Suspense Short Story – GHOSTS DO EXIST
Photo credit: krosseel from morguefile.com
The summer vacations spent at one’s maternal grandparents house always leave you with infinite memories that you can rejoice your entire life. For me, this was in Ajmer, Rajasthan, a small town famous for its beauty and educational buttress. As a child I was always ebullient about the time I will spend at their place. At 8 years old at my grandparents house, my story was a little different….
The road to Ajmer was always filled with plethora of trees along both the sides. The mere thought of meeting my grandparents after a long time filled me with immense joy throughout the 2 hour long journey. The warmth of the hugs brought tears of joy down their cheek. I was accompanied by my mother. The whole house was jovial for having us. The piquant taste of grandmother’s food and sharing stories from the past year just made the night ecstatic.
My uncle (mother’s brother) also came to live with us. He was a tall guy with appropriate built and very popular in the colony. I used to enforce him to play cricket with me as he had mastered that game. He also used to teach children in his free time. I always looked upon him as my idle and it makes me morose when I think that I have not succeeded in following his footsteps.
One day when I was playing in the piazza I noticed something strange. A girl of my age who used to come on her own for the tuition was accompanied by her mother. She was a bubbly girl with long black hair and glistening eyes. But on that day I was able to notice the sadness on her face. While leaving her mother asked my uncle to drop her back instead of letting her go on her own which was an everyday mundane. Her house was on the other side of the jungle surrounding my grand parents house. Ajmer has always been one of the least populated towns in Rajasthan but not pastoral.
After an hour when he was about to walk her back, he asked me to accompany him. Without any doodle I threw things in my hand and agreed for the same. It was close to six and the sun was almost set. As we started walking through the jungle I could notice her strange behavior. She was quiet, aloof and was sweating terribly and profusely. After a while when we had covered a considerable distance, she stopped suddenly and started making nettlesome sounds. On asking the reason behind it she spoke in a very masculine way which was enough to frighten me. The next instant she fell on the ground and started screaming aloud pointing towards a sprig of a tree and saying, “He is sitting there”.
I was unable to see anyone apart from us. I was seconds away from crying when I saw my uncle running away at a meteoric speed. I couldn’t run because his act of running away and leaving me behind had given me a setback. Then I turned towards the girl and there she was shouting aloud with her hair loose and waving with the gust.
“I did shit my pants”, will be an understatement. I started crying louder than her so that I don’t listen to her screams. Deep down inside I was dismayed and felt betrayed by my own uncle. Within a minute or two I saw my uncle coming back. He came, picked me up and ran back with the same speed as earlier. As soon as we reached home I went to my mother and fainted in her arms.
After I woke up I was told that her mother has been informed about her location. But I think I didn’t want to listen anything related to it at that instance. I suffered from high fever for six days and the seventh day we headed back to Jaipur. Still, a shear thought about the incident sends shivers down my spine. Also I never inquired about that girl not because I want to lose that incident from my memory but because I don’t want to revive my inhuman act of leaving her behind. I think this incident will always hinder my path of being a fearless person. Yes, I am scared of ghosts and they do exist.
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