The rain was falling hard, it seemed as if the heavens had opened up the flood gates. Drops, the size of a tiny marble, were pelting mercilessly, down on the asphalt with a vengeance, like daggers, plunging into the Earth's chest as if to open it up.

The pitch black of the night was filled with a constant hiss, loud enough to occlude any sound imaginable; and so, oblivious to the ears of the night, a vehicle approached from far along the abandoned road. The headlights, carving through the dark flesh of the night, twin beams of light like blades of a deft samurai, a honda headed up north along the highway, screaming mystery, except it didn't go straight but took a turn left and veered to a halt close to a sign.

"200 fucking kilometers more. It's gonna take forever, before we even drive into Nice", Tapir, the old geezer, squinted his eyes hard as he impatiently worked through the letters written on the sign board, trying hard to look past the curtains of heavy shower, rapping hard on the windshield.

"Hold your horses tapir, don't get all worked up just yet and start fucking driving already. We're running late on our schedule, and this godawful rain is killing more time than we can make up for, so we better keep moving." said Madam Maya.

She was a bewitchingly attractive woman, this Madam Maya. For someone pushing forty at thirty-five, she certainly didn't look her age. Dressed in a white t-shirt and blue jeans, with a brown leather jacket hugging her slim yet ample features, she appeared to be much younger and with her dark hair pulled back in a pony tail, perhaps more determined than most other women her age.

While this other guy, Tapir, the old geezer, was a skinhead, with the appearance of a bald eagle, with his deep-seated eyes , a pointed nose and papery thin lips. He was strongly built for his age, and had a menacing look. They say, he once broke a guys forearm in half, like it were some stick , in a duel. For those who knew him, he was a bonehead with the temper of a wild boar, a fearsome old geezer . But he kept his manners around Madam Maya, she was the only person he feared and most importantly, respected.

"Yes madam",the geezer growled and turned the ignition on. The honda roared back to life at once and with the geezer at command pounced on the asphalt, ready to devour the road, like a beast with fire in it's eyes.

"Tonight's important tapir, coz tonight everything's​ gonna change. And you're gonna witness the single most important point, in the history of time, tapir. So drive, like your life depended on it, like it's the only thing you're born to do".

"Your word, my life."

The night grew feral with the rapacious hissing of the rain, like a horde of serpents coiled up and slithering in a glowing pit of  coal, burning slowly and all the way through the core, as the Honda seared through the road. One could smell the rubber, burning on the tarmac.

The sky thrashed with a thunderous clap and the clouds started getting darker.

The heavens were on the brink of a storm.

.......................................................................

" Saraf", called a voice, the voice of a child, a boy, perhaps, maybe the same age as him.

"Saraf, come play with me" came the voice again, this time softer and more endearing, well then must be one of his friends.

"Come, Saraf, hurry", wait that's not one of his friends voice, that's his own voice. It's him, he's dreaming of himself calling himself.

That's funny, Gramma would laugh if he told her.

"Of course she would, that's why, you're not gonna tell anybody about me. It's a secret, between us. Let's be friends. Secret friends."

"Hey wait, but it's a dream, ofcourse you can hear me thinking. You're not real, but you're talking like you're real. You are infact, not even you, because you're​ me. I must be really deep in my sleep, I'm imagining all this crazy things. I'm a big boy now, I don't get fooled by my own dreams, because I know it's a dream. And dreams arent real."

"I'm as real as it gets."

"Then, why don't you show yourself. Right now you're just an echo in my head. When I wake up you'd be gone. Poof! Just like that"

"Come to the mirror, Saraf. Come to the mirror, Saraf. Come to..... Saraf. Come.....Saraf. Co... af. Saraf! Saraf!."

"Saraf".

His head was hurting.

"What the fuck did I just dream of?"

He shook his head, trying to snap back to reality.

"The dinner's ready." his grandma Gini was at the door knocking.

"Coming, Gramma. Down in a minute. "

Still trying to emerge from the strange dream, he found his head feeling a little dizzy. A hell of a dream that was, so delusional yet so lucid. He had planned on dreaming about Saana from section C, but instead he ended up with his own frigging voice creeping him out.

At least he'd completed his homework before he fell asleep.

He turned around and looked out the window. It was dark. No moon. And it was raining heavily.

He got off the bed, put his slippers on and headed out the door. But came back as soon as he we went, as if he had forgotten something and stood in front of the mirror, and started slapping his cheeks, and making weird faces, to see if some thing weird happened. But there was nothing.

He shrugged at the thought of what he just dreamt, frowned at the mirror, and left, slamming the door shut behind him. And in that hurry, never noticed that something had not moved in the mirror.

A lingering reflection, the very spitting image of him, wearing a crooked smile of a 12 year old. The night crackled with a fierce thunderclap, rattling the window frame and blowing the curtains into a billowing mass of cloth, while in the fading light of the room, two tiny eyes sparkled in the mirror.

"Not yet, my friend", a childish giggle filled the room, inconspicuously amidst the thundering of the skies.

.......,................................................................

* Hi guys, thanks a lot if you are reading this. This is my first attempt at writing a book. I've been writing random stuff on my notebook with my favourite pencils, btw I collect mechanical pencils as a hobby 😀 because I like writing with them,

So guys support me if you like what you read just now , with your votes and comments, and follow me as I'm sure to make updates as frequently as possible . *