I woke up and discovered myself in a grave. The grave was like a house. The walls are cemented. The only thing missing was the existence of a roof.
The condition of the grave was abnormal. Even today onwards, I have not seen a grave like that before.
I fell in a grave yesterday - I remembered vague and clear. I could not move at all since I hurt my back.
It was morning. The sun had not fully shown because it was partly dark. It could not be evening, on the other hand; because I came here at night. So I concluded it was early morning.
I was not calm at all. My head hurt as well as my back. Those were not even the worst. I spent my whole night in a graveyard, not to mention in someone's grave. Yesterday, my heart was racing fast. In this grave, I felt like it was going to burst.
Speaking of yesterday, I could vividly picture the blood soaked skull and its body. The horror from which I had been at a distance the previous night, I was completely on it. I was on someone's decaying body.
I was disgusted and panicked back then, which was probably the case why I never let myself pursue the career of a doctor. Moreover, I never had such a thought of watching a dead body again after the graveyard incident. Instead I chose a different career. A career which was based on what I had experienced as a person.
Nevertheless, I did not have any idea of what was happening outside - beyond the grave - at my grandparents' house.
My mother later told me the whole story. My brother was near the graveyard's pond, where he had been with his friends. He noticed that I was not there. Immediately he rushed and told everyone and they hastened to look for me.
While he was leaving with the others, he saw a dim light far ahead across the pond. He beheld some guys going to the caretaker's hut. Nevertheless, he did not care about them then. Everyone was searching for me. My brother had forgotten fear, my mom added; he searched every corner of the graveyard, but found no clue of me.
" I had looked at the open graves as well," my brother emphasized when we were recalling the event one day in the evening.
I was astonished because I was in one of those graves.
A few people who were passing saw lights here and there. They came to the graveyard out of curiosity only to discover some boys searching rigorously.
They also looked over the graveyard for a while. Then one suggested to inform the relatives. My brother, with his fear in control, had gone to the granny's house.
My brother and his group had one more reason to search for me. If they went without me, they would not survive the hell their parents might do to them. In fact, it was so true for my brother. Fortunately, they had not gone through hell quicker than they expected. Everyone was so occupied with finding me after hearing the news.
My uncles, dad, grandfather - all of the men of the village had come to the graveyard in a short moment. Every one of them had a torchlight. That night, the graveyard had been made into a day in the middle of night. They searched for me but found no clue as well.
Some of the people who came there started to spread rumours that I might have gone to the little forest beside the graveyard. And that we should stop that search and focus on finding the child in the boundary of the graveyard.
The caretaker suggested otherwise. He advised my grandfather to look for me in the little forest. I was a little child. Even if I went there, I could not go any further. I might be crying somewhere in the forest.
My father and grandfather - they decided to look for me in the forest. I wondered just how much courage they had to make such a decision in front of those crowds.
Everyone knows the forest was not a place for humans to go, that it was a boundary one should not cross even in an emergency. There were four posters with caution signs on the four sides of the forest.
NO ONE ALLOWED TO GO ANY FURTHER. THE LAND IS PRIVATE. ONLY THE OWNER CAN ENTER.
In a foreigner's view, those words might mean nothing. But the horror of the words completely outweighed everything in that village.
The villagers knew what happened in that forest in the past. So they insisted on not going there, even to look for a child.
My grandfather stopped my father from going there with him.
"That child is my little boy. If I do not go, who else will instead?"
"And I am not letting you go to that hellhole alone. No one can surely tell if my kid is there."
"If he is there, I will go; even if he is not there, I will go. As long as there is a possibility, I will go. So please do not stop me."
My father's clear assertion made my grandfather flabbergasted. My grandfather just nodded.
" Look for Arthur in the village for me, Bellois." Bellois is the oldest son and firstborn as well of my grandparents.
"Do not worry. Stephen and I, we both are going to make sure we search every corner of the village. Look over my father." He replied.
"Leave it to me. I am going to protect him and my kid no matter what."
"I'll leave it to you then".
My uncles went to patrol the nearby areas with some men.
My grandfather and my father were preparing to enter the forest.
The caretaker, Abdul, was doing some kind of ritual in front of them. He also called some people to do the ritual with him. They killed a pregnant goat and buried him near the entrance.
My father hated those things. So he had left the place before the ritual. My grandfather, as an elder of the village, was present during the ritual.
"Go over this grave and enter the forest after thirty minutes," Abdul told my grandfather.
"Do not tell me to do things, Abdul".
Abdul was smirking at my grandfather. Their relationship was not bad at all. They just did not have a meeting before.
My grandfather was also very proud. He did not talk with people he deemed as asses and also with the ones who did not talk with him first. He, in short, hated conversation other than his family.
My grandfather along with my father had entered the forest barehand.
" Keep it in mind - what you see there, forget about it. And do not take any weapons. We might survive if we went as a guest since we let them know our intention through the ritual". My grandfather warned my father.
My father was resolved enough but was shaking. My grandfather noticed his leg perpetually shaking.
" Tighten your posture. Be brave, boy. Do not show them any weaknesses, otherwise they will feed upon our fear playing tricks".
My grandfather told him without making any eye contact this time. My grandfather was also terrified despite his appearance.
" A person's eyes can never betray," my father remarked about that situation.
The forest was ordinary like any other normal forest would be - not dangerous - just a little bit ordinary.
They have torches but not working in the forest. They have checked it many times before. As soon as they entered and went a little bit deep into the forest, the lights went off.
The villagers were tracking their location through the lights they emitted outside the village. However, they lost track and started spreading rumours among them. Some even went to the house to report them of the events.
A loud cry was echoing through the gentle wind. The neighborhood women came to the house to comfort them. However, things turned otherwise. My mom shouted and resolved to stay firm in that situation. The people then directly blamed her and her family for what was going on in the house and the village. They accused her of being a witch who would ruin the village. My mom did not listen to them a bit. She just told them to go away.
My grandmother agreed with my mom and stayed by her side in the whole situation.
My big uncle's wife, Rihana, turned the blame on the people.
"What are you here for? Blaming our family for this? What have you lost to make such claims?"
"Father and my husband…I do not know where they are? Especially father, even if he is alive?" She paused at the end a little bit, cried with a shriek and looked at my granny.
My granny did not utter a word.
The rest of the people accused mom and my father of making my grandfather do such risky tasks at that old age. My granny went up the stairs and got inside her room.
My mom was silent and was in a corner of the corridor. My aunts, uncles' wives were gossiping with each other on the opposite side of her.
My mom remarked about that matter later,
"They were trying to put blame on me. I do not know why."
In the forest, the situation had begun to change for them. It was dark, chilly ( it was summer then), foggy and hard to breathe.
Later they claimed while discussing about this matter with us,
"I am sure it was a complete darkness we had walked in", my father agreed with grandfather
.
Grandfather added, "We had seen the starry sky in the entrance. We did not know how but we were in complete darkness out of nowhere."
My father nodded.
"The situation began to turn around after this", my father gulped.
They were terrified of the terrible occurrence that had happened to them. But they explained it all to us one by one.
The discourse :
We were not terrified of the darkness. Darkness did not scare us back then. Something else did, rather unexpectedly.
Trees could not make a human tremble. But we were petrified, none other than those trees in the forest. We had not seen such trees before which were humongous and horribly foul.
I had zoned out for a moment there. I had my sense back after your grandfather (looking at me) shouted at me to get out of this place. We walked out in a rush.
We were walking in caution, even then we lost ourselves amid what we knew of when. I looked back and found no sign of your grandfather.
I saw you before me in a grassy field. Standing and looking straight at me. I was glad to see you well. I approached the being without any care. I was manipulated but my body knew and it reacted to the being. My body was sweating and constantly shaking. Despite this, I hugged it, thinking, at last, finally, I got to see you.
Your mom's smiling face surfaced in my mind. I did not wait a bit. I strived to take you with me but could not make you move an inch. I tried a couple of times. It looked at me, showing me to go in a direction.
I looked that way for a second and when I looked at it again; I found nothing. I searched that place rigorously to find it. But I found no clue and then decided to go in the direction it had told me to go.
Your grandfather told me at the entrance, " We have only two hours. Whatever happens there, get out of the place after two hours."
" We cannot even bring a handwatch. How am I going to know in case…"
" You have me."
I know now that the little boy was not you. The boy was pointing in a direction so that I could find your grandfather. It was not trying only to help me. It was also warning me that we had only two hours by pointing two fingers at a time before it vanished.
But I could not comprehend those clues back then. Nevertheless, I went in that direction.
Your grandfather came to me while I was going there. I wanted to ask something but he interrupted and said,
"You can ask me anytime later. I will answer everything. But do not ask a question now. You just follow me. We have to get out of here."
Your grandfather was terrified, sweaty, and breathing heavily. After seeing his condition, I said nothing and quietly followed him. We were running for a while. After some time, we got out of the forest.
It was morning already.
After getting out, he told me again to quietly follow me. We arrived at a grave - prefect and cemented. Your grandfather climbed the five foot walls. Having no clue, I took a peek only to notice you looking at me in tears. He then took you in one hand and again climbed the walls.
I was gabsmacked. I did not know what happened. Besides, I realized how strong your grandfather was back then.
I took an oath after that. I would never make your grandfather angry unless I had the courage to break some bones.
Nevertheless, we took you and walked to the place where the rest of the people were anticipating our arrivals - in good health or in corpses - I was not sure of but we went there.
All of them were astonished to see us, mostly astonished to see me in the lap of my grandfather. I was weak and vulnerable.My grandfather just told them about my condition and where I was. Then he and my father rushed to the house.
I saw my uncles striding towards us. They were probably searching for me around the village. After hearing the news, they came towards the graveyard.
I saw my mom running to see me. She ran all the way to the rice mill. My mom hugged me tightly and cried aloud. I had not seen my mom cry before. She was an ironclad lady.
Besides, she had not slept the whole night.
She carried me to the house with everyone. Then after the crowds were gone and all we had were us, my parents and all asked me lots of questions.
My grandfather never said a single word during my interrogation. He knew everything.
I just told them everything that happened from yesterday to the morning. I was there the whole night.
This horror still gives me nightmares.
My father was surprised and then asked grandfather,
" How did you know Arthur was there?"
" Glad we found Arthur safe and sound." He ignored my father's question.
"Why are you avoiding me?" Father desperately replied.
" What are you both talking about?" My mom asked.
" Hey, you promised me you will tell me everything."
" I did not," my grandfather walked out from us.
My father then told us everything that happened. All of us were anxious of my grandfather.
Later the following night, some curious people came to our house and asked my father about the forest. My father then told them to invite all the people of the village.
He could not just tell the entire story to the people one by one. He knew whenever he would meet someone, even before exchanging greetings, they would ask about the forest. So he would tell the story once to the whole village.
I was on the lap of my father. My uncle, Stephen, proposed a good deal to my father.
"Hey, why don't we take payment from the people who are interested in hearing your story?"
My father wanted to go along with the idea. He was just going to say affirmative but held back before me.
" Stephen, I am not going to be an entertainer, you know. Besides, you had no idea the horror I had gone through".
"If you want, I will take payment from you though."
"No thanks", he walked out being disappointed.
That night, my father told them the whole story. Though it was his story based on his understanding of the situation. However, reality was totally different.
No one knew of the original story until my grandfather told us.