Sprawled across the couch, which was turned to face the television set lying in the centre of a coffee table, he did what he had always done whenever he started to get uneasy. He cranked up the volume of the television set as if the blaring sound from that obsolete piece could dispel the gloominess of his silent and bare home. Though not badly furnished, the house however lacked a certain warmth in appearance, which a woman usually brings to it. Suddenly getting irritable with the cacophony of the television, he turned the volume down to low. It was an unfortunate time to do this, since that very moment the clock placed on the mantelpiece suddenly ticked shrilly to announce the arrival of the hour, piercing sharply through the eerie silence of the room. At the same time his stomach rumbled loudly in hunger. The combined sounds startled him out of his skin. He cursed loudly with a choice selection of words he had reserved for those who delayed his meals. That day the object of his outburst was the pizzeria which was supposed to deliver his meal about a quarter of an hour ago.
As an afterthought, he found himself wondering aloud why he had started getting so jumpy in the late evenings. For the lack of something better to do, he switched to the eleven O’ clock news. The newsreader wrapped up the national headlines in the first quarter of the hour. It was followed by the local news. The local news that day was a special segment on an escaped convict last sighted in the man’s very own locality. He was known to seek shelter in local homes for the night, often killing the occupants of his refuge lest they squeal about his whereabouts to the police. The police had finally understood the pattern between those seemingly random murders the last month and had linked it to the convict who had escaped about then too.
Though the man hated to admit it to himself, he was suddenly quite alarmed. He listened intently to the description being given on the news, which was mostly ordinary except for a tiny scar running down the left cheek of the convict. “How dramatic!” he sighed to himself, losing his faith in the story with every passing minute.
Yet such is the nature of humans that even the flicker of a doubt can put one in deep unease. He wondered why he suddenly felt inclined to close all the windows as advised on the broadcast. Having made the decision to comply made him feel both better and worse at the same time. Though he felt easier in the mind, he was also a little disgusted that he had relented so quickly. To feel better about himself, he turned off the news to prove his incredulity of its content even though he was fooling no one. Then as he moved to the first window to fasten it, he was taken aback to see that it was pouring heavily outside. He shook his head in disbelief at how he hadn’t even heard the heavy downpour. As if on cue, a bolt of lightning thundered across the sky to make its presence felt to him.
For that split second, the shadowy garden suddenly lit up and it revealed the silhouette of a crouching man! He jumped back in alarm and temporarily froze in terror. Then a nagging sensation in his brain reminded him of what he needed to do. He rushed to every window and shuttered it ferociously and in under a minute he had accomplished the intended task. He had also triple locked the main door of the house. Suddenly, a loud flash of lightning passed across the sky and the front door started rattling loudly as if it was being forced from the outside. Terror seized the man, who at first decided to hide but then as the rattling of the door got louder rushed to the telephone to call for assistance. He realized he was speaking into a dead phone. Naturally with the heavy downpour the phone lines had given way. He rushed to his next best option, but his cell phone too refused to yield since there was no signal available in this atrocious weather.
Bracing himself for his fate, he grabbed a long sharp kitchen knife that he used for chopping meat and held it behind his back, while cautiously proceeding towards the door. The shaking of the door was getting more violent by the second. Saying a silent prayer in his mind, the man flung the door open and recoiled backwards in anticipation of the worst.
The sight of a young man drenched in the heavy downpour clutching a cardboard box, at first bewildered him and then as realization sunk in, relief as he had never known it before passed over him. It was the pizza delivery guy! The man suddenly felt giddy with relief and sunk to his knees. The knife he had held clattered loudly as it hit the floor behind him. The delivery boy was alarmed at his sudden collapse and rushed forward to help him up. The man however was so delighted that he felt like hugging the delivery boy. Then, sensing the unease of the delivery boy at his odd behavior, he drew out the required amount for paying him off, tipping him largely to compensate for his seemingly absurd conduct. Just as he was about to close the door, a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky and for the first time revealed the face of the pizza delivery boy. It was quite a handsome face on the whole, except for a tiny little scar running down the left cheek!
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