A Faceless Encounter

Ever since I lost my business and family I have been living on the streets, under the bridges, and on the pathways. Yes, I am homeless but I was not always like this. It’s been 10 years since I have not seen the comforts of my own home and I have almost forgotten soft and silky bed sleeps. In all these long years I have confronted burglars, dogs, and much more but I did not feel fear. I have been without blankets and I have faced the extremism of weather too. It's Kane here, a 63 years old man but when someone becomes homeless he lost his name and identity too. In this modern city where people spend most of the time eating and outing outside the nights are lonely and cold. No one knows how the nights of homeless people go but a homeless knows very well about the difficulties of poor people.

It was a cold morning of 20th December when I was sitting outside a café and requesting people for the breakfast. Suddenly I heard the voice of local FM news and I was stunned to hear about the closure of Zoo Park. In the news, it was reported that the zoo and its surrounding areas are known to not be visited by night. The zoo and a city park were available "which means a homeless person may spend the night there." I whispered with a shy grin. And no one will be there to disturb and abuse people like me. It was not told the actual reason for not visiting Zoo Park late at night but the intensity of the news showed clearly that there was something unusual.

All-day I prayed to have some food and I knew I will spend the night in Zoo Park. I heard some people saying the area has been haunted and the ghosts are a bigger threat in that area. But some people said because of the drug dealers, it is difficult for a place to thrive. I took my old handbag and I started searching for something to eat from fresh trash thrown by a restaurant. Amid all my searching for things from people's rubbish and as the usual sun started to set, my thoughts turned to where I might go to spend the night.

I picked my old shopping bags and started walking towards Zoo Park. While growing up, I've experienced many challenges and dangers that confirm what they told me—that I don't fear anything these days. I snuck into the park and I went to the sitting area to set my sleeping area there. The lights of the park were turned on and I was amazed to see the park was so empty and a hollow feeling could be felt very easily. I put the food given to me by some kind people near me and sat down looking around the park. Then suddenly a question in my mind sparked like thunder lights “this park has never been so vacant and it is believed that this park never sleeps. Then what has happened with this?”

I went to move around a little bit to observe if there was something more comfortable to rest or not. I heard a few dogs barking at a distance and a few sounds made by zoo animals. Everything was normal until when I came back and saw my food is not there and It made me so angry. I have literally been robbed all my life, now who is the culprit? I was left in tears and pity as I thought about all my previous life's happiness. I was in deep thought and fell asleep by resting my head with a steel pipe. I felt something has licked my hands and it made me wake up. I stood up and looked around for any cat or dog but there was nothing. I sharply recoiled after the smell from this sticky liquid was terrible. I rushed to the nearest small water source to clean it up. When I came back I saw my small bags and piece of cloth that I used as a bed, has also vanished.

I kicked the steel pipe so hard that my own foot started feeling pain. “A miserable place,” I grumbled bitterly. I laid down on the floor and scratched my head. As soon as I laid my head down I felt the thumping of something at a short distance. "Now, if you need something, you have to find someone who is rich enough to give you something." I stood up and repeated this.

I saw a short human being running away from me. I loudly screamed at him to go away and let me sleep here for a while. And I went to drink some water. When I reached the water fountain, the park lights started sparking. I washed my hands and face. I turned my back at I was shocked to see there were 3 to 4 children doing something but I could not see them clearly because of my weak eyesight. I started walking towards them quickly. "Are you the one who took my things?" I yelled at them. They, on the other hand, did not respond. They were facing away from me and I could only see their backs. When I came within 20 feet of them, I then screamed, "Give me all of my things now or I'll have EVERYTHING I wanted to do with you." A person among them came up and turned around to face me. All my life I never felt fear of anything but this time what I saw was very horrific. I saw the boy is not actually a human boy and his face does not have a nose, eyes mouth. At that moment rest of the two creatures also turned their faces towards me. Each of them was not like a human and one they even had plain skin on his face. My hand started vibrating with fear and I hardly moved my lips to ask “wh.. who… who are you?”.

The lights of the parks started flickering rapidly as if someone is playing with an electric switch. One creature started to come towards me and I started stepping backwards. I was surprised to see their bodies and hands were so sticky and fluid was dripping from their hands. These faceless creatures started humming and I ran away from them. At the age of 63, I could run only a few meters and fell down but those creatures were so fast that they approached me in no time. I picked up an old walking stick that was lying in the bushes next to me and tried my level best to hit at least one of them. But my heart was beating so fast that I could swing the stick 4 or 5 times. And I was out of breath in the next moment. Those creatures started grabbing me and humming loudly. I came to the realization that this was where I going to go. I managed to flee and began running at a breakneck pace once more. But this time, one of the faceless things reached out and gripped my neck from a distance of ten feet. Although his hand grip was so slippery I could feel the pressure around my neck. I started turning pale and the sticky hand continuously increased his pressure. The last thing that I saw was there were 3 faceless creatures standing near me and the only thing I thought was “Why did I come here to this stupid Zoo Park?”

When I awoke, I heard a beep from a medical machine and opened my eyes. I was in a hospital, and a nurse standing nearby said to me, "Thank goodness, you become conscious after 7 days." "You were brought here from Zoo Park." I dropped my hand on my forehead and questioned who would believe I was sane once I told them my experience.