Visitors
A silent scream escaped from him involuntarily…
staring at him from the foot of the bed was a dwarf...a
foot tall , so exquisitely beautiful ,with delicate features,
arresting blue eyes, golden hair, flawless skin so dark like
ebony ,long neck and limbs..
To his utter amazement, he could hear the same hissing
sound emanating from the dwarf waving its arms and
locking eyes with him... The eyes were not of a lifeless
doll, so much emotion was there … Frank had never been
so frightened in his life. .. He sat there staring at the
beautiful emergence that he got another shock when it
started walking towards him…
Frank jumped from the bed but fell down as his legs got
caught in the sheet and his cell phone slipped from his
hand. In the gleaming light from the cell phone, he saw
the invader walking towards the cell picked up his cell
using both its hands and walked towards him… Frank sat
down completely spell bound and watched that beautiful
thing. The light from the phone illuminated the face so
clearly. It was so beautiful that he sat there mesmerised…
the straight nose and delicately shaped lips and the
glowing blue eyes!
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…
It stretched its hands holding the cell and Frank as if
in a trance, took the phone... Now again he heard his
name as if from for off and could see one hand of it
stretched as if to shake hands... In reflex he took the small
hand, It was so cold to touch and immediately snatched
his hands back... The invader said something that sounded
like Ray… It touched its chest and said again Ray…
Frank understood its name is Ray...It pulled the sheet
away from him and again touched his hand and pulled
him subtly...The touch was so tantalizing that Frank
looked at his hand and the invader’s face as it repeatedly
said something. Urgency in its voice was so electrifying
that Frank listened to it with utmost concentration..
He heard it very clearly help...Help... Please….
Frank asked, ‘ help?’ The invader once again clasped
his hand tightly and said, ‘ yes Frank come with me and
help’
By this time Frank was getting used to the strange voice
and its accent. He wondered if this apparition was some
kind of deformity due to some horrible scientific
experiment gone wrong or some birth defect that made it
so short. Frank was looking at it properly now as his
latent curiosity has taken over.
It was wearing a tunic made of some kind of natural
fibres and a belt of some twisted rope, kept the tunic in
place. The footwear made of some natural material
adorned its feet...Actually the knitted footwear looked
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very stylish. The golden hair was covered on the top with
a …obviously a coconut shell... Yes it was a coconut shell
but decorated with some fibres. It was holding a sharp
lance that looked too big in its tiny hand.
Frank came back out of his revere when it started
pulling his hand... it actually felt so light if he had not
been observing it he would have missed it ... It was saying
over and over again…
“Ray wants you to come … Please come and help Frank.
.
.You Frank I am Ray ..Come and help”
Frank understood it so clearly and he asked Ray how he
could help him. For the first time he thought of Ray as
another human in distress and slowly he got up to his 6
plus feet so that he would not scare the tiny little creature.
“
Follow Re” Ray said .Frank told him to wait and took
his rain coat and a torch , he placed his cell phone in his
pocket and was ready to follow Ray ..He asked him to
show the way. Ray corrected him telling him that his
name was Re not Ray . Frank first time smiled and said,
‘ok Re let us go’... Re ran to the window but Frank
scooped him in his hand and ran down taking the steps
two at a time and closed the door behind him...
The cyclone has passed but the wind was still howling
and the tree was still burning. Frank slowly kept Re down
and the aviary birds were strangely silent .It was raining
very heavily and he looked down at Re for direction. Re
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hesitated and started running out and took the path that
went behind the house. Frank walked with him and now
Re started running towards the mountain that was roughly
some 300 metres from his house.
Frank guessed that Re was running towards the
mountain and Frank knew from his teenage escapades that
there was no way of climbing the mountain from this side
as there was a deep ravine that ran parallel to the range.
As a youngster he had tried several times to climb down
the ravine but it was too deep and his bravado was
limited...
But now Re was running in a breakneck speed and they
reached the ravine and Frank could hardly see him. He
cautioned Re telling him if he wanted to climb the
mountain it was not the way, as the ravine was very deep
which could not be crossed.
Re hissed at him and pulled his raincoat to stop him.
Frank squatted down while rain was pouring down on
him. Re gesticulated towards the ravine and told him
‘We go underwater and come out the other side...Just
place your legs down and you will find the rungs’ .
Frank was very sceptical and he was wondering aloud
whether these rungs would hold his weight or would drop
him all the way down to 30 metres! The rain water was a
torrent now flowing with loud clamour. But going under
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the torrent was unthinkable...Although he was a very
good swimmer going there would be a suicide.
Frank got up slowly and said ‘ No I cannot come down
there ..It is dangerous in the water…’
Re pulled him again as the lightning flashed. Frank
could see the desperation in the eyes and bent to listen to
him. Re said, ‘only two rungs then there is a tunnel that
goes down and across the gully and few steps into the
mountain. So don’t worry’
Frank was speechless and gazed at him for a while and
decided to go with him, but asked him what kind of a help
he wanted from him. Re did not reply only said ‘hurry up’
Now Frank felt committed and followed him... He could
see the cyclone has moved further away as he couldn’t
hear the thunder but could see the flashes of lightening
now and then but the rain continued...
The din of the flood was too high when Re
stopped...Frank sensed him stopping and looked down...
Re was gesturing ‘you sit at this edge of the ravine and
place your legs in the interior wall of the gorge; you will
find the rungs… Just look at me’
As Frank was watching him Re sat down as if he was
sitting on a bench and flipped over on the ground and
disappeared.. Frank was too shocked to move for a while
but he remembered Re’s eyes and the desperation he saw
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there and that made him decisive and sat at the same
place.
Frank could hear the thunderous torrent now fortunately
everything was so blurred and then his legs found the
rungs... He just flipped over, just like Re and put his
weight on the rung with his right leg and try to find the
next one still holding the edge... He immediately found
the next one... He placed his hands on the first one,
moved his legs to the second one... And now could see Re
waiting for him in the mouth of the tunnel on the ravine
wall…It was roughly 3 feet wide and Frank could easily
slide into it and he did ! Re was looking at him and said ‘
now you slide on this slope’ Re started sliding and Frank
waited for him to disappear as he did not want to bump
into him..
Now Frank started sliding very cautiously after securing
his cell and torch in the inner pocket. He must have
moved 30 or so feet when he saw a dead end and a T
junction and saw Re waiting at the right side with a very
peculiar looking lamp in his hand ... Again Re said ...
‘slide now slowly ... We are underwater’
Frank was now calm and followed Re, completely
trusting him. He understood that Re was making him feel
at ease somehow and recalled his aviary birds’ silence in
his presence... The slope was now almost horizontal after
some time the gradient changed and Frank had to move
up. He rolled over and pushed himself up and crawled
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with hands and knees .Luckily within minutes he could
see Re. When he stopped near him Re said ‘now we are
near the mountain come behind me;
Frank was past surprise. He just nodded his head and
watched Re shaking the peculiar lamp and it got put off.
He reminded himself that he should ask about the lamp
later.
The mountain rose in front of them like a huge
impregnable wall and Frank was searching for an opening
when Re stopped and touched the rock or pushed or
whatever it opened revealing a hole roughly 3 feet wide in
front of Re…
Re entered first and Frank followed him leg first,
immediately he could find some steps and Re went behind
him and closed the opening in the rock. He could feel the
rock slide slowly closing on its slot ...
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