The night was dark. A slight drizzle was falling over the city. Few cars were rushing homeward with their occupants, everyone in a hurry to catch a few winks before the dawn rose again. So was this man as he hit the accelerator hard. Suddenly he lost control of the car and as he tried to veer the car safely, he realized that he had knocked someone down as he heard a loud thud followed by a high pitched scream that filled the air.

Damn it, he muttered to himself. He didn’t bother to stop and see whom he had hit as he took the bend and raced away. He was lucky. Nobody had seen him but the scream was heard by a few people. They appeared on the scene out of nowhere and looked around at the lonely stretch of the road.

 

One of the men noticed the silhouette of the body lying between two lampposts, in a shaded area at the side of the highway.

 

‘Over there.’ He yelled to the others.

 

The five or six odd people ran across the street towards the body.

 

‘Is he dead?’ One of the men asked looking at the body.

 

‘No, there is still life in him.’ Replied the man who had noticed the body.

 

‘He seems very young’.

 

‘Let’s inform the police.’ Someone suggested aloud. A young boy’s voice called out from amidst the small huddle, ‘good idea. They’ll take him to the hospital. Quick let’s do it.’

 

The man who had noticed the victim turned around. ‘Forget it! We’ll get into trouble if we call the cops.’ He started to walk away. ‘We better go before we get into trouble.’ He added.

 

The men quickly disappeared as they had come leaving just a young boy looking down at the silhouette of the victim lying in the shaded spot. He quickly turned to look at the disappearing men.

 

‘Strange’, he muttered to himself. ‘They should have at least taken him to the hospital.’ Loudly he yelled out, ‘Please let’s take him to the hospital.’

 

One of the men simply turned around without stopping and behaved as if he hadn’t heard his request. He shrugged his shoulder and then disappeared down the road. The young boy looked down where the victim lay and then turned around as he heard the sound of a vehicle.  He saw a car coming down the street.

 

He quickly ran towards it, flailing his hands in the air to stop the car.

 

‘Stop stop, there’s been an accident.’ He yelled aloud.

 

The car zipped past the boy without a second thought. The boy saw another car headed in his direction. Again he waved out as he yelled at the driver to stop the car and rush the victim to the hospital but the car wouldn’t stop.

 

In the dark, the boy could see the body twitching a bit. He slowly whispered to himself, ‘Please don’t die. Please. I’ll stop a car to take you to the hospital.’

 

It was then he noticed another car coming towards him. The boy ran in its path. But the car simply zoomed past him on its way. The boy watched in disgust as the car passed the victim. He cursed the driver. And as if the driver heard him, he braked the car to a stop. The boy looked at the car and then slowly walked towards it, a weak smile now visible on his face. The voice of a man reached his ears.

 

‘Looks like an accident.’

 

‘Come on darling, I can’t see this.’ A woman’s voice replied pleadingly.

 

‘Just a minute. I think he’s still alive.’

 

‘Stop it. Let’s go or else you’ll have to sleep all by yourself tonight.’ The woman sounded adamant now.

 

The woman put her head out to look outside in the rear. The boy was running towards them now. Behind him, another car was coming down the road. She turned to look back at her male companion. ‘I said let’s go or else we’ll be blamed for this mishap.’

 

As the boy reached the vehicle, its driver suddenly changed the gear and the car zoomed away. The boy ran after it yelling for the car to stop but it had already disappeared down the road. Dejected, the boy sat down on the pavement under the street lamp. His face bore a tormented look as he looked in the direction of the victim lying on the side of the road.

 

‘Strange place this Mumbai is.’ He mumbled to himself. ‘Nobody is concerned about an accident victim. Why is it that Mumbai only rises to help when a big incident happens be it the blasts or floods. Why not such poor victims of someone’s rash driving.’ As he sat there thinking aloud, he could see cars zooming past. Weakly he would raise his hand to stop them but nobody bothered to even glance at him. One or two cars did slow down and the Boy’s eyes shone with apprehension but soon faded as the cars keep moving.

 

‘Please God’, he prayed. ‘Don’t let him die. His family must be worried for him.’

 

Time went by and now there were few cars passing by on the highway. The boy with a dejected look on his face shuddered a bit. He looked back where the body of the victim lay. Painfully he got up and walked towards the victim dragging his feet.

 

‘Just hang around buddy for some more time’, he pleaded softly as he walked. ‘Just as morning breaks, someone will surely help you reach hospital.’

 

The boy looked down at the victim tearfully and then around him with dying hope. He raised his face at the sky and gave a loud scream. ‘Somebody please help……..’

 

The boy’s breath was now coming in short gasps. Behind him a car slowly approached and as it neared, the victim’s face momentarily shone in the headlight beams. His face was identical to the young boy’s and wearing similar clothes. The boy with one long breath slowly collapsed next to the victim. He then crawled with difficulty to lie on top of the victim’s body as the two bodies merged into one. The victim gives one last shudder and then was still. The spirit had died with its body.

 

The first rays of the morning sun slowly spilled on the victim as a hand pulled a white sheet to cover its body. A crowd had gathered to watch the spectacle. A police van stood nearby and a few cops were making notes of the scene. The Knight had turned to morning