Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The Eerie house.

The doctor had left giving his grim verdict. Bhoo, our pet dog would not live for more than a week. Bhoo looked very tired hardly moving around even for food. I decided to take him for a stroll a last time. I gave him a call and reluctantly he staggered up on his feet ready to come with me. We had made thousands of such trips but this one might be the last. I was cold. I was not willing to come to terms with it.

Together we were once again walking on one of the same paths we had trodden for several years. But today we were slow. It seemed like he was looking at everything in his path very carefully perhaps bidding a final farewell. No he was tired and unable to move fast. And then we were following a trail where I had never taken him back lest the fear of losing him. But we continued. May be it would end at the same place it began.

Every village has a haunted house. There was one such on the outskirts of our village. The elders had found an innovative way to keep the young off the limits. Nobody would dare to go near the house. Every body would be back home before twilight.

It was twilight and I was lost, still searching my way home. I had no clue where I was heading towards and then to my horror I reached the very gates of the haunted house which I had feared more than anything else. It's towering presence having strange effects on me. Oh the
ghost must have seen me and would take me away. I did not know what to do. Do I run? Where do I run? But I could only find myself standing still with my eyes closed in the hope that the ghost would not see me. And then I heard a strange sound. Why was the ghost barking in such a
soft and a faint voice? Very slowly I opened my eyes knowing that I would be far off in the town of ghosts. But to my surprise I was still at the same place. I checked around and there was nobody besides me. I could still hear the faint sound. Without much thought I was heading in that direction opening the gates of the house. There in between two huge stones I saw Bhoo as a puppy. There was no one with him. He was lost in the same way I was. I went near him
and offered him a biscuit. He ate it in a flash. He must have been hungry. I offered him some more. Fear once again grappled me. It was not easy to shrug off the presence of the house and I was in its grip now. I started running away from the house with Bhoo following me.
Then he had taken the lead and I was following him. Finally we had made it out. This was 11 years ago.

I was staring at the same house again. This time my fear had increased ten fold. No the reason was not the haunted house. It was the fear of losing Bhoo. I wondered if Bhoo would have remembered about the incident and then in a flash he ran towards the two stones now a bit eroded, jumped up upon them and looked straight into my eyes. He was barking softly. But this time I did not have anything to offer to him. I was the one who had forgotten about the incident. From that day there was a sudden change in him. The week passed by. I did count the last minutes of the doctor's curse to go by.

Bhoo would live for another three and half years. We would visit the haunted house everyday. The new elders of the village would get irritated with me for a few days and would have to find a new way to keep the kids in control.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

nice!

ओहित म्हणे said...

nice one yaar!!! jhinkalay vithhala!!

Vishal Pai Vernekar said...

Thnx guys. Do forward the links to your friends :).

sagar said...

nicely crafted..the way memory lane meets the road is just amazing...

Vishal Pai Vernekar said...

Thnx again sagar. Do forward the link to your friends as well.

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