The Bizarre Evening

It was a jolly evening filled with the gladness of the New Year and the entire atmosphere had become thick with the cries of the children. It was a perfect time for James to step out of the house as the clock was already ticking seven. James, a fifteen-year-old lad who always used to step out of the house with his warm and gentle mother, that day he was quite nervous and apprehensive to go to a New Year Carnival as he was not ready to spend another second of his life socializing with his type of beings, he was ready to spend his entire day with squirrels on the bark of the tree in his house’s garden than to converse with extremely extrovert and energetic people whom he considered loud and dumb. He was a social introvert, who used to find blessing in solitude, in his world, novels replaced people, finding happiness and satisfaction while venturing through the novels replaced partying with his friends and painting his imagination on plain canvas replaced being with people who were nothing but a façade according to him. Nevertheless, after going through a lot of pain, shedding a lot of sweat, his wish of spending a new year at home was not granted and after receiving a stern eye from his mother, James finally agreed to go to the Carnival being also encouraged and emotionally blackmailed by his mother. Without wasting a single second in the presence of his mother’s stern avatar, he quickly dressed into a hoodie, jeans and a woollen coat on the top of his hoodie. He stepped out carefully like a sniper who emerges from behind the bushes, their soul saviour in order to finish their mission. His mother gave him one pat on the back which was not very gentle, unlike her character.

They stepped out of the house to go to the carnival which was a few miles away from his home. As soon as James stepped out of the car quite unwillingly, his eyes became wide in astonishment by looking at the number of people which exceeded even his fingers. 

His mother locked the car and came to his side and said to him,” Hey, little Jay don’t be so nervous or imaginative just go down and enjoy like the day of your life”

Unfortunately, which precious soul could tell his mother that he didn’t want to be like other kids, he was happy in his own company but he was not ready to face his mom’s slipper flying and rubbing against his cheeks.

Nevertheless, He shrugged and replied, “Yes mother, I will” to the same line of his mother which she recited every time like a mantra whenever he stepped out to go to his school or outside to buy groceries.

It was not the first time he had heard his mother say that line.

In his context, the sight was full of annoying little cranky toddlers. On one side of the park, there was “The Nitro”, the most dangerous ride about which he had read in The New Yorker magazine. Well, for him the funny part about that ride was that people were shrieking out the name of their mother, then throwing up their journey and then once again showing their index finger to the guide as a crazy gesture to ride again.

Then, on the other side, there was a cartwheel ride, where all the toddlers and their little finger being held by their mother were riding it. Across the Cartwheel ride, there were food stalls and game stalls. Delicious delicacies were being served such as the mouthwatering taco bell stuffed with meat and garnished with spicy sauce and KFC style burgers. After walking a small distance with his mother a tiny small shop caught his eye and for some reason, he just couldn’t stop getting attracted to it. His hands, his feet, his arm, his entire body started walking towards it unconsciously. James’s mother was taken aback by James’s sudden interest in something apart from books and she was glad that he found something of his interest in the Carnival so she bid him goodbye and told him that she would come and pick him up after half an hour.

Personally, he had no intention of leaving her and to his surprise that was a soothsayer’s shop or in laymen’s term a fortune teller’s shop, he always wanted to visit one of those shops where they tell you about your future and in many novels, he read so far, the characters in them were not very pleased to hear about their fortune and then they would freak out and throw a tantrum despite the calm composure of the teller as if he was accustomed to telling people’s misfortune to them. But in his case, James was relieved to have come across only one person in the carnival, an old man who claimed to be the fortuneteller. He was an old man with steel-rimmed spectacles and worn clothes, the number of wrinkles on his face was very prominent and his teeth in the middle were missing.

After taking a note of the man from head to toe James gave out a sigh of relief as he was glad that he just had to handle one person for some time than to come across any of those kids out there in the carnival whom he considered not more than cranky and bizarre. He sat on the small wooden seat whose one leg was already on the verge of collapsing offered to him through a hand gesture by the old man. The man seemed to be quite presumptions in his professional life nevertheless, James sat face to face with him and the old man asked James in a hoarse voice, “Please offer me your hand”

Without further ado, James did what he asked for. He gave a little attention to the old man and was more attentive to his old attic which appealed to James a lot, it gave him many ideas for his next oil painting. The rustic bookshelf was filled with various hourglass looking containers filled with different colour liquids and across the shelf, there were ancient-looking thick books scattered on the floor and the roof was filled with straws and rags as if it was done to prevent the cold air of New Year to whistle through it. After a while, something started vexing him as if someone had just pricked his nerve. He let out his pain by screaming, ”OUCH! It hurts, what on the world are you doing “He said.

To which the Old man replied, “Sorry my son, It’s just that I had to prick your nerve to confirm what I had seen was right or wrong and the future which I saw of yours was not very pleasing and it brings me no joy to tell you that you may experience something sinister and odd today”

James angrily backed his hand and stood up to his feet and said to him, “Sir, I don’t wish to say this but I believe that you are just hallucinating and I will never come across such a thing in my life as I am always away from the most dangerous creatures on this planet”

The old man said, “Child it’s coming, it’s coming and it will pick you today…” He opened his mouth but couldn’t complete his sentence.

James didn’t like how fascinatingly and truly that old man was lying to him but as soon as James turned to leave the cold, crisp wind whistled through the roof and the bells in the shop started ringing and he could somehow feel an eerie vibe in the shop. He suddenly felt the presence of an unknown in the shop and he did not like the way things were proceeding. He turned to the old man only to look at his fallen black cloak filled covered with dust on the floor. All the novels of the horror genre which he had read so far started bombarding his head. He started getting all the flashbacks of the Novels ranging from “The Goosebumps” to Josh Malerman’s” Bird Box” and the ghostly, terrorizing, haunting and thrilling scenes from it.

The very next second he found himself running on the ground searching for his mom while the sweat on his face trickled down from his head to his neck and his pulse rate increased drastically. He had heard a humming sound in that old tumbledown shop and a voice echoing that how his life would be in danger. He realized that he was completely lost in a crowd, people unknown to him and he was running away from a spirit of unknown. He wishes that he could meet his mother and hug her and tell her how much he loves her but his pessimistic side told him that maybe what the fortuneteller said about how his life could be true.

He thought that in that crowd he could get kidnapped or murdered or whatnot. He rubbed the tears from his eyes and walked and on and on and still he couldn’t find his mother. He checked his watch and saw that thirty-five minutes had already passed and his mother promised him to meet him outside that shop after thirty minutes. He rushed to that place and found no one there, and nothing, the shop had vanished into the thin air.

It was that time that he knew everything had fallen apart, his heart started pending rapidly, his entire body started shaking convulsively and then he realized that he had finally gone astray. He bumped into several people ranging from a toddler with a candy stick in his hand to an old couple from whom he quickly maintained his distance. He started searching for his one last hope, his mother who could wake him up from this terrible nightmare. He went and sat on a stone at the entrance of the gate in the hope to see his mother come and take him away to home. He wished he had some friends, he wished that he was social like other children, he wailed softly and gathered himself together for the last try.

He went into the crowd again and got pushed by a fat man and then he almost interrupted a volleyball match to which he bowed down apologetically and ran away from his place inspite of great efforts he couldn’t find his mother and it was already half past 12. It was the New Year. The day where people forget all their miseries and worries and celebrate and toast to a happy and healthy year but for James, it was the opposite, it was quite ironic that amidst all the chaos and fireworks stood a poor boy who was deficient in happiness or guidance.

Suddenly, amidst all the cheer, laughter and coldness of the new year he could see the silhouette of a person coming towards him and by that time the silhouette became prominent he passed out and the only thing he could remember from that time was a broken smile on his face and a warm hug from a known person, his mother.

The very next day, he found himself on his comfortable bed and his vision was not 6/6 but it was not that blurry for him to see his mother beside him. He wanted to ask her that where she was the other day and what he had experienced. But before he could ask or say something, she apologized to him and explained to him that how her car had got tolled and she had followed that person’s gigantic vehicle to get her car released. He gave out a sigh of relief and he just quoted the day before as the worst nightmare in his diary. He was grateful because his mom and he were safe and sound in their house. They shared a warm hug and James could see the deep blue sky from the corner of his eye and wondered about the vanished shop and the old man’s fortune.