The Evil Spirits of the Paddy Field

The Evil Spirits of the Paddy Field

I was meeting up with some good old friends after a long time on a Sunday night. The party hall was well lit but the air conditioning was making me feel a bit colder. I was looking at the menu unable to decide for a long time that one of them just took the menu from me and ordered a random dish for me.

A dish named “Makhni Paneer Biriyani” came to my table. I carefully examined it which apparently looked much like normal biriyani with paneer pieces put into it. I glared at my friend as he picked up a few mouthfuls from my plate, grinning.

We then started chatting and having our dinner. We discussed about old times and new times. Then we moved to random topics.

“Has someone encountered a ghost?” Raj asked with the noodles he was eating dangling from his mouth.

“I have been living with one for two years” Deepak joked. We all chuckled.

“Supernatural presence is real, indeed!” Dev cut in, speaking for the first time since we arrived. There was a pause and then silence. Everyone stopped eating and turned their attention towards him.

“Yes, they are real” Raj gulped down the noodles almost choking while doing it. The lights seemed to dim down a bit before brightening but nobody noticed. It was Dev who had all our attention now, waiting for him to proceed. He ate the last piece of his naan and wiped his mouth with a tissue.

“This happened before 5 years…” Dev started, adjusting his glasses. Somehow, he was not bothered by the chillness inside the room with the thin white tee that he was wearing while I was trembling inside a jerkin.

“I used to go to a paddy field in the outskirts of our city to play with my friends then. It was one such evening. The sun had already started to sink down the horizon and there was no sight of the moon. We were still playing. There were no residents near and around the field which made it a perfect getaway for us on weekends.”

“Then we heard a cry. We ignored it, continuing to play. Then the air became cold, damp and an eerie wind blew past us.”

“I felt a shiver running down my spine. The cry just got louder and I heard a dog barking in a distance. All of my friends ran away but one. He took my hand and ran in the direction of the cry to my horror.” Dev paused to drink some water.

“We stopped near an old ruined hut. The cry stopped too. The dampness in the air was receding. That was the last thing I remembered” Then there was an awful pause.

“What happened next?” we asked him. Dev did not continue. He stood up and went into the restroom without saying anything. We waited for him to come out. We could not eat as our appetites were long gone. He came back after a few minutes.

“Have you ever lost some part of your memory that no matter how hard you tried to remember, you could not recollect any part of it?” Dev asked us stressing on the ‘any part’. We looked at each other’s faces for a moment in delusion before answering negatively.

“The incident that I just narrated to you happened to me but I have no recollection of it, not even a bit. All I remember was waking up from my bed the next day. This narration was how my friends narrated it to me, watching me from a distance after they ran away. The horrific thing was the guy who took me there had his memory wiped out too.”

“Are you sure that you weren’t drunk or drugged?” I questioned him.

“I don’t drink, you guys know it. That day, I took a full-body test at the hospital and the report came clean which was concerning – no signs of any intake drugs or medicines in my body. Also, I hadn’t suffered any physical damage to my head. Every test that I took suggested that I was doing super well.”

“Then, I went to the place the second time because I was curious and did not believe in the supernatural crap…” The hall was getting colder, unbearably cold now that I had to call the waiter to increase the temperature, interrupting Dev’s narration. But the waiter had trouble increasing the temperature and finally, he admitted that there was something wrong with the cooling system. He promised that he would sort this out soon and would have to shut down the AC for a while and left.

Meanwhile, I was shivering up to my toes and I had to rub my palms together to keep myself warm. We were all shaking and trying to keep ourselves warm – the temperature seemed to be set somewhere less than 14 degrees. I could not help but notice that Dev was literally unaffected by the temperature. I went up to him to check if he was ok. As I touched his arm, I felt a shiver run down my spine and took my hands off him. I stood there petrified with fear as his bloodshot eyes looked at me. His body was cold – ICE COLD!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Sip Before I Said It

Image
The Sip Before I Said It The city honked and howled beneath us, but on the foot-over bridge, it was just Diya and me — quiet, almost untouched. The traffic looked like a movie scene running 10x in slow motion. From the bridge, under the dark night sky, the lonely moon shone brightly upon the little stars on the roads. Somehow everything felt different that day, more beautiful than usual. We got down the bridge and walked towards Third Wave Coffee. The place was bustling with people as always. The outdoor ambience was cool with trees and fountains. We were busy chatting about work and only paid attention to the obstacles on our way to Third Wave Coffee. I opened the door for her, and a strong gust of air from the air curtain hit me. We went inside, and luckily there were only a few people. The place was calm, with the scent of coffee lingering in the air. She looked simple and unbothered — in a light shirt top, black track and those little jhumkas she always wore like a signat...
Read more

If I Had A Love Story - Chapter 13

Image
Chapter 13 The light from the projector illuminated the dust in front of it as the computer screen evaporated onto the white screen. Detailed illustrated pictures filled the screen (There were plenty of circles and several coloured lines drawn through them. "Y type printing unit (KBA)" the text below the picture read). I scribbled the diagram onto my notebook. The circles looked ragged and the lines looked lot more like waves. I strangely developed feelings for the fillings in the sandwiches. That's because I was apparently sandwiched in between two giant sized breads. I often struggled to ease myself and would rather take the monkey route of jumping over tables whenever I needed to get out. That day was different. The bench behind was empty and I occupied the whole of it. Easing myself well below now, my legs one over another and I spread out my hands on both sides of the bench taking it all to myself. I wasn't claustrophobic but it felt good to have the whole be...
Read more

The Lost Diary of Love

Image
The Lost Diary of Love The sun started dropping down the horizon and darkness was engulfing us quickly. We had set up a tent and campfire on the leeward side of the blue mountains of Kodaikanal, protected by the natural outcroppings of the rocks. The moon was shy that day and hid behind the clouds. I took a flashlight, some provisions and started on a stroll. I wandered long to reach a dead end covered by creepers and leaves. As I was about to turn back, I heard a rustling sound from behind. I shone the torch in the direction of the sound, illuminating a giant rat. The rat suddenly disappeared into nowhere. I went closer and leaned on the wall to check and I fell in front. There was no end, it was a cave’s mouth cleverly hidden. The cave seemed untouched for years as moss and vines were invading it. I tread cautiously through the floor covered by dried leaves. I stepped upon something within the leaves. Clearing up the leaves, I found a book underneath it. There were traces of candle w...
Read more