Sun was settling down to the horizon while the last remnant of sunlight was painting the sky in red and orange, it was the mere minutes before the night will fall and the shadows will rise from their pits. He was behind his schedule. Any kind of mistake could become a fatal conclusion in a place like this, where no one can hear him or even see him, his heart was pounding, his feet were trembling, his mind was hallucinating, his senses were playing tricks with him. The way ahead of him was not clear to him. He must use the last remaining lights of the sun to get away from the trap he was creeping through. The night was about to strike its darkwave through the dense forest he was wandering in. The terror inside his heart was getting better for him. He feared to remain lost in this dark and dense forest. A feeling of dying alone, dying without meeting his loved ones for the last time was inducing an unbearable pain inside his heart. He must find a way very soon or this forest will be his grave.
The sky was now turning to pale blue while the stars were coming out was the laps of the sun and giving the proof of their existence. Not a good sign for him as he was still lost in the middle of the jungle. Predators of the night were coming out of their hidings and making their presence known while howling with the uplifting mist of the dark forest. The mist was chilling and has the essence of fear with it. The light was at its last stage and the way out of the forest has not yet been found. His eyes were filled with tears and agony, he was crying while he was running like a confused lunatic between the harsh paved out way of the forest. His arms and legs were dripping out lots of blood as the cuts from the rough branches of the forest have stung him several times while he was running through the narrow opening of the forest. His fear was making him even weaker and more insane. He must stop and take a deep breath and think calmly but even doing this can be a fatal judgment. As he was running restlessly and while his strength was about to give up on him, he heard a sudden crunch of a broken twig behind him. The sound was several distances away from him but he can hear a step of something coming his way. The sound was unnatural as the sound of steps were felt like something was running with six to eight legs, the sound was not like any usual animal, it was something else, something very hideous and it was approaching him at a furious speed. The running man turns around and looks toward the direction of the sound. There was literally something chasing him. His eyes stretched out in fear, his throat dries out, and his heartfelt a sudden lighting strike within itself. His fear was just before but it was nothing like he was expecting. More or less he was expecting a man-eater tiger or any other carnivore but the figure that was chasing him was beyond the recognition of this world. He was now shivering out of fear and terror before him while his balance of brain was losing its grip out of the sensation it was witnessing. His eyes were locked with the demon ahead of him.
Right before him just a mere distance beyond was coming a demon out of hell. Its body was bigger than any large mammal that has ever walked upon this very earth. Like a natural order has predicted that most of the species must have two eyes, two legs, two limbs but the beast before him, has no relations with the so-called Darwin’s natural order. The beast seems like a black blob with eight to ten eyes while its leg was spreading at a humongous area upon the earth. Even the one stomp of its legs was stumbling down the biggest tree around the forest. The eyes of the beast were the size of a football and have the radiance of the ten suns while the thump of its legs was shaking the ground as it was approaching the shivering boy. Fight or flight. Two options always remain but at the times like this fight seems to be a mistake that only a fool would take. He must run to stay alive but his stamina and powers have left his body, the only thing that remains was an urge! To stay alive and meet his family. He must run!
After restoring his will to survive, he starts running again through an unknown maze to get himself away from the abomination that is chasing him. The jungle around him was denser than before while the trees were slashing their blades upon his vulnerable body. Night has already fallen into the forest and everything was in shadows, nothing was clear to him, nothing was visible to him. The forest was eating him alive as he was slipping down to the belly of the unknown in the grave dark. He was running with his instinct which could be equally dangerous like the beast behind him while the beast was gaining on him. The fear of being eaten alive could be a major possibility because the last light of the sun has been ceased from his hand while the fortune of staying alive was lingering somewhere in deep dark forest but bad fortune was on his tail with the beast out of hell. The forest was so dense that stars and moon had no opportunity to witness the events happening beneath the heavy sheets of leaves. Death is inevitable. After running for several hours he steps into the much less dense area of the forest and he could hear a familiar sound of the livings, he could hear the sound of something that he hears whenever he wakes up, whenever he walks out of the home or whenever he walks on the street. He was hearing the horn of vehicles somewhere in the distance and soon he starts running toward the sound while the sound of vehicles was getting closer and closer with every sprint he takes. It seems like fortune was now fighting in his side while the beast behind him was getting slower. As the will of staying alive was becoming to feel like a possibility there his feet start to accelerate his speed and between the bridge was his fear and optimism he saw the light. The light of life, the light that was giving him the chance to stay alive. The light was coming from behind the trees while nothing else was clear to be cared of. His eyes were showing him what he needs to see and soon he jumps toward the way of light after crossing the long way of the forest.
In the mere glimpse of seconds he saw the city ahead of him and the cars that were rushing on the road, he saw the beautiful night sky above him and felt the stroke of cold wind on his body but there was nothing beneath his feet, in mere seconds he realized that he was hanging in the air, he realized that he has jumped from the cliff and far below his feet his death was waiting for him. In those mere seconds while he was falling to the cliff, he remembers his loved ones for the last time, he prayed the god to forgive him for his sins and embraces himself for the impact.
BAM!
His body falls right to the giant rocks that were lying on the ground. Bloodstains splashed every corner of the rock, organs, and bones has slipped through his mortal body while his brain was disintegrated as a pie smashed through the ground. Life inside his body has left him at the exact moment he touched the ground. High above the ground at the edge of the cliff, the beast was looking at his slipped prey with his many eyes. He was howling in pain.
“Shit! What are we gonna do ?”
“Why are you asking me? it was your idea!”
Four random guys were standing at the cliff and they were watching the body of his friend who has jumped down from that cliff. Two of them were arguing about what has to be done next while other guys were in grievous shock by the event that just unfolded before them.
“Are you blaming me? I had no idea that he was a first-timer !”
“I warned you! your ass! but you wouldn’t listen. These drugs are very powerful! idiot, you should know that!”
“oh god! was he hallucinating ?”
looking down to the dead body
“May be……..Okay! turn off your torches and roll out !”
“Are you asking us to leave him there? what are we gonna tell to his family ?”
“look man! we have created a big fuzz here and none us want to into this trouble! just leave it! we don’t know anything and we didn’t see anything. And the guy was fucking depressed, sooner or later he was gonna take his life ultimately. lets walk away.”
And just like that all four of them walk away from the grave of their friend.
© praveer 2021
dragon inside the head 