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Lone witness
“Mother! But I am old enough, I can go alone.” An outrage erupted at lunch when my mother told me that they had to attend a friend’s wedding due to which I wouldn’t be able to go to Usman’s birthday party.
“You simply cannot go there alone,” my mother replied. “You are not old enough.”
“But mom I can’t miss the party. Usman invited me specially and besides he has installed a new soft ware on his computer which I want to check out,” I cried out in despair.
“Ok! Ok! You can go there on your own but first you’ll have to convince your father.”
Just then my father entered the kitchen and sat down beside me. Without losing anytime, I bombarded him with pleas and requests to let me go to the party. It took time and persuasion but I had my fingers crossed and in the end my father gave in. I sighed with relief at his approval. It was decided that my parents would leave for the wedding at 6:00pm and wouldn’t be back until late. On the other hand I was to reach Usman’s place by 7:00pm. At quarter to six, I went to the mall to buy Usman a present. My parents had left by the time I reached home. I went up to my room and got ready for the party. I was really ecstatic about going to the party. You’d think that to be odd that I was going nuts over a birthday party but the truth was that I’m a total computer freak and I was dying to check out that new software.
At quarter to seven, I stepped out of the house onto the cold street. A chilly breeze blew forcing me to zip up my jacket. Usman’s house was a 20-minute walk from my house. I was deep in thoughts walking down the street when a scuffling sound brought me back to the real world. The noise was coming from a dirty dark alley. At first I didn’t take any notice but when the noise became a little brutal, I couldn’t control my curiosity. I crept up to the dark alley and chanced a glance.
A gasp escaped my throat. A short man with blood spattered on his clothes was lying on the ground while a tall, hooked nosed person was standing over him with a huge gleaming axe. The tall man raised his axe and brought it wishing onto the injured man’s skull. Crack! A sickening sound filled the alley and the man’s skull was busted open. I stood there at the alleyway as though petrified. I wanted to run, cry out for help. But I was too shocked to move. I kept staring at the gruesome sight in front of me. I wanted to scream. I was the lone witness to a gruesome murder. The thought alone was making me sick.
Just then the murderer looked around as though he had felt another person’s presence.... He held up his axe and started to advance towards me. I wanted to scream for help but no sound escaped my throat. With great effort I tore my eyes away from the bloody axe and started to run like mad. Not knowing where I was heading for, all I knew was one thing, to put as much distance between myself and the axe as I could
I stood there transfixed, I knew that I had to get away from the alleyway but my legs felt as though they had forgotten to move. I realized that I was sweating profusely. My brain was going numb. Just then the murderer looked around as though he had felt another person’s presence. His eyes fell upon me and I saw the colour drain from his face but then his astonishment was replaced with fury. Those eyes looked into mine and I saw murder in his cold eyes. He held up his axe and started to advance towards me.
I wanted to scream for help but no sound escaped my throat. With great effort I tore my eyes away from the bloody axe and started to run like mad. Not knowing where I was heading for, all I knew was one thing, to put as much distance between myself and the axe as I could. I kept on running but I could hear the thud of footsteps behind me which confirmed the fact that the murderer was still pursuing me. In front of me I could see my house. I had only one thought in mind; it was to reach my house. Even though I was nearing the house was looming nearer and nearer but the tall axe man was also coming closer at an alarming speed. I practically crashed into the door.
The murderer stopped 15 feet away from me ... I started — ransacking my pockets for the key. The murder started to advance towards me. Oh! God help me. He was only 10 feet away ... thank God! I found the keys. Only seven feet away from me now...
I fumbled with the keys but then found the correct one and inserted it into the door.
Only five feet...
I opened the door and entered the house. I locked the door from inside and then slowly slid onto the floor. I lay there as a heap. I was drenched in sweat by now and my lungs felt as though they were on fire. I turned and vomited all over the carpeted floor. I felt really weak. I wiped my mouth and slowly got to my feet. I went up to the drawing room making up my mind to call the police. But when I picked up the phone I nearly had a heart failure. The phone was dead, there was no dial tone. The murderer had probably cut down the phone lines.
I slumped onto the sofa in frustration. My head was aching so badly that I felt it would burst open. I struggled to clear my mind to think of a solution. Every time I tried to clear my mind, the horrible sight of murder came before my eyes. I knew that shouting for help would be useless because my house was in a lonely part of the neighbourhood and my voice would not carry that far for other people to hear. My head was crammed with different thoughts which were making my headache worse. I started to feel dizzy and before I could refrain myself I dozed off.
I woke up due to the sound of thunder. I sat up straight I was still weak but my headache had lessened. I looked out through the window and saw a clear night sky. The colour drained from my face. If there wasn’t a thunder storm outside then what had caused me to wake up.
Wham! Another thunder like sound confirmed my suspicions that the sound was not coming from outside the house but was coming from inside the house. Somehow the murderer had got into the house. Cold beads of sweat started to form on my forehead. The noise was coming from upstairs. I hurried upstairs and came face to face with the attic door which was nearly broken.
Wham! Another blow landed on the door and it shattered into pieces. I didn’t wait but launched myself downstairs and out of the house. I started to run and was halfway down the block when my foot landed on something slippery due to which I fell down. My knees and elbows were badly injured. I had a twisted ankle. My ankle was twisted rather badly and I couldn’t even stand up. I looked around in panic. I saw a nearby alley and started to crawl towards it. When I reached the alley where the tall murderer had savagely murdered the man I found the corpse was lying in the middle of the alley and flies flying round the molested head. I turned around and was just about to run out of the alley when a dark shadow came at the alley way. He was standing with a bloody axe. He started to advance towards me brandishing his axe. I started to shake all over.
“What have I done?” I screamed at him, “Please let me go I haven’t done anything.”
But my pleadings were useless against his ruthless heart. He approached me slowly and stood before me.
“Please! O Please! Leave me,” a note of hysteria entered my voice.
I was shaking quite badly now. He raised his axe. I closed my eyes for the axe to bust open my head. Suddenly there was a loud bang which echoed throughout the alley. There was another bang and a deep sickening scream escaped a person’s throat. I opened my eyes to see the tall murderer fall onto his back. His axe still raised and a look of astonishment on his face. Behind him stood a uniformed police officer with his gun raised and a grim expression on his face. I sighed with relief and slumped onto the hard street floor. I was still shaking badly.
“You OK there sonny,” asked the police officer.
“Yeh I think so.”
“Mother! Can you drop me at Usman’s house? It’s his birthday today.”
“You’d surely want to go alone wouldn’t you?”
“Yeah sure,” I replied rolling my eyes at her.
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