Highway

Highway. Pitch black night. A few dim streetlights. Murky road. Every 2–3 minutes, a loaded truck would pass by. Apart from that, not a soul stirs. There is a halt- a slight divulsion on the road. A few stairs descent downwards from the corner. Rusted, old, ancient steps. The nosings are broken, crumbled, eroded. The tread uneven, dusty. Dry twigs, leaves, faeces occupy a large part of them. I alight. 12 3 4 5- the stairs are winding down. Narrow on one side, wider on the other.

The steps come to an end. It’s a tunnel. Claustrophobic. No room for air. High walls arched from the ceiling. No- it’s not a tunnel. It’s an underground warehouse. Pale lights light up the place. Hazy. Dingy. On the left, there is a wall. On the right- the warehouse stock covered in a kind of white polythene-ish fabric.

I drag myself a little further. Muffled screams. Feminine sound- trying to say something. Male hoarse voices. Indistinct. A little further in the direction of the voice- there is a girl, overturned on the merchandise. Parts of her clothing are still intact. 3 or 4 or 5 men are forcing themselves on the girl. She turned to look at me. Aghast. They all look at me. I want to shout. I can’t. I have lost my voice. I want to run. But my feet are paralyzed. Frozen. Can’t move. Benumb. I can’t see clear no more. I am losing my vision. The men are coming for me. I want to yell. I want to turn back and run. My heart might explode in my chest any minute. I can hear the pounding. My lips are parted. Dry.

A feeling of helplessness. Impotency. Defenselessness. Exposure. Oblivion. Stupor. Darkness. BLACKOUT!