A Short Story
Author: Jansi
The darkness of the night had spread all around. The trees surrounding the police quarters, situated close to a dense forest, rustled gently in the cold breeze. The waning moon in the sky seemed to remind everyone that there were only three more days until the new moon.
Shall we take a look at what was happening inside the apartment on the left side of the third floor of that building?
Crossing the front door and walking through the small entrance hall, we find ten-year-old Shyam sleeping soundly in the first bedroom.
In the second bedroom, Babitha, the lady of the house, was tossing and turning in her sleep, exhausted after a long day of household chores.
Her husband was a member of the state police department. But whenever he was away on night duty, wasn’t she the one who had to guard the family all by herself?
Just then, an unusual “scrrrr… scrrrr…” sound woke her from her sleep.
Unable to believe what she was seeing right before her eyes, Babitha stared in terror. Her eyes widened, but she couldn’t even scream. Her mouth remained open as she sat frozen in fear.
There… there… what was that?
A figure stood in the darkness.
It was only about waist-high.
Its long hair was spread wildly around its head. It was holding something in its hand and dragging it along the floor as it slowly moved towards her.
Oh God! It’s coming towards me! There isn’t even anyone here to save me! What am I going to do? It looks as though it’s not going to leave me alone!
Terrified, Babitha remained sitting upright, completely frozen.
Then—
“Amma! Amma!”
The voice brought her back to her senses.
It was her daughter, Swapna, shaking her awake.
Babitha slowly realized what had happened.
What exactly had she been afraid of? What had actually happened here?
Even if she tried to convince herself that it had been nothing, fear was fear. And now she was getting angry too.
“Why did you undo your braids? I braided your hair into two plaits before you went to sleep! And now you’re wandering around with your hair all loose—in the middle of the night, too!”
How could I possibly tell her that, in my half-asleep state, I had mistaken her for a ghost? And if she told her father about it, who would have to listen to his lecture?
Keeping those thoughts to herself, Babitha scolded her daughter.
“Go away, Amma! I was the one who undid my braids. Now please be quiet for a minute and listen to what I have to tell you.”
Babitha listened to her daughter while trying to figure out what had made that strange scraping sound.
She looked at what Swapna was holding.
The little girl had apparently dragged her teddy bear along the floor.
Oh no! Oh no!
So that was the sound that had frightened her!
Babitha mentally cursed herself and turned back to her daughter.
“Why do you have to tell me something right now? Whatever it is, you could tell me in the morning, couldn’t you? You won’t even let someone who is sleeping sleep peacefully!”
She yawned.
“Amma… there’s a ghost on the other side of the door,” the little girl suddenly blurted out.
“Wha…at?”
Babitha, who was already frightened, couldn’t stop herself from raising her voice.
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