Hidden

They found him under one of the rock crevices. He was bold and quick. He snarled at them, but he wasn't big enough yet.

Over the years, Leo had grown up to be a star attraction. He had been sent from zoo to zoo and landed in a circus finally. He was an intelligent animal and wasn't hard to train. Unlike other lions he learned quickly, in other words; he didn't put up much of a fight. The trainers never saw anything odd. They were just happy that their job was a lot easier with Leo. 

Leo knew his routine well, so well that he could do it with a blindfold on. This made the trainers trust him even more. They'd feed him well before a show and let him enjoy the freedom other animals couldn't.

One night Leo was practicing with his trainers. The next day was going to be one of the biggest shows ever. Leo had to enter the arena with a bang from the bottom. He then had to run around the arena growling at the fans. Later, he had to run towards the trainer and jump and keep his paws on the trainer's shoulders and walk with him. After which he had to jump through some hoops and play football with the elephants. 

It was going to be the last night, he thought to himself. He had had enough of this life. 

With the stands filled with roaring crowd, it was Leo's turn to entertain everyone. He entered the ring and growled at the audience running around. This ended up making the audience roar even more. He started running toward his trainer. He was not running, he was charging. But the trainer was too relaxed to notice this. Leo took a jump and in an instant the trainers neck was in Leo's grip. He had killed the trainer in an instant. The whole crowd launched into a frenzy. There was chaos everywhere. They all ran for their lives.

Leo had done the unthinkable. He had killed the man who owned him and now he was free. He looked back at the circus tent as the people ran out of it and then he never looked back again. 

Dream Come True

Life was hard when I was finishing up college. One night I was sitting and thinking of what I was going to do. Nothing made sense at that moment. I had not worked hard enough to get a job. I had low grades so I couldn't even dream of applying to grad school. I had little idea what I was going to do. At this moment in the dead of the night, my cellphone rang.

I was bewildered as to who would be calling at this time. I picked up the phone and a recruiter had just seen my profile on one of the job portals and was intent on hiring me. I was at a loss of words. He asked me to come in for an interview. After hanging up, I was confused and excited at the same time. Why would a recruiter call anyone at this time at night? Since my options were limited, I decided not to give it much thought and went for the interview the next day.

The interview went well and I liked the job profile. The office was good, the people were good and last but not the least, they were paying me well. They asked me to join as soon as I finished up college.

The last semester of college went smoothly. I did not study much and just relaxed a lot. The day came when I was to join my new job. I was very excited. Now I wouldn't have to ask for money from my parents.

First day at the job went smoothly except for one awkward moment. I didn't know what to make of it, but it happened so fast. I was in the washroom washing my face and when I looked up, there was nothing in the mirror. But as soon as I blinked my eyes, my face was up there again. I thought it must have been the work pressure after all these days of relaxing.

It didn't stop, I started seeing more awkward things. One day I was supposed to meet with this manager who was supposed to brief me on this new project. I went into his office and he was not there. I decided to wait in his office. I looked around and was surprised at all the small statuettes he had in his office. I picked one of them up and was stunned to see how life like it looked. At this moment, the manager stepped into the office. He took the statuette from my hand and broke it into half. Apparently he didn't like other people touching his things. I was unperturbed by this, but something was not right.

Things didn't get any better. I was seeing weird things everyday. One of my female colleagues was talking to me one day. We finished up speaking and she turned to go away. But I thought I saw her look back, and she had this bloodthirsty look in her eyes. I thought I was hallucinating and went my way.

A few days later I was at my desk when suddenly I noticed no one was at their desk right before lunchtime. The whole office was empty. I thought they might have gone out to eat together. But even the staff wasn't around. It was as if someone had died. I decided to carry on with my work when I felt something nudging against my back. I looked back.......

I suddenly woke up to see my roommate in college trying to wake me up to go to class. 

Eyes

I was sleeping once when I saw them. They shone like the stars; blue green eyes. I saw them in my dreams too that night. When I woke up in the morning, they were gone. I told my mom about it, but she thought I was just imagining things or dreaming about them. She said it was just another hallucination and asked me not to watch horror movies or TV shows anymore.

I didn't stop seeing them however. They were there in my bedroom in a dark corner everyday. They wouldn't do anything but just be there. I wondered who was looking at me as I slept, but soon I got used to them being there. They would stare down at me and I would look at them with awe. Instead of getting scared, I started thinking of how beautiful they were. They were something which I needed to see when I was sleeping.

I remember telling my friends about them and they made fun of me. I invited four of my best friends to my house that night for dinner and a sleepover to show them the eyes. We were all tucked up in bed and ready to sleep. We switched off the lights and stopped talking. I started looking for the eyes and got disappointed. I tried looking for them in other places but couldn't see them.

That night I woke up in the middle of the night. I was thirsty. I got up and got myself a glass of water. When I came back to bed, there they were. Where I always saw them. My gaze was transfixed. I wanted to wake up my friends and show them. But the eyes told me not to. I turned towards my friends and saw one of them waking up and looking at the eyes. I could see the color of his face going pale. He started screaming. The eyes had become red now. I was scared too. Suddenly they vanished. Everyone was awake and asking the terrified boy what he saw. But he wouldn't open his mouth.

It has been a long time since the incident. I have moved and changed apartments many times since then. And then I saw them again yesterday; bright and shiny as ever. Looking at me from across the room as I curled up in my blanket, the eyes.

Wolf

I was at a party once when I heard someone scream out loud. I was intrigued and scared at the same time. I went into the room to find a few kids watching a horror show on the television.

As a kid I was scared of ghosts. I was scared of darkness and being all alone. I would always imagine things like I was not alone. Someone was lurking somewhere in the shadows. Once I grew up to the age of about 13-14, it was hard to admit that I was scared.

I sat down and started watching the show with others. There was a man who turned into a werewolf when he saw blood. It looked so real to my 13 year old brain that I got scared. Somewhere in my brain, it had left a deep imprint which was not to go away easily.

I wasn't able to sleep for weeks. All I could do was think of the werewolf. Being a kid, I was surrounded by colors; red in particular was not scanty and that was not helping. I couldn't shut my eyes at night to look for something which might come upon me. I would lie there in bed and listen hard, trying to listen to the footsteps. Often I heard things but I didn't know what they were.

One day I came back from school and mom was just leaving for the market. Dad had not come back from his office yet. I was to be all alone in the whole house. I could feel my heart pounding; even listen to it. My pupils were completely dilated and peripheral vision started playing tricks. A simple shadow of a vase would scare the wits out of me.

I heard this eerie noise coming from my bedroom. I could feel my hair stand as the noise grew louder. I didn't know what it was, but it was not good. I felt the need to see for myself where the noise was coming from. I was scared beyond comprehension and sweating, but I made my way to my bedroom. It seemed like the noise was coming from the dressing table. My heart was pounding harder now as if it were trying to make it's way out. I went and stood in front of the mirror and there he was, standing in front of me; the wolf.

Felix

This happened to me a few years ago. I was still in grade school back then.

I came back from school one day and I could hear noises in my backyard. It was as if a small baby was crying. I went to the backyard to find an injured cat. In the distance I could see a bigger cat running for the bushes. I knew what had happened. The injured cat was in bad shape. I went inside and brought a first aid kit. As soon as I finished bandaging the cat, she stepped away from me. I was surprised that she was scared of me.

The next day mom was making kheer. The cat was already at the backyard door when I came from school. I went out and gave her some milk to drink. She was delighted and finished it in the blink of an eye. I decided that I was going to call her Felix.

After that her visits to the house became more and more frequent. I started spending more and more time with her. She would sit at the door waiting for me everyday and I would come back from school and feed her. It became our little ritual. I had never had a cat before in my life, so I didn't know how to play with her. I just sat down beside her and tried to understand what she said to me.

The day I saw her "other side" was the day mom cooked fish. Felix was completely out of control. She was clawing at the door with all her strength. Mom gave me some of the fish to give to her. I remember she had almost eaten my hand in which I held the fish to give to her.

She was a shy cat. I remember once while mewing outside the backyard door, she had stepped on my foot unknowingly. She withdrew immediately after realizing. Once I gave her a dead honeybee to play with. It was fun to see her go mad at it.

A few weeks passed, Felix and I were closer than ever. Then one day I came back from school and she was not there at the door. I asked my mom about it and she said that she hadn't seen Felix either. I ran into the backyard calling her but she was nowhere to be seen. I was dejected.

A couple days later I heard the neighbor talking about a few cats trampled by a truck.