Silence. Wait

The silence was eerie, and it made him uneasy. 

He strained his ears, trying to catch the faintest of sounds, a solitary whisper, anything, just to reassure himself.

Nothing.

It could still be night. He tried to comfort himself. Maybe everyone is sleeping.

After what seemed like an eon to him passed, there came a loud howl. Contagiously terrifying, and he felt himself shiver, felt the fear. He felt once again like the frightened little child he once was, afraid that the monster hiding beneath his bed, lurking in the shadows in his room, might jump upon him at any instance. So many countless nights he had passed living in constant fear.

He rang his call-bell, not once, not twice, but umpteen numbers of times, and got no reply. ‘HELLO??’ he called out, at the top of his voice. He heard his own voice reverberate around him. Being blind does heighten your senses. He thought.

He had been operated upon for cataract. He was not exactly old, barely into late 30s, and had been perplexed as to how he had developed it. Isn’t it associated with old age? He had asked himself and his doctor. ‘It is not necessary.’ His doctor had told him. The bandages covering his eyes were scheduled to be removed today.

He waited again. Waited for someone to come, remove his bandages, and explain to him why was everything so quiet?

He realized how agonizing it was to wait on tenterhooks, desperate for the slightest of movements, a whimper, a cry.. for any disturbance just to reassure yourself that you are not alone in this mad, dark world.

He imagined dark, mysterious figures in his room (or rather a huge box with a bed in which he now lay, since he had no idea what his room looked like) moving about him. He imagined the monsters, slimy and green straight out from his childhood nightmares ready to devour him should he make the slightest of movements.

Petrified, he lay there, rooted in his bed. Seconds turned to minutes, minutes to hours..

And then it happened, the very thing he had been waited for. A sound! It was the 9 o’clock bell which rang in this part of the city at 9 every morning. Surely, at least now someone ought to disturb the silence he thought.

He waited. And then came another sound. To him, it was the most horrid, spine chilling sound he had heard. The sound of some one sharpening the edges of a knife against a metal surface. The harshness of the sound was startling, and he marveled at his own ability to pick the faintest of sound.

The monotonous sound came for a while, and then, as abruptly as the silence had been broken, it enveloped him again. It was now he realized that he had started to sweat. Shaking, he rubbed his forehead with his sleeve. Something was screaming in his ears, urging him to remove his bandages, open his eyes and expel the darkness which had by now enveloped him tightly.

And then, he heard heavy footsteps outside. He listened carefully, trying to determine the direction.. and then realized they were coming in his direction. Petrified he sat as terror engulfed him. The footsteps came closer, and then came another loud cry, filled with fear.

He felt his heartbeat stopped. He realized he had stopped breathing. For him, time seemed to have stopped. The footsteps continued, and came to a halt outside what he guessed was the door of his room. He heard the door knob turn slowly. He felt his own hands shakily trying to remove his bandages. The door opened, a silent scream of terror left him, and his bandages fell away.

With fear, he opened his eye, ready to face whatever terror stood there, ready to strike at him..

And the silence broke.