So who are you more afraid of- Ghosts or Humans?

It is a terrible feeling to be in a horrifying situation, to see something which chokes your throat and increase your heart beat enough to be heard without a device. It is equally terrible to suggest someone that they imagine themselves in such a situation. Nevertheless I have imagined some situations in which I would surely get a heart attack, and I am sure you would too.

 

a)     You woke up in middle of the night. This is nothing new for you. Generally you roll over and go to sleep, but not today. A dog is crying in front of your house. It is a strange thing since you have not seen a dog in the vicinity for a long time. You had an eerie feeling but closed your eyes and tried to sleep. You felt hand of your spouse on your shoulder. When you turned towards your spouse, he/she was not sleeping. Instead he/she was sitting on bed looking at you. And believe me it is not love in his/her eyes. There is a demonic look on his/her face and then he/she speaks out your name slowly but it’s not his/her voice.

 

b)    They were in your building. It has been ten days since the riots started. There was a curfew so you sat in your home entire day watching new channels to see how many died and where. Your home is in one of the most posh colonies so you believed that you will be safe. But you were wrong. You heard screams of men, women and children. There was nowhere to hide and only a kitchen knife to defend yourself and your family with. With each new scream you wanted to run away; you wanted to stab yourself with that knife but did not enough courage. Your wife and kids start crying and held you tightly. And then all fears came true. There was a loud knock on your door and then more knocks. They were kicking on the door trying to break the same open. And you sat in a corner with your wife and kids, with a knife in your hands. 

 

c)     You walk your way from office to home. You worked till late in the office and are very tired. There is no hurry since you stay alone and thus no one is waiting for you to come home. But still you are walking fast since you have never liked this dark gully. It always gives you creeps. There is no reason to be afraid as you have not countered anyone suspicious till date. But today you saw a man walking towards you. You hope that he is another one like you and yes he was. He stopped and asked for a lighter. You handed him one. You saw his face for the first time when he lit the cigar. There was nothing on his face. Absolutely nothing, no eyes, no ears, no nose, no hair. You started running like crazy. You don’t even stop to look back and see if he is following you. Somehow you reach home and quickly open the door. You wanted to take a long shower to calm yourself down. So you stood under the shower and let the water run in your hair and your face. You rubbed your eyes. But there were no eyes. You ran towards the mirror. There was absolutely nothing on your face. 

 

d)  You and your husband love to take adventure trips. You keep searching for places far away from population; remote villages, camping on hills, tree house in forests, sailing far into the sea and so on. You heard about this location from one of your old friends from college. He said nobody crosses that road for months. You were very excited. You packed the backpack, picked your husband from office and started driving. It was a long drive. You camped in middle of nowhere just before sunset, pour two glasses of Champaign and kept staring as the sun went down the horizon. It was absolutely dark, except for the lantern. You two listened to classic love songs and danced till long into the night. While you were sleeping you heard a sound. You woke up to see blood on chest of your husband and then you saw the knife deeply stabbed. He trembled and then became silent for ever. And then you saw five men with lust in their eyes; one of them your college friend. 

 

e)   You drive towards your office and stop at a traffic signal sharp at nine every morning. Every day without fail, a man turns up on window of your car and stands there. He has a round box in his hands. He does not say anything to you, just stands there looking at you. No matter how much you ignore him, he does not go away. He does not make any effort to approach anybody else till the time you are standing there. You mention about him to your office colleagues but even though everybody passes through the same traffic signal, no one recalls seeing him. So one morning out of curiosity you look into his eyes. You roll down the windows and ask him “What is the matter with you?” He does not say anything. He just opens the round box. It is full of currency notes. You tell yourself in your mind that always you knew that this was about the money. So you drop a dollar in the box and as you were dropping the dollar, the man holds your hand. You shout and try to free your hand. Next moment, you are no longer sitting in the car. You are standing on the road. You are holding the round box in your hands and you see yourself driving away. The next car comes and you are staring into its window.

So who are you more afraid of, ghosts or humans? I guess I know the answer.

The dark will come

“Bindiya….Bindiya…wake up my child” a voice said; her mother’s voice. It had been years since she last met her mother. “You have ruined her with all your senseless affection” her father said; a father who always considered her as a burden. The voices seemed to be coming from far away. “Bindiya..Bindiya” it echoed. “You have ruined her…you have ruined her” sometimes loud, sometimes distant; sometimes real, sometimes hallucination. She had fever for entire night. Sometimes she felt as if her mother is caressing her head and then opened her eyes searching for her mother.

She woke up with sweat on her forehead. She was not sure if she was actually awake this time. She looked around to see if the room was still swinging, then slowly got up. Her throat was parched. She walked up to the pitcher only to find out that there wasn’t a drop of water left. Her husband knew about her fever however did not consider it important to leave water for her, let alone bring some from the well. She knew that in this neighbourhood nobody would give her water. Water was the most precious possession and lead to arguments, spats and murders. You would not be able to buy a glass of water with a kilo of gold around here. After all, you cannot drink gold.

She looked again in the pitcher. There was some water left. She dipped a cup and had a gulp. She looked again. There was still some water left. She again dipped the cup and had another gulp. The water was still left so she picked up the pitcher and drank to her content. The water flow did not stop. She found it difficult to breathe under such heavy water flow. She gasped for air. She woke up again. “Bindiya….Bindiya” her mother’s voice echoed. She had not slept. She could not tell whether she was sleeping or not. Why was she feeling so thirsty even after drinking so much water? She looked into the pitcher. It was as dry as a bone. She once again looked around to make sure the room was not spinning around her.

She picked up the pitcher and started walking towards the well. In normal days she took around twenty minutes to reach the well. The sun was at its best. It seemed that it had descended on earth itself. There was not a single tree or bush on the way, but yes you could make friends with some snakes and scorpions. “We should send Bindiya to stay with my sister in town. She can go to school and study” her mother said. “You crazy old witch! I have called people to see her next week. I am getting her married. Don’t fill her head with crazy ideas.” Her father shouted. She sat down after walking twenty steps. There was a woman coming with a pitcher of water. She poured water in her hands. She tried to drink water but her hands could not hold it. Her hands started melting and so did the pitcher and the woman with the pitcher. “Take this money and run away. This is the address of my sister in town. Run away my child. This life is not for you” her mother’s hand trembled. Her face melted with tears. She always wondered how tears always manage to roll even with so less water to drink. Why was everything melting around her? A bee sat on her eyes. “Run away…run away…run away” kept echoing in her ears. She opened her eyes.

She walked like a ghost, unaware of the direction and unsure of whether she was actually walking or not. She reached the well and drank water many times. She would have imagined rain also but unfortunately she had never seen actual rain. She had only heard about it. Her mother had told her to run. Her mother gave her some money and a bag. She started running. She fell and broke the pitcher. Where were the money and the bag that her mother had given? She had to run.  

She had reached the well. “This life is not for you” her mother had said. She had never seen a pond. She wanted to sit in water for so long that her soul got wet. There is only one way. She jumped.

That night she came back home. “It is too dark. I cannot run away” She had told her mother. Her mother froze and could only mutter “This is not dark. The dark will come.”