“We shouldn’t have come here.”
“But here we are, on your very insistence,” Vinay said, snorting.
But of course she ignored him. Almost everyone did, except the parrot Mitthu- who did not, solely due to his prime time greed of green chilli.
She went forward, put a hand on Ramesh’s shoulder, faked an emotion of being extremely scared and said, “Shall we return?”
Ramesh himself faked an emotion of being strong and determined -mostly to impress the young lady who already was and replied in his usually gruff voice, “We will face our fears today.”
Hemali shivered.
“Don’t worry, I will protect you,” Ramesh said, giving her a meaningful glance, patting her shoulders- though he intended to do more had not 7 pairs of eyes scrutinizing them.
But the fact lingered on that they were indeed frightened. The Witch’s Shack was no shack at all; it was a bloody Mansion, with large rusted metal doors, wild and unruly gardens, constantly banging windows, creepy noises and the dark black palatial building itself.
“So who wants to go inside first?” Suresh asked. Had he not been a twin brother of Ramesh, Hemali wouldn’t have cared to look at him twice. They were both handsome- though trying to woo the same lady which of course resulted in sibling rivalry.
She smiled, “Why don’t you do the honors?”
“I would, if my lady assists me in this temerarious venture.”
She blushed, Ramesh frowned, the five other ladies giggled and Vinay pleaded to the heavens for this agony to stop.
“I definitely would.”
“We all would,” Ramesh added. He squinted at the mansion, as if weighing it in terms of fear index, “Doesn’t look like a very fearful place, what say, shall we announce our presence?”
The girls literally drooled over him and cried yes in unison. Suresh held Hemali’s hand and lead her forward, while Ramesh hopped behind them, watching their every movement.
“Aren’t you coming Vinay?” one of the girls asked.
Vinay had decided to stay back.
This brought a smile to Ramesh’s face, “Well, Well, so much for not believing in Supernatural. You are not afraid of the Unknown, are you?”
“It’s got nothing to do with me being afraid,” he said, though it had. “I wish I had my popcorns with me. All I want to do is watch you guys enter the mansion, scared shitless, but return with your hopes dashed, as you aren’t going to find no witch eager to pull out your eyeballs and squish them.”
“Aeuuu, isn’t he gross?” Hemali asked Suresh. She never talked with him directly; like he was the female anopheles mosquito which would bite her if conversed with.
“He surely is,” Suresh said, nodding in affirmation. Then turning his attention towards him, he said, “Behave like that and you would soon be kicked out of the foster home that is bearing you. I no longer have any doubt why your parents decided to leave you- you indeed are pain in the ass.”
“Kamla, don’t waste your time on him. He is of no use whatsoever,” Ramesh added. They walked on towards the mansion.
Vinay gave no reply. His innards were seething with anger, his eyes unable to control the tears that gushed down and burned his cheeks, though no one cared. He hated it, he hated being bloody alive. Was this a life that mankind cherish for? Will he never, ever be able to have that perfect little Utopian World he always dreamt for?
He wiped his tears away with the back of his hand cuffs. Maybe, his life was …
Before he could continue crying for his stupid shit of a life, a terrible laughter cut him off. It sent a wave of frission through his entire body, striking fear in the very core of his heart. He saw others sprawled on the floor, their body splayed- as if they had been blasted off by some invisible force emanating from the castle. Blood was oozing out of Suresh’s nose; the girls were shrieking in retort to the terrible voice, Ramesh was unconscious, Vinay was caught in stop-motion, unable to think of something to make the prospects of his life better- like to run!!
“WHO HAD THE CHEEK TO TRY ENTERING MY ABODE?!” A high pitched shriek pierced the sky, their ears going numb for the next few moments. “WHO WOKE ME UP WITH THEIR UNCEASING CHATTER?” The voice echoed in this mountainous region thousand times over.
It was as if all of them had lost their larynx, they were not able to voice their words. Vinay tried to steel his mind- everything would reasonably be explained within the purview of science.
There were of course no ghosts and witches, he told his brain, they were all in the mind. Trying to cull the uncertainty and turmoil his mind was going through, he mustered enough courage to squeak, “We are from the Kirmada Township which is few kilometers away from this place. And technically you are the one who is defiling this precinct with your uncalled for presence. This property is a rightful ownership of Shri. Bachubhai Patel, secretary of the Township. Whosoever you may be- thug, hooligan, beggar in need of shelter, thief hiding some stashed booty, terrorist hatching some cruel plot or castaway- you are on someone else’s property. You are ordered to evacuate immediately. We mean you no harm,” He tried to put a brave face to that voice, but of course he failed terribly.
The so-alleged witch laughed. “So who is that speaking, is that the non-believing guy?” She taunted. “We mean you no harm,” she mimicked. “That’s cute.” She continued laughing, this time a little coyly.
The gates suddenly creaked open. “Come, my dear boy. Let me wipe off your perpetual self-confidence. Let me make your fear, my slave.”
“Yah, yah- whatever,” he said, feeling unusually brave, so much so as to burst its boundaries and inundate the domain of recklessness. He fixed his eyes at the castle.
He looked at his companions-they were squirming uneasily on the ground, unable to move productively, as if someone had blocked their nerve-endings- rendering their legs useless or had sapped their blood, as they were unable to muster enough strength to stand up.
She was strong, or in possession of extremely advanced weaponry- he must give her that.
What worse could she do than to kill me? He asked his mind. There is nothing worse than death.
He started walking towards the castle, not knowing that it would be the last time he ever walked on the plain stretch of open earth…
*******************
It was cold and damp in there. The place seemed to hang in the waft of perpetual stink- something that brought in his mind the image of dead rats and buffalo-shit. But did the place make his heart beats pulse faster? Yes it did. The windows and the whistling wind were not at all helping. The settings indeed make him think that he had been drawn to a Witch’s Lair. Few bones, some resembling the human head (though most probably it would be of some monkey) and large quantities of red paint were all that was needed for the residents nearby to cash in the resulting tourism boom. The Lady of the House must keep on upping the ante of her excellent performance, though probably they would have to think of some incentives to keep her going. But thank God she wasn’t proving her mettle as an actor presently; he already had a weak heart.
Eerily enough, the light bulbs kept on flashing guiding him as where to go next. And the doors kept on getting shut behind his ass. The lady must have some extensive control panel with her eyes glued to his each and every motion on the screen. This passage must be brimming with hidden cameras.
But the Doubting Thomas crept back in his mind. He began to have second thoughts regarding his uncalled for bravado- which he now came to regard as utter stupidity. Granted that the lady may not be a witch, who is to stop her from killing him as he would spill out the beans eventually that she isn’t what she is boasting of to be? With sinking heart he began to feel that this house has been designed as an extensive and mind boggling maze- with twists, turns, rickety ladders and God-knows-how-many of those two way paths. He had no clue from which path he had entered. Maybe this place wasn’t actually designed for people who had ‘escaping’ on their mind.
Why the hell did I have to come? Making a last minute stand to impress someone who never gave you a shit worth of attention?
He pushed such thoughts out of his mind. It wasn’t the time to backtrack- though the so alleged witch hadn’t left room enough for backtracking. He must focus how he is going to save his ass.
Though that did not stop him from getting snappy about the long pilgrimage he had to take to reach Her Witchness’ Holy Shrine- and the mosquitoes!! He must have applied Odomos before coming here.
What seemed like an eternity, he finally entered a largish drawing room with a fire cackling at the other side. The fire seemed like the only source of illumination (this added to the quality of frission) and a sofa was directed towards it. He could make out long, slender milky white legs inched closer to the fire, basking in the warmth of the fireplace.
“Welcome to my humble abode, Vinay,” she said, in a silky cat like voice. How could this lady emit such a high pitched horrendous yell that could phase out your ear drums into early retirement?
She laughed in her silken voice, as if sensing his thoughts.
He had dreaded this moment, horrified by his full-throttle imagination- at the different types of methods in which he was going to die.
“I have no intention of killing you Vinay; I most certainly try not to kill my human subjects at the very first interview,” she said.
“Oh yeah,” he replied, a little too gruffly than he intended, mostly to showcase that he was not afraid of her.
He now came to fully face her. He had expected her to be the Ultimate Epitome of Frankenstein’s Wife or a triple headed dinosaur- what he had not expected was her to be even more beautiful than Scarlett Johansson. He immediately looked at his feet. Shit, I am gradually losing the chink in my armour, how do you negotiate- even though it’s your own escape with such a strikingly beautiful woman.
“Then don’t leave me Vinay, though you do have every reason to fear me.”
“Stop reading my thoughts,” he snapped. Hell, he was feeling a whirlwind of mixed emotions- on one hand he was feeling attracted towards her on the other hand he was extremely afraid of her. Screw Science, this one indeed is a Witch.
“Stop judging me so harshly. And do look in my eyes when you speak to me.”
Don’t Vinay, never. She would suck you in. Don’t even dare to do that.
She sighed, “As you wish.”
Vinay closed his eyes for extra precaution, though he knew he would be powerless if she decided to plot his death. But he could feel her eyes boring into his face.
“Do you realize Vinay that you are good looking?”
His blushed deep red. Though it came from the mouth of a witch, granted that she was attractive, he felt giddy with pleasure…
“No, I am not.”
“Yes, you are.”
…though that did not mean that his cheeks weren’t burning with embarrassment. Vinay sorely wanted to veer away from this conversation. He was feeling extremely uncomfortable. “What do you want?”
“Companionship.”
He went numb. What the hell? Were witches supposed to be sentimental?
No sooner had he thought so, than the ground began to shake. He looked up; the witch was not sitting in her upholstered sofa. He craned his head still further up. The sight that greeted him made him cower with fear.
Suspended in mid air, face hidden beneath her thick strands of hair, her hands clenched in her fist, she yelled in her most terrible voice, “I AM NOT A WITCH.”
She pushed those strands aside and looked at him directly. There were no sockets in those milky-white eyes. Vinay was sure that death lurked behind them. She showed him her tube-light white teeth- laughing her hysterical laugh.
“You never ever call me a WITCH.” She brought both her hands together with an impact- that blasted him out of his chair, lifting him off in mid-air before hitting the earth with a wham.
This was indeed a mercurial wit…..lady.
He had fallen on his bum, though that reduced the effect of the gravitational pull- it still hurt like hell.
He saw a hand outstretched towards him. He looked up. There she was, smiling, as if nothing had happened. He tried to get away from her. But she kept coming.
“Get away from me,” he said, now panicking.
“Never ever, my dear. You walked right in through that door, do you think I would let go of my suitor so easily.”
He stood up; his bum was hurting real bad. She was almost upon him. “GET BACK,” he said forcefully, pushing her off. She stood her ground. “You are old enough to be my grandmother.”
She smiled. “Am I that young?” she asked coyly.
He looked back. She followed his gaze.
The door was no longer there. Instead, they were in a tightly packed chamber that had no apparent escape. He looked back at her, she seemed extremely calm.
“Please let me go,” he pleaded.
She did not yield. Instead, she pushed him back against the wall.
“Why do you want to leave, you have just arrived.”
“That was a mistake. Please let me go. I would never ever question your authority. Please, forgive me and my friends- we would never ever come back again. Just let me go.”
“Vinay, it was Serendipity that brought us together.” She came extremely close, lacing her fingers in his.
Inspite of himself, he felt something stir below his navel.
“I have great powers Vinay, I can change my shape to whatever you may desire. You know what I mean?”
He sure as hell, did. She was enticing him.
Vinay, I can embody your wettest dream. She changed her shape. Hemali stood in her place.
“Look into my eyes.”
He didn’t want to but this time he did. He lost himself. She came still closer.
“Don’t worry; I will take very good care of you.”
She was all over him……….
And so they lived happily ever after; till she got bored of him, that is.
Alienman 