The window

Did I just kill a man? 
   Since the beginning of her journey, Anna was to carry out a simple task, finalize the deal her boss had entrusted to her with much trust and conviction. She could have never believed the turn of events which had unfolded in front of her eyes.
   It was raining with full force and the dark night had brought darker possibilities to be true. Anna was running as fast as she could, her sloppy sandals punching the ankle length water on the street, I need to find a telephone. She had left hers behind at the hotel as she quickly ran for her life.
   Every shop was closed, it was around 11 pm and there was no sight of any person or cars in the near distance. She kept running, after running for about 5 blocks, she saw a bulb on the right, gathering pace she reached the place. It was a dingy old shop and an elderly man was sitting, his nose buried in a news paper. Anna asked him if there was a telephone in his shop, apparently he couldn't understand her hushed tone and frightened demeanor. In a South Indian accent he directed her to the back of his shop when he finally understood.
   Anna dialled in the number and a dispatcher logged in her call to a call centre, the man on the other end spoke, "Ooty polis kaṭṭuppāṭṭu aṟai. Nāṉ uṅkaḷukku eppaṭi utava muṭiyum?" Anna quickly suggested he talk in English and he resumed, "Ooty police control room call centre, how may I help you ma'am?"
"I have to report two murders and I need help, please send someone to this location as quickly as possible." Anna took the exact address of her location from the uncle in the shop and gave it to the man on the other end of the line. She took a deep breath and the old man gave her some hot water and a blanket to cover her completely wet body. Within 10 minutes a police car arrived at the shop and a lady constable asked her to go with her. Anna agreed and they reached the police station in no time.
   Upon reaching, the head officer on duty asked the female constable to lodge her statement in their directory. Anna was hesitant as she wanted to talk to the officer and after some pleading he agreed. Anna sat across his table and he asked her to speak. Anna told him she was from Pune originally and had to visit a client tomorrow morning and she was staying at The Lake View Hotel on St. Cross Street. He asked for her ID but she had left it all behind, looking at her state the officer gave a considerable look and asked her to begin from the start.
7.30pm, SAME NIGHT.
Anna kept her mother's call and got out of her cab onto the lavish pavement of St Cross Street, across the road was a huge mansion like hotel with lush gardens and an open gate. She collected her suitcase from the driver and walked across, the long path was neatly arranged with various potted plants on the either side of the road, Anna was used to going to such places alone for work. Her boss had called in her urgently for a client meeting he couldn't have been able to attend due to an unexpected health issue. However Anna was happy to help and she obliged. She was the most hardworking employee in the firm and the client was a valuable asset who was also an evident investor of their company. Anna was supposed to meet him the next day, get the deal signed and return back home after visiting a few sightseeing places.
It was way past dusk and the skies had turned a thunderous dark blue. Anna just wanted to take a good nights sleep and cover up her jet lag.
   The architecture of the interior of the hotel was old but it was comfortable and somewhat away from the main city, deep into the woods. It was a rusty building, maintaining its vintage style with only 5 floors widely spread across the huge land. There were barely any shops around on this street and very few houses were stationed nearby.
   Upon reaching the main lobby of the hotel, she saw two men standing at the manager's table, they gave a smile and the man with the coat and manager's tag mentioned the hotel was happy to have her staying with them. He handed over the keys and motioned her towards the elevator. Her room was No. 506, he asked to help her with the luggage but she politely refused and carried on. She reached her room and saw that only two other rooms were occupied on this floor, her room was on the far east end. It was a spacious room with 3 windows and plush bathroom, it had flat screen television and a mini fridge with soft drinks and a package of snacks, with a card 'Compliments of the hotel staff.'
    Anna was hungry so she called the restaurant for some food and went in for a bath. The food arrived and she ate in silence, outside her window tiny droplets starting pattering on the window pane, slowing it started raining heavily and thunderstorms emerged, it was around 9 pm and she switched on the television for a weather update for the next day. The reporter was stating that although the weather was getting bad at the moment, it would soon be fine with little rain showers. Anna was relieved and heard her phone ring, it was her mother checking in on her before bed, she muted the tv and went to the window and talked to her mother. Some time later there was a knock on the door. She was surprised to see a man in his late 30's wearing gardener's clothes with a oil lamp in one hand and a hot flask in another she asked her mother to hold the line.
   The man said, "Madam the Saheb has sent me" The man's black eyes daunted in the spot light outside the room "There is news of a serial killer escaping from the jail two towns ahead of ours, please stay safe. Here is some hot tea for you, the weather is getting bad, we are also short on staff and everyone has left for home. We advise you to take proper precautions as it may flood soon" Anna thanked him for his kindness and accepted the tea, she was about to close her door when he stopped it midway, "There is an emergency exit from your room, the window at the back opens down to a spiral staircase to the back garden of the hotel, it may be slippery but in case you or any other resident cannot use the stairs or elevator, please keep the window open for urgency." The man smiled his crooked teeth at Anna and said a final good bye. Anna went to the back and opened her window, she then resumed her call with her mother.
   On the TV screen, the news flashed :
BREAKING NEWS : SERIAL KILLER ESCAPED.
The reporter was stating the details of the rogue convict along with the details of his history. How he escaped 4 hours ago was still unknown but he had a record of killing over 20 people in the last 3 years.What a crazy lunatic! He was also said to have tortured his victims brutally before killing them. Anna started feeling her body shiver due to the cold air coming from the open window right behind her. Rest all the doors and windows had been locked from the inside as the reporter had mentioned in the safety measures. The photograph of the killer was yet to be shown. She completed talking to her mother and unmuted the tv while she unpacked her suitcase for her meeting details and presentation. She was about to start her laptop when the tv screen flashed a mug shot of the escapee, Anna drew in a deep breath and her eyes went wide. It's him! It's the gardener! His dark, devious, devilish eyes stared at her through the screen, her heart started racing and she realized she wasn't breathing. Quickly she left everything from her hands and rushed to the window at the back of the room, rain drops were entering through the open space and she was about to close the window when she saw a figure standing right outside in the fog clad environment. Her heart jumped and she almost screamed, quickly she spotted a vase at the night stand near her bed and took it for protection. The man was standing still and was about to come in when she aimed the vase at his head. He flew back and lost his stability and fell down. Anna heard a thump in the howling wind of the night, she instantly looked down the window and saw the man on the ground in the misty weather. She closed the window and grabbed her purse on the table next to the door and exited as fast as she could. She tried knocking on the doors of the other two rooms but nobody opened the door after a lot of tries she gave up and started descending the stairs. The raspy weather had taken a toll on the electricity and the elevator was malfunctioning, the last thing she wanted was to get trapped in it till morning.
   Anna reached the main lobby of the hotel and searched the manager but he was nowhere to be seen, in the waiting area two men sat with their backs to the entrance, she went there to ask for help but as soon as she touched one, he slopped to the side and a visible knife wound along with blood gushing out of it met her gaze, she let out a scared shrill and she realized it was the manager and the other guy, he a neighbour and a friend. Anna couldn't stop herself as she ran and ran to the pathway that led to the main road, the potted plants along the winding road and the street lights were her only company, she came to an abrupt halt as she saw a man laid down on the concrete ground, his head was almost unrecognizable but his attire was the same the gardening clothes the killer was wearing, another man dead. She left the man there and ran out of the hotel premises till she found a shop.
PRESENT TIME, 11.45pm
The on duty officer quickly sent a team to the hotel to seal the place and find the bodies of all the people Anna had told them were dead. The team upon reaching had confirmed the deaths of the manager and his neighbour, the gardener and 7 other residents of the hotel along with the serial killer! Anna was given a place to stay for the night and the constable assured her to rest as her belongings would be safely submitted to her the next day.
   The next morning, after giving her last statement and completing the theoretical procedure, Anna was allowed to leave as the police closed the files of all the lives lost the night before.
   A cab was called to take Anna back home and she thanked the officer for his help and consideration. She called her mother who advised her to come straight home but she was supposed to be at the meeting in an hour. However she talked to the client and he understood her state, he assured her that they would arrange it some other time and asked her to leave for home.
Anna sat in the cab and asked the driver to take her to the airport, the driver put in the destination on his GPS and began driving, after continuing for some time he asked her if he could play music on his stereo, Anna said she wouldn't mind and was about to drift in deep sleep when he called out to her, " Madam, the cab doesn't have any air conditioning system, you may get out of breath. As I suggested you last night please open the window for emergency exit." He looked back, stared at her with his demonic black eyes and smiled, then everything went blank.