The trip -1

Manisha was sitting in the front with a dull face while Naethra was driving the brand new Eco Sport. Naethra looked at Manisha to see her more furious. Her anger brought a smile in Naethra.

Manisha and Naethra are very close friends who did their schooling to nursing course together and finally placed in the biggest hospital of the city together. They are staying in a rented house in the outskirts of the city where the rent is affordable. Both of them have individual two wheelers to go to duty as their shift is different. They have many common interests and one among them is their passion to travel. Both of them are good drivers and they shared a common passion for long drives too.

Whenever they get a chance they pack their bags and go for small or big tours based on the availability of time. Initially they used to go tours and expeditions by hiring cabs. But they felt it not satisfactory as they couldn’t get a chance to drive. They were not interested in renting cabs without drivers as they felt uncomfortable to drive in other’s cars. That’s why after a long and deep thinking they opted to buy a car for their own use especially to cater their passion for traveling.

It’s been three months since they bought the new car. From then they were planning for a long trip which was postponed till today due to their hectic work schedule and always changing shifts.

With a lot of pleading and requests both of them finally managed to get ten days leave with lots of terms and conditions. Manisha and Naethra had a clear idea where their holidays are going to be. They have planned to visit Kerala, the God’s own country. In the off day before their leaves started, Naethra visited the city to go for a last minute purchase. Since it was their first trip alone she knew that they must be extra alert and they must be ready for the monsoon which would be in its peak during the months of June and July.

She purchased sweaters, rain coats, medicines and first aid box too. After finishing her purchase, she was moving to the billing area with the trolley full of things. While crossing a particular section, she stopped for a while and walked in to see cutleries and other items. She saw many kinds of knifes and after a careful examination selected two very small, foldable and sharp knives. She got the things billed and returned home.

After reaching home, Naethra took a bath and refreshed herself. She made her a coffee and started packing the things. It was 9 PM when she finished packing the things of both. She took the luggage to the porch and kept them in the hood of the car. Then she returned to pack a small bag where she kept the knives along with some other not so important things. She opened a secret pocket on the lower most part of the bag and kept one knife there and also ten thousand rupees notes. The other knife was kept with other things in the bag itself. She already kept an ATM card in the secret side pocket in one of her big bags.

Naethra kept smiling while she was keeping the knife secretly. “God! What am I doing?” She asked herself. “Why am I taking this much of precaution?... I must reduce watching thrillers….” She thought with a smile. She then checked the itinerary and double checked the map and everything. After finishing everything, she went to bed.

Next day afternoon, around 1 PM they started their journey. Manisha always wanted to drive but Naethra overtook her. This made her angry and dull. She didn’t talk to Naethra and their journey started…

(To be continued…)Manisha was sitting in the front with a dull face while Naethra was driving the brand new Eco Sport. Naethra looked at Manisha to see her more furious. Her anger brought a smile in Naethra.

Manisha and Naethra are very close friends who did their schooling to nursing course together and finally placed in the biggest hospital of the city together. They are staying in a rented house in the outskirts of the city where the rent is affordable. Both of them have individual two wheelers to go to duty as their shift is different. They have many common interests and one among them is their passion to travel. Both of them are good drivers and they shared a common passion for long drives too.

Whenever they get a chance they pack their bags and go for small or big tours based on the availability of time. Initially they used to go tours and expeditions by hiring cabs. But they felt it not satisfactory as they couldn’t get a chance to drive. They were not interested in renting cabs without drivers as they felt uncomfortable to drive in other’s cars. That’s why after a long and deep thinking they opted to buy a car for their own use especially to cater their passion for traveling.

It’s been three months since they bought the new car. From then they were planning for a long trip which was postponed till today due to their hectic work schedule and always changing shifts.

With a lot of pleading and requests both of them finally managed to get ten days leave with lots of terms and conditions. Manisha and Naethra had a clear idea where their holidays are going to be. They have planned to visit Kerala, the God’s own country. In the off day before their leaves started, Naethra visited the city to go for a last minute purchase. Since it was their first trip alone she knew that they must be extra alert and they must be ready for the monsoon which would be in its peak during the months of June and July.

She purchased sweaters, rain coats, medicines and first aid box too. After finishing her purchase, she was moving to the billing area with the trolley full of things. While crossing a particular section, she stopped for a while and walked in to see cutleries and other items. She saw many kinds of knifes and after a careful examination selected two very small, foldable and sharp knives. She got the things billed and returned home.

After reaching home, Naethra took a bath and refreshed herself. She made her a coffee and started packing the things. It was 9 PM when she finished packing the things of both. She took the luggage to the porch and kept them in the hood of the car. Then she returned to pack a small bag where she kept the knives along with some other not so important things. She opened a secret pocket on the lower most part of the bag and kept one knife there and also ten thousand rupees notes. The other knife was kept with other things in the bag itself. She already kept an ATM card in the secret side pocket in one of her big bags.

Naethra kept smiling while she was keeping the knife secretly. “God! What am I doing?” She asked herself. “Why am I taking this much of precaution?... I must reduce watching thrillers….” She thought with a smile. She then checked the itinerary and double checked the map and everything. After finishing everything, she went to bed.

Next day afternoon, around 1 PM they started their journey. Manisha always wanted to drive but Naethra overtook her. This made her angry and dull. She didn’t talk to Naethra and their journey started…

(To be continued…)

 

@katochsimi,

Thank you dear for the lovely FB. Sorry for posting the episode.

Please keep reading.

Love,
S

 

The Trip - 2

Chapter 2

Manisha couldn’t stay dull for long. She became normal and the pleasant climate outside added to her freshness. She switched of the A/C and lowered the window pane. The evening breeze entered into the car playing with their hair. It beat their soft face like baby beating softly with its tender hands. The golden sun appeared like a round plate thrown on the horizon.

See Neth, it’s so beautiful isn’t it? Manisha pointed to the West showing the sun.

It looks beautiful…. Take the camera and I will park the car. Let us take a picture…. Naethra said with enthusiasm and parked the car on the road side. Since they entered the by pass road there was less traffic and passers by were also very less in number. Those who passed the car looked at them with curious eyes.

They took two or three pictures and when Naethra was taking one last snap, Manisha ran and jumped into the driver seat and showed Naethra thumps up. Naethra scolded her with an expression of fake anger. Then she reached the car and kept the camera in the dash.

She then sat relaxed on the seat which was previously occupied by Manisha and stretched her legs over the dash and leaned over the seat.

Neth, are you going to sleep?.... Please don’t do that…. Manisha pleaded her.

You know that I can’t concentrate on driving if you sleep, right?....

No Mani… I am not going to sleep…. You just watch the road…

Manisha kept on talking to her and Naethra too but after sometime Manisha felt that she alone was talking and when she turned to see Naethra, she was in a deep sleep.

For a second, Manisha felt like waking her up but then she changed her mind and let Naethra sleep. Manisha slowed down a bit because it would be very difficult to drive when her co driver sleeps. The sun now partially plunged into the distant horizon and was bidding farewell to the earth temporarily. The roadside trees were running in the reverse direction and the atmosphere was getting cold. Manisha looked at her wrist watch and the time showed as 4.49 PM.

If I go in this speed we will reach Kanyakumari only in the afternoon tomorrow. She thought.

I was a fool to allow Neth to sleep…. Manisha said to herself. She wanted to wake her. But again she thought of allowing her to sleep some more time. She drove very slowly. Large paddy fields and sugarcane fields passed. The car took them through small towns and Manisha started to enjoy the silence and drive.

Meanwhile, Naethra was in a deep sleep though she didn’t want to. Because she knew Manisha has a difficulty in driving when her co passenger sleeps. It brought her sleep. So Naethra takes care always not to sleep. But this time she couldn’t. She felt as if someone forced her eyelids to close and pressurized her to sleep. She slowly fell into a deep sleep and she could hear Manisha talking from miles and miles away.

She saw a dream and in that she saw a pond surrounded by rocks. Manisha was walking alone round the pond and she had a knife which she bought from the store and blood drops were dripping from the edge of the knife. Suddenly someone caught Manisha’s neck from behind and banged her head against the rock. She let out a pathetic cry and in that very second the car screeched and came to a sudden halt.

Naethra woke up shocked and she still not relieved from the handover of the dreadful dream. Her heart pounded heavily and she was scared to death. By then her conscious took her to the world and her relief knew no bounds when she saw Manisha next to her.

But Manisha held the steering wheel tight and her eyes were wide open and her face was in shock. Naethra turned to the direction where Manisha was looking and her face too turned pale due to fear.

There, in the middle of the road a man looked more like a beggar in all torn clothes and dirt stood like a statue and was looking at Naethra with a penetrating stare and a smile.

Suddenly, they heard a thunder from a distance and it started to rain heavily as if the sky was torn in that thunder.

(To be continued…)

 

@katochsimi, Thank you for the FB. Yes, it is a suspense thriller. I am posting a new update today. Plz keep reading Love, S.

 

@ammusatheesh, Thank you very much for the feed back dear. Please keep reading. Love, S.

 

Chapter 3

Manisha badly wanted to drive away from him. But she couldn’t. The engine stopped. She tried to start it but it refused everytime. The rain became heavy at Naethra noted that it didn’t bother him. He stood there few more seconds and then started to walk towards the car. He reached for Naethra’s side and said something. But she couldn’t hear as the window was closed because of the rain. He went on talking something. Naethra felt like listening him. She thought of lowering the glass. Manisha understood what ran through her friend’s mind.

She was scared of that man and did not want her friend to open the glass. She held Naethra’s wrist tightly as a signal not to open it. But Naethra saw an unusual glow in his eyes and somewhere in her heart she felt he was not dangerous.

“Don’t worry… I will just lower the glass a bit….” She assured Manisha. But it didn’t convince her. Naethra lowered the glass. The chill air accompanied with heavy drops of water splashed her face. “What is this fragrance?” She asked herself.

The man now understood that she hadn’t heard a single word he said. So he repeated:

“Do not go there…. You will not return alive…. He is guiding you to death…. Listen to me and save your life….”

Both the girls got scared and looked at each other’s face. They did not understand a single thing said.

“Swamiji…. I think you are mistaking us to be somebody else…. No one is guiding us….” Naethra said. She felt that the man is not a beggar or mad. She suspected that the fragrance came from him. But what Naaethra did irritated Manisha.

“Close the door… What is the need to answer him?... Don’t you understand?.... He is mistaking us with somebody else….”

Naethra also felt the same. But the scare turned in to a kind of curiosity and she liked him actually. But they had no time to waste.

“Sorry Swamiji… we have to move….” Saying this she pressed the button to raise the glass. But before the glass closed the window completely, he suddenly threw something into the car. For a second, they lost there breath as something fell in Naethra’s lap.

Manisha ignited the engine and to their surprise it started like an obedient one. Naethra took the thing from her lap and it was a small parcel.

She looked through the rear view mirror and the screen of heavy rain forbade her eyes from seeing him.

“Throw that away Neth…” Manisha insisted.

“Let me see what it is…” Naethra opened it very carefully and to their surprise the parcel contained two chains made of small white crystal beads. The lockets of the chains were made of gold with a big black crystal in the middle. The fragrance now filled in the car.

“What is it?.... Why he gave it to us?....” Manisha was not pleased to see them.

“They are beautiful…. I am going to wear this….” Naethra took one and when she was about to put it Manisha snatched it and threw it in the back seat. She took the other chain also and threw it back. In that very moment a powerful lightning flashed and it almost blinded their vision for few micro seconds.

“Are you mad?... Who knows what it is?... May be it contains some camera or GPS tracker or something like that?..... Why would he give that to us?....” Manisha was very angry.

“May be he has given it by mistake to us… But I don’t think it is some crap technology in that like you said….” Naethra smiled.

“Whatever….” Manisha answered. They didn’t talk much later. It was a smooth drive and now the rain has stopped completely and darkness entered. The streetlights were on and the road has minimal traffic. The journey continued without any trouble. After three hours they stopped near a small hotel and had their dinner. The people in the hotel looked at them with enthusiasm. They rarely get women customers not accompanied by men in that time of night.

Both Naethra and Manisha understood their curiosity but didn’t seem to bother.

They started their journey again. They have decided to cover as much distance as possible before changing the driver because they wanted to reach Kanyakumari at least before 10 in the morning.

Now they felt fresh and their talks filled with fun and jokes. They laughed loudly saying some movie jokes and the funny things happened at their workplace.

Suddenly Naethra felt like a car was following them. The driver blew the horn continuously and Manisha gave side to allow the vehicle to pass. But he wouldn’t. Once or twice they came in line with their Eco Sport and they could see four youngsters including the driver.

They felt a little weird and Manisha slowly increased the speed. When she increased the speed, they also chased fast. When she slowed to let them go they also slowed down to fall behind the girls’ car. This continued for about two hours till they reached an entirely deserted area and now the car behind took sudden hike in speed and overtook the girls. Seeing them go, both breathed a sigh of relief.

But it didn’t last long. After 15 minutes of drive they could see the car parked cross the road and the men were standing as if waiting for them. Naethra and Manisha got scared and Naethra searched for her bag behind.

(To be continued…)