It was past midnight when the train screeched to a halt at some unknown station. Shruti woke up. Surprisingly, the compartment was empty. She peered outside the window. Everything was dark and hazy. All she could discern was a desolate strip of platform lighted up by a feeble light of an overhead bulb. More than dispelling darkness, the light had the gruesome effect of creating grotesquely fantastic shadows on whatever object it fell.
There was no one around. Not a soul to be seen, not a sound to be heard. But where were all the passengers ? Shruti felt drowsy. Her eyelids just wouldn’t go up. Her vision was blurred too. She felt a strange numbness all over. It took her several minutes to gather her senses and recollect what had happened. She had boarded the train in the afternoon and had been chatting up a couple of guys. It didn’t take her long to realize that they had drugged her coffee and made a dash with her luggage.
Shruti looked long and hard through the window. No, this wasn’t a station at all. But
what else could it be ? She could see specks of tiny lights at some distance. Then she
knew. This must be a Yard. One where bogeys are parked & cleaned.
As she got on her feet and peered down the passage, she was greeted with faint squealing
noises from down the bogey. Suddenly she felt dead scared. Her mouth went dry. Her
heart was pounding like a piston. She stood still and listened intently. The noises grew
louder every passing minute. It wasn’t long before the noises were accompanied by
a light rumble. What was this ? She strained her eyes until they almost popped off.
Through the faint streaks of light she could see several large rotund animal forms jostling
with each other as they approached her. Once in a while, light fell on their glistening
white teeth giving them a ghastly look.
The stench of decayed flesh and her own drug induced state of mind helped create phantasmagorical delusions of the vile monster Rats. Soon the rodents were playing around her. She could even feel the odd nibbling at her feet. Sweat ran down her temples. Shruti had always been afraid of Rats. She could recall with horror one of her friends narrating her exploits of carnivorous rodents found besides railway tracks.
The Rodents were gathering around her and with every passing moment their attacks
were becoming more lethal. The squealing was getting on her nerves. The teeth were
beginning to pierce her skin. She gave a cry of horror and ran towards the door, bumping
and falling all over the place. Alas, it was locked. It took all of her might and will to
run through the length of the bogey and reach the other door. She had hardly caught her
breath before she realized that rats were quickly streaming in from the open door. In a fit
of frenzy she backed up and swung the door hard in face of the devils.
Click !! The lock snapped in place. Suddenly she realized what she had done. The door was closed and try howsoever hard she may, it wouldn’t open.
Shruti felt drained of all energy. With a loud thud, she fell down. It was pitch dark. It would be hours before sunrise. And she was desperately alone in the closed bogey. The only company she had was…. well, a pack of carnivorous rodents who were baying for her blood..!!!
PS - Wrote this piece of fiction for the Spellbound story writing series organised by TOI Kolkata in August, 2010
