The Camping Trip
As young boys we were all very fascinated by the creepy ghost stories. Every camping trip from our school had this one occasion when some guy would narrate us a ghost story or some other scary incident which he either recalled or made up. We would all huddle around him and listen to him carefully, trying to soak in the supernatural aura created by the story. It was all in good humor, only, not on that night.
The night was rife and we were all set for a story. Our bus was about to leave in the next hour on our our journey back home. We had early dinners during our camping trips and hence we were all stuffed. We all huddled up in a small tent and a torch was passed on to the guy who was going to narrate the incident. He began his story, ironically in the way all fairytales begin.
" Once upon a time, there was a small village of poor farmers. They were harassed by the local landlord for money. The landlord used his influence and muscle power to acquire more land. His greed for money and power made him plunder the fields of those poor farmers when they were not guarding their lands. The poor farmers, under debt and distress begged for mercy but only received insults and warnings from the landlord. One after the another, the landlord acquired land and hired the same farmers to work as his bonded laborers. He gave them bits of the remains to eat and enjoyed a feast himself.
The farmers kept falling ill, some because of the maltreatment and others because of starvation. The landlord didn't care. Cruelty, he said, was necessary to keep those unworthy laborers under check. Little did he know that all cruel acts add up and when one's time comes, he has to pay for them.
A young boy of fourteen, forced into bonded labor to pay for his father's debt, dared questioning the landlord. He argued that the poor farmers wanted their land back. He accused the landlord of malpractices. In rage, the landlord burnt the poor child alive in front of all the farmers. They watched him burn like stone pillars. None of them moved a muscle. Some were scared of the landlord, others questioned the boy's intentions. Some even went on to say that it was the boy's fault that he stood up against the landlord. They all saw him turn to ashes. They all heard his screams and did nothing. They all silently became accomplices to the heinous crime.
In a week's time, the local newspaper reported that the landlord along with his laborers died at the granary when a fire broke out accidentally. The suddenness of the event gave nobody a chance to escape. Eye witnesses to the event said that by the time they reached the spot, the fire had gone out of control and only a young boy managed to escape. They say he ran into the fields but the local inspector had not been able to trace any such survivor. The folk tale says that it was the ghost of the young boy who came back to take his revenge. Others believe that it's just plain hearsay. "
I was thrilled, reeling from the influence of the story. We boarded our bus for the journey back home. Somehow I preferred to take the rear window sear. I wanted some lone time to think about the story, I was still wondering whether it was possible for a dead human being to come back for revenge and then haunt people. Somehow it didn't make sense to me. I started wondering whether there could be another boy in the granary who may have survived the fire. He could have run away when he realized that he may again fall into captivation if he stayed back. It all started becoming rational to me.
Suddenly I heard a screeching noise and the bus rolled over. I realized my head hurt and my legs had gone numb. I could see the road from the window but it was all hazy initially. As I got into my senses, I saw a figure approaching near me. I thought some one had come to rescue me. I tried to look up to his face and ask for help. But all I saw dark, smeared face with bloody red eyes.He came close to me and said with a smirk
" Don't think too much ".
- Rtr Aakash Rathi
Epilogue: I screamed as loudly as I could. This invited unwanted attention from the teachers and some abuses from my friends who had gone off to sleep. Just like me.
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