Waiting Room

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 15; the fifteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

“Yes Sir, we covered the full story. The tape and the pictures are with Gaurav. He left already with the team. This story will create sensation Sir.” Barkha said to her boss on phone. She used to work for a big news channel. She came to this small village Chandanpur, to cover a gang rape case. In past also there were quite a few similar incidents happened in this area, but justice never reached the victim. More over Barkha’s channel head wanted some sensational and exclusive story this time, which was why they got ready to fund this story. Barkha was comparatively a new comer in the media field. This story was supposed to be a turning point for her career. 

They filmed the story as per their plan and the whole team was ready to return back to city that day. However at last moment they found one witness, who wanted to meet Barkha in person.  On other side Barkha’s boss wanted to review the first cut story on the same day itself. So she decided to stay back, while rest of the team started early morning for the city. She met that witness and collected all the relevant information. After which as planned, she started for the railway station to board the train to city.

 Chandanpur railway station was an old and small station. She enquired about her train to the station master and came to know that the train was 6 hours late. Then she had no choice but to wait for the train in the railway station. There were some wooden benches in the station, she sat on one of them. She looked around, there was lot of greenery around that place but the station looked barren. Very few train used to stop there, so the station used to be empty most of the time. In no time sky was covered with dark clouds, the whole atmosphere gave a haunted look to the station. In few minutes it started to rain and she ran for shelter towards the tiny waiting room. 

That was a small room with two wooden benches placed next to each other. An earthen pot for drinking water was kept in one corner. Only one bulb was there, which was barely lightening the room. She kept her bag next to her and sat on the bench. She was not very comfortable but her tired body left her no choice but to sit there. She took out a book from her handbag to kill some time. 

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“Can I sit here?” she found a tall manly figure standing in front of her. She moved her bag to one side and went back to her book. Barkha was busy reading but something was not right. She felt that this man is staring at her. She turned her head towards him but he still continued staring nonstop. This was making her uncomfortable. “Excuse me? You have any problem?” She asked him furiously. She did not bother for his answer, “Idiot, stupid, fool. As if he never saw a girl before” she said to herself and slightly moved towards the other side of the bench. 

“Where are you going?” He was trying to start a conversation. 

“Why can’t he sit peacefully” she thought. 

“Looks like you are all alone? By the way, this is not a safe place for girls to travel alone.” He again.

She wanted to maintain calm but his questions were annoying her. “Yes I am alone. And there is no need for you to take care of me, I can take care of myself very well” She took her bags and moved to the next bench. She turned her face to the other side and acted as if she is busy reading the book. 

By now it was evening, it was getting dark outside. And to add to her trouble, power went off. She got really scared in the dark room. 

Nothing was visible clearly, and suddenly she felt someone’s touch on her shoulder. It freaked her out, she shouted and ran towards the door. She ran out, it was dark there and was raining too. She kept on running. Fear in her made her run faster and faster. She was tired, exhausted. She didn’t even realize that she came very far away from the station. There was no one around and it was very dark. Before she can understand where she was, someone covered her mouth from back.

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She screamed and woke up. She was sweating and was breathing heavily. It took her few minutes to realize that she was still in that waiting room. There was no one around other than her, and all that she saw was a dream. “Thank god that was just a dream” she looked for her water bottle, but it was empty. She was very thirsty and had no option but to drink water from the pot kept in the corner of the room. She drank water and looked at her watch. “Still 3 hour to go. It’s so boring!” She came back to her place and leaned on the wall behind. She was worrying about how to pass these three hours, when she heard him. “Can I sit here?”

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Credits
Image - Alston Station by Wandering Soul
Courtesy - http://www.deviantart.com/ via http://www.blogaton.in/