He laid in wait, planning the kill. His eyes gleamed like red fire emanating from purgatory. All of his senses were at full alert. His tongue hung out with drops of drool at its tip. Now and then he moved his tongue across his lips, anticipating the aftermath of the kill.
A faint growl broke his trance. His ears perked up and eyes grew wider looking around for familiar signs: a rustle of leaves or crunching of twigs or a trace of the prey’s scent. He found none. The next time being prepared for it, the sound was more pronounced. Then it came to him. A glance at his belly confirmed his suspicion. The sound came from nowhere but from his insides. What else had he expected! He had not fed for days; lying there waiting for the ultimate big game. A few such days and he’d be no better than dead.
The wait prolonged and his appetite intensified manifold; his belly howled in protest. Long waits bear sweet fruits (in this case: flesh), he repeatedly consoled himself. But deep down he knew that time was running out, fast. Mere consolations were not going to subdue his hunger. And if the circumstances didn’t improve he’d soon join the ranks of those he had hunted; only that his fate would be worse. His corpse would rot in the dirt or be scavenged by some. Nothing but his bones would be left, scattered, mingled with dust, bearing the sole testimony to his existence.
The Sun went down and came back up again. He was totally exhausted; all his strength and patience had drained out. His vision blurred, the eyelids wavered, struggling to remain open, ears drooped low, the muscles went slack. This is the end of him, he thought; his misgivings were turning into reality.
Just then, two things came to pass, one after other. There was a change in the wind direction followed by the breaking of twigs. He was on the verge of losing his consciousness when his whiskers twitched as a familiar scent hit him. He jerked wide-awake, eyes widened and ears perked up; all senses back on alert. The wait was over. At last. He gathered whatever strength he had left and followed the scent.
The scent led him to a clearing in midst of trees. There it was: the long-sought prey, walking away. The monster followed, camouflaging himself well with the surroundings. The prey turned around a few times, but the monster didn’t oblige to reveal himself. Not yet, he’d wait till his prey was well within his kill range. Every step ahead was well plotted. After all, it was a matter of life and death.
The closer he drew, the stronger the scent became. It was mouth-watering. He kept his elation in check. The impact would ensue any moment now. He steadied himself and waited, long enough to get the thing in the kill radius. Seconds ticked like hours. “Patience! Patience!” he repeatedly told himself.
The moment crept in. The thing was close enough. He felt his hind limbs tighten. What came next was as swift as lightning: he leapt. Landing on the prey, his claws went home and without losing a moment he found the breathing nerve and sank his teeth in. Done.
It all happened so fast. She was just milling around. A time or two, she felt an itch in the nape of her neck, the feeling one gets when being stared at. She turned around but found nothing out of the ordinary, just the dense thicket of trees she had just come out of. So she trod on, oblivious to the immediate danger she was in. And then in an instant, before her gut instincts could convey the message, she was knocked down. A piercing agony she had never felt before spread throughout her body. As the veins gave way, superfluous blood oozed out and soon she was lying in a puddle of blood. She tried to breathe but couldn’t. Her windpipe was severed. She knew she was dying; the last thing she’d ever know.
The countdown had begun. The only thing remained to decide was: What would serve the final blow? The lack of air. Or the lack of blood. The gap between successive breaths escalated. Dizziness spread as last pints of blood left her body. Her eyelids grew heavier. She had a brief glimpse of the devil. Happy and Satisfied. Her eyelids quivered one last time before finally shutting down.
One light extinguished. Another lightened up.
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