Chapter 2: Chapter 2

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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