couldn't stay like this forever. I had to come out. Without making a sound I slowly came out from behind the door. I looked down the hallway to my right. No sign of life. Then I looked to my left. A silver light flashed on my eyes momentarily blinding me. I closed my eyes with my hand for a second. There he was, waiting for me patiently like a lion waits for its prey. The light was a reflection from the metal he was holding in his hand. It was a knife!!! He lunged at me and I knew I can't escape this time. As I tried to run, the metal scraped my back...but it was not deep. I wondered why he didn't kill me yet. I looked back and saw that N was holding K back. N came from no where. N was another friend of mine. He now pinned K to the wall and I could see K was wriggling to get free. But his stare was fixed at me. Then A came. I remembered A worked a floor below and he probably heard the struggle from his lab. Now A and N were holding K down. No one said a word. Everyone understood what they had to do...or may be everyone was clueless. There was no rope to tie K down and I motioned A to get one from his lab. A left us and went down to get the rope.
Only 3 of us were left. Me, N and K. N was holding K down on the floor. He was still struggling. I saw the backpack K had dropped just a few feet away and proceeded to see what it contained. I didn't dare to be near K, even though he was not free now. I hoped the backpack contained some clue about the way K was acting.I wanted to make some sense out of all this madness. While I was rummaging through the bag, I caught a glance of the knife that was lying on the floor next to N and A. Its tip was slightly red from the scraping of my back. I didn't find anything in the first two compartments of the bag. There was only one more compartment left to check. I looked back to see how N and K were doing. For a fleeting moment, it seemed to me that N and K were staring at each other. As if, there was some unspoken agreement between them. May be I was just hallucinating after all that I went through. N was a friend of mine. He could never harm me. I started searching through the last compartment and suddenly I heard the sound of metal scraping the floor. I was paralyzed for a moment. I took a sideward glance. The knife was no longer there...
It was a bright sunny day after a string of gloomy rainy days. I couldn't understand why would any one come to campus during this time of the day instead of basking out in the sun in the nearby beach. The beach was just a few meters away, so there's no excuse. Me, I came to drop off my homework in the homework box located on the second floor. As I dropped it, I could hear the faint clicks of keyboard strokes...grad students at work. Or infront of the computer. On an impulse, I wanted to go to the top floor and catch a view of the ocean from there. I took the stairs to avoid the boring elevator. As I peered from the glass window of the top floor..the beach never looked more beautiful. Filled with families having barbecues, kids playing un-meaningful yet funny games, surfers showing off their skills and pretty gals sun-bathing. Tiny specks of fishing boats were at a distance. The green mountains were soaking in the sun, keeping a fatherly eye on everything thats going on in the ocean. Its always peaceful and inspiring to watch the beach...especially when your day is not going right.
Reeling back to the reality...I headed towards the stairs. Then it happened. I heard the foot steps which were amplified by the empty corridor. I looked back and saw K coming towards me. K was a very good friend of mine. We did our undergrad at the same college. He was always jovial and fun to be around with. But, there was something wrong in the way he was approaching. There was no hurry, just cold determination. When he was close enough I could see his blood-shot eyes. There was no mistake. Something was definitely wrong. His quick steps suddenly changed into a brisk run towards me, as if to attack me. Without thinking I started running away from him. I had no idea whether he meant to harm me or whether I was just imagining it, but I didn't want to take any chances. As I ran through the convoluted corridor, I realized that there was no line of sight between us during brief moments when I turned into the next wings. The corridor was long and the wings were many. The elevator was at the back and the staircases were way ahead. He was running faster than me and my panic didnt allow me to focus my energy. My mind was searching for questions...wondering at the bizare turn of events...why was this happening to me?
As I turned into the next wing, I briefly lost sight of him behind me. In my hurry, I forgot to take a staircase that would have led me out of the building. There was another one, few meters ahead. But...it suddenly struck me as a flash...my heart skipped a beat. The hallway was eerily silent. It only meant one thing..K was not following me anymore. Where did he go? He might have taken the stairs I passed and might be waiting for me at the next staircase ahead. I could neither go back nor front. I was just stranded there unable to think what to do. I had to make a decision fast before time ran out. Then I saw a room to my left with its door partially ajar. Without thinking, I just ducked behind the door.Unfortunately, this door couldn't be locked from inside. Before, I could even move the door...I heard the foot steps again. I was trapped...I didn't make a move...I couldn't. He was close now...I could feel it...may be just infront of this room. Probably wondering where I vanished..or he already knew! Sweat trickled down my face onto my shoes. I prayed the drops wouldn't make a puddle near the door and draw his attention. I stopped breathing, so that the sound wouldn't give me away.
Why is K trying to harm me. Why is he so angry. Did he just snap after I made fun of him last night? It was made in good humor but it was not the first time people took offence at my friendly jabs. Of course, no one was offended enough to harm me. Not until now. These thoughts raced through my mind, as I held my breath hoping against hope that he would go away. After a few secs, I didn't hear any foot steps...it was completely silent again. I knew he was not near the room anymore. Has he gone? Or is he lurking at a corner just waiting for me to show up. I couldn't stay like this forever. I had to come out. Without making a sound I slowly came out from behind the door. I looked down the hallway to my right. No sign of life. Then I looked to my left. A silver light flashed on my eyes momentarily blinding me. I closed my eyes with my hand for a second. There he was, waiting for me patiently like a lion waits for its prey. The light was a reflection from the metal he was holding in his hand. It was a knife!!! He lunged at me and I knew I can't escape this time. As I tried to run, the metal scraped my back...but it was not deep. I wondered why he didn't kill me yet. I looked back and saw that N was holding K back. N came from no where. N was another friend of mine. He now pinned K to the wall and I could see K was wriggling to get free. But his stare was fixed at me. Then A came. I remembered A worked a floor below and he probably heard the struggle from his lab. Now A and N were holding K down. No one said a word. Everyone understood what they had to do...or may be everyone was clueless. There was no rope to tie K down and I motioned A to get one from his lab. A left us and went down to get the rope.
Only 3 of us were left. Me, N and K. N was holding K down on the floor. He was still struggling. I saw the backpack K had dropped just a few feet away and proceeded to see what it contained. I didn't dare to be near K, even though he was not free now. I hoped the backpack contained some clue about the way K was acting.I wanted to make some sense out of all this madness. While I was rummaging through the bag, I caught a glance of the knife that was lying on the floor next to N and A. Its tip was slightly red from the scraping of my back. I didn't find anything in the first two compartments of the bag. There was only one more compartment left to check. I looked back to see how N and K were doing. For a fleeting moment, it seemed to me that N and K were staring at each other. As if, there was some unspoken agreement between them. May be I was just hallucinating after all that I went through. N was a friend of mine. He could never harm me. I started searching through the last compartment and suddenly I heard the sound of metal scraping the floor. I was paralyzed for a moment. I took a sideward glance. The knife was no longer there...
