Thank you! I thanked the cab driver as he dropped me off at the intersection. I checked my watch as I took in the silent atmosphere around me. 9 pm. , it said. But the surrounding's condition presented as if it was already midnight, maybe because of the sudden blackout the city was suffering through or maybe because of the thunder covering the sky.

I sighed heavily as the lonely path ahead of me caught my attention. "3 kilometers to my home, I should hurry up if I don't want to get stuck in the rain ", I told myself and started towards my house.

The walk from the main intersection to my home never felt this long until now as the big-dense trees danced gloomily to the silent music of the gushing wind. I trod forward cursing my boss under my breath for the sudden late-night meeting. I tried to keep my pace as fast as possible but all of my efforts were in vain. The rain started as I was halfway to my house. I tried to keep my pace but eventually gave in when it started raining heavily.

I looked around and ran for the nearest house, in fact, the only house available there. It was a two-level, old-fashioned house. The main door was wide open as if welcoming me. I ran through the front garden to the main door but to my horror, it was locked. I looked around frantically, desperate for a shed. I finally found a shed under a window awning.

As I was waiting for the rain to subside, I started observing the house. It was giving off a lonely vibe as if not a single life had crossed its boundaries house since centuries. I was standing there when suddenly, I heard voices inside the house. I peeped through the window wondering if the owner had returned or not. It was dark inside. I tried to peer at the front door to check if it was open, but it was out of my field of view.

I decided to knock on the window, I was standing under to check.

'Hello ', I knocked and called out, 'Is anyone inside? Can you please take me in?' I waited for a reply.

As I was about to knock again, I heard faint whispers from inside as if the speaker was near the window on the other side. 'Hello, are you there?' I lowered my voice as if speaking to someone in front of me as I was sure that despite the loud noise of the rain, I was clear enough to the insider. I spoke again, 'I'm drenched. Can you please take me in, I swear I mean no harm', I waited for the reaction.

And to my contentment, the window started to unlock I waited patiently as the owner took longer to unlock the window than usual. As it was about to open completely, I heard someone calling my name from the road.

'Vishal!' I was extremely pleased to spot my neighbor and friend standing on the road with an umbrella. 'What are you doing here?' I yelled, asking him over the rain.

'I'm here to take you ', he pointed to the umbrella he was holding.

I quickly thanked the half-visible house owner and ran towards him. Getting under the umbrella, I asked him, 'How did you know I'd be here? '

'I told you, I'll always be there wherever you'll need me', he dodged my question shrugging.

We stomped along the path towards our house. I told him all about my office and daily activities. He was mostly silent during the whole walk except for the few monosyllabic answers which was very uncommon for him. When I asked him the reason, he just shrugged it off.

I also told him about my experience in the house and he alleged that I must be mistaken as the house was abandoned years ago. Nobody lives in there. I was still thinking about it when we entered the house locality. As we arrived at my house, we noticed a thick crowd around his front door,

'What has happened Vishal? Shall we go and check?' I asked him.

"No", he denied sternly and asked me to go inside my house with the promise of informing me later about it. As I was about to go inside, he called me again, and out of nowhere, he brought out his hand for a handshake saying, 'It was nice meeting you, my friend?'

“Yeah, you too', I replied, distracted by his icy hand.

The feeling of that cold hand lingered on my mind as I drifted off to sleep later that night. I kept telling myself, 'It must be because of the biting cold or the rain' when the sleep engulfed me.

I woke up to the sound of banging doors. I opened it only to find one of the neighbors yelling at me for being an irresponsible neighbor in a situation like this.

"Okay, but what 's the situation?' I asked her. She was beyond shocked as she replied, 'Your neighbor, Vishal, slipped through his roof due to rain last night and died!'

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