Chore of Holders

Chapter two

I arrived there and they were all already sitting on our reserved table with eyes fixed on me. I could see

them staring at me somewhat angrily; I literally wanted to laugh at that moment but somehow managed

to control. I sat with them and apologized to normalize the situation, it was funny though. “Ah that’s

okay, you always do this man, duh” my friend John rolled his eyes at me and I laughed. I took a moment

to see everybody and there I saw her, God this cute girl never fails to win my heart, she looks so adorable

tonight, “woah” I said when my eyes laid on Mira. She is one of our group members, we are total 8

friends and we have 4 boys and 4 girls. But this girl right in front of me is special. I don’t know why

whenever I see her I get a refreshing vibe. “Hey”, her sweet voice met my ears and I had to snap back to

reality, I greeted her with a smile while shaking hands with her; we always do this whenever wherever

we meet from day one.

After we got done with our coffees, we stood up to drive back to our homes, but all of a sudden I asked

Mira to come with me to a nearby shopping mall to which she agreed as expected. Mira and I have been

together since a very long time, we have known each other all those years in our thick and thin times,

and it was 2017 when I proposed her to which she agreed and we got engaged after two months.

Anyways, we arrived to the shopping mall and I asked her to choose a jacket for me, we often do this,

we take each other to shopping malls and ask to choose stuff for each other. Talking about us, we are

crazy, we do things in the most unexpected manner, we at times have surprised our families by doing

such acts, our families are really happy about us being together. They call us kiddies’ couple, because we

are like this and I love being around her like this, we annoy, we fight, we make love, we do everything to

make each and every moment lively and memorable.

“I love this”, I heard her voice while I was lost in adoring my fiancé when she was going through the rack

of jackets in a shop. “I love you”, I said to which she blushed and rolled her eyes to annoy me. I did the

same and moved towards the billing area. We had to hurry because Mira had to meet her aunt as she

was coming from Italy. I was driving in the underground parking area of the mall; my one hand was on

steering while Mira was holding the other one.

I suddenly saw a dark black shadow, whole black. There, I saw him; my eyes got

observant by his glimpse after so many years again, that man. I have seen him all my childhood, all those

years in my dreams often; a quick flashback ran through my mind once again when I could vividly revive

the memory of him. I was coming back from school, my mother was driving the car when I saw a dark

shadow like man, he was wearing all black with a gown which had a triangular sign on its back, I got even

more scared when I saw his face, his half face was burnt and half face was normal. Though I have not

talked to him ever, but I still remember him because after that day, I dreamt of him several times, he

still comes in my dreams, but with no proper sign or story, I just see him. And now coming back to the

reality, I feel like I know him already. I still remember how my mother scolded me when I told her about

him, even after I told her about his dreams, she never believed me and asked me stop making stories

and to ignore these thoughts as they are all vain and useless.

“Alex”, Mira said while squeezing my hand tightly, I suddenly asked her whether she saw that man or

not, and surprisingly, she also saw him but according to her his face was all normal and he was not

wearing any gown, it is just that he was wearing black dress, and he was searching for his car key there.

“No, see again, his face is half burnt come on Mira how can you not notice?” Mira was confused, she

herself got unsure about this, she then looked closely when I knowingly accelerated the car towards

him, she again said the same that she did not see anything like that he was just a normal man and he

was searching for his key. But I noticed him closely, his face was surely burnt and he was wearing a black

gown with that triangular sign at his back. I got out of the parking area while being lost in deep

thoughts; I still could not believe that Mira did not notice what I did. I dropped her home and she asked

me not to think about it as it was only my illusion maybe. But deep down I know it was not.

I reached home, changed my clothes and ate pasta with Samantha as she also came back late from

bakery, while we were having our dinner, she asked me several times that I was doing okay, to which I

nodded every time. I was worried because of that man, I started thinking maybe it is an illusion, maybe

this is not real, it is just I am thinking too much as Mira said. I finished my dinner and said good night to

everyone, and came to my room. I decided to rethink, I thought of everything that happened from the

start. From his first sight to his dreams, and now today’s encounter; I still couldn’t conclude anything, I

have told my family about his dreams and everything but they do not believe me or they do not bother

to pay attention, they think it is just a normal thing to dream about peculiar people, it happens normally,

and there is nothing bothering in it. But I do get scared at times, and especially after today’s incident, I

am sure about one thing, that this man has got to do something with me.