The Homeless.

The Hijabi girl made her way through the dark and blood-curdling path to the station. The least chosen path was her choice of the night and the route observed it’s deathly silence. But the wheels of her trolley shattered the dark silence awakening the hungry stray dogs. One of the dogs barked at her, and the rest of them joined the choir after the first one. She was terrified but walked ruthlessly disregarding the growling hungry curs. She lifted the bag to eschew the noise and prayed the dogs don’t chase her. She had walked half a mile, and yet the station was a mile away. The growling and snarling slowly ceased, reclaiming silence through the street.

She sighed with relief and resumed her stride. The street was abandoned at the hour. She expected no more hurdles through her path and walked solaced. After walking a quarter mile, she encountered the hobos and saints lying on the pavement by the street. At first, she was relieved with sight of a human life at the first place but then she realized her Muslim-attire, the full body cloak. The intimidation and panic-strike followed the epiphany. She kept her eyes away from the homeless residents of foot-path and kept walking voicelessly, gazing at the ground. They stared at her like the predators heeding the prey’s path. Those eyes as desperate as if they haven’t witnessed a woman before. Each of them stared her head to toe, as she walked past them. Their eyes emitted their desire and passion. They were eager.

The station was half a mile away and the hobos’ and saints’ chain seemed endless. Along her path,raised two stout saints and their pet dogs with red grog eyes. They both glared at her as she passed by and strode after her with their dogs. Moments passed but she was not aware of the stalkers behind her. Suddenly, she heard a snarl from behind her left. She was fully startled but could not gather the guts to turn around to look who’s behind. She kept walking with fright. She heard foot-steps behind her and this made her sure, someone was following her. She gathered some courage and turned her neck a bit to her left and saw through the edge of her eye a stout saint and a dog following her. This brought her fear to life, and she paced up to escape from him. While the saints with their dogs followed her trail, the hobos gave her the damned lusty looks, their eyes sparked as she passed and threw a creepy smile at her.

She wished she could turn around and run back to the crowded street she left one and a half mile ago or wished her boy-friend or father was with her, who offered to drop her at the station but she denied. The station was just a quarter mile away and she finally came across a street light. Those rays felt like blessings for her. But to her surprise, she found four more shadows behind her. She was terror-struck and began to jog lively. She reached her hand into her purse and pulled out her cell-phone, 2:30 AM it was. Her thumb rested on the power button waiting for a hint, ready to press it thrice at the emergency. The saints took long steps as she tried to bolt. She began running as she noticed the saints behind her taking long steps to chase her. She ran as fast as she could with her trolley and didn’t stop till the station, until they lost her.

She made it to the station panting and all sweaty. Her train was fifteen minutes due for its arrival and she walked towards the water tank to satisfy her thirst. There was no glass at the tank, so she bent over the sink to drink the water by her hand. Her fears washed with the water and she relaxed. She picked her bags and turned around to head towards the bench at the platform. But, that was not her day to relax. The chase wasn’t over yet. She was stranded with the stout saints standing in front of her. The station was empty and her body strained. She was helpless. The monstrous saints slowly approached and their dogs barked at her. It seemed as if her death was walking close to her step by step. Her hijab was wet with sweat, she would faint with their first touch. She stepped back as they approached but they were conscious and she was all dull and fail. They finally reached her and to her surprise, they joined their hands and said sorry to her.

‘We are so sorry to have frightened you, but please trust us your fright was worth it.’

‘Okay.’; She said shakily, she was still frightened.
‘You need not be afraid of us girl, you are safe with us.’ ‘We backed you to safe-guard you from few of those evil hobos who cruelly raped and killed a woman and her two year old child last month.’

‘We didn’t want any other woman to bear this pain and we swore to ourselves to safe-guard every woman that passed that street ever after.’

She was stunned by his words and the chills passed through her spine. She after a while thanked them and apologized to have misunderstood them. They waited there till she boarded the train safely and bid her fair-well. Throughout the journey, she contemplated the whole incident and thanked the lord to have sent those angel like saints for her protection and prayed for the mother and child to rest in peace. That day, she learned;

Poverty teaches you both modesty and barbarity. It’s the path you choose that defines you.