The drizzle of rain was poking at the tin roof in a steady rhythm. The clock was striking and ticking. Abruptly I awoke as my chin hit my chest and the book fell from my hands to my thighs. The window swung open- cool, chilly breeze burst in- and I felt a refreshing shudder pass through me. Jitters of rain entered sprinkled into the floor near the window. The rainwater was dripping down the tin roof into the plastic jar I’d kept to collect. I could feel the house pulsing.
The curtains rustled high and were now fluttering- stretching to the ceiling. The sky flashed and for a split second, it was day again. A cat meowed into the room but soon her cries were lost beneath the gigantic roar and I shut my ears to avoid it.
I sat alone, on the rickety bed which cracked every time I moved. The room smelled heavily of dead cockroaches, rats and pigeon and their shit but by now I have gotten used to it. The house, an old wooden house, built about half a century ago, could break any minute. And it not only shakes with the wind but also bends at its direction. The frame of the bed was felt hard on my back. The pounding of the rain is now slowly dying down but the wind is growing louder.
With the rickety bed, the shutters cracked too but you could easily tell the difference, for the cracking of the bed made me feel that in reality the skull between my ears was cracking and the sound of shutters cracking felt muffled. The tin roof was dancing above me, screeching and squealing furiously. The house had endured so much over all the years that the roof now looked like a face of an old man. A man looking at me in agitation.
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The winds which were pressing against the wall were finally making it tremble.
The house was just a bunch of logs tied together sloppily and those logs were all rattling against each other, pressed by the wind. The entire house was clattering. And I wondered if the house would collapse if I were to move out of my bed and run. Probably would. Suddenly, I felt cold creeping into my chest and pulled the white bed sheets. To my astonishment, the sheets went further up as soon as they landed on my chest as if someone had pulled it. Completely taken aback by this atrocity I pulled the bed sheets again, this time with a strong grip, but the sheets were pulled harder away from me, and I was now grabbing empty air.
The house rattled again, but this time I was sure it was not the house. The logs had never rattled like this before, they just weren’t that loose. It was something else, something entirely different. Then, suddenly, I could feel deadly nausea in the pit of my belly as I heard and felt a colossal thump that shook the entire house. I sat up, frightened, beads of sweat appearing on my forehead, gripping the fat bed tightly as I tasted the bitter sweat that had dripped down my lips, I look at all directions. My bowels are shaking from the hole of the roof spilled a white light onto the floor.
I could feel the walls above me caving and I felt nauseated. Blood had shot up to my face and I could feel the pulse in the middle of my bowels quivering.
I looked around and my eyes are now fixed on the hideous creature my jaws sprung open in amazement. The cold wind was entering my mouth filling it with bitter taste, but I couldn’t care less. A monster was ahead of me ready to devour me at any minute.
I could feel the breath squeezed out of my lungs, my spine suddenly gave up and I bent, my eyes fell upon his feet.
The bones in his jaw and knees clanked as he walked, while his teeth clattered naturally. His legs thumping rhythmically upon the wooden shaft.
It was his skeleton and not the house that was rattling. The white slender skeleton stood shining in the darkness. It looked pink, around the part of its body which resembled the face, but other than that he was pure white. And when its bony white legs hit the floor it produced a sound as if it were hit by a hammer.
It pointed at me with its skinless pointy fingers, its eyeless skull somehow eyeing at me in utter curiosity.
A fear was growing up on me and when at length the fear became still- courage emerged. I inched forward and tapped it on its shoulder and squeezed. It turned its head towards me and then suddenly became rigid if it were possible to be anymore and fell flat upon the bed, burying its head on the bed. There it lifted its bony fingers and gently touched me upon my ribs.
I felt breathe leaking out of my lungs, slipping into the floor as I felt that I had just shrunk as an inflated balloon. I could feel the intolerable oppression of the lungs, blood oozing out of my eyes, nose, and ears, swelling of my heart. I trembled and fell above the lifeless collection of bones. I put my hands in front of my eyes and slowly observed that they were turning bony white. I took a shuddering gasp and fell in deepest of slumber. But before that, I felt the faint meow from the cat as it stroked my white skull in evil awe.
