1 1. A white colored house

12 January 2016.

It was past 10 pm. The stars covered the sky. There should be some faint light, but it was dark. The night was dark and cold. Yet I was feeling hot. My heart was racing loudly. I was out of breath from running all the way. The person I was carrying felt heavier with every passing minute... My body was exhausted but I didn't have the scope to care about it. "Lights... only a small light...", I prayed.

It was of no use.

Of course, there won't be any light in a dense forest. The person on my back was getting colder. " Hang on... please stay with me..." I said while running. I could hardly feel any response from the other party. There was a light whisper. I felt somehow relieved. At least, there was a response.

The night was getting colder. It might be cold for him too. I put him down and took off my overcoat. I wrapped it around his body and lifted him in my back once again. Then, I rushed following the faint traces of footprints.

"Run..."

There was a sharp pain in my foot. Maybe something pierced through the shoe. But I didn't have the time to care about it.

"Run... run faster... faster..."

I was running with all my might but the road was never-ending. "On a normal day, it took only twenty minutes to walk to reach the village. So, why does it feel longer when I am running?

If only if, I didn't lack athletic skills... No, No, No... I actually need the running speed of the cheetah... I wish there was that brand new bike of mine.... ok, next time I will bring it along... but will there be any next time?" tears dropped from my eyes. I vigorously rubbed my eyes. "No, I don't have any time for the tears... only if I had a cheetah..." my mind was getting messier. My vision was blurry. I ran regardless. The person was getting colder.

"Run... run faster... fast... faster..."

"Hold on, please.... stay with me... a bit more please... please... please... a little bit..."

"lights... there are lights..."

"You must hold on... you have a dream to live on. Do you hear me?"

"I won't curse on you anymore... actually, I will obey your every word... so please... "

April 12, 2015.

"Can't believe I need to move to some village. On top of that, it's the middle of the year. How am I supposed to get used to the new school and continue my study? Unreasonable. They are totally unreasonable... Why must I suffer because of you guys?" I grumbled as I exited the terminal. There were many cars outside. "He should be here..." Confused, I looked around.

"Dean babu...", someone shouted.

I looked in that direction. The man was the driver standing in the left corner. smiled at me brightly. "Brown. Tanned skin. Short and fat. middle-aged. Indian. He literally looks like a round potato. But I think he is not a bad guy." I thought. He stepped towards me. "Boru babu... grandpa.. bola... tell..." He said using half English half Hindi. "Bijay?" I interrupted him. He was having trouble talking anyway.

"Haha", smiling, he shook his head up and down.

"Let's go, then." I made a hand gesture. "Chaliye," he shook his head again and walked toward the car.

"Almost Two hours drive." I thought as our car exited the airport. The weather was cloudy and a chilling breeze was flowing. I lowered the glasses. Bijay played a mild tune. "Must be grandpa's favorite..." I laid back. Thoughts started to gather.

I was brought up in the cities. Obviously not in one city but several. Actually... To tell you the truth, it was several countries. My father was a businessman and my mother was a scientist. We hardly lived together as a family. At first, I was living with my mother. At that time Father was in Dubai, settling and expanding his business. After four years, my father took me in. Then again, I returned to mom after five years and my father moved to Qatar. And after that, I again was sent to my father and after two years I was sent back to my mother. Thinking back, I often felt that I am a ball. (Sigh...) For as long as I remember one year was the highest time we lived together. That was seven years ago. Sometimes I wonder how they had me. And certainly, I don't have any siblings.

My life was peaceful even though I changed places several times. Of course, making friends was not an option for me. Yet I tried but lost connections each time I transferred. It's not that I cared. I was not so friendly. I immersed myself in my books. And I was literally a ghost wherever I go. So, this urban boy, with an introverted personality and zero experience of rural life was thrown into the rural areas without any warning. I was sent to my grandparents. My parents decided it two days ago. Mom got a chance to go and research in Switzerland. She needed to stay there for two years at least. And she asked my father to take me in as she won't have much time to look after me. And my dad bickered about how he would be out of home five days a week. The argument turned into a quarrel and I became the sacrifice. After two hours, they came to the conclusion that I will be sent to my grandparents and will be admitted to the famous high school not so far from the village.

And here I am, in the wild (ahem)... I mean in my grandparent's house. My grandfather was waiting for me at the entrance. He was wearing a tracksuit. Granny was also there, watching me from the main gate. She came forward as I got off the car. Bijay drove the car to the parking lot. The rest of us forwarded to the house. The house was big and beautiful, I must admit. It was a duplex. The roof was made of tally and the wall was painted white. The lawn in the front had various trees. A not-so-tall wall was surrounding the house. There were big trees in the backyard. It was really great scenery.

Suddenly I heard a rustling sound on my left. I turn my head to see. It was a huge white cat with blue eyes, maybe Persian.

"Great, there is a cat. I can finally have a pet of my own..." I smiled while thinking. The cat smiled back.

"Wait, what? can a cat smile?" Of course, it can't but that one did. I turned to my granny and said, "Granny, the cat..."

"Cat... oh yeah, we have one cat and two dogs. The dogs are in the backyard." Granny said.

Confused, I turned back to see the cat again. But there was nothing. Not thinking much about it I entered the house. Grandpa walked me to my room on the second floor.

And I entered a battle (with insects) as soon as I went there. I hate insects soooooo much. I hate all kinds of insects, even ants. My grandpa wasn't surprised at all. When I started to jump grandpa stopped me.

"Dean, don't jump around, stay still or I can't get rid of them..."

Now tell me, how could I stay still? There were two cockroaches on the floor and one spider hanging right in front of my eyes. How could I be calm? Man, that was hectic.

"Your arrival was so sudden that we couldn't do much. It's a bit messy as that boy is not around. And we can't even call him. So, be a good boy and endure it for now. He will come back tomorrow." granny said with an apologetic tone.

In these cases, I was a good boy. So, I said obediently, "Not a problem, granny. I will help as much as possible."

She smiled. The combination of that smile and her beautiful moon-shaped eyes touched my heart. I somehow was convinced that I could spend my two years here peacefully. But I kept wondering who "that boy" was. He must be that rumored caretaker of this house. Mom always talked about how brilliant he was, how handsome he was, how sensible he was, and blah blah blah... (rolling eyes...). Hearing her going at it again and again, I felt really jealous and hateful toward him. So, I was looking forward to meeting him. 'Huh, let me see how great he is.'

It was already past six and the weather was dark than usual because of the clouds. It seemed the sky was waiting to crumble down. Granny asked us to have dinner. I made it quick. I was soo tired from all this. I got to bed at 11 o'clock.

"Great, I can sleep." I thought. And as soon as I got into bed, I fell asleep.

It was past 2 am when I jolted awake. I thought I heard something. I checked my surrounding. There was nothing.

Unable to sleep again, I got off the bed and headed to the kitchen. I pour myself a glass of water and started to walk towards the big window in the west corner. The window was open and the "about to fall" rain started to fall. I walked to the window to close it. However, I stopped not so far from the window.

There was someone standing outside. It was dark outside and raining. So I couldn't see their face clearly. That person was unnaturally tall.

"Whatever", I went ahead to close the window. Suddenly I heard that person calling me in a very small voice. Normally, I shouldn't be able to hear that because of the rain. But I heard it clearly.

Once again that person called. I felt a shiver going down my spine. Something was strange. I felt a strange curiosity. I wanted to go there. I got closer to the window. Exactly then something jumped in the window. It was that white cat. It turned around in that direction and said " meow".

I was startled for a moment. And then I turned in that direction once again. Surprisingly, nobody was there. It was really strange. "Should I call it a horrifying experience? But I am not scared." I murmured.

Then I closed the window dragging the cat inside. Suddenly, I started to feel super sleepy. So, I returned to my room. The cat followed me. I didn't mind. But it didn't enter the room. Rather it stared at me from the entrance. I was too sleepy to bother. There was a lot to do the next day. With that, I fell into a deep slumber.