Love? or Lure!

I'm back at her place. I made sure no woolly wolfies followed me this time. I have questions. Lots of questions. The only one who can answer them all is her. And it has been two days since I saw her. She is studying 'psychology' in the college near Ganesh's home. Her friend, whom I met at the mall, her name is Ambika, I found her on facebook and she told me lots of things about Priya: Priya has no friends except ambika. Nobody knows where Priya lives. Priya is a mystery to everyone. Everyone admires her beauty but no one dares to talk to her. She said there is a rumor that if anyone, especially males, tries to befriend Priya, or try to harm Priya then they will go missing. Their bodies will be found with big scratches on their bodies. Scratches like they are from some sharp clawed animal beast.

I asked her if there was any particular incident that really happened to anyone in their college. She sent a photo. After seeing it, I didn't ask her anything more. The photo speaks for itself. It is the photo of a boy in his twenties. His cloths ripped and dirty. Clawed scratches are everywhere on his body. And his throat is slit, with blood all over the floor around it. An image enough to keep me away from Priya for two days. But I couldn't stay away from her. I want her presence. I want to listen to the sound of her breath and feel the warmth of her skin. I'm as desperate for her as a drowning man is desperate for air. But she is not going to college. Her only friend doesn't know where she is.

So, I came back to her place, the wooden cabin in middle of woods. The place where I almost died. I was so afraid that if any wolfy guy will jump on to me from behind. But nothing happened. I knocked her door. She opened the door. She's wearing a black robe. It looked like a night gown. She walked in leaving the door open. I went in closing the door behind me.

"Why did you come?" she asked me silently. She is drawing something on the floor with a coal piece.

"I want to see you" I said, sitting on the same chair I sat on the last time. She is crawling around the room with the coal piece in one hand, drawing a circle or something.

"Now you saw me. Leave" She said, no emotion in her tone, no love, no anger. Like a machine's. She never spoke like that before.

"I have questions" I said. She completed a round around the room. Now she is crawling zig zag inside the drawn circle.

"I won't have to answer you" she said, still scribbling with the coal.

"First time I saw you, that eclipse night, a boy from your college was killed." I said and looked at her. No reaction, she kept crawling, drawing. "that night, you were coming from the same place where his dead body was found the tomorrow morning." I said. She stopped drawing and turned her head towards me. She has jewel like eyes fringed with sweeping eye lashes. Black, Pitch dark iris. For a second I'm afraid if her eyes turn into all black like last time. But they didn't. Thank god.

"Did you do it?" I asked her. She didn't answer. I can see her eyes pooling with tears.

"Are you a killer?" I shouted at her. Her eye lids closed. Tears plunged from between the lashes and rolled down her cheek. Her tears are black in color. For a second I'm worried if there is something wrong with her eyes. But then she wiped them off her cheek as we all do. Then I understood, it's just the natural color of the witch's tear.

"Your friend Ambika told me, you liked that boy secretly. She told me, he liked you too. Did you just lure him into love to kill him?" pain and rage are blended in my voice.

"You saved me last time. Why? Do you love me?" I asked. She started sobbing. Till now I didn't see but now I noticed that she drew a 'star inside a circle' on the floor. I'm not an expert but I know it is a witchcraft's thing.

"Are you luring me in your fake love, to kill me?" I asked her, no pain, only rage this time. She acted so innocent. How can she do that? How can she just play with my feelings like that. She might be a witch but doesn't she have feelings? Doesn't she know how much the betrayal hurts? Do I deserve this torment just 'cause I love her?

I've lost my temper. I stood up screaming, "I loved you truly, you goddamn witch" and kicked the chair to the floor. She got totally scared. Black tears all over her cheeks. She stood up and ran out of the cabin. "Stop, Priya" I shouted. "Don't irritate me more. Stop and answer me, goddamn." But she didn't. "Stop, you bloody witch" I yelled in anger. She kept running. I ran after her. Trees, trees. everywhere are trees. It is middle of the day. The sun is scotching hot until now. But suddenly thick blanket of dark clouds covered the sky. Strong winds started blowing the sand at us. The whole forest appeared as if shaking out of anger. It started to pour down. Heavy droplets of rain hitting the land full of dried leaves. Priya slipped and fell down about a twenty feet away from me. I stopped running. I'm out of breath, gasping with my both hands on my knees. She is totally afraid. I don't want to scare her. But my anger is out of my control. Not that I'll hurt her anything but I want her to answer me. Answer all my questions. I want her to cry. I want her to repent for trying to cheat me. I started stepping towards her.

One Step.

Two Step.

Three and

Four.

She tried to stand up, but her ankle got a spasm. She couldn't stand up. She kept slipping down. I kept stepping to her.

Ten.

Eleven.

Twelve.

We both are drenched in rain. My eyes red with rage. Her face, black with tears. She looked terrifying with black tears pouring down her face. But she is terrified of me. I wonder if I'm really that scary when I'm angry.

Thirteen.

Fourteen.

Fifteen.

We are just few feet away. Then suddenly the earth began to quiver. Before I could realize it, A behemoth white wolf pounded at us and jumped between me and Priya. It is very huge, about 12 feet long and 5 feet high. It's head alone is half the size of me. It's paws are so big that they can break the trees with one hit. And their claws are digging inches deep into the ground as it anchored between us. One punch of it's paw is enough to kill me.

The photo of the dead body with scratches all over and the split throat has come to my mind. Is this it? Am I going to die now? The beast like wolf moved forward at me, it's big snout is inches away from my face, it's teeth, ugly, yellow, sharp and big. I'm so shock-stuck that I didn't even move. It opened its mouth wide. Saliva drooling all over it. Its mouth is so wide that I felt it can gulp my whole head at once.

(To be continued...)