Sameera

"If everything is normal then why do I feel like it isn't?" I shouted at Anwar bhaijaan and he goes back to thinking.

I thought I was stubborn. Now I realize I am no match with Anwar.

Things between us have changed since I last visited his house. We had dinner, I played with the kids and he dropped me home the next morning. At least that's what he keeps telling me. Shayna and my roommates agreed with his story. Though both my roommate were dead asleep to notice my arrival. And so was I.

Anwar says I was tired playing whole night with the kids that I fell asleep during the ride and he carried me all the way to my room that morning. That's his explanation for why I don't remember how and when I came home. And my head hurt like I was hit by Thor's hammer, to which he explained that Muskaan accidentally hit me on the head with her toy hammer, which is rather hard for a toy.

Not that I believed a single one of his explanations. Every time he spoke and I looked into his eyes for a hint of truth, his orbs shouted "GUILTY". Unable to watch him feed me white lies with a guilty conscience, I stopped talking to him on the said topic.

At least that explanation sounded better than a criminal knocking me out to eradicate all proofs of his crime that I captured. That thought has been on my mind for 4 weeks. Not that it's not a possibility, cause the memory chip of my camera was nowhere to be found, including the set of band-aids I bought that morning.

Anwar said that he took the band- aids and my munchkins sneakily took my camera to play with, destroying the chip in the process. I was glad I had a backup of all the data on that memory chip or else I would have been in dire trouble. All reasons apart, never was I ever going to believe that my munchkins could do such a devilish deed.

It's been pretty calm since the last few weeks, except for my roommates complaining about each other's dance moves on a weekly basis. The day I woke up with the nastiest headache of my life, pain all over my body like I had run a marathon and was hit by every other hurdle and runner I passed, the scene had been worse.

My roommates were shouting at each other, taunting how they danced like a hippopotamus, and turtle and snail and crab and God knows what. I forgot count on how many times they complained to have stepped on each other's foot.

It's something I have been used to in the last two years, but that day they were fighting like they have stolen each other's boyfriends. Not that they have any to fight over.

I had to immediately leave for office, careful to not attract their attention. The last thing I wanted was to take sides. I am very bad at choosing sides, mind I tell you.

Since the last 3 days I have been having my quota of weird dreams, that never bothered me for nearly 25 days. That was quite a record in the last 5 years. I have been having flashes of a forest, a full moon, an injured girl and myself running from someone. Not quite legible you know. But then when have they ever been legible?

"I thought we were past that." Anwar complained. Okay. Two can play the game.

"Yes we are. It's just the push of the moment. Anyways, I am heading home. And you promised to give me a ride." I changed the subject for which he was very glad.

With an unsatisfactory smile on our faces, we headed home. Anwar dropped me at my apartment and left with a "goodnight".

Silent treatment worked on Anwar everytime since I have known him. But this time it's different. He still isn't ready to give me a clue. I wonder what problem he has with forests? Yeah I know the source of his problem lies in that freaky forest. I wonder why am I figuring this just now?

And not to forget the fact that I have stopped searching for the missing girl ever since. Not even a single time has she crossed my mind in the last 25 days.

Yup I have been counting. And not to forget those freaky forest dwellers. I feel like I had forgotten them completely. And that reminds me of the wolf. Is it just a coincidence or is something really wrong with my memory? I must consult a specialist soon.

But for now my grumbling tummy needs special food. And I am the specialist cook for today, though it's not my turn, as my roommates are running late. And what could be more special than some tasty biryani?

I freshened up. The hot water calmed my nerves.

Turning on a music channel after a while, I prepared the dinner. And ate immediately. After cleaning my dishes, I noticed Akshita come in the living room. She sniffed the air and a relaxed, a pleasant smile tugged on her lips.

"Thank goodness Meer you made dinner. I am so famished. Oh, and Raina will be sleeping over at her friend's house. She called just now."

With that, she quickly freshened up and started devouring my special dish of the week. Feeling tired, I went straight to my room to sleep. Not that I slept immediately.

I had a late night video chat with my mother. I was missing her very much today. Though I knew better than telling her of my recent memory slips. She would freak out considering my psychological history.

After talking for an hour about how my brothers thrashed our neighbors car and blamed their own son for it, which he apparently accepted without a doubt, I felt drowsy. Wishing her goodnight, I turned off the laptop and slept.

I am running in the freaky forest, in lighting speed. The shining full moon helping me to see in the darkness of the night. Someone's after me. They will hurt me. I must escape here. Then I fell and saw a girl crying in front of me, faintly asking for help. She is injured, so am I , but her injuries are higher in frequency than the cuts on my arms and my sprained ankle. Without much thought, I traced my palm over her wounds, healing them partially in the process. She asks for water in a faint voice and a huge bottle of water the size of a 5 year old kid appears out of nowhere which she empties up in seconds.

Then wolves, huge wolves appear around us, leaving us no space to escape. Then two men came to me, asking me to leave the injured girl alone. I sob and plead them to not hurt us, but with a wicked laughter he shrugs away my pleas. All the wolves repeat his wicked laughter after him. I clutch the girl close to me to save her, but he yanks me away from her.

I see his face closely and recognise him. He is Ansh Rawat. He is lier, a criminal. He will kill me and take the girl away.

Then his friend, no assistant, hits my head. My head starts hurting, spinning around. My vision blurs. They stood above me laughing wickedly like the mafia villain of a movie. Then their expression changes. They start taking weird positions each second. Hair grows all over their body. Now in their places, stood two huge wolves. Werewolves. Then I closed my eyes.

I opened my eyes slowly to find myself in a dark room. I am sitting on a chair. No, I am tied to a chair. I kept struggling to free myself but all my efforts were useless. Then someone flicked on the lights, white florescent lights brightened the room. The room was completely empty like an empty apartment. Nothing was in the room except for me and air, and the chair. A plate of food appeared on my lap.

Why are my legs so short and thin? I wondered and looking around I met with a window seal. I was shocked to see my reflection. The reflection wasn't mine. On the glass window seal, I saw the girl I helped in the forest, tied up to the chair in the empty room. Then the lights went out and darkness consumed me.

I woke up bathed in sweat. I remember now. That night in the freaky forest. I helped the injured girl. I captured photos and videos of the pack of wolves. I was running away from the forest dwellers, but they found us. Ansh and Paras. The wolves stood behind them, forming a circle around us. I pleaded and threatened him to let us go, but he kept repeating the same phrase again and again like a parrot. Then someone hit me from behind. It was Paras. Then Ansh and Paras shifted into wolves. Werewolves.

Holly molly it's true. Werewolves are true. They really exist. And they are criminals. Kidnappers. He tried to erase my memory. That's why I forgot all the events of that night.

Why did Anwar lie to me? I bet they must have tampered with his memories too. And don't know since how long they have been doing it. That's why Anwar kept making false excuses. They made him to.

And they kept the girl tied in that empty room. They are so gonna pay for it. I immediately dialed the only person I could trust with this.

"Good morning Sameera, seems you still have my number. So lunch or dinner? Cause I have already had breakfast you know."

As usual Satish kept insisting me for an informal meeting. "A date" as he actually means it. But I have more important matters now at hand.

"Thanks Satish, but maybe later. I called to make a request. I need your help. It's an emergency."

"Anything for you. Just say it." He said like he wouldn't have denied if I had asked him to buy me the police station instead.

Apart from him trying to impress me and all, I know he will genuinely help.