You never know!

“Ma! Whose hut is that?”, I pointed at the only hut in those distant derelict fields.

“Don’t ever go there. Now go and play”, with raised eyebrows, my mother hissed at me.

I have been away for a while, 5 years to be precise. My parents had sent me to the city for studies. I am 15 now, and I have come to my village in my vacations.

Whenever I play in the courtyard, the hut entices me. I often ogle at it when my mother is not around. It can be seen from my room. It seems to allure me. Legends have it that an old woman lives in there, whom nobody had seen in a decade. She was boycotted by the villagers and thrown out when they found out that she practiced exorcism. In pursuit of her vengeance, she called her own soul and became the evil that people had prophesied her to be. I find it funny. The villagers are a backward section, I believe.

One sunny afternoon, I walk to the hut. I feel scared, but my curiosity is indomitable. When I knock on the door, nobody answers. The ambiance feels tenebrous there, my stomach churns. I rush back, realizing mother would have woken up by now. I don’t tell anything to Ma.

In the evening, I see someone sitting on my rock chair. The silhouette calls to me. It looks old, and of a woman. I want to shout, but my voice chokes in my throat. I sit in her lap. She sings to me the same lullaby that my Ma sings. The chair rocks slowly. Outside my window, it’s all hazy. Then I see myself waving to me from the window.

All this happened 100 years ago. I now live in the hut. They say nobody saw me after that night.