Frank
The church bell was ringing and drowning the sound was the thunder. Frank tried to count the chime but the flash of lightening and the thunder that came immediately after, made him disoriented for sometime.. It was pitch black the bed room light was off..No Power.. He picked up his cell phone that was lying near his pillow to check the time and it showed 12.01Friday 26 June. Another lightening followed with deafening thunder.. He opened his eyes slowly…… bedroom looked quite bright and he ran to see through the window...The huge fig tree in front of his house was burning bright, obviously the lightning struck it. It was burning even though it was raining heavily...He wished that he had gone with his family to attend his cousin’s wedding in Chennai which was some 700 kilometres away . Frank was the only son of a wealthy business man Francis Timothy. His business kingdom has spread over to many countries but yet he decided to stay in the rural area. His house and surrounding estates ran into many square kilometres and called as Tim’s land. It had streams, ponds, mountains, valleys few acres of cultivated land and the palatial house. Francis left the entire estate in its natural glory. Tim’s land was surrounded by mountain ranges to all 10 the three sides and the other open end was the village. The mountains were just over 3000 feet high with rocky terrain and wild greeneries except for one which was 6000 feet above sea level. It was said that it was dangerous to climb those mountains as few unnatural deaths had happened and the bodies were never found. The local people believed that it was the abode of their deity and protected it from outsiders which were very much to Mr. Francis Timothy’s taste... The security was minimum, as whoever had to come in must come through the village and all the villagers were working for Francis Timothy’s business empire, the FT Group.
Frank had inherited his father’s love for nature and always spent his holidays in Tim’s Land rather than spending in
cities. His friends would come down from the cities and stay with him. But this time the weather forecast warned about cyclonic thunderstorm so no one came with him. His parents had to attend his cousin Tabitha’s wedding in the capital but he refused to accompany them telling them that he had to finish a project for his final semester in aerospace engineering post graduation. His mother Philomena knew his son well so she never asked him again but gave him instruction to take care of the house and pets for few days as in the night hardly any helpers
would stay. Frank was happy to oblige anything as long as they left him free as he had to make a decision about his future and about his girl friend. He would be 26 next year and heneeded to make sure what he should do whether to follow his father or set up his own empire. He knew the future would be with air transport and his passion to construct small air planes remained with him since his childhood. His thoughts jumped to his girlfriend Redimita who was his junior in high school and they have been going steady since then. Redim was a headstrong intellect, while he
went into engineering, she had gone into medical science
and was in her final year MD- MS dual post graduation
programme in UK .She was expected in few days time
and he had to come up with a decision ... To let her go or
to tie her with him …
Another deafening thunder and lightning made him step
away from the window and heard the birds from the
aviary. The aviary was in the terrace above the third floor
as well as in the ground floor. So he thought of checking
the terrace and took the steps two at a time and ran. When
he reached the terrace, the birds were chirping loudly but
they were not wet as the cages were almost like a big
room... Very spacious... He hoped that the cyclonic wind
would not take away the cage. It was raining heavily with
continuous lightening that there was no need for the cell
phone flash. There was nothing he could do so he turned
to go down to check the ground floor aviary. His eyes had
not adjusted to the darkness in the staircase and had to use
the cell phone flash.
The ground floor aviary was in a pathetic condition.
The light from burning tree showed the aviary clearly and
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few branches from the nearby tree had fallen on the aviary
and broken the roof, surprisingly the birds were not
escaping through the open roof … he tried to cover the
roof using some sheets he found lying there but he knew
that he could not secure the same and the cyclone has not
passed yet completely... He secured the sheet as much as
he could and locked all the doors and went back to his
second floor room.
Frank’s room was as he left but he must have left the
window open which he did not remember opening. He
felt unsettled and tensed without any reason. He told
himself that he would not stay alone again...Cool breeze
from the widow carried light shower and he decided to
close the window but the window latch was not there ..He
was confused as he remembered very clearly that all the
curtains were drawn and widows were closed. He just
shrugged it off and came back to the bed…He was
thinking of Redim and about to call her but thought better
of it..
He was dreaming of flying but something woke him up.
It was too dark and he could not find his cell phone .He
could hear some strange noise but could not place the
source of the noise. It was kind of hissing sound...A
continuous hissing as if a snake is breathing near his ears
.
He listened without moving .What the hell…he heard his
name ..F..r..a..n..k.. F..r..a..n..k.. F..r..a..n..k..
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He jumped to sit on his pillow and earnestly searched
for the cell phone nearby .He found it and switched on the
light…The sight in front of him, was something that he
would remember as long as he lived …
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