Fear of the Unknown
Is it holding you back? Or is it a good thing?
She walked down the dark street as quickly as her legs could carry her. Her heart rate rose as the stories she had heard flashed in her mind. She should have left early! The meeting had run longer than expected and now Sara had to walk home in the dark of the night. Was this safe? She had never been out so late in this city before.
Sara had been recently transferred to Delhi to work with the marketing director. At the going-away party her friends Maya, who had been to Delhi, had warned her to be careful. Especially at night, she had been warned to be on guard. Not only had Maya’s purse been stolen during her short stay, but car’s wheels had been taken too.
Sara came to a small alleyway. During daytime it was a lively street, but at night the same deserted alley looked like a ghost-town. Long shadows stretched across the path and the bushes looked black and scary.
She took a deep breath and stepped forward. As she walked, she suddenly became aware of something in the bush ahead. Sara stopped, but by now she was very close to where she sensed the movement. Her fear grew as she realized it was a man. Her hand clenched on the pepper-spray in her purse, ready to draw it any second. She almost felt like the time had stopped, and thousands of thoughts went through her mind. Was she getting mugged? Or worse?
And then it happened! Out of nowhere came a tiny human running towards the bush. “Got You Daddy!”, he cried in delight as his father jumped out of his hiding place. He picked up the kid and twirled him, as his son giggled and burst into laughter.
Sara couldn’t help but smile as she removed her hand from the purse. As she continued along her path, the smile stayed on as if it was permanently printed on her face.
Shreya is an engineer and a writer and a poet who loves writing short reads. Every story she writes comes from the little part of this enormous world that she has seen.
