October 8, 2022

At 10.45 pm

” Did you clean the kitchen island and the sink?? Please keep the kitchen clean, will ya?” my mom’s worried voice came through the speaker. 

” Of course I will” my voice was loud but she didn’t hear me. With the running water and cell phone being 2 feet away, I knew that already. I stopped doing the dishes and held my Motorola cellphone with my wet hands. I didn’t care for that ugly useless device anyway.

“I said, I will take care of everything” my voice tired already.

” Don’t forget the milk”. She yawned the whole sentence. 

“Mom, you are exhausted. Just go to sleep. And tell Dad I said good night. I don’t ….”

“SHIT! I am throwing this device.” muttering to myself I checked my wifi. 3 green lights and a single red light. It wasn’t monsoon. Where the cable got disconnected was a mystery to solve. A mystery and a whole day job for my cable operator.
Being in a small village comes with pros and cons. I don’t have a cellphone network at my place. The OFC with a landline is all I have. The speed is surprisingly good for this setup though. I work my 9-5 job seamlessly with the old wifi. But when it’s gone, I get disconnected from the whole world. My landline doesn’t work if there are no 4-happy green lights on my modem.
But the home is amidst a lush green nature. Clean air, and plenty of water. Away from the crowd. Part of a happy small village. I love that.

All my plans were crushed. You see, I had been waiting for this night for a long time. I was gonna binge watch “Stranger Things” for the 4th time. Even my midnight snacks were ready. I had a few more chores to finish to reach my dream night out.

“Okay!!! we just have to watch recorded “GOT” now. I hate this place”  I yelled to no one in particular. I think my router took it personally. He deserved it by the way.

The whole house grew darker suddenly. A cricket was chirping in the distance. No sound other than …..

SCRATCHING
I would have neglected it, if it wasn’t for the sound coming from under the bed. 2 seconds later the sound found its new source. The back of my NECK

That morning

They left around 7 am with the driver. Dad wasn’t fully comfy and neither was my mom. But this check-up was damn important. Dad had an open heart surgery in August that year. They were about to leave for the city when I woke up. All my to-dos were already in our WhatsApp group. I said goodbye and went back to sleep.

___

I can’t breathe. Water everywhere. I thrashed vigorously while keeping my nose above the water. I could see him. I stopped. I didn’t know this man. My blurry vision made it even worse. 
“HELP MEEEE !!!” my scream was an echo to my own ears. Nobody was going to save me.

___

I poured water into my favorite glass. My hands were still slippery from the sweat. It had been years since I had a nightmare. I needed a bath. The time was 10 am already. I had a big TO-DO starting from cleaning to cooking to watering the coconut tree. 

At 11 pm

Won’t lie. I was scared. I walked one tiny step at a time, not turning back to the sound. I had to reach my inverter so that I could connect the batteries. You know how spiritual people talk about “LIGHT”. This is what they meant. A light to save you from danger. I was almost in the living room now.
That’s when it hit me. A THOUGHT. I have a cellphone. I can just turn on the flash. I am not sure if you folks know, Motorola has this amazing feature. You could just shake it twice horizontally, and the flashlight comes to life. 2 more shakes to turn it off. Pretty neat right. My g72 came to the rescue. 
It took me only a fraction of a second. I connected the batteries, still not turning back. The sound was more of a breathing rather than scratching now. It didn’t feel so close either. 

Every bulb was lit. Made my mind to look back. 
No one was there. Just me. ALONE. With a creepy sound.

At 7.45 pm

“Adding to my TBR, right away”. 

My grinning face was looking devilish due to the screen light. I was almost done with my walking in the garden when Emily Fox suggested all her favorite books.
Someone moved in my peripheral sight. Should be my neighbor coming to check up on me. At least that’s what I thought at first. The footsteps stopped. I called her out loudly. “MAAADEVIIIII, WHAT UPPP ??? “
My neighbor is our maid too and honestly, she is kinda close to me and we tease each other a lot. A LOT !
She didn’t reply. “DID YOU BRING FISH CURRY FOR ME ??” I laughed at my own joke. ( I am a vegetarian. She tells me all the time about how she will replace my potato curry with something meat in it)

She started cleaning the yard. I was confused. Since I was at the front of the house, I had to circle it to get to her. The sound stopped when I was at our well. I called her again. This time she replied.
But from her HOUSE !! 
I ran over to my side yard. My forehead had a few sweat drops settled already. I had no idea why it all felt so ……..

so predictable.
My brain flooded with all the memories I was trying to suppress for years. My head felt dizzy. I was able to feel my heart pumping inside my ribcage faster than usual. 

At 11.15 pm

With no signal and reserved electricity, I was helpless. I wanted to scream. It would do no good though. All my tasks were done by 11.30pm. I turned my cozy lights on. Not because I wanted the vibe but to save some current. Lit a few candles.( oh! don’t judge me. I like to pretend as if I am a writer from the 1950s) I opened my journal to write about every discomfort I faced that day while “Game of Thrones” title song played in the background. 

“tu-tu tu-du-tu-tu tu-du tu-tu” I hummed along with it. My voice was rasp. Clearing my throat didn’t change that. I paused the video. The rasping wasn’t mine at all. It was coming from somewhere else. Definitely inside the house. 
I was scared and devasted. 
“What do you WAAAAANT!???”

I was foolish to even wait for a response but I did. Desperately wanted to believe this was all a prank. I badly expected my nephew to show up and laugh at my face. My empty house mocked me in response. 

After thinking for 3 minutes straight, I was done getting scared. I went to grab the hammer from the toolkit. I had to keep some backup if it was an intruder(even though I knew no one else apart from me was present) 

I went into my parent’s bedroom. I grabbed the hammer and was about to turn away. A shadowy figure was standing in front of me.
I don’t remember what happened for the next 2 seconds other than my shriek reaching the whole village. I had to stop when I realized I was looking at my own reflection in the long mirror.

I was going insane.
2 things happened immediately after this crazy experience.
1. someone knocked on my door
2. someone opened a window

As it turned out, my maid heard my scream and came to check up on me. She knocked on my door.
Her cat was in my kitchen apparently and it tried to go out while making a noise of opening the window.
I was ashamed. I wiped my sob before opening the door. She offered me to sleep in the hall if I was scared. I boldly lied to her.
“It was a frog. You know how I feel about them. It just popped out of the window. See, I am closing every window now”

She knew I was lying through my teeth. 

“Just call me if you are afraid okay ?”
Before going back. she gave me one last glance. Not me. She started at my TV. She peered through it if I am accurate.

“What is it?” my question eager.

“Ummm nothing. just an illusion”. She slowly started walking.

I kept watching her. “Please come back. I am scared to death. Something is happening.” Those words never came out loud. 

At 8.30 pm

I don’t usually turn on the TV but I had the freedom to watch YT on a big screen. I searched for the remote. I sat on the couch. Comfy. That’s when I noticed. My reflection was different. I look elongated. 
I am very sure that my limb is not that tall. I have watched my reflection many times that day and it was different each time. I thought my sight was the issue. I had even added “ophthalmologist visit” to my to-do.

Maybe my eyes weren’t the problem at all.

At 12 am

With the hammer on the table and a knife next to me, I decided to sleep.

At unknown time

I woke up with a headache. I felt hard to breathe. It was truly shocking how I was able to sleep at 12 !! That’s like 7pm for me usually. That’s when I am most active and my energy spikes. A faint smile on my face was washed away the moment I heard scratching under the bed again. 
Here is the thing guys !! I don’t sleep with my door open ever. Like any other day, I had locked it. My main door is closed. All the windows too. Even if I scream, nobody will hear it.
The only thing I could do was to ignore all my senses and chant Hanuman Chalisa. I know the shlokas by heart but unfortunately, I am an atheist. As I am looking back to that day, I am immensely enjoying the moral dilemma I was in. ( I enjoy my own traumas. I am rare and I know it. Read further)

I ignored it for a good 10 minutes. I tried remembering my mother’s voice. I can’t wait to see her ” I told you so” face tomorrow. She begged me to go with them. I was stubborn and selfish and made her take care of Dad all by herself. I felt like I was an awful daughter. ( clarification: I am not. The only thing I care about in the whole world is them)

I wanted to cry. I wanted to hug my mom. I wanted to hear her weird swears. I wanted to fight with Dad. I wanted to put a hairband on his head (it’s my way of peace offering after we fight ). My thoughts went to the darker side. What if they found me dead the next day? What if there were monsters and I was facing one of them. I don’t want my flesh to be eaten ewww. 
The scratching stopped. I knew better. It wouldn’t stop there. I had the sixth somehow. I was facing the wall when the footsteps were too near. I closed my eyes shut. So tightly that some of my eyelashes fell off. It was all quiet 2 seconds later. 

I waited for something to happen. 

30 minutes later

No creepy noises whatsoever. Sleep wasn’t coming either. I can’t quite describe the discomfort. I looked at the time on my cellphone. Squinting my eyes wasn’t easy. 

3:02 am. 
4 hours till sunrise. 

“ugghhhhhh !” A low moan departed my mouth. Maybe changing the side would help.
WAS A WRONG CHOICE !!!

As soon as I faced my closed door, I was looking at the shadowy figure. Almost 7 feet tall. Lean. 
Its eyes were glinting. I can still remember those silver eyes staring right at me.

BOOGEYMAN WAS HERE 

I don’t think I breathed at all. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t move. 
I was still as dead. The time stopped. I am pretty sure I lost all my senses. I had to do something. Truth between you and me, I didn’t have the guts to pick up my hammer. I was horrified. Whatever this creature was, it was gonna end my life. 

I don’t remember how long I looked at it. Is it too early to call it “him” ??

A small hope. Something flickered in the corner of my mind. If he was planning on killing me, he would have already. He had better chances. Also if I was gonna die, I didn’t wanna die on my bed like a coward. 

I pushed myself up so fast. The biggest light in my room came to life. I was impressed with my stunt. Don’t get me wrong. When you are alone and nobody can hear you, with a large monstrous creature looking right at you, even switching on the light is a big deal. First-hand experience.

He disappeared. Like he didn’t exist at all. Just to make sure, I checked under the bed, behind my cupboard. Nothing was there other than dust and a cute spider.
I kept the lights on till the morning.

October 9, 2022

My parents arrived at 2pm. I was so relieved. 

“What happened to the network ?? I was talking to you and you just went off the grid” My mother sat down at the table. 
“Oh, that! wifi wasn’t working” I served only a pinch of pickle. She can’t handle spice.

My father interrupted us. ” How did you sleep ?”

I could see he was hungry “Look. I prepared your favorite sambar”

His face was unreadable. “okay! but how did you sleep last night ?”

I served myself and sat next to them. “Honestly, not so good.” I couldn’t lie to him. 

“I couldn’t sleep either. I had this awful nightmare. I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get myself back to sleep”

I was shocked. Does my father have sleep difficulties? yes.
Does he usually get a nightmare? never

“You ?? Nightmare?? hahaha. Do tell.” I was all ears.

“Well, in my dream, you were sleeping peacefully. Facing your door like you rarely do.”

He paused for a second. My mom gave him a nod.

“Well someone was watching you. Not a person. It was a long gray shadow. Moving slightly. Creepy whitish eyes. I felt awful in my….”.

“silver eyes, Appa”

“what? ” 

I didn’t know what to say. “Dee, think of something” My brain started creating stories.

“It’s from the story I told you the other day. shadow figure, silver eyes, hovers over the bed.”

“I don’t remember it” he got confused. His face was a question mark.

Good job, me.

“Of course you did. It’s the power of subconscious mind. You were worried that I was alone and the story I told you just popped into your head. That’s all it is. Eat fast. Gonna get cold. wasn’t easy to prepare.”

___

I never told him the truth.