Wednesday 5 June 2013

THE REAL GHOSTS

CHAPTER 1

I don’t believe in the existence of ghost. However, I am pretty worried of coming across one… maybe somewhere in lonely streets, kitchen, or deep in the night when I am alone in my room.

Does ghost exists? Is it due to our pre-assumed belief that we create one, as usual? It is, indeed, an evident nature of humans to be always in fear of things we don’t touch or see. We are hell scare that there is something bad about everythingthe unknown, darkness, jungles, people, locality, life, etcetera. We are really strange creatures. Out of pure madness that results mostly from the vast unknown, we force ourselves to believe in things, while the real facts turns out to be something else.

Whether true or not, it is interpreted that ghosts are irritating spirits of dead people or whosoever, that haunts people or places. Whatever they are, they are not welcomed for the living.

I don’t like ghost but l like their stories. Accordingly, I came across many people who claimed to have seen one. Some claimed they heard shrieking laughter deep in the jungles at night. Others said that they saw human-like form, hairy and smelly, stalking in the dark, and when approached, mysteriously disappeared in thin air. Many people also talked of their experienced with apparition of the dead, of haunted houses, cemeteries or jungle roads.



CHAPTER 2


Like these people who claimed to have actually seen or feel ghosts, I had one encounter once. It was a wet, moonless mid-night and I was walking towards home. The whole skies above were covered with black clouds like thick blankets and the roads beneath were deserted with pitch-dark shadows. No human beings were in sight. And for my pace, I was relying entirely on the flickering light of street bulbs and some faint lights of nearby houses that penetrate through the rattling leaves.

While I was about mid-way, the electric power of the whole town was suddenly cut-off. And with it quickly came an unimaginable darkness. I completely lost my sense of sight. I opened my eyes as wide as possible but could not see anything but darkness. I had to tread my way like a blind person, holding out my arms forwards, picking steps as my brain instructed me from the knowledge I had of the road. Then, suddenly by instinct, I was expecting something frightful. I was expecting a horrifying ghost appearing out of nowhere. 

I said in my mind, “Tonight is the night I will end up seeing ghost

I walked very slowly, gathering all the sense that was left in me, and after about walking for almost eternity, I touched something. And that something produced sounds that were the loudest in all my lifetime. I was almost scared to death, my already frightful thought was seized by numbness and shocks on my nervous system, and I fell to the ground. Lying on the ground, I opened my eyes wide to see anything appearing. It was useless, all darkness. At last I got up, reached my hand towards that something, only to found out that it was that bamboo fencing laid by my neighbor. After touching my neighbor’s fencing, I returned back to senses and could locate directions. I turned towards my home, and opened my eyes strongly and could see a very faint light of the lantern from our house. With it, fears faded away, and changed the pounding ghastly darkness to be less seriousI ended up almost seeing or touching a ghost.


CHAPTER 3

Two or three years ago, during 2010, I needed to move to another city to stay there for many years. This time, I was but excited to get a house of my choice. I have been in cities for many years, rather long enough to realize the madness within. One is enslaved by one’s own wills and unlimited desires, and submerged all simple freedoms and divinities, unrealized. Nothing could be sadder than that.

This time round, I wanted to stay somewhere in the outskirt of the new city.  I believed, from the experience I have had in cities, there had to be something magical staying in isolation.

When I approached Mr. Kalmi, a housing agent in that city with my descriptions of my preferences, he was quick to tell me one particular house. Soon I was spell-bounded with his descriptions. The house was isolated, the nearest neighbor was at least half a mile away, and was connected to the nearest train station, 15 miles away, by a good road-ways that passed through jungles full of tall trees and undergrowths. It lacked city life as much as city life lacked these isolations.

I moved to the city, and after three days, as the time set by me, we went to see the isolated house. It had a big lawn with only woods in the neighbourhood. When Mr. Kalmi opened the main door-way, I could see a big living room, but all covered by dirt and dry leaves. 

I asked, “The house has been empty for so long?”

Mr. Kalmi said, with a tone that seemed repetitive but with grinned face, “Civilized world! Civilized people! Sir... That is why…. When people see the isolation, they think of the likeliness of murders or ghosts, and turns down the offer. But, Sir, you don’t believe in them, don’t you?” And hold his hands together.

I said to Mr. Kalmi, with a smile, “That’s nonsense. But, I like it. I wanted to inspect on the general belief of isolation as being dangerous and risky”.

If you happen to think in terms of murder, death or ghosts, this place seemed a perfect place, than those of cities. Beyond the windows, you could see only trees and shrubs of various sizes and the sky that was solitarily bluish. The slightest imagination on what sorts of creatures lived there seemed panicky and chilling to the bones. 

I moved into this isolated house, after having done the necessary paper works, in October, 2010. Alone, I started staying in isolation in that isolated, mystic house. Sometimes, during daytime, vehicles would run along the road but scarcely. I would hear their approaching and receding sounds like the Doppler effects in physics. The morning sun used to be intense and its path along the azure skies reflected something deeper.  Nothing is ever interesting than staying closer to something hidden with meanings. Night would come fast and heavy, stars were brighter. And the moon seemed to know me better. This place seemed one of a kind. I would ask myself, “Such as friendly as this. Where are the ghosts?” I would look towards the woods, rather with deep thought from the verandah, holding a glass of whisky. I would see lights penetrating here and there and then disappeared till the next lights come. I also heard, perhaps jackals, or dogs, fighting over something.

I would sing, “Too much in the woods, unknown. But, I felt closer, closer, to something which I don’t know. But I felt closer to where I belong


CHAPTER 4

It was after two weeks of staying that I started hearing noises in my house. I was already in my bed and was trembling in fear. Estimating from the sound, I believed the ghost to be very big in size, with a long knife, hitting at my vessels and drawers in my kitchen. I was so scared that I did not lift the blanket off my face until the next morning. Early morning, when I went down to the kitchen I saw the thrash-can was upside down. My left-over curries were scattered all over the place. One of my windows was wide opened. I said, “Whoever he is, he is one hell of a hungry ghost”. And as I turned towards the window of my living room, I saw my curtains swaying vigorously and beneath them, but faintly enough I could see two hairy eyes staring at me from outside the window and vanished.  I was panic-stricken and terrified. I ran towards my bed room, and kicked the door ajar. My heart-beat increased vigorously and was startled to the bones by any noises I could hear. I closed my eyes and listened to my congested mind on what to do next.

I picked up my phone, and called Mr. Kalmi. I shouted, “Mr. Kalmi, tell me where to get a rifle

From the other side of the phone, Kalmi replied, “Oh! What a strange request? Trying to enjoy murder in isolation?” and he chuckled.  

There are creatures here, strange enough. Beyond that I don’t know. I know they are here. This house is haunted. And I need something….a rifle” I answered with a frisking, shivering voices. The next moment, I found myself in the city with Mr. Kalmi, purchasing a rifle with ammunitions, plenty enough to wage wars. As I drove back towards my house, it was mildly dark already, and I could see a black car, more like abandoned, on the road side. I pulled over near the car, and called out, “Anybody there?” Not from far, I heard laughter, and two young lovers came out from the woods. I asked them if they know anything about strange creatures and warned them to leave the place as it was not safe. The young man yelled, “Ghosts are everywhere” and they both smiled at me, which I felt were wrongly cast for what was there beneath the woods behind them. I left them in the shadows.

That night, I was staying awake in my room, with a ready-rifle. I gazed at my watch and it was half past mid-night. One thing I discovered was that when you are scared and occupied with ghost-things, or any of that type, your senses are over sensitive. The sound of a speeding vehicle talked to me like a roaring sound of blood-thirsty demon. The rattling on the roofs sounded like strange creature crawling on them. I peeped from my window towards the woods, I could see dark trees. The more I stared at them; they looked like they were walking up to me, with their long tooth and pointed hands.

I sat still, wide awake, waiting for my predicament with the ghost of my house.

It was exactly 2 in the morning when I heard a scratching, tearing sound from my main door.  I summed up my courage, with my loaded rifle in hands, I slowly moved out of the room. First, I looked around my dark living room. In one corner, I saw a deadly monster in black robes with red eyes, sitting on my chair. I didn’t have any second thought with fear; I shot straight at the monster. The whole room was filled with smokes from my rifle, and when the smokes partially subsided I could see the monster no more. It vanished. I rubbed my eyes but it was no more. I re-loaded my gun, and approached the main door. Everything was in total silence, now. I slowly opened the door and when I looked out I could see a hairy creature running across the lawn towards the woods. It was a big black ghost. I aimed my rifle and shot straight at it, twice.

With my rifle ready, I went and checked the kitchen, the thrash in thrash-can were all scattered like before, and the window was opened, but nothing in sight. I rushed back to my bed room and waited for any other sound. All was quite then. A pin drop silence, except the sound of humming leaves blown by the mild winds.


CHAPTER 5

When I woke up, my rifle was still on my hand and I found myself sitting in the corner. I could not know how long I slept there. The sun was high up and I could hear the whining sound of animals outside. I ran out of the door and when I looked across the lawn, dogs were barking at a big black dead cow.

 “What the hell is that?” I uttered to myself in disbelief.

I ran across my lawn and checked on the dead cow only to be more worn out in disbelief. It was not that big black ghost that I saw last night, but a lovely looking black cow. My first bulled pierced through from the right lower rib right straight through its heart, and the second one hit its lower jaw, shattering it completely. My face turned red and in shame.

I ran back to my house and checked at that demon I shot. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I shot at my dark woolen coat that I carefully hanged on my sitting chair the other day.

I sat down, with half a sense, thinking back the clarity of my sighting of ghosts last night, and how untrue they turned out. Outside, the dogs are barking and licked on the oozing bloods of the cow. Inside my room, I hanged my head in shame and disbeliefs while the whole room was still filled with the smell of gun powers that were fired on ghosts.

The vast unknown produced madness and insanity in humans and we see or feel things one-sided in the way of how much we knew, in the line of what we had believed. And what we have discovered out of this madness is causing death, curses and hatred for the beautiful things that surrounded us. We just turned beautiful things to ghosts, in our own limited brains and sights.


I called up Mr. Kalmi and said, “Hey! There ain’t any ghosts, but beautiful creatures of the woods. The real ghost in this house is me”. And I hanged up.