I gazed at the calm forest life from the window, feeling the slight bumps of the bus running over the uneven forest trail, the chirping of the birds, and the subtle chattering of the people on the bus keeping me from dozing off.
I felt a sudden pull on my shirt, a light one, I looked over to my side to see that it was Anu, my daughter, "what's wrong?" I asked, patting her on the head and making her sit down on her seat, "how long till we reach there" she complained, looking tired, and so was I, we had been travelling for hours now "We are almost there, just sit down and play with your doll" I said giving her cotton bear to her, it was old, probably even as old as herself. But she would not abandon it, she loved it as it was her own sibling, its raggy brown fur and rose red eyes made it stand out from the rest of her toys, or perhaps, it was the fact that she had it since she didn't even learn how to walk, nevertheless it was like a part of her family to her, "That's a teddy bear! And her name is pretty" she exclaimed, I nodded with a smile "I am sorry Ms... pretty"
I tilted my head back towards the window, as I noticed the sign of the town, it was a very old-looking rusty metal sign, coloured in a very bright shade of yellow which was ruined by the rusty cracks engulfing various spots of it, "Kaligarh", the town's name written in Bold black colour, contrasting with the yellow of the board, "And...we are here" I said, looking at Anu as the bus comes to a halt. I stood up, grabbed the handle of our suitcase, and put the backpack on my back.
The place looked as if it was abandoned. Well this was a remote town, in a forest out in the middle of the country with worn-out roads with a not so big of a population, that might also be the reason that there was no actual bus stop either. We were dropped off at the town entrance. The giant wooden entrance was overrun by nature and time had worn it out, dust and grime all over it surrounded by enormous trees on one side, and a river on the other, the cold breeze from the forest hit my nape, sending a bolt of shivers down my spine, the calm rustling of the trees soothing our ears but yet I couldn't shake off the weird feeling it gave me, as though I was being watched by someone or...something. Though the feeling wasn't exactly foreign to me, living in the woods, all alone, weeks at a time, really takes a toll on you, making u imagine things that are not there and ignore what reality is altogether.
It's not like I wanted to be here anyway, not with my 11-year-old daughter at least, This was my father's hometown, he was born and raised here, swam in this town's river and played in the forest with his friends. It was his dying wish for his ashes to be dumped into the very river that flows through the heart of the town, and a part of it to be spread in our old ancestral home's garden, where he grew up. The old man wanted to go back to where he began in the first place, to let his remains be given back to the place he came from.
I could see shops or rather, some stands inside the town entrance a few meters away from where I stood "Let's go..." I told Anu, as I gave her my hand to hold, without saying anything she held my hand back. We walked into the town, Inside, was a Bazar of some sort, though it looked like a wreck, it was surprisingly lively for a town of its kind, especially considering the state of the infrastructure, there were a bunch of shops with considerable gap between them on either side of the road, selling all sorts of stuff from food to toys to cloths.
"Dad, I want that" Anu pointed at one of the toys displayed at the shop, "Not right now hon," I said "but I want it"
"I already told you no, sweetheart. Maybe next time." Anu looked sad, but I did not have time right now. I had to find our ancestral home.
I looked around for someone who might know the address to the house, that's when I saw a man selling some garments in one of the stands nearby, he looked old, probably as old as my father would have been, if he was alive. He wore an old-looking colourless kurta and a dhoti of the same colour, the wrinkles on his tired tanned face practically giving away his age. He might know where it is I thought as I grabbed Anu's hand and approached his stand.
"Oh hello, young man! What are you looking for today? I have some nice clothes for someone her age too!" The man exclaimed as he saw me and Anu approaching, he looked a bit too lively for someone his age, or perhaps it was his way of attracting some customers to his little stand, "Namaste Chacha, do you know where Mehra Bhavan might be?"
as I asked, the bright smile on his face disappeared, as if I had mentioned some ghost "Mehra? That old villa on the outskirts of the town? That place has been dissipated since ages, the owners left it when I was just a young lad."
"Yeah I am looking for that, can you tell me the directions to it?" I asked the old man in the hope that I would be able to fulfil my father's dying wish.
"But who might you be sir? Looking for that place, no one goes in that block at this time of the year, no one except the one who lives there" The old man asked, his voice had a slight hint of confusion.
"I am Vikram Mehra.... It's my ancestral home"
"Mehra? Are you... the son of Hemant?"
"Y-yes, that's my father, do you know him?
"Yes, we were friends back in the day, best friends even, I might say, until one day, the family decided to leave the town, it was for better opportunities they said, he said he would come back one day, it's been 60 years, has he come?"
"Well.... I don't know how to say this... he... died last month... but tell you what, he always wanted to come here, it was always his wish, but now it's too late for that, that's why I am here, to fulfil his last wish"
"Well... that's unfortunate" the man sighed "but that's ok, you don't know what's written in your destiny, no one does, one moment someone looks just fine and the next day... it's all gone..." he looked down before turning his eyes back to me, and then to anu "That's your daughter I will assume.... she looks quite young for a journey so long, I will ask my son to drop you and her off to the place" he said as he picked up an old keypad phone from one of the drawers of his stand, and dialled a number "Uh hello... hello, do you hear me?! Hello! Ah yes, listen here, come to the shop right now, yeah, it's urgent... I do not care come here quick I need you for something"
"I am grateful of you to help sir... I mean uncle" I said as the man disconnected the call and put his phone down on the counter, The man just nodded smiling in response "Tell you what son, whatever you wish to do here... in this town... get it done as soon as you can, you have come here around the wrong time of the year," He said, looking me dead in the eye, I thought he was joking at first, but the look he gave me said otherwise, "that was really weird of him to say that," I thought.
"Umm... what do you mean si-" He cut me off immediately "Especially to be travelling with... children," he said, the way he said it, sent a bolt of shivers down my spin. that was so random, yet eery, I looked at him, with the sternest look I could make at the time "What do you mean uncle? Did I do something wrong?" I asked "No, this month, is the month of the devil, the power of the forest monsters is at an all-time high this month, every year we pray to the goddess, to keep us safe from him from the top of the hill where she can see it all, but your ancestral villa, is towards the south of the shrine, behind the goddess's back, out of the all the places in the town, that's the best area for the monster to attack, and he... really... really likes the flesh of small children at that"
He said while looking at Anu, She was naturally scared by the old man's expressions. She clung to my leg immediately, I gave her a pat on her back before looking back at the old man, though I generally do not believe in such stuff at all and just overlook these things, but I was not going to just let it be with him. "Excuse me, sir? Do you not have any idea how to talk to a child? Are you sick in the head? You scared her, you can keep these stupid little stories to yourself, please do not scare my child with your superstitious crap"
The old man gave me a weird look as if I had said something in some foreign language, but he just sighed and nodded his head in disappointment before sitting back on his stool.
"You may not believe me son, rightfully so, you are not from here, you have lived in the cities your whole life, the monsters do not lurk in the cities, they do not like the attention, but believe me son, whatever happens in these woods in these times"
"Is something even The Devil himself would not plan for his victims in hell..."
---------> To be continued...