It was one of those dull, dingy and dark days of autumn. It was just after noon but it was very dark. The sun was nowhere to be seen and it was windy as hell. Even the streets were scantily populated than usual.

With a glass of hot chocolate in one hand and a handbag in the other; Alisha was out on the streets in this terrible weather, already cursing it.

She had a job Interview at  two in the afternoon today. Luckily the place was just a half an hour walk from her home. She literally hated Walking in such weather. But today was different. It was an interview she was really looking forward to and even the bad weather could not dampen her spirit.

But it was probably a bad day for her. She had really worked hard for the interview but it did not go well. And she did not get the job. She was very sad and felt dejected. SHe had no other Job Interview lined up. She could see all her dreams of a bright future fading away. She felt like a loser. She was a fighter. She had never felt this way before. But now, she did not know how to deal with her emotions.

In her troubled state of mind she set about on the  journey back home. She kept walking aimlessly not knowing what to do. She was not her usual self after the interview.

It was some time later that she paid attention to where she was heading. Then she suddenly realised that she was lost. She did not know where she was. There were very few people on the street, there were no street lights and it had started to get really dark. The place appeared a bit spooky to her. She was afraid and thought “could this day get any worse!!”

For the smart girl she was, she quickly found the route back home on her smart phone and headed in that direction. The sounds of crushing and rustling of the dry leaves were magnified in this isolated place. Soon she realised that she did not have her pepper spray in her bag and she became more terrified. She increased her pace. A little ahead she saw two men. That made the three of them on the entire street.

She kept her safe distance from the two men. As she did not know the area , she stopped many times to read the names of the streets, to assess her exact location and to search her way. Soon she realised that the two men stopped whenever she did. And when she started walking so did they. It freaked her out. She was afraid beyond imagination. She had to head straight on the street for quite some time. She just hoped that those men would take some turn or the other and be out of her sight. She knew that she had to get of the place as soon as possible.

A little ahead she found a few branches of a broken tree and took one for her safety and self-defence. Even though she had now maintained a greater distance .. the series of stopping and walking still continued. Though the men were ahead of her, it still felt that they were chasing her. She had a feeling that something very bad was going to happen. Already she was in a bad state of mind and in the present situation she plunged much deeper into the darkeness of her thoughts; anticipating all the bad and terrible things that could happen to her just now. She knew she had no way out and she had to do something about it. By now it was completely dark. She did not know whether these men were armed. Still she decided to try her luck and get ahead of them.

So, she broke into a run and so did the men. All those years of running added to her benefit and soon she outran those men. Now the streetlights were up again and she felt a little positive and safe. She heard some commotion behind her and  glanced back. She saw that one of the men had fallen down and was stumbling with a white stick to get back on his feet. She then saw that the other person also had a white stick in his hand. On a further observation she realised that both the men were blind.

Her mind told her not to trust them but her instinct told her to help them. So she went back to them and helped the man stand up again. After enquiring all was good, she dared to say something. She cleared her throat and said “You guys scared me.” Both the men started laughing. One of them said,”No my lady, it’s the other way round. You were stopping and then again walking, we thought that you were following us. We thought that you were a thief or something.”

Alisha felt a little guilty about doubting them. Her day had already been bad and now was the most embarrassing moment for her. She apologised to the men and went home.
While in her bed, in an effort to sleep, she thanked God, that she just had the darkness within to fight against.