Endless Tales of Corona - 1

------------------------------------ o ----------------------------------

While almost whole world is locked down due to this dangerous Corona Virus Disease 2019 (Covid-19), a bunch of crazy-heads are set to spin and weave stories taking the same Covid-19 as a theme. And here it goes...  

------------------------------- o ----------------------------

Chapter 1: Taken Captives

 - written by Priyadarshini Selvarajan

Nikhil and Matthew had gone exploring the seas. On a tempestuous night, when their boat had capsized, they used all their might and swam to reach a shore. It was a dreadful fight against the waves. The tiredness put them to sleep at once. When they awoke the next morning, they were surprised to see what was around. They had woken up on a lush green island with coconut trees and dense bushes all around. The clearness of the sea waters was something to behold. This was like a scene straight out of the movies. Only, they wished they had been stranded in the islands with the love of their lives.

The clearness of the sea waters was something to behold.
p.c.Painting valley

Suddenly, out of the bushes leapt some tribal inhabitants of the island. Pointing their daggers and spears at the two, they looked quite scary with their masks and harshness. Nikhil and Matthew looked at each other in fright as they laid on the smooth, white sand. The tribal people led them to a spot deep inside the forest and made few noises, gesturing at them, as if to get their attention to a hot water spring that had formed in the middle of a cave. Matthew and Nikhil advanced in fear towards the spring. Outside of the cave, far deeper into the forest, they could hear their tribe singing. “Go-Corona! Go-Corona! Go-Corona! Go!”

Nikhil thought of this to be yet another tribal ritual. However, Matthew who was practicing medicine when he wasn’t exploring the lands and seas, knew what it meant. He was surprised that tribal people living in a land far away from ‘normal’ population, could know anything about the deadly virus. Matthew decided to stay silent and not panic his friend who was already shaking like a leaf. When they neared the spring, the inhabitants made an action as if to thrust their spears at them, pushing both the friends into the water.

All at once, their muscles began to relax and regardless of the dreadful tribal around, their bodies and minds were at ease. It was almost like they were enchanted by a supreme power. They shook out of their trance only when they were being pulled out of the water to their own two feet, again. However, by now they were fresh and their minds thinking clearer than before. What a transformation, a plunge into fresh warm water could do!    

The tribal people led them to a shady clearing in the forest, where a huge pot of whatever was boiling over a fire. It looked as if it could devour at least ten people. The chanting of the tribal song grew louder and clearer. Fear strangled their necks, as Matthew and Nikhil were led to a tree. Looking frantically around, Nikhil nudged Matthew and pointed to a place where they saw few scribblings on the mud-cleared floor. A huge, shapeless monster was seen attacking hoards of men and women. The people in the drawings appeared powerless and afraid in the monster’s presence. Looking further around, they saw a ‘normal’ man sitting coolly on a wooden plank.

‘Maybe he would be of use to communicate’, Nikhil thought.

When the tribal had tied them to a tree, the seemingly ‘normal’ man walked towards them. He greeted them in English and seemed quite unaffected by what was happening around. He informed them about a monster that was devouring other parts of the world; and the tribal community was now on the watch-out for any new visitors to their island who might bring them in contact with this monster.

When the friends asked him how he had himself landed in the island, he told them about how he and his newly wedded wife had been honeymooning in the Mauritian islands when one exploration led to another and they landed up here. However, as ill-fate would have it, his wife had succumbed to a strange illness and had died just a couple of weeks back.

The man seemed too ‘normal’ for someone who had lost his wife in less than a month. When the looks on the friend’s face grew skeptical, the man explained how the tribal people had helped him recover from the depression and the physical illness that he himself seemed to be developing. The two friends were taken aback. But before the man could go on with his story, few of the inhabitants had come to release them off the tree. The two were pushed and shoved to lie on a spot where there were none around. What they saw there brought a chill down their spines. There were bones of a human strewn around.

While the ‘normal’ man’s story seemed too optimistic for the moment, Nikhil and Matthew themselves did not know what awaited them.

- To be continued -

----------------------------- o ------------------------

You want to know about the writer? Well, Tolkien best describes Priya in his lines - 'Not all those who wander are lost'. She calls herself a Jack-of-all-trades. For, she has her interests in a lot of activities, like - dancing, singing, writing, reading, meditating, cooking, photography, travelling, colouring, and even tarot reading! However, we wish she finds her true calling and commits to her purpose soon enough!