Bells, Buffets, and Beings from Beyond

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Night time.

A wedding procession was going on inside the church. Many youngsters were standing near the buffet arranged outside. There was a hubbub of excited conversation from aunties whose daughters had grown to the standard marriage age. Elsy, my Amma, would have loved to be a part of this conversation, or is she already a part of it? I didn’t care. They had given up on me since they couldn’t convince me of a marriage way out of my concept. They had already started pestering my twin sisters. 

“Marry them off before the other feminist gets inside their head.” said my relatives. I didn’t know that to be a feminist, all I had to do was reject marriage proposals from my relatives. According to their Wikipedia, a woman with an opinion was all feminist.  

My sisters were 8 years younger than me. They were the love children of my parents while I was an accident. I grew up seeing my Appa and Amma fight all the time. The smashing of flower vases, bruises hidden by concealers, and empty bottles of brandy. The bottles became a canvas later in life, where I started my art journey. This all stopped when the priest at my church sent my Appa and Amma to a retreat, which changed our lives forever. 

After returning from the retreat, I saw a new hope and light in my mother’s eyes. They were happy and in love. That’s when they had my sisters. The only misfit in my family was me, who reminded my Amma of their broken past. I had a difficult childhood and the traumas I had to carry, which they never understood. I didn’t want my kids to have a troubled childhood. I didn’t want them to feel like an accident. I wanted to marry for love, and making them understand that was difficult.

So where was I? Yeah, the wedding procession; I was staring at the sky with a glass of lemonade. “Ammu?!” it was from a familiar sound. I turned back to see my ex, who is somehow married now. “Oh, hi, I didn’t know you were back home,” I said uninterestingly. Honestly, I didn’t even want to be anywhere near him; I just wanted to disappear, but I had to be nice because it had been many years since we broke up. I didn’t want to give anyone the wrong idea. But he kept on talking. I didn’t want to be there, but I kept smiling and nodding. 

“Make him stop, make him stop.”  screamed my mind. 

“John, I was searching for you everywhere. I need your help with the baby.” I just had one peek at her, and I thanked God for her arrival. She wasn’t happy seeing John with me; who could blame her? I guess John’s gonna have a difficult night tonight, but who cares? He got up and left. 

By then, the ceremony at the church had ended. The verger had started ringing the bells. I was still staring at the sky. It was full of stars. A beautiful sky. As soon as the ringing of the bell stopped, I saw the sky shaking as if it was falling. I glanced at the glass of lemonade I had and tried to smell it to make sure it was, in fact, lemonade. I kept them on the bench where I sat, rubbed my eyes, and looked at the sky again. It was falling.

The sound had captured the others’ attention, too. The sky started moving fast. We saw another Earth so close to the surface. It got closer and closer. Until giant flying saucers began to appear in the sky. Then, their pace was slowed. Everyone was too shocked to move. Nobody could explain what was happening. Then the priest came running, “Repent for your sins sinners”. Some kneeled down, reciting the rosary. I saw my Amma and sisters in the maddening crowd looking for me. I walked towards them and hugged them. 

One of the flying saucers paved its way to our church’s playground. It landed smoothly. A voice echoed in the surroundings, “Fear not, Earthlings. We are scientists from Eon112. In 100 days, the Earth is going to burst out in flames. We have come to warn you. On the 50th day, we shall arrive again for the children to protect the human species. Anyone above 20 will be left here. We don’t have enough space to accommodate everyone. We would appreciate your cooperation for the protection of your children.”

Was it a prank? Nobody knew; one among the crowd spoke back to them, “How do we know if this is the truth?”

It kind of irritated whatever was inside the saucer. “Alright, Simon, your kids are the first ones to come with us.” Nobody knew how the thing inside the saucer knew Simon’s name. Within seconds, the saucer magnetically pulled his kids inside it and disappeared into the clouds.

I didn’t know if I was dreaming, but with the final magic trick, everyone was convinced. Many consoled Simon, asking him to stay strong, saying they were protected. But what if they are taken to harvest organs or for consumption? We don’t know. Suddenly, Amma pushed me, saying, “Please fulfil my last wish and get married.” 

The world was going to end, and this woman was obsessed with marriage. She kept pushing me until I fell out of bed. I opened my eyes, gasping for breath. “Please, it’s my wish to see you in a wedding dress; the guy your uncle Peter had talked about would come to see you today; talk to him at least.” All I could do was laugh. She examined me strangely, “You think I am joking? You won’t understand all this until you are a mother.” She murmured and left my room. 

I kept laughing at the strange dream about the aliens and the Indian mothers’ obsession with marriage. Now you know how much my mother had eaten up my brain that even in my dream, she screams marriage.

Whispers of Renewal

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“A-L-E-X,” James’s voice echoed down the hallway, tinged with urgency and a hint of desperation that caught my attention.

“Alex, come quick! Something’s happening to Jade’s face,” his voice quivered as if he was on the brink of tears. I hurried down the corridor and into Jade and James’s room, my heart racing. “This better not be a prank like yesterday or I might just-” My voice trailed off as I entered the room, my words replaced by a gasp of disbelief.

I winced on entering the room, “Something’s happening, alright.” I squinted my eyes, focusing just on his face. His skin seemed to have aged decades in a matter of moments, wrinkled and weathered. His eyelids were taped open to prevent his eyes from closing, and his gaze was filled with bewilderment and fear.

“WHAT’S HAPPENING TO ME?” The desperation in Jade’s voice was palpable, his eyes pleading for an answer that I didn’t know how to narrate.

When the government finally ended the brouhaha over compulsory vaccination for Corona Virus, a rumour spread among the vaccine intakers that the vaccine was, in fact, made from animal DNAs. The ones who spread these rumours anonymously explained that the sudden withdrawal of vaccines was supposedly due to the discovery that something didn’t turn out right as the authority planned. “Fighting the inevitable with the inevitable”,- said some theorists. The people who hesitated to get vaccine shots started to isolate the vaccine intakers creating fear in everyone’s mind. The vaccine intakers alleged that the rumour was made and circulated by the hesitants to turn people against each other.

Whether the tittle-tattle was confirmed or not, people started seeing adverse body changes. Unfortunately, the unfavourable variations were only visible in the vaccine intakers. The changes took turns evolving- transferring the effects to the vaccine intakers’ future prodigies carrying the souls of discrimination. The offspring of the vaccine intakers were forever bound to consume medicines for a disease they had never encountered.

As years passed, human activists formed a community supporting the children of vaccine intakers, asking others to stop labelling them as “outcasts”. The ally of vaccine intakers hoped the effect of the vaccine would slowly fade away from the future generation, but it never did. I am one among the “outcasts”. So are James and Jade. Our friend who turned sober to the medicine provided by the lab turned into something evil- let’s just say we lost him. The scientists were still trying to fix the mistake they made decades ago by experimenting the medicines on us like our lives don’t matter. We don’t have any other choice to stay alive, so we still intake them for survival.

Times have changed, and workplaces have become more “outcast friendly”, but I don’t go to the office; I can’t stand their furtive glances and fake smiles. So it’s just me, Jade and James now.

“I didn’t want to go to that lab again!” confessed Jade, “I am sorry Alex, I didn’t want to be the subject of their intoxicated experiments anymore.” I didn’t know how to console him.

“I have been sober for a month now. But I didn’t… I didn’t know that…” Jade broke down in tears. The tears found it challenging to go down the cheek due to the wrinkles. I hugged him for a brief moment when we heard a hard knock at the door. It continued till James opened the door.

“Hello there,,” said the beard-faced stranger to a bewildered James.

He made himself welcome and locked the door. He handed the key to James, “James dear, keep these keys with you, don’t open the doors unless I ask you to.” James, still confused, accepted the keys.

“What’s happening, who are you?” all the unexpected events had made me a little hoarse.

“Alex! oh here you are, I was expecting you. Adam sent me here. He said, you needed my help.”

Adam! Remember the friend I lost?

“Adam is dead. Mind telling us who you are?”

The stranger smiled as if he knew something we didn’t, “If I said Adam sent me here, I meant he really did. Now, don’t waste time, I know that Jade’s in trouble. I have something that can help him. I need to see him before it’s too late, trust me.”

Something about his words convinced me; I let him see Jade. “Adam was right; I hope I am not too late.” said the stranger examining Jade’s skin.

He fumbled around in his big bag, looking for something. “Jade, I am going to take the tapes down now. I need you to close your eyes.”

Jade looked at me, “He says he knows Adam. let’s just bite the bullet for now.” Jade was obedient.

I still didn’t understand why he said he knew Adam. That can’t be true. I saw him… I saw him take the bullet. I saw his dead eyes looking at me. I was there… when they dragged his body as a message to us. 

When Adam went sober, the changes scared me. He had a tail almost that of a wolf. Until one day, he changed completely into one, attacking one of the lab scientists who came to sedate him. That’s when the authorities had to take him down. At least he didn’t have to be the lab rat anymore.

James held my hand. He was the youngest among us. I squeezed his hands in my hand. After he was done with Jade, he covered Jade’s face with a cloth.

“Now we wait.” said the man with his big old bag.

When the silence grew louder, I asked him. “You were saying Adam sent you.”

“Yes I did.”

“But Adam’s ….”

“Dead, I know.”

“…”

“Or that’s what he wanted others to think.”

“So Adam is alive!” I stood up excited,

“Yes, he was experimenting with a cure to get rid of this ‘curse’. He was obsessed about finding a cure. He read almost every book written about it. Researches, experiments, the first case of transformation and the experiments followed. Then he found a different approach. But he didn’t have his hands to one of the ingredients which was only available in the authority’s lab. He needed to get there. Not as a ‘lab rat’ for his daily shot phase, but as ‘a-sober-for-a-month-turning-monster’ phase. He was sure that the cure would work then.”

“But I saw him die.” I said.

“Okay, Alex, I had enough.” The stranger removed his coat and the beard that didn’t match his face from the beginning. “ADAM!” I didn’t know if I should cry, laugh, or just whip his ass.

I hugged him, tears rolled down, “You are alive!” first accepting, “You are alive? and you hid from me for 2 years.” second angrily, thwacking his back.

“I know you are upset. You think I didn’t want to find you? I wanted to be sure; I wanted them to stop treating us like outcasts. We didn’t deserve that.” I hugged him tight, still accepting that he is alive.

Suddenly, we heard Jade’s voice calling out for us. He was back, back to how he was supposed to be. Jade saw Adam in place of the stranger, and he broke down to tears, “I know it was you. But how did you…?”

James told him what he had missed. Now we all were curious to know the secret ingredient.

“This may sound unethical, but hear me out completely. Once they shot me, I was dragged to the laboratory. They thought I was dead, but my yoga practices helped. The secret ingredient was a drop of purebloods’ blood- it just had to be of the same blood group as the medicine intaker. The blood bank had plenty of them, and only the people at the lab could access them. I guess the idea of using a pureblood’s blood sample never crossed the mind of the scientists.

I convinced one of the daily shot intakers to take me home, telling the authorities that my body required a proper burial. As one outcast to the other, he agreed even though he was nervous at first. I don’t know how, but his family convinced the authority and took me home. Since then, I have been doing the rest of the experiments, living in the loft of their home. If you wonder whether I was doing all this after becoming a wolf, I wasn’t. The wolf was a drama costume I pulled off. That’s another story to tell.”

I felt like I was dreaming. The three of us looked at each other and then at Adam, “So when Rachel got pregnant.”

“Who’s Rachel?” I raised my eyebrows.

“Relax Alex, I stayed at Rachel and Matt’s house. So by the time she was pregnant, there was improvement to my transition. I lost the beard, the nails but couldn’t get these tails off.”

He showed off his tail. “I am still working on that.”

“So this cure you are talking about, if we have to take it everyday like the other lab’s medicine, isn’t that the same?” I asked him.

“That there my friend is wrong. You have to take this cure on the first day of transformation after being sober for a month just once. I did the same with Rachel and guess what, her baby was born without the “outcast” trait in her genes. I tested it myself! Jade started being sober after Matt told him to, indirectly of course. He is the one who put the idea of not being the lab rat and all in his mind.”

“Yes, I remember him.” said a dazey Jade as he touched his face, which had utterly retained its original form

“That’s how I knew today was the day.”

“So what do we do now?”

“First, we work on you two, and long plan short-we, will meet and greet others like us and convince them to go sober- barge on them after a month and save them. By that time, I will have more quantities of the cure. And about the blood samples, blood is donated to the blood bank to use when needed. We just use them. No killing, no murdering and no kidnapping.” Adam smiled smugly as he said it.

We had to make a solid plan to convince the rest of us.

For now, I didn’t know how to respond. Adam is alive. He found the cure. We are never gonna be outcasts again.

I held his hand tightly and said, “I am in.”

The Villain

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The nights gifted me with nightmares. It planted a broken mosaic of a villain. I wondered how the hero and the villain could have identical faces. After all, the dream has been mine; the hero will always have my face; now that I remember, I have never seen my face in any of those dreams. Did that mean I was a villain in someone else’s dream in their POV to show me what a dick-head I had been? I decided to find out the truth; the next time I had a similar dream, I had a mirror with me, and the result? I was the hero! So was the villain. Now that I think of it, I have never been kind to myself.

Flash fiction is written in response to “The Daily Spur” – the word “result” and “Cyranny’s Word of the Day challenge” – the word “mosaic”.

The Mystery Pit

Image made with Dall E

“Wow what is that?” Harsh pointed his fingers at an enormous hole in the ground. “I swear it wasn’t here yesterday.” Harsh’s little eyes couldn’t hide the excitement.

Meera’s eyes widened at the strange, mysterious hole they magically discovered. “Should we go back to the village and let Appa know?”

“We should, but before that let’s have a little investigation of our own. After all we found the hole.”

The hole was enormous, seemingly bottomless and impossible to measure. They stood at the pit’s edge and made sounds, and then began the fun; the sound echoed back from the hole. The Kids grew excited. They made different animal sounds and enjoyed most of it without the presence of the elders. Then Harsh had an idea.

“Let’s find out how deep is the pit.”

“Yeah, let’s throw stones and find out.” 

The first to throw stones was Meera. As she threw them into the pit, they kept their ears close to listen carefully to the rock hitting bottom. But they couldn’t hear anything.

“Maybe the stone was too small to make noise.” Harsh said.

They threw stones one after the other, but there was nothing but silence. Then Harsh had an evil thought. “Meera, maybe we need something much heavier.” Meera looked confused. “We are so little, how can we throw down something much heavier than…..”

Before she could complete it, he pushed her into the pit. Her faint scream was heard for some time, but she didn’t hit bottom. He laughed out loud, “Meeraaaaa…. I know you are down there. Come out!”

He called out her name repeatedly, but he heard his own echo from the pit. His face changed, “I guess I have to go back to the village alone.”

He returned home as if nothing had happened. At night Meera’s parents came in search of her at Harsh’s home. All four of them spoke to him, “Beta where is Meera? Wasn’t she with you while you went to the forest?”

“She said she was bored and returned to village on the halfway.” He lied.

Meera’s mother started to cry, “Oh God, where has this girl gone? It’s getting dark and what if she is lost? Ranjan we have to find her before it’s too late.”

Harsh had a sly smile on his face. While Harsh’s mother comforted Meera’s mother, Harsh turned on the TV. When Meera’s parents were about to leave, they saw a shadow at the front door.

“Meera?!” called out her mother.

Harsh turned back and saw Meera. Meera had her usual smile on her face.

“Sorry amma, I got lost. I promise I won’t go far away from village again.” Then she turned to Harsh and said, “Harsh didn’t you tell them about the mysterious hole we discovered today?”

Harsh gulped; he didn’t know what to say, “I.. I..”

“Oh, I told him not to tell you guys until I came back. Now that we all are here, shall we go there?”

“Isn’t it a bit late to explore this mysterious hole you found? Who knows what lurks there? Maybe those devious wolves that stole the chickens from next door Shanti’s chicken coop. It’s dangerous beta.”

“Nahi Amma, You gotta see this. Come on. It isn’t that far.”

Harsh didn’t know what was happening. He was sure that she couldn’t come out of the pit. Even if she did, not alive.

Harsh and Meera led the way. He was scared because something about Meera was not right. “Thanks for sending her in.” Meera broke the silence.

Harsh looked confused, “She is the tastiest I ever had in centuries.”

‘Tastiest?’ Harsh stood in a mid-way, shocked. “You are not Meera, who are you?”

Meera stared back at Harsh with her protruding tongue and red hunger-filled eyes, “Who else but the pit?”

Cursed Treasure hunt

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“This one’s empty too…I am damn sure we made a mistake Arnold.” Jerald dropped his shovel to the ground in disappointment.

“Sheesh, Jerry, calm down. I don’t make mistakes when it comes to digging treasures.” Arnold winked.

Arnold Schenigan and Jerald Fischer were two archaeologists who came with their team, led by Daniel Keiger, to excavate a site in the ancient city of Memphis. While at the head office, Arnold, quite an adventurous lad, went on an expedition to the head quarter’s private room. The private room held space for unexplored excavating sites, which were believed to hide maps of treasures and other precious possessions owned by the great pharaohs once.

Arnold’s eyes shined as he got his hands on one of those maps, which led to a precious possession near their supposed-to-excavate site. He was sort of a collector (which he called himself, even though he stole most of it without proper documentation). He couldn’t go there alone; he needed some help. Jerald was powerfully built; if the treasure was heavy, he would be a great help, thought Arnold.

He convinced Jerry and promised him half of the treasure.

“I don’t know, Arnold, this sound dangerous.” Jerry said hesitantly.

“Jerry, man come on don’t be a pussy. Think about it. Nobody would know. What can I say, I am an expert in doing things unnoticed. I have a bunch of collections which you will be surprised to see. I sell them in the black market, these items are worth millions back home and….”

“Millions?” Arnold knew that would have him on the hook. He continued.

“Yes Jerry, Millions…. you would be shocked to know the buyers. You look like someone I can trust otherwise am I mad to spit out these details? Come on, it will be our secret. If anything goes wrong, I will take the whole responsibility. I just need you to trust me.”

Jerry nodded his head in agreement.

It wasn’t easy to locate the place on the map. In the morning, they worked under Daniel while they sleeplessly hunted for the location at night. They barely slept for days. But on the fifth day, they located the place with help from some locals. They planned their way into the site for another five nights to strike it all prepared.

They packed all their excavation tools on the sixth day and went to the digging site. They had their work kickstarted by some of the locals so that it would be just them witnessing the actual treasure. (so that Arnold doesn’t have to share them with another five more people).

As the digging continued, they entered a tunnel well-structured enough for people to walk by; it looked like it was buried in a natural disaster. Now and then, they opened the map and marked their steps not to get lost. There were no booby traps, and the treasure hunt looked easy, unlike his other adventures.

“I thought there would be traps and stuff on this treasure hunt; looks like the pharaohs weren’t that careful back then.” Jerry laughed out loud, hitting lightly on Arnold’s shoulder with his.

Arnold thought about it for a while; this one seemed relatively easy out of all the properties he excavated. He felt there was something that wasn’t adding to the circumstances. As they walked down the tunnel, they were welcomed by the most miniature tomb they had ever seen.

“You want me to believe that the treasure’s in there?” said an angry Jerry, “Did I risk my job for this mini toy?”

“Something is wrong, let’s go around and take a closer look.”

They had their shovel and trowel ready to dig the tomb. Jerald switched on the torch, and Arnold took a closer look. He touched on the wording, “Should have taken my Arabic classes seriously.” Said, Arnold.

Once his fingers touched the coffin, a song started to echo in the tunnel in a soft voice.

“man yuzeij alnaesh ealayh allaenata
eud ‘adrajik alan”

“What is that? Do you hear it too?” Arnold’s eyes widened.

“I guess it’s a message, let me try to translate it.” Jerry took out his book and pencil and started translating the song word by word.

As the song repeated, Jerry tried his luck, “who.. ever.. coffin..bound.. to.. treasure? Back.. I am sorry Arnold, some words sound rather old. I cannot pin it to a certain word.”

Arnold’s greedy hands couldn’t wait more; he grabbed his pickaxe. The pickaxe hit the mouth of the tomb, producing a huge sound. He continued pounding the tomb, and finally, the tomb was cut into two pieces revealing an underground basement. A wooden ladder was placed there to get to the basement.

Both entered the basement and saw many coffins placed in circular positions around a massive jar with many golden toys. Arnold took out the map and confirmed, “We are here! We made it.”

They opened all the coffins individually, but there was no luck finding anything precious inside them.

“This one’s empty too…I am damn sure we made a mistake Arnold.” Jerald dropped his shovel to the ground in disappointment.

“Sheesh, Jerry, calm down. I don’t make mistakes when it comes to digging treasures.” Arnold winked.

The song repeated again, this time in a different tone.

“lam yafut al’awan lileawdati.
man yuzeij alnaesh ealayh allaenata
eud ‘adrajik alan”

“Maybe it’s a message saying we are close to the treasure. Don’t waste any time. Even if it’s not there in the coffin, we can divide the jar of golden toys.” Arnold said in haste.

The other two coffins were cut open with a loud, empty noise. To their surprise, there was nothing but green smoke. They coughed and moved certain inches away from the coffins. Jerald gave a salted look at Arnold while he was busy packing the golden toys. They ended their quest and returned to the camp with the golden toys.

On the way back, Arnold said, “Hey Jerald, this don’t work always don’t worry. We are not going back empty handed, but a hand full of golden toys which could be worth millions.”

Jerald sighed. Finally, they reached the mouth of the tunnel; Sunlight came rushing in, blinding their eyes. As they exited the tunnel, they saw their team waiting for them outside. Daniel’s face was shocked to see them. Jerald went on his knees, “Sir, I am sorry. I shouldn’t have. Don’t fire me. My family wouldn’t survive another day without this job.”

Daniel’s face displayed disgust and fear, “What have you done Arnold? You have unleashed the curse of the Pharaoh.”

That’s when Arnold noticed Jerald. He couldn’t even recognize his face. It was full of green fungi. Suddenly he noticed his hands. They were as green as algae. The song repeated while the skies turned dark.

“man yuzeij alnaesh la buda ‘an yaleana.
allaenat mulzamatan.
marhaban bikum fi yawm alqiamati”

The wind scurried, taking the map with it. Underneath the map was written, ‘Holy ground of Pharaoh Almawt, (which means death in Arabic). Heaven helps if you have to pass this tomb. I pray you don’t have to.‘

Daniel repeated, “Idiots! What have you done?! Whoever disturbs the coffin is bound to curse. The curse is bound. Welcome to the doom’s day.”

A Letter from Future Greta!

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Greta was shocked when she opened the envelope and saw that it was a letter from someone. “Jeez who writes letter these days…”

As she opened it, she grew more curious; she read the first sentence aloud in surprise, “Dear 25 year old Greta, you are making the greatest mistake of your life by marrying Jeffery.” 

“Seriously, who plans pranks like this!”

She continued reading, “You may find this difficult to believe. But trust me, you are gonna find someone way better than him. Okay, so you don’t trust me. I know it’s hard to believe that your five-year relationship is a scam. Trust me; he is a jerk. Well, you may be wondering how I know this. Well, I will get to that towards the end. I believe that you will receive this letter two-three days prior to your wedding day. I hope you have met Victoria already and I know she seems nice.”

“Yes, Victoria is great; she is the kindest person I met from Jeffery’s family. What is this letter trying to say?”

She continued reading, “Well, Vic is not Jeffery’s family. Everybody knows her because Vic and Jeff are childhood friends. They are very fond of each other and trust me, they both secretly love each other but didn’t confess because they were scared that they might lose each other. The night before your wedding, she’s going to confess that, and you will be heartbroken because he is going to choose her instead of you, Greta!”

“WHAT THE HELL!” Greta didn’t want to read more.

“I don’t believe this shit!”

“Jeffery is going to meet Victoria the night before your wedding, and girl, he is going to come up with some random excuses to meet up with her. You still don’t believe me? Okay. Listen carefully when Jeffery’s phone rings at your rehearsal dinner. Victoria is going to drunk call Jeffery. Will you believe me then?

Hoping you won’t make the same mistake as I did

Future You.”

The ‘future you’ kinda freaked Greta out. Well, who would believe that? Will you accept a letter written to you by your future you? I don’t think I will. Well, Greta wasn’t me. She was terrified by the letter. She waited for the rehearsal dinner, which would confirm everything. If the letter is truly from her future self, then her predictions wouldn’t go wrong, so what if the prediction turns out to be false? Then someone would be planning a prank on her, she thought. Someone desperately wants her to break up with Jeffery. She started to watch Victoria and Jeffery closely. Since Greta liked Victoria, she wanted her to be the maid of honour at their wedding; now that she had this doubt on her mind, she thought of reconsidering. ‘What if the things mentioned in the letter is actually true?’

“Tonight’s rehearsal night!” an anxious Greta took a deep breath. She read the letter once again. She closely examined the handwriting and found it similar to hers. “Maybe the future me is trying to help me.” Greta said to herself. She didn’t talk about the letter to anyone. As she got ready to leave the hotel to the reception hall, her best friend, Greg, noticed her face, which reflected the things going inside her head.

“Are you okay?”

“Apart from the choice of flowers, I’m okay.”

“Flowers?”

“Yeah, I wanted orchids, but Jeff wanted lilies. so…”

“So your face is like this because of the flowers?”

She hummed and nodded her head.

“Liar, you think you can lie to me. You know you can tell me anything right?”

She sighed and took out the letter from her pocket.

“What is this?” asked a confused Greg.

“A letter from my future self.” He started laughing.

“Go on, laugh as much as you want, but what if the shit written in it is the truth?”

“What is it that’s making you nervous?” he grabbed the letter from her and started to read it.

“Are you stupid, Greta? Have you seen the way Jeff looks at you? Sometimes I wish I had someone like him to stare at me like that. I don’t know why future you doesn’t see that. Maybe it’s just a prank. Tomorrow is your wedding, this is gonna be okay. If something happens we will know right? I am here for you.”

Greta hugged him tightly; she felt foolish to question Jeff’s love. She pulled herself together and got in the car. Maybe this could be something that they could laugh about in future. She hushed down the thoughts inside her head.

She saw the lights at the reception hall’s front door as her car entered the front gate. She saw Jeff waiting there with a bouquet to welcome her. She remembered when he said he loved her for the first time. A smile sprouted on her lips, making her go all red.

Jeff greeted her with a hug and kissed her forehead gently; she felt guilty for doubting him. They entered the hall with the family from both sides. A little later, her eyes started to look for Victoria, “that’s strange, my maid of honour is missing. How can she miss our rehearsal dinner?”

“I didn’t notice that till now, let me call her.” His phone started to ring with Victoria’s name on it as he said that.

“Oh, she is calling me!”

“Hey Vic, where are you? How can you miss your best friend’s rehearsal dinner?”

“……”

“Hello… You don’t sound good. Are you okay?”

“….”

“What?! Where are you? You are drunk, aren’t you?”

Greta listened to their conversation, crossing her fingers; things were happening just like the letter had mentioned. She could see that Jeff was worried about her. He ended the call and ran outside the hall. Greta ran after him.

“What is it? Where are you going?”

“Victoria, she needs me, I will tell you everything when I come back.”

“Let me come with you.” 

“This is something I have to deal with. It won’t take time. I will come back to you soon.” He placed a kiss on her forehead and headed to his car. Greta was not okay; she called Greg and told him what had happened. He arrived with his car and started following Jeff.

“What if the letter was true? Why would Jeff leave our rehearsal dinner?” Greta started crying. Greg didn’t know how to console her.

Then they saw Jeff’s car entering a pub. They stopped the car a few miles away and followed him inside the pub. He entered a dark room where the music was too loud. Greta stood behind the door and held Greg’s hand. 

“I don’t want to find out the truth; what if they are the ones meant to be? I don’t care what the letter says. But I don’t want to ruin anything for them. If I leave now, he wouldn’t have to feel embarrassed when he meets me again. You go inside and tell me if the letter describes the truth. If it is the truth, let’s leave. I don’t want to see them together.”

Greg patted her shoulders and entered the room. Greta stayed outside leaning to the walls, closing her eyes. Suddenly the music stopped. Greg started running towards her; he shook her, “You got to see this. Come with me.”

Greta followed Greg, not knowing what was happening. When she entered the room, the room was lit up. She saw Jeff standing close to a sober Victoria and their family members. Jeff had a mic in his hand, 

“Greta, remember the time you told me how our love felt so easy and how you wish it had some troubles and fights and insecurities like other couples? I could never stay angry with you; I purposefully let you win every argument, let you wear my hoodies, and never felt insecure with you because I know you love me. But to make you smile, I would go to the edge of the earth. Your wish has been granted, and I forgot, remember the time you said you wanted a wild rehearsal dinner party at a pub? Here you go!”

Then suddenly a poster with their picture appeared on the screen. Greta looked around to see everyone at the reception hall inside the pub. Greg gave her a big smile, letting her know that he was also a part of this plan. She punched him a little too hard and ran to Jeff, who stood waiting for her at the stage. She was speechless by the grand gesture.

“You are one crazy mad person.”

“That I am, just for one person.”

Little Whispers

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“Let me tell you, do not stay at school after 6 pm.” Louis continued, “last day I heard our teachers discussing about a ghost who haunts our school. Can you imagine, the kid is about our age. Somebody might have murdered him. Anyway, all I know is he haunts our school and trust me it is true.”

Everyone stared at him with wide eyes. ‘What if he was saying the truth?’ Everyone had this question but didn’t say anything out loud, scared or laughed at.

“Haunting, ghost… nonsense. He is trying to scare us.” Greg came as a saviour now.

“No, I am not lying. I heard them talking.”

“Well Louis, did you see the ghost?”

“Er… No, but I know it’s here.” He said, his face reflecting embarrassment. 

They laughed at him. Greg made a face at him and started teasing him,

“Louis the liar, his pants are on fire.”

The other kids repeated after him. Louis was mortified by then and ran off to the gents’ toilet and shut the door behind him. He sat on one corner of the room and cried. That poor kid dozed off crying. The school bell woke him up in the evening, and he realized that he had missed his classes. He ran to the classroom; only Rebecca was there. She stayed after school to do some work on the day she missed her class.

“Can I copy today’s work from you, Rebecca?”

“Sure, I am staying back anyway.” Rebecca smiled at him. Louis was relieved. He hoped she would stay, for he was scared of the ghost.

She gave him notes to copy. He sat on the corner desk and copied everything. She even promised to teach him the subjects he missed. It was late, and still, there was no presence of the ghost. Then Rebecca said, “I think you were a bit overreacting about the ghost thing.”

His head down, he said, “Maybe I was….”

“It is okie… since we are here let us do our homework together.”

Louis agreed. They opened their notebook and started with maths; they couldn’t find a solution for one of the problems. Both sat there trying to find it when he heard whispers. He cried, “someone is here. It’s crying or whispering.. I can’t make it out… but, I can hear them.”

Rebecca didn’t say anything; she stayed calm, “just relax Louis. Listen to the whispers.”

He closely listened to the whispers, and he realized those whispers were not mere cries but the solution for the problem they were doing. He didn’t understand why it was helping them.

“I think it is helping us solve the problem!” He said it aloud

“You see now; all hauntings are not that bad.” She winked at him.

“You knew? But how? Tell me..,” he was excited.

“Slow down… I knew from the beginning. I stayed once to get my work done, and I heard the whispers. First I thought I was imagining stuff but then she appeared in front of me.” She stopped and looked at him, and continued, “she didn’t hurt me but made me promise that I mustn’t disclose about her presence to anyone. As long as I do that she will help me do my homework. I think she likes you too.”

“What happened to her? How did she die? Did someone murder her or she killed herself?” He was curious.

“Everyone thought she jumped herself from height to kill herself, but it was an accident. She was enjoying her time with her friend and before she knew, she slipped and fell to the ground. She liked her school very much, that is why she is staying here. She doesn’t want to go back.”

Louis was silent for some time. “I have noticed that you don’t talk to others and why is that?”

“No one talks to me either. So I just kept quiet.” She smiled. They stayed there until his father came to pick him up.

“Do you want me to drop you?” He asked.

“No, its okie… I gotta do some other works. But thanks.”

“See you tomorrow then.”

“Yes, I guess, goodnight.”

She smiled back at him. He went to his father, who was waiting in the car,

“Who were you talking to?”

“A friend.”

“Must we drop your friend home?”

“She said she gotta do some other works; her parents might come to pick her up.”

“Okay son. Let’s go then.” and they drove to their home. He saw his mom in the kitchen as he reached home, cooking dinner for them. She was singing out loud a poem he had recently learned. He kept his bag on the kitchen table and ran to his mother, “Mommy, I know this song too.”

“Is it sweet heart? Let’s sing along then.” She started singing the last part of the poem encouraging Louis to follow her.

“I wasn’t afraid,” said Pooh, said he,

“I’m never afraid with you.”

So wherever I am, there’s always Pooh,

There’s always Pooh and Me.

“What would I do?” I said to Pooh,

“If it wasn’t for you,” and Pooh said: “True,

It isn’t much fun for One, but Two,

Can stick together, says Pooh, says he. “That’s how it is,” says Pooh.”

Both clapped their hands, laughing. “Nice, this song takes me back to the time I was a kid.” She sighed, “I used to sing this song along with my friend, Becky….” Her voice trembled when she said, Becky.

“Where is Becky now mom?” asked a curious Louis.

“She is … hm… she died when we were kids.” Her face swelled up, about to cry. Louis listened to her silently, not knowing what to say.

“We were just your age, our school organized a kids carnival where there were lots of rides and games for us to play. She loved roller coasters, but we weren’t tall enough to get a ride on them. She was very stubborn back then, if she wanted something, she would definitely get it. She pulled me along with her. We tricked the seniors who were incharge of the ride and found seats for us. The seat belt didn’t fit us and we didn’t know how to buckle it either. I, somehow made sure that I was not going to fall from it. But, as we reached the top, the seat belt kind of came off from Becky and with the speed the ride was going, she was blown away from my side. I cried and screamed until the ride stopped. By the time we reached the ground, she was gone. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to her.”

Louis felt sad for her, “Don’t worry mommy, she might be up there among stars watching over us.”

His mommy kissed him on his forehead, and they sang the song once again together. 

At night, as he was sleeping, he had a weird dream. He saw Rebecca and Greg, along with other kids who bullied him that day. He saw Rebecca smiling and putting firecrackers under the bed of those kids. He laughed hard in the sleep.

The next day when he woke up, his parents were discussing something. As soon as they saw him, they stopped and asked, “Louise, do you know Greg or Randy?”

“Yes… I know them… we have our English class together.” 

“They had an accident yesterday… somebody threw firecrackers at them. They don’t remember what happened.” His mother said.

Some glimpses of his dream. He didn’t say anything but dressed up for school. As soon as he reached there, he searched for Rebecca, but he couldn’t find her anywhere. Then he asked a boy who sat beside him, “did u see Rebecca today?”

“Who is Rebecca?” His response shocked him, “the girl with black short curly hair, who wears a chain on her neck with an R?”

“No, I don’t know.” He said ignorantly.

How does someone doesn’t know Rebecca? She always sits alone for lunch. She doesn’t take part in sports due to her spinal cord damage. Well. He thought.

As he walked down the stairs, he noticed a picture on the notice board, and it said, 

Rebecca, you will always be remembered. 

Love,

Your teachers.

And above the message was given a picture of Rebecca.

It was the scariest and surprising thing for him. Now he knew why he could only see her. She haunted the school. She narrated the whole story to him, hoping she would get someone to talk to. She might be the Becky my mom was talking about! He took one of those posters pasted on the wall and tweaked it inside his pant’s pocket, and ran back home. As soon as he reached home, he saw his mother getting into the car to leave for her office. She stopped and stepped out of it on seeing him back from school so early. He gasped for air and asked her, “Is she the one you were talking about yesterday?”

She took the poster from him and looked at them. “Yes, Becky’s real name was Rebecca. I almost forgot it, it’s her 20th death anniversery. The school had informed me about the memorial happening for her. Thanks baby, I almost had it forgotten.”

Louis was kind of excited; he didn’t say that he met her the other night. He ran back to school. That night he stayed after school in the hope of seeing her. She didn’t come, but the whispers helped him do his homework. Every day he did the same in the hope to see her, but she never came again. After all, she wasn’t haunting, her loneliness made her a child again and made her choose a friend, and she chose wisely.

The Candyman

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It’s already 5’o clock in the evening, and I am waiting at the bus stop near my school for someone to give me a ride back home. My Maths teacher thinks I am weak in mathematics, so she asked me to stay after school for special tuitions. Yesterday night she rang my mother and told her how weak I was in that subject; I wish she hadn’t done that. I didn’t like staying after school. I will have all those evil thoughts about everything.

Honestly, I am scared. What if something unfortunate happens here after 5 pm? My friends tell me that many kids of my age have gone missing for some hours while waiting for their parents or relatives to take them back home. They wouldn’t say what happened to them; they would stop coming to school or relocate to other places after the abduction. I lost touch with my best friend like that. She left the town without even saying goodbye to me.

The kids had a name for the person they assumed to abduct the kids; “The Candyman.” Some say he is just a friendly person who gives a ride to the young children, while others say he does evil things to the kids he provides a ride. By the way, I forgot to mention why he is named “Candy man.” It’s because he lures kids with lollipops and other candies, which the kids can’t resist.

I stared at my watch; it was already 5:30 pm. The road has been empty since I arrived at the bus stop. I usually walk to my home since it was around the corner. It’s tough to walk today for I was too tired after the class works she had given me. Not long after, I saw a minivan approaching the bus stop. The person driving the van was alone, but he looked friendly. He stopped the vehicle when he saw me and asked,
“Hey boy, you look like you could use a ride.” He said.

I was happy that he stopped, “Thanks, I was waiting for a long time for a bus or a bike. My home is nearby, will you able to drop me there?”

“Sure, hop in,” saying this, he opened the door for me.

As I entered, I noticed that it had a familiar smell. I think it smelled of candies. Is it the guy my friends were talking about? As I got in, the van started to move; he opened the dashboard close to him, which had all varieties of candies in it. Yes, it’s the Candyman! I politely rejected it. Yet he insisted, “Sure why not, one for my brother please.” He asked me such funny questions, and I gave him the answers the way he wanted.

“Are your parents home?”

“No, they are working late. My younger brother might be there waiting for me.” I lied; I saw that the man’s face shine as he heard it. I encouraged him further, “We don’t have any neighbors; it’s kind of an isolated place. I guess my parents don’t like noise.”

“I agree; the neighbors could be boisterous at times.” He smiled.

I instructed him on the directions towards my home. Everything seemed perfect, He didn’t try to hurt me like the others said, but his face looked creepy as he smiled between the talks. As we reached the front door to my house, he stopped,

“Why don’t you introduce me to your little brother? I shall give him this Candy and leave.”

“Oh why not? Thank you for being nice enough to give me a ride to my home. Would you like to come inside and have some nice tea?”

The man smiled as if I didn’t know what he was up to. I felt pity for this man, for he didn’t know what he ran into. This is why I hate evening classes. He made my best friend leave town, I shouldn’t feel bad for him, but you know, living among humans and hurting someone is difficult for me, but what should I do? My family had asked me to bring home dinner, and trust me, people like Candyman are so easy to catch.

The door opened with a shriek, and as expected, my mom pulled the man inside. He protested for some time in pain, but my mom was too strong for him to stop. Oh, I forgot to mention, “We are cannibals and we feed on humans like him.”