Predators of the Night

        She logged into Yahoo Messenger. Which city it shall be today? She thought of where she would want to be right now. Maybe Goa?  She entered the Goa chat room.

Her screen started buzzing with messages.  “ASL please” was how they started. They all had the same thing to ask. She took a moment to decide who she should reply first.  It was fun to pick up the one she would chat this month. They  buzzed her like she was the queen bee and they all wanted to mate with her. It was true. She was one of the few girls on the chat. Every room was overcrowded with desperate-to-get-laid men. She chose the one named “snowandrains” who was eager enough to give his details as 24 M Goa. 

“Hey! 19 F Mum” She knew the response would be immediate. No one let go of a 19 yr old female.  She anticipated the next question. “DO you have a cam”? They all wanted to confirm she was indeed a girl and not a fake id. Who would want to share their sleazy nights with someone who claimed to be a girl but had balls? She pictured them in her mind. The geeky, thick spectacled engineering students who never hit on a girl in real world, the pot-bellied middle aged men who settled in gulf countries away from their families, the horny uncles whose daughters were as old as her, the school boys who had just hit puberty and were driven with hormones to explore the unknown. This  24 M “snowandrains” could be any of the categories. No one really tells their age accurately. It is always between 18 and 25 on chat. 

“Hey Dreamgirl, thank you for adding me” such chivalry
“You are welcome snowandrains” she typed

Unlike the other men who came straight to the point, snowandrains kept their chats neutral. He was well read and used to keep himself updated about his surroundings. He was world wise. Slowly, they began to nurture a companionship. They talked about growing up, studies, job, friends, internet, politics and everything else under the sun. They stimulated each other intellectually. She felt at ease with him. Yet, snowandrains had not asked her to reveal her cam. He was that stranger in some part of the world who was her friend.  It was not necessary that the location given on chat would be true. “Age sex location” could hardly be authentic.  It didn’t matter to both of them and they didn’t prod further about their details. 

“How are you so sure that I m a girl?” she asked him out of curiosity one day.
“I love to study people. I know them by the way they speak, the words they use and the phrases their sentences contain.” 
“So what have you studied about me?” 
 “Umm... well you are extremely clear about what you want. You are head strong, very mature and definitely a girl.
“You got it right so far.”
“You have a past.” 
This caught her unaware. How could he know? He was just shooting in the dark.
“Everyone has a past” she snubbed it
“Yours is disturbing. I don’t know what it is. I don’t want you to revisit it but it is a dark secret.” 
“Maybe” She signed out.

He had just made a guess. She was right. Everyone has a past. She hadn’t denied it. 
They resumed their chats the next day. He didn’t apologize for what he had said. They were learning about each other. He confided in her that he was actually 26 and lived in Goa. She maintained that she had been honest about her details.  They saw each other on cam three weeks after they had started chatting. 

“Dream girl, you are beautiful” He had said.
His hairline was receding. His smile was enchanting. His eyes were narrow with bushy eyebrows. He had a double chin already. Overall he looked like an average man in his mid twenties. 
“Dreamy girl, I m coming to Mumbai for a seminar. Would you meet me?”

She should have guessed his intentions. She was apprehensive at first but he had convinced her. She agreed to meet him. 
He was staying in a hotel in the outskirts of the city. She had suggested he stay there as it was close to her place. He had happily agreed. They decided to meet at Café Coffee Day which was midway between his hotel and her house.  She reached on time but he was not there. She had thought he would be the first one to come. She called him from a booth outside CCD. He told her he was not keeping well and was faint to even go to a doctor. He insisted she come to the hotel as he would be leaving the next morning. He wanted to meet her badly but was sorry that his health did not permit it. 

She reached the hotel. It looked shady. There was no attendant at the reception. What kind of a place was this? It was a one storied hotel and she doubted it had any other occupant. She went to the room he had told her to.  The door opened at the first knock.  He appeared at the door smiling and in perfect health. 

He asked her to sit. He told her he would change in a moment and they could go to a doctor. She was sweating already. 
He came back with only his underpants on. So this was why he had called her! He sat beside her, snuggling close to her. He held her hand and caressed her cheeks. He tried to grope her. She wanted to resist but she didn’t.  She didn’t move as the needle penetrated into the skin. 

They found him on the hotel floor. He was castrated and bled to death. Doctors found “zolpidem”, a kind of “date rape” drug in his body. The last call on his phone was made from a booth, the operator of which was blind. No one had seen any girl entering the room but the attendant saw someone running out.  No one knew of his yahoo “snowandrains” account which he used from a cyber café. 

She logged into Yahoo Messenger. Which city shall it be today? She missed the hills. She entered the Shimla chat room. This time she might herself visit and take care of the predator.