It was a quiet evening. The winds had died down. The sun was slowly removing his gentle caress from the world. Most of the highway was empty. A lone police Jeep streaked along the tarmac. Apart from the jeep’s constant whirring sound, there was silence. Sub-inspector Jeevanandam and constable Vairamuthu were headed to Madurai. The duo was the last of the Chennai Armed Police Force sent to Madurai for extra protection for the Chithirai festival
. Thankfully, they were given a jeep for the journey. Jeevanandam was an excellent police officer. He was due for a promotion soon. Vairamuthu on the other hand had no intention of joining the Police force in the first place. He was forced to join the police force because his family was a lineage of policemen right from the British period. Therefore, he had an “Honor” to uphold. Vairamuthu had some degree in complex physics. After dinner, Jeevanandam took the wheel. They were only halfway there.
A few kilometers past Perambalur, there was a man at work redirection at the highway, forcing them to take a detour into a muddy side road. A few kilometers later, Jeevanandam could feel certain darkness covering him. As if a python was slowly trapping him in its embrace. Yet, he couldn’t stop driving. Slowly, the world around him dissolved to nothingness.
With a gasp, Jeevanandam and Vairamuthu awoke, still in the jeep. The jeep had stopped by the side of the road. Only, it was a different road. It was lined with a dense growth of trees on both sides. “What the hell Muthu?” Jeevananam was flabbergasted. To his surprise, Vairamuthu exhibited a rather calm demeanor. “Keep going,” he said. His voice was rather fearless for someone who’s afraid to transport the accused from a jeep to the prison. Has he suddenly grown so gallant or has he totally lost it? “With no other viable option, Jeevanandam started driving along the road. The road seemed unending, with the trees on both sides all looking the same. Jeevanandam was considering turning around when the tree lines started converging from both sides and converged in front of them. It apparently seemed to be the end of the road, but Vairamuthu had spotted a car-sized path on the left, shrouded by darkness. “There,” he said.
That’s odd. Jeevanandam had six by six vision and couldn’t spot the path. Vairamuthu wore glasses, but he had seen it. Giving Vairamuthu a suspicious look, Jeevanandam propelled the jeep into the path. Nothing was visible past the glow of the headlights. A faint white light was visible in the distance. Jeevanandam slowed the jeep to a halt. The glowing light took the form of two men. One man had a machete in his hand. The other was on the ground. He had already been cut several times. Jeevanandam sprang out of the jeep and drew his pistol. “Drop your weapon! Freeze!” he screamed. But the man with the machete was already upon the other, gashing his machete across the other man’s neck, instantly killing him. Vairamuthu had stepped out of the jeep and was watching the whole incident with curiosity in his eyes. “Vairamuthu! Let’s get him!” Jeevanandam yelled and attempted to charge at the man, but stopped in his tracks. Another man, with a huge rifle, came out from the woods. Both men didn’t even seem to acknowledge the policemen. Suddenly, the man with the rifle leveled the weapon at the first assailant and pulled the trigger. Before Jeevanandam could react, the bullet had splattered the man’s brains at the tree behind him. The man fired another shot towards the sky, laughing with contempt, before disappearing into thin air. The world around Jeevanandam spun. The trees and clouds formed a vortex around him. And Jeevanandam blacked out.
When he came back to his senses, he was standing in the middle of the highway, pointing his gun towards a rather terrified motorist. Vairamuthu was gasping, holding on to the side of the jeep for support. Lowering his gun and beckoning the motorist to leave, Jeevanandam turned towards Vairamuthu. “What the hell was that?”. Vairamuthu had no idea. On reaching Madurai, Jeevanandam went straight to a mental health doctor and explained the issue to him. Every detail. Right from the unusual highway to the machete man to the final murder. Doctor Arun pondered upon Jeevanandam’s rather unusual trip to Madurai. “Doctor, I was not drunk nor under the influence of drugs,” Jeevanandam added, to ensure that the doctor won’t immediately ship him to the nearest mental health hospital. “No no. I’ve read about this before. Wait let me show you,” he said and whipped out his phone. “Aaah here. See. It’s believed that events of mass loss of life mark the earth. The life force of that being is forced to leave before its time and sometimes, it refuses to let go of the earth. The negative energy stays on earth, playing out the person’s memories as real-world events. But this only happens if the negative energy is artificially concentrated. Like some kind of a ritual or a device that can accumulate energy. No such devices exist as far as I know. And as for the people you saw, the man with the gun was a bandit. It’s all here on google. He was an absolute butcher. All his misdeeds marked the earth, leaving behind negative energy. Somehow it had accumulated on you, giving you the visions”.Jeevanandam was quite flabbergasted. After learning a few breathing exercises to calm his nerves from the doctor, he left to continue his duty.
After the Chithirai festival, Jeevanandam was returning to Chennai in a jeep with the other officers. Vairamuthu had resigned almost immediately after reaching Madurai and did not accompany them. Jeevanandam joked about how the little witchcraft incident had scared Vairamuthu into resigning. As they approached the spot where the incident had happened, Jeevanandam noticed someone along the side of the road. On taking a closer look, he realized that it was Vairamuthu! He had a strange device in his hand.
But the jeep had already passed him. Jeevanandam’s heart skipped a beat. He shifted to peer into the back window, but Vairamuthu had disappeared.
Comments