The Instinct

Maya was ecstatic as she had been invited to accompany her friend and colleague, Juan on a photography trip. Juan was a very good photographer. She had learned a lot from him in the past few years. Just as his name had popped in her mind, her phone rang and she didn’t have to guess who was calling. Hurriedly she answered the phone and got dressed. Picking up her bag and equipment, she was out of the door in a flash.

Driving through many back lanes, they finally arrived at a Victorian cottage house. Getting out of the car, she looked at the house. Something was definitely creepy about this place. Covered in shrubs and small trees, the house looked like it had just crept out of a horror novel. As there was nobody at the gate, they entered completely unnoticed. Juan marched ahead inside the house while Maya trotted slowly behind still feeling a little eerie.   

Maya was about to take out her camera, when Juan phone rang. She jumped out of skin as the shrill girlish shriek echoed through the silent house. “Would you please change your ringtone?” she said to Juan in an angry voice. Laughing, Juan ignored her and started reading the message on the phone. “It’s just my horoscope, says that I need to be careful today.”

They crossed room after room but they didn’t find anything interesting. Doors were closed and some areas were cordoned off. As Juan wondered off, she sat down on one of stairs. Suddenly in the corner of her eye, she felt a shadow move. She jerked her head to see but there was nothing. She got up and started walking towards the area Juan had gone. But the sight in front of her chilled the blood in her veins. Juan’s camera equipment was on the ground and he was being slowly dragged inside the balcony.

She ran towards him but stopped short in her tracks. A pair of blood shot yellow eyes looked at her. A fearsome roar of a tiger rang through the silence. Gulping down her frightened heart, she followed the tiger in the dark. She could sense that she was inside a room. But where was Juan? She shouted his name twice but nothing happened.  Sensing something behind her, she turned and froze. The tiger was behind her and it was getting ready to attack.

Scrambling inside her bag she found her pepper spray bottle. Aimed with it, she waited for the tiger to attack. It raised its body forward and sprung in air. As it landed on her, its claws sung in her soft flesh. Crying in agony, she looked in its eyes and pushed the button on the bottle. The spray hit the tiger with full gusto and it jumped off her immediately, and ran away through the door. Still in pain, Maya looked around for Juan. The luster of his diamond ring shone from the corner of the room. 

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