The Dark Night

“Sensing that the day was passing away, Jeevak made his decision, he searched
the area for any shelter. A railway station was some miles away but he had hardly
any intention of wasting his energy with a long walk on foot. He glanced back at
the old temple, wondering if he could avail any shelter from that place!
Nancy was beside him, feeling a little bit stunned, "The nineteenth century's
temple?" She was looking very much unimpressed.
A media approached them to shot plenty of videos on a true horror, telling something
dredged from an ancient religious sculpture.
They walked for long hours onto the high plateau to reach the marble area of the old
temple. The evening breeze slowly cooled their body, Jeevak raised his eyes to the
tomb of the temple, they were a three quarters miles away, “At midnight, we will
definitely meet a super power or any devil!”
“Keep your strength preserved for the night,” Nancy replied.
“Patience, there is a lot of work to be done,” Jeevak smiled.
Jeevak looked at his watch, they reached the area by 10.30 p.m.
They felt an unexpected emptiness inside and something happened,
they saw someone running out from the temple, their pulse quickened.
they scanned the area and found nobody, they looked back again and
found a man kneeling in front of the statue of goddess, without a word,
they entered into the premises of the temple, the man jumped into the wall
of the temple and vanished!
“Whoever you are, come out,” Nancy said in a frightened voice.
“What do you want?” A voice emanated from near by area.
“We represent a media, we are searching for the answers, answers to
paranormal events or any supernatural events,” Jeevak tried to overcome fear.
A long shadow appeared, both Jeevak and Nancy felt their muscles tighten,
they felt the sense of thrill.
“You want to have the truth to serve your jobs, a midnight storm will arise
and there is nothing you can do,” the voice laughed.
“What do you intend with these words?” Jeevak managed to say.
“I am a guard of this ancient temple, I have a responsibility for its safety
and its assets.” The voice came out from a forgotten depth of history.
“Assets?” Nancy dared to ask, “What do you mean?
“Beneath the steps of the temple, there is a man-whole, treasures
are stacked here for hundred years and I am waiting for its real ancestor
since then,” the shadow replied.
Jeevak moved towards the whole, as he advanced towards the place,
some body forced him to stop and he felt the pressure of this power,
he remained motionless.
Nancy discovered a dreadful image of a skeleton depicted from the
marble mosaic of the temple.
She stepped back, “I can not see more,” she was trembling.
“You think any ghost is down there?” Jeevak asked.
“Maybe there is any dead person’s spirit roaming in this temple!”
Nancy sounded fear.
“I will look,” Jeevak was a strong willed person.
“Careful!” Nancy warned, ”We don’t know for sure that the shadow is itself
a skeleton!”
As they turned back to the base of the pillar of the temple, the long shadow appeared
again, they startled.
They heard a faint sound from the front side of the temple, they shivered
as a pale muted figure hovered up in the darkness of the sky!
“Are you seeing this? Is that a body or anything else?” Jeevak asked Nancy.
Holding their breath, they closed their eyes, they found themselves trapped
between the skeleton appeared in back side and the floating body materialized
in front of them, they opened their eyes after some moments with the hope
to find any way from this squeamish and inexplicable situation.
One minute, two minutes…, one 15-16 years aged boy came out on an inclined
road from the direction they had come.
“Is he dead or alive?” Nancy doubted.
“I think he is not moving,” Jeevak tried to understand the situation.
“Hello? We need to get out from here!” Nancy said loudly with an
uncertain calling to drag the boy’s attention.
“You are from a news agency?” The boy asked.
“Yes”, they replied.
“May I ask you a question?” The boy said.
“I may have some information for you,” The boy added more.
“If you see anything odd here, tell me that,” he wanted to know.
“Are you aware of these spirits?” Jeevak asked him.
“Your presence may be known by the spirits and they kill everybody
who stands on their way,” The teen aged stranger raised his voice with
a mystery.
“Did you see this?” Nancy was looking for any proof.
“Yes, I saw that! The spirits have killed them,” the boy emphasized the logic.
“You believe everything you hear is true?” Jeevak asked Nancy.
“Now please tell me what you are looking for?” The boy asked.
“The truth behind these killings,” Jeevak answered.
“And for the access of the secret treasure concealed here beneath the
temple since so many years!” The boy groaned.
“May I have your identity now?” Nancy questioned him.
“My forefathers served as the priests of this temple, it is their
holiness and my faith in God which keeps me safe from these
evil spirits,” The boy’s voice sounded more significantly, “ I know
the holy verses, I pronounce them to get rid of the “ saitans”, the
evils.”
“We don’t need the access of the hidden treasure, we want be aware
of the history of this ancient abandoned temple,” Nancy blurted.
“I realize your necessity and now it is my responsibility for your safety
to keep yourselves away from the evil spirits,” the strange boy replied.
“Then you will have to lead us to the doorway of the secret path,” Jeevak
urged.
“I don’t know if it is possible but this is one option possibly left for you!”
The boy exclaimed.
He followed a path beneath the steps of the temple, the two hurried in
this way.
They moved towards a pit, there was a rustling sound coming from inside,
Nancy and Jeevak held their breath, the sound moved nearer.
As they entered into the pit to come down on the floor through the steps,
a piece of big stone clattered to the floor, Nancy pulled Jeevak behind a slab.
Suddenly, the boy disappeared into the darkness. They heard a sound of
scuffling!
Jeevak flashed his torch to view the real matter and an object came into view,
a long beard man appeared in front of them!
“If this man is here, where is the boy?” Jeevak gasped.
“We never should have let us come in this place!” Nancy pronounced.
They stood for a moment in silence.
“Relax, I am getting the way out,” the man spoke out.
Both Jeevak and Nancy looked up, they moved the flash of torch towards
the entrance from where they came inside.
“Oh no!”, Nancy said in a dreadful voice.
“Blocked?” The man smiled mysteriously.
“It is!” Jeevak confirmed.
A big stone blocked the outer way of the pit.
“Here is an escape route,” the man pointed out.
He tried to pull the stone and finally found a compressed passageway
to get an exit from there.
Jeevak and Nancy peered into the passageway, the man cautioned them,
“If the boy is still standing there…”
“ What’s the problem with him?” Nancy asked.
“You think he is alive?” The man asked them.
“But he looks…no, impossible!” Nancy expressed the words in full of astonishment.
“He looks what?” The man asked again.
“He looks like us!” Jeevak answered.
“He is dead and his tomb is just behind the temple, there is a proof inside the premise,”
The man shook his head.
“I think we should leave the place right now, at midnight, the spirit of the boy
will turn into a devil, he will suck your blood,” a fear raised upon his face.
“You think everything he said is true?” Jeevak asked Nancy.
Nancy seemed shaken in fear, she asked the man, ”Did you see that?”
“Yes, I saw that! He almost killed every visitor,” he spoke out.
“I think you are alive!” Jeevak tried to make fun of him.
“That I cannot honestly say,” he replied.
“What the hell are you talking?” Jeevak shouted.
The man looked up to gaze at the night sky, he told again,
“It is a crucial moment, now we need to get out from this premise
before twelve o’ clock.”
“Wait a minute! You know what the history behind this mystery is?”
Nancy was looking excited.
“Yes! Think of a land lord who was the ruler of this area many years
before!” “He was a very cruel person. Many years ago, this temple
was beautiful, golden and glowing; the land lord used to make his
regular visit on every new moon. He dag a hole beneath the temple
and stored lots of wealth there. With the help of some crooked priests,
it was his regular practice to kill and devote the bodies of teen aged
boys on every new moon as it was his blind faith that their souls would
protect the huge secret wealth. I was a priest too and denied to work
under him, as a result, he expelled me from his territory. His wife died
thereafter and his son too left him, he never came back again. The land
lord waited for him and at last before his death, he did his last sin. He
killed his own nephew and devoted his body in front of the Goddess of this
temple. In order to conceal this, he graved his teen aged nephew’s body
into the tomb behind this temple. From that time, his soul started to roam
here and after midnight it turns into a devil to kill any visitor.” The man explained
the history.
“The history is terrible rusty with an ancient tale,” Nancy reacted.
“Forgive me, I don’t want to make you afraid but the truth is I am dead too,
I died with a natural course of life. I died naturally in old age and my soul
tries to help the visitors, to rescue them from the troubles which they face
here but if anybody stays here after midnight, they face death. I can not
protect them from the devil as his power grows with the hour of midnight.”
“You believe everything what he told?” Jeevak asked Nancy.
The ghost of priest looked around and told again, “ Come with me, let’s
leave the place before midnight.”
He took a right and then an immediate left, he tried to pull them onto
the narrow road so that they could vacate the area as soon as possible.
But they did not breath of any relief as the time moved very fast and
they did not reach the safe zone before midnight.
All of a sudden, Jeevak felt some power dragged him with a great force
and he spun into the temple premise with a swirl of whirl.
Nancy peered down, nothing was seen except blackness, “I cannot see
A thing,” she shouted.
“No way to see,” the spirit of ghost said.
Nancy tried to search Jeevak, ”I am going back to the temple,”
She said.
“No, it is dangerous, I will try to find him out and now, you return
Back to your hotel,” the spirit forced her to go back.
Nancy found no other way rather than returning back, the outline
Of the temple premise was still visible but she firmly held the blow
torch to find the outer way towards the hotel.
She had a bolt of fear to face some odd spirits and skeletons but
she however reached the safe place.
Reaching the hotel, Nancy tried to make the sense of what happened
in the temple premise. Next day, she was looking for some holy persons
to search out Jeevak from the trap of temple. At last one of them agreed
to go with Nancy. It was morning time, brighter sun rays were enough to
trace the way, they entered into the demon hole where the spirit of the teen
aged boy took them last night and from where the holy spirit of the priest
made them out. They found Jeevak lying on the floor with senseless condition.
The holy person checked his body and spoke out with a smile of satisfaction,
“He is alive and safe, the devil did not make any harm to him due to his holy
thread worn upon his body.”
Nancy knew, Jeevak was Hindu Brahmin and according to their custom, they
had to wear a holy thread on their shoulder. But one thing was still unclear to
her,” Why the devil did not drag me into the hole along with Jeevak?”
“This Goddess of this temple is an idol of snake and you have made a tattoo
Of snake on your neck, so the devil did not dare to touch you,” the holy person
Replied.
Nancy, with the help of this man and villagers took Jeevak to the hotel,
Jeevak gradually regained his sense. They had lots of things to express before media.