Keeping things simple

I love being a taxi cab driver, I enjoyed meeting all different kinds of people plus the cash flow was decent. But my favourite part had to be all the hot women I drove around, anything from shy bookworms to raven-haired divas. I enjoyed casually flirting with them. They say you never work a day in your life if you’re doing something you love, and I sure did love my job.

I drove down the street with the radio turned down low. I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel and hummed, listening to the DJ speed talk. I switched the station to something a little more mellow. No need to get high strung. I took a corner easily and coasted, it was relaxing to drive. I was pretty sure I had the job in my pocket, there was nothing to stress about.

And driving through torrential rain was quite soothing yet very torturous to me. The rain thumped on the bonnet and the wind whistled along the curves of the car. The trees were waving frantically in the wind as if to attract the attention of passing cars. Like the night, the road grew longer and longer, darker and darker with every passing hour. The bright headlights pushed back the darkness, which immediately returned to haunt the rear of the car. The darkness seeps into the car and hangs heavily over the back seat.

I drove a little while longer when I saw a raven haired girl waving down. She was wearing a short brown leather jacket with a grey t-shirt paired with black jeans that hugged her perfectly. I jerked the brake at the last second and unlocked the back door to let her hop in.

“Holy shit, she has a fantastic pair of tits” I thought to himself.

“Will you go to Andheri? ” the girl asked, giving me a smile.

“Yeah sure. Where in Andheri though?” I drawled as she put on her seatbelt.

“Near Yamuna building, street 23” she told me as she pulled a bottle of water out from her handbag and took a long drag from it. "And please drive fast"

“Ofcourse. Is everything alright?” I asked.

The girl glanced across giving me a curious look before smiling a little –I could see the change in expression in my rear view mirror.

"Ummm…. Yeah I'm supposed to be home before midnight" she says

"Ah. Well then you choose a right taxi. My name's Prakash by the way." I cracked a grin and hoped she'd caught it in the mirror but she was looking out the window, decidedly not interested in me. Still, there was something familiar about her. I drove on for a little while longer. It was an hour drive to Andheri and I was getting bored out of my mind. I decided to spark a conversation. "You know, you look awful familiar."

"I don't think so" she shrugged and then buried herself in her book, ignoring me. People so seldom paid attention to me. I talked easily and babbled on about sports and teams and politics. But this girl paid no mind what so ever. An idea struck me like lightning would hit a clock. I thought of scaring her by telling a scary story.

"I never got your name," I said

The girl shakes her head. "No names," she says. "I don't know you and you don't know me. Keeps things simple."

I gave her a puzzled look. "Does it matter? I don't think I'll ever see you again."

"No thanks. I've already paid a huge price for trusting a stranger. I don't want to go through that again" the girl says, voice hushed and with a tinge of sadness.

He waited for her to elaborate more. But she didn't. He then thought of going along with his plan by keeping things simple yet scary.

"Mam you know the road ahead… people say one can see a evil ghost of a women there in long white dress with open hair going below her hips"

"A ghost? That's stupid. Why would anyone even believe that?"

"But people have seen her here roaming. They say her husband cheated on her and when she found out, he killed her. He threw her body somewhere here in this highway"

"All this is are superstitious bluff. They just want everyone to believe their imagination. I bet no one has actually seen it. And who knows someone might be behind the cloak spreading stories to scare people, so they can do their not so legal activities"

"Mam but seriously one of my friend Ajay has seen her." She just rolled her eyes. I need to up my game, he thought.

"There! There! Mam you see that sign board. That's where he saw her" I screamed. Terror washed over her, raising the fine hairs on the back of her neck. Heart pounding in her ears. The sudden scream making her muscles tense.

"My goodness! You sacred me half to death" The woman suddenly sat up straighter with her eyes widened slightly, before she went back to her former look.

"Ajay was sacred too. And Mam further ahead he saw an unconscious man lying on pool of blood"

"And when Ajay asked him what happened. The man started crying and screaming. He was repeating his words again and again. I saw her."

"Or maybe he was drinking and driving and then lied to escape from any possibility of police case" I studied her face in the mirror for a moment. She definitely was trying to mask her fear by being sarcastic.

"Oh common! Not only Ajay but many others have also seen her" I tried to convince her.

"Well then, isn't it great she never got near us?"

"Thats because I'm wearing a talisman which protects me from any supernatural activities" An awkward silence filled the taxi. I sighed in defeat, she isn't going to fall for a fake story.

"Anyways. How much longer?"

"Almost there mam." I was nearing her her destination and she was looking out the window.

I stopped the car in front of a large building as she said because apparently the street road next to it was bad. She lingered outside the drivers' window looking at me with a faint expression. Then she reached inside her purse and handed me a crumpled 500 rupee note.

"Mam but it's 380 rupee. And I don't have change"

"It's okay, keep the change"

"No mam. I can't. It won't be nice and as you said- keeping things simple"

"So what do I do now? Okay you wait here I'll grab change from my apartment"

"You are a stranger to me. Why should I trust you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Ah you're insufferable. Here take my ID card"

Then she turned around and started walking the street next to Yamuna building. I watched her go. I took a look at her ID.

Name: Miss. Anjali Singh

Age: 26

Address: 3/B, street 23, Andheri

I tucked the ID into my shirt pocket.

The night was dark, gloomy, dusky, and silent. It was quite, the occasional barking of faraway dogs broke the silence of the night. It was eleven thirty and Prakash waited there for half an hour for Anjali, but she didn't showed up. As the time was clicking he was getting more an more furious.

When he couldn't handle more he decided to look for her house. He took her ID from his shirt pocket to re-read the address. He followed the path she went through. As the girl said earlier the road was actually bad and narrow. All the street lamps were broken with the exception of one, a few seconds later even that street lamp went off. The only thing that could be seen was the moon, it was shinning brightly. He followed the road which lead him towards an open yard with fence around.

As I continued my journey, the trees started to shiver and the birds cried out in fear as they fled from their nests. The smell of burning wood flew through the air, spreading it’s contagious disease. Twigs and dead leaves made a deafening crunch underneath my feet as my ever-ending journey carried on.

I walked alone down a desolate street. The rain has been falling steadily all night and is only getting worse. I was soaked to bone.

When I turned the next corner, the trees stopped shaking and everything went deadly silent. I was scared if I took one tiny step that I would wake up the whole world. But without delaying any further, I started to walk down the old, endless, grey path, scattered with leaves and long twigs. Every step I took lead to a deafening ‘CRUNCH’…The further I went the more frightened I got. The tall trees, which were masked by shadows, towered over me, almost like they were watching every step I took. All was silent. No bird chirp, no howl of the wind. I started to smell a type of flower, the smell was so strong that I started to get a headache.

Even after walking some distance, when I didn't see any house there, I started to lose hope of getting my money and turned around to walk back to my taxi but something on the fence caught my eye.

A board hanging at the fence. It said Street 23.

The color quickly drained from his face. His mouth hung open with his jaw dropped. How -what? He thought. Curiosity got the best out of him. He jumped across the fence landing neatly on the yard with tangled and overgrown weeds and vine.

I walked deeper and was shocked to discover that Street 23 actually lead to grave yard.It was quiet there; there were no people, no animals, no…anything. I shivered not sure if it’s because of the chill in the wind.

Prakash isn’t quite sure what he’s doing, but he knows he needs to stop it. But he can't. After what seemed like hours, he finally stopped in front of a gravestone.

I tried to read the name on the giant, shiny rock.

A cold wave embalmed him as the hairs rose on the back of his neck and his mouth ran dry. A feeling of dread crept up from the pit of his stomach.

1995-2021

Anjali Singh