Chương 2: Witch hunt
I was in Kota, taking a drop year, and preparing for IIT-JEE from Bansal Classes. I had rented a room in the outskirts of Mahavir nagar with my childhood friend, Prabhat. The room was not more than 0.5 km from the main highway. We wanted to live in a quiet place in order to concentrate on studies. There were a few houses in my neighbourhood.
It was my habit to study late till night, while Prabhat used to study early in the morning. It was the month of May, and Kota recorded its highest temperature around those days, close to 44 degree celsius. It was my habit to keep the front door open at night, as it allowed some ventilation during night. One night, around 1 am, I was solving some Ionic Equilibrium DPPs while Prabhat was fast asleep. I was stuck on a question, and deeply engrossed in it.
I stared at the question, trying to solve it by various approaches for almost 25 minutes. I realized my neck had strained by being in the same position for such a long time. As I tried getting up, I saw a 3-year old boy standing next to my study table. I skipped a heart beat. I wanted to shout. No voice came out of my throat. I felt as if I was choking. I was trembling beyond control. I was certain beyond any doubt that it was a ghost.
I was going to throw the table-lamp at the boy, but at that very moment, he said,'Bhaiyya, please mujhe vo sadak paar kara do. Ghar jaana hai'( Help mecross the road i wanna go home). Somehow I controlled my fear. A thousand questions crossed my mind.Who was he? Why did his parents leave him at 1 am in the night? Was it all a bluff, and probably a gang of thieves or kidnappers waited for me outside? I checked his appearance.
Shabby clothes, face covered in dirt, probably he was a child of some labourers who work in nearby construction site. I collected myself and said,'Theek hai. Bahar chal. Main aata hu(wait outsidei am coming).'. He obliged, and as soon as he went out of the door, I shut it. I sighed in relief, though my heart was still pumping fast. He started crying loudly, and banging the door. I shouted back,'Khud chale ja apne ghar( go to your home yourself).'. I still cannot forget his reply. It has been 4 years since then.
Doesn't matter how hard I try, I just cannot get it out of my head. His reply was'Sadak ke uss paar Chudail hai. Main akela nahi jaunga.'( there is a witch at other side of the road i cant go alone) My knees buckled, and I sat down. It was too much to handle. Prabhat was still asleep. But after a couple of minutes, hearing the child still crying outside the door, Prabhat woke up. He asked what was happening. I told him everything. Prabhat always had a softheart.
Hearing the child cry made him even more concerned about the safety of the child. He told me,'Main usko sadak paar tak drop kar aata hu'( I will take him to the other side of the road). I told him to shut up. I felt it was not safe to walk on a deserted highway at 1 a.m. in the night with a stranger child. Prabhat ignored me and opened the door. The child was still sobbing. Prabhat lifted him, and started walking out. I wanted to stop him, but I did not have enough courage to follow him. I let him go. He accompanied the child to the end of the dark highway to the point where I could not see anything.I waited.
It was 10 minutes and Prabhat had still not come back. I got concerned. Somehow I gathered some strength, and walked that dark deserted highway, shouting Prabhat's name. I saw him near the end of the road. The child had disappeared. I asked him,'Where is the child?'. He did not reply. He kept quiet. And he smiled. A surge of angered terror filled me. I held him by the collar of his shirt, and asked him again,'Where is that child? Why did you not come back to the room?'. He looked away. The smile faded. Now, his face was expressionless,-and eyes strangely dizzy.
I pulled him from his arm and started walking back towards the room. He started walking with me. I felt footsteps approaching us. Someone was running very hard. It was the same child. He cried at the top of his life,'Mujhko sath mein le chalo. Vo chudail mere ghar ki chhat pe baithi thi. Vo peeche hi aa rahi hai'( please take me with you, that witch was sitting on terrace of my house and now she is following us). At that moment, I lost all sense of control. I let Prabhat go, and started running blindly towards my room, while shouting for help loudly. I did not stop till I reached the room.
After I reached my room, I noticed Prabhat was not with me. It was too much for me alone to handle. I woke up a few neighbors, told them what happened. We all went together to search for Prabhat. I cannot forget the sight I saw. Prabhat was lying on the highway, his head cut from his shoulders, a strange smile spread across the face. People say it must have been some vehicle which did it. I did not believe it for a second.
I knew what happened. I still see that child in my dreams. He always whispers that that witch watches me all the time. That she is going to kill me one day. I do not have any option. I am still waiting.
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