He woke up and looked at his clock, its illuminated display read 4:00 am. He turned in his covers and finally threw it off. He was covered in sweat and finally he jumped out of bed. He went to the window and pulled the curtains apart. The full moon was bright. From the window, he could see the garden bathed in silver moonlight. He turned around and saw that the air conditioning in his room was still running.

He had been standing by his window for some time when he heard a soft hiss behind him. He turned around but the sound continued. It seemed to come from everywhere around him. His roommate had gone away to his hometown the previous evening and now he regretted his decision. He felt the hair on his arms stand on end and he looked warily. He sensed some movement behind him and he turned to see that his curtains were still and moonlight was pouring in through the window.

Felling spooked, he hurriedly put on his leather jacket and jeans. He dashed out of his house and headed for his bike. He sped towards the park, driving at a break neck speed. He narrowly missed a collision with a tree and was thus forced to reduce his speed. No sooner he reluctantly let his bike slow down to a reasonable speed, than he felt the back seat growing heavier. He was terrified to turn and see who it was......... he ditched his bike at the entrance of the park and sprinted inside.

He found an empty bench and stretched himself on it. He slowly drifted into a fitful sleep when he heard it again. Somebody was telling him something in whisper but he could not make sense of the whole thing. When he tried to close his ears with his cupped hands the words still came in a hiss. He was almost numb with fear- eyes with tears, shirt drenched in sweat, and throat parched dry. He tried shouting but no sound came out. No words could express his joy when he saw the first rays of dawn. He sat up from his crouch and squinted at his watch. It was 4:30am. Then the phone broke into his thoughts of fear.

"Good Morning Sir. This is the fire service. Are you all right? Your neighbour reported that there is smoke emanating through your windows. We are at your doorstep." He could not answer coherently. But half ran towards his bike to find the back tyre was punctured. No wonder it seemed heavy. It was fifteen minutes later, when he reached home to find the Fire Service was removing his air conditioner which still made the hissing noise.

Sriram Kashyap
The Laidlaw Memorial School and Junior college
Ooty, Tamil Nadu.