CHAPTER THREE:
POSSESSED!
As my dad and my uncle rushed to the spot, I was peeking here and there to get a feel, or at least a view, of what was happening. By the time the two of them returned I had already managed to gather our young pool of my brother and my cousins, and we were all very excited, even if somewhat spooked. My uncle was pretty worked up as they had not found my aunt anywhere and to make things even more complicated, it was found that the front door was locked from inside while the rear door too, was latched from the inside.
So my aunt had to be somewhere within the walled premises. We checked the two houses, the guest rooms, the wash rooms and every corner of the property, but to no avail. The whole household was awake by then, and everyone was searching here and there. Then my dad suggested that we check the area beyond the rear gate, towards the side of the pond, although, with the rear door still latched there was no real explanation to look for her there. Nevertheless, he went with the landlord to check the rear end so that ‘no stone was left unturned’. We were all asked to stay where we were, which is what all of us did. There wasn’t much to do and waiting idly doesn’t come naturally to everyone, so some of the industrious folks went on an endeavour to recheck all the rooms, in case they had missed out on something, be it my aunt herself or a subtle clue to her whereabouts.
As kids, we were under strict observation from the elders and all we could do was to sit and wait, while observing the helplessness of the adults around us. Almost fifteen minutes later, there was a shriek from one of the women around, and all our eyes followed her gaze as our heads turned towards the rear door. Initially, it was not so easy to understand what was going on, as we could only see some movement and what seemed like some sort of a struggle between one or two men, to get in through the small rear door. The low intensity of the light bulb and the over bearing impact of the dark openness all around, didn’t help in terms of visibility either. But as our eyes adjusted to it, we could make out the frames of my father and the landlord walking back towards us, and it seemed like they were carrying something with them. Soon, much to our horror, we realised that what they were carrying was not something, but in fact someone, and it was the senseless body of my aunt!
My uncle rushed towards them as sheer chaos ensued among all the others in the audience. People, divided between the zealous, who rushed in to help my father and the landlord, and the phlegmatic, who believed that staying put and speculating can be a bigger contribution, got involved nevertheless. Everyone started making their own assumptions and interpretations of the story, without having a definitive clue to what might have actually happened. My mother, with a cold stare, commanded us to stay in our positions, but I managed to gather the breaking news. We learned that my aunt was found lying senseless, near the pond under one of the palm trees. While she was being carried back to her room, I noticed that my uncle had tears in his eyes, as he realised there was something mysterious, and possibly disturbing, about this whole episode.
When my dad came back, after laying down my aunt back on her bed, my uncle approached him and while clinging to him tightly, broke into tears. For a few moments, everyone stayed silent, giving my uncle enough time to compose himself, which he did.
Soon, he recovered his poise, wiped off his tears and asked my father quizzically;
– “but how is it possible that the doors…?”
My dad interrupted him and replied, “I know, that’s what we need to find out”!
Someone from the crowd, I believe it was the landlord’s teenage son, suggested that it was not impossible to open the latch on the rear door, go outside and then reach out over the low gate and latch it back from the inside. To prove his theory, he even went out through the rear gate and then attempted to extend himself over the gate, to try and latch it from the other side. He could not reach the door latch properly, let alone close the latch, without losing his footing on the other side. The crowd unanimously concluded that even if it was theoretically possible for someone a few more inches taller than the landlord’s son, to carry out this stunt, it was very unlikely, almost impossible, for my aunt to do this herself.
At this point, the commotion finally died down and people decided to head back to their respective beds, and complete their interrupted sleep routine. The incident had shaken everyone, as they retreated with plenty of questions in their minds but no answer whatsoever.
Ironically, the person who was the first to panic and who had officially made us all aware of this string of puzzling incidents; my grandma, seemed to be the person least unsettled at this point. She had calmly seated herself at the steps of House 1 and was silently observing this despair among others. Most of us were almost oblivious of her presence. When the others were withdrawing themselves back to their respective rooms, my grandma suddenly spoke out loud with a firm conviction;
“Stop worrying all of you! None of you can do anything. She has been possessed!”
Coming up next: CHAPTER FOUR!
