The hidden hummer

Retiring after a long day’s work is one of the things we all look forward to. You lazily tick the items off of your checklist – dinner, dishes, water bottle for the night’s thirst pangs, doors and windows shut tight and finally a bed well made that has been waiting for you to dive in to. Checking the last item off - the lights - with an inexplicable sense of satisfaction and snuggling comfortably in to your bed that’s been calling out to you with so much desire since the past hour, you couldn’t imagine doing anything else but tucking yourself in to those freshly laundered sheets and drifting off effortlessly in to a peaceful world where you are hoping to the good Lord that sandman doesn’t show up.

It’s all going on just as planned -  you are sinking in to the softness of your pillow – the bearer of ecstasy, the holder of the head that’s been beaten, bruised and bellowing from the inside, finding the right spot, the right angle and position and then it happens, you are in between two worlds, two dimensions, almost reaching out to the depth of your sleep, aware yet blissfully not giving a damn about your surroundings – the drowning lights of vehicles passing by, cries of super excited children who are having the time of their lives by not letting their family sleep in peace, the music from a wedding hall nearby, distant honking, fading away slowly in to the dimension that your swirling in to when all of a sudden there’s a quick, sharp, high-pitched hum around the earlobe that somehow was not tucked in to the sheet – not like it would’ve made a difference – and you jolt up in utter disbelief and a heartbreak that could never be repaired, not even with time, unforgivable act of cruelty by that hidden hummer in your room, waiting patiently by your bedside table or probably on the door of your wardrobe or even cleverly, prepared to prey from the ceiling – timing his deep dive almost in to your ear drum, teasing, almost as if mocking to say, ‘Athithi Devo Bhava’ – it’s feeding time, you just hadn’t realized – how selfish, he thinks and he comes in, both wings fluttering, gotta suck me some blood – and whizzes past you once again, deft in his moves, ducking the grab of your hand that’s hopelessly waving out in the darkness – “stupid human - shooting in the dark”, he laughs as he set out a lyrical hum to echo through the room.

Everything is destroyed, the pillows have been turned, the sheets crumpled, the sleep broken, the utter despair you are in – until the moment of enlightenment finally arrives – quite literally with the light turned on – you wait in silence, don’t make a move and just wait for it – you can hear yourself breathing – a little shaken, heady probably woozy from the sudden jolt.

And then the moment arrives – you hear it – all those external noises fade away – feeling almost meditative there for a moment – you are completely aware, you track him, you chase and follow – it’s a high pursuit chase within a 10*10 room and before you know it, your reflexes work in a way that you are astonished in to a state of shock – you open your palm – the hummer has been silenced.

Sweet dreams, blood sucker! You just got yourself preyed!