'You are a criminal in the eyes of this law Vedika, what happened suddenly?' a man in the middle asked.

It was easy to spot a leader of a gang. He speaks first and the remaining maintains silence. And this leader continued, 'You are the efficient criminal we ever have. I won't allow you to leave this felony position.'

'She is not going to accompany scum like you any longer,' her father screeched.

'Hush old man,' he mumbled, 'we are talking here, and can't you see that?'

'You shouldn't talk with elders like that,' I interrupted.

Vedika laughed. I knew it was a childish human comment but it works with bad people in bad situations.

'So, you are the guy our best lady going to change for.'

'I guess I am that lucky guy.'

'Straight to the point, what if we kill him here and now?' he grumbled.

'You are going to regret that later.' Vedika's voice was sleepy and poisonous.

'If it comes to regret, yours will be more,' he warned.

Vedika looked at her father. I was watching them and understood that they were having a mind-to-mind conversation. I hoped they would involve me too, like some conference call. But they didn't. Such selfish people, I believed in!

'Don't delay Vedika,' he objected.

'Let me think.'

'Don't try to be smart. We are approaching the capital city and you know we can't take you away in the creator's city.'

'If I come with you, everything is going to be in its place. Can I count on that?' Vedika asked.

'I guess that makes this easy. Your guy is free to go anywhere he wants.' He reasoned.

'What? No, you can't do that.' I shouted at her.

'Hey, hey, shut up!' he insisted, 'can't you understand the situation? She is already making a sacrifice. You do sacrifice her too.'

'You are the absurd bad guy I ever came through,' I told to his face.

I was infuriated and for the first time in my life, I wished I had some superpowers to rescue my girl from those scumbags.

'I will take that as a compliment,' he said smiling.

Then he held Vedika's hand and swiftly the plane was emptied. The bed she slept some minutes back seemed terribly empty for me. I was just a spectator in every situation and I hated it whole-heartedly. No one considers me. It hurt to be a misfit among them.

And these Dream Hikers were troubling me a lot. They could travel a million miles and all they need were people who were sleeping and dreaming. They literally entered the plane from Vedika's head. We feel envy if anyone, other than us, enters our girl's mind and that was my emotions right then. Disgusting!

'Who the hell are they?' I asked her father, who looked utterly lost.

'Every society has criminals. And you just talked to criminals among us.' He said and fell silent.

'What should we do now?' I rested my head back and lost in my thoughts.

'Getting you to safety is the crucial thing now,' he whispered.

'And how did you plan that?' I asked with an irritated voice.

'We go to the creator, explain that you are a no threat to our secrecy, and will request to leave you alone.' he said.

'That is it,' I said.

'If we are lucky, yes, that is it. You can live your life happily after that.'

'Wow,' I ventured, 'I didn't come on my wish and I am going to leave without my wish.'

He looked as he was offended by my words. But he didn't retort because he knew I could not do anything than that. I was too normal to be anything among them. I was just human.

*

We reached Milan airport at night. We were delayed by the sudden kidnapping of my girl. I was trying to get my mind off the things that were occurring like a blur around me, but I could not.

We entered the airport only to find Vasishtha waiting for us. Maybe, since the creator had made a deal with us, his duty was to take us safe to him. So loyal!

'Welcome home, daddy,' there was hilarity in his voice.

'Thanks, son,' he got a competent reply.

'Hey Siddarth,' he smiled.

'So we are on the same team now,' I asked.

'If my sister does not do any silly things, yes, we can be on the same team,' he said, as his eyes searched for her. As he could find her, he asked, 'where is she anyway?'

His father elaborated on him with the knowledge of how his sister was abducted. We walked out of the airport where five people in suits were waiting for us with five different cars. They were freaking rich, I prompted again. After listening to everything his father said, the least thing Vasishtha considered about was how to keep me safe.

It has to feel good with people concerning my safety precariously but it felt repelling for me.

What about her?

In less than twenty minutes, we reached a hotel. I didn't see the roads, buildings, or any scenery. The capital city had less traffic that night or we took a shortcut, I was not sure. My thoughts were occupied by her safety. She couldn't believe the criminal guys anymore. They might harm her or torture her if she turns rebel against them. The only thing that kept me running mild was the thought that she was immortal.

'But how did some senior Dream maker actually die, if these guys are immortal?' I still had no answer to my question. I was still anxious about her safety.

'Welcome to my hotel,' Vasishtha led us into it.

'Is this yours?' I said, as my mouth fell down.

It was astonishing. It would sure be rated 5 and some celebrities would be staying in some corner rooms. The lights were dazzling and the fountain was appealing.

As we reached the reception, Vasishtha ordered boys about the room we were checking in and handled our bags to them.

He was in a dash about something. He was stuttering his orders. The boys were Italian and the reception girl seemed like a colonized Arab girl. She was attractive, tall, and tough. I was distracting myself noticing the surroundings. There were paintings decorating the wall, sofas had heavily designed fabrics on them and the lights were partial yellow and orange.

'There's a call from the creator. We have to go now,' he said, approaching us.

'We need to rest,' I said bluntly.

'I guess she found out where Vedika would be now.'

His father was silent. He was occupied by something else.

'Let's go then,' I said.

We walked into the lift and Vasishtha pressed the number 12. The lift door closed like humming and we began moving up. There was strict silence among us. As the lift reached the 12th floor, a bell rang and the door opened, Vasishtha stomped out of it. His father took a deep breath and stepped out. I walked after two of them and we reached a room at the end of the corridor. The room was guarded by two young guys.

Dream Hikers may be.

Not being late, we ambled into the room only to find an old man slouched in a wheelchair. I was dumbstruck. I was not even sure if we were in the right place. Vasishtha moved his palm softly against that old man cheek. But he didn't even move or blink. He seemed like a person in a coma.

'Let's go,' Vasishtha said.

'Where is your creator?' I asked.

'In our city.'

'Where is your city?' there was a rise in my voice.

'In his head,' Mr.Aditya humbly pointed his finger to that old man's face.

'What? Your entire kingdom is in this scary old man's head?'

I lost my senses.

'The place for our city is selected by the creator,' Vasishtha explained, 'don't worry, the creator stabilized the dream. It would never go off.'

'What if this man wakes up?' I yelled.

'He won't unless the creator wishes so,' Vasishtha said, gallingly.

'You people are too much for me.'

At that moment I unequivocally realized that I loved the wrong girl. After our days of utter unbelievable and incredible events, I guess my mind had felt full; I fainted for the first time.

I fell unconscious in front of that old man, who holds a city in his head.

*

I think I am successful in taking you to the fantasy I dreamt about. You think the city is going to be cool, well, don't stop then. Explore it, I don't mind.

#Thanks for reading. Press the star mark below and vote for my story. Comments and suggestions are duly noted and appreciated.

#I hope you found it interesting. Suggest it to your friends and share them in social media directly from here.

Love you all.