CHAPTER 1
1010 Words
M A N H A T T A N ~
Forty minutes. It had been forty damn minutes since Chandler had asked for thr documents.
"Where on earth are you Sam?"
Chandler shouted into the phone. "I asked you to get the focuments forty minutes ago. What the hell have you been doing? Building the damn pyramids with those papers?"
His voice echoed through the office, sharp with annoyance.
On the other end of the line, Sam panicked. There was something wrong with the printer boss. I tried using the third floor printer but it broke down too. The technician is trying to fix it, boss. I'll be there in five minutes." He muttered
Chandler groaned. It wasn't Sam's fault, really.
Ofcourse this had to happen today. It was one of those days where nothing went according to his plans. And he had been having a lot of those days recently ever since his engagement to Patricia.
Chandler slammed the phone down.
This morning, he woke up ten minutes later than usual which meant he had to hurry through breakfast and shower. And still he was five minutes late. Chandler hated being late. Even when he was ten, he hated being late to school.
Then his usually competant assistant Sara, who moved through the office with the grace of a cat, slipped and planted the black coffee on Chandler's white shirt and managed to break her arm at the same time.
And now the printer had broken. Chandler stared at the wall across his office and briefly entertained the idea of punching it.
He was frustrated. Angry. And underneath that, there was this creeping feeling that the day was not over yet.
And oh if he wasn't right. Chandler didn’t know it yet, but today was the day his life would change forever.
~
Around five in the evening, Chandler was finally driving home.
The sky had already begun to dim, the winter light fading faster than usual.
He was halfway down his usual route when he suddenly had to slam the brakes.
A construction worker stood in the middle of the road holding a bright orange diversion sign.
Chandler rolled down the window. “What the heck is this?”
“Sorry, sir,” the man said apologetically. “You’ll have to take the mud road down there.”
He pointed to a narrow path branching off the main road.
“A pipe broke beneath the road,” the worker continued. “We’re fixing it.”
“What?” Chandler frowned. “The dirt road?”
“That leads to the outskirts of the city, doesn’t it?”
The worker shook his head. “No, sir. If you go straight you’ll see the wishing well. Turn right from there and you’ll come right back onto the main road." He said.
"The wishing well? What's that?" Chandler asked scowling.
"Uhh... they say its a portal to the other world." He said scrunching his eyebrows. "Its just called the wishing well, dunno why." He shrugged.
Chandler would have burst out laughing at the story if it wasn't for the whole situation.
Jeez, not today, Chandler thought.
"How long will the repair take?" Chandler asked the worker.
"An hour, tops." He replied.
An hour? Chandler groaned. Chandler did not have the patience to wait there for another hour.
"Fine." He muttered and slowly turned the car towards the mud road.
The moment he started driving, he realised that the road was too narrow, clearly not meant for large cars.
The branches of trees leaned inwards casting long shadows on the road.
It was quiet, almost too quiet.
The kind of silence that brought storms along.
His hands tightened on the steering wheel. The man had said it would take two minutes. But chandler was sure that he been driving for atleast five minutes now. These roads were meant for people walking, maybe for bicycles. Definitely not for expensive cars.
He groaned, feeling his head throb. He was already irritated, angry at the world and at himself when it happened.
A bright light that blinded him for a second. When he opened his eyes, a girl which wide eyes stared at him straight as she screamed in terror.
No no no no. Where the heck had she come from? Before Chandler could process what he was seeing, his hands jerked the steering wheel violently. The car swerved and he heard a scream.
The vehicle skidded on the dirt before finally jerking to a halt.Silence rushed back in.
Chandler blinked rapidly, trying to clear the bright spots from his vision. His heart pounded loudly in his ears.
He turned around in his seat.
“Hey—!” He called out trying to see if the girl was okay.
Nothing. No girl.
…?”
His brow furrowed.
He had definitely seen a flash of light.
He had definitely seen a girl.
And he was absolutely certain he had heard her scream.
Slowly, he opened the car door and stepped out.
“Hello?” he called cautiously.
The cold evening air brushed against his face.
“Is anyone there?”
The only response was the distant chirping of birds.Chandler walked a few steps along the road, scanning the trees and bushes.
Nothing.
No footprints. No movement. No sign of anyone at all.
He frowned.
Did he imagine it?
But that seemed impossible. The memory of the girl's shocked face was still vivid in his mind.
He stood there for another moment, listening.
Still nothing.Finally Chandler rubbed his temples.
It was December, and the darkness was already creeping in quickly. The sky had begun turning a dull shade of blue-gray.
He needed to get home.
He was exhausted.
And after the day he’d had, all Chandler wanted was to reach his house, collapse on his couch, and forget the entire world existed.
He took one last look down the empty road before climbing back into his car.
He did not notice the faint shimmer of light that flickered briefly behind the trees.
- Writer
