The Other Side

“What happen if I opened the door?” asked Jane.
“Things won’t be the same again. Never. Do not open the door until sunrise.”

Jane stayed at one of the cheapest rental house in the nearest town. There were no taxis to catch, if she wanted to go to the temple. Her only best shot was to stop any passers by with vehicle and paid them for the ride. But for now all she needed was a peaceful rest.

She dreamed about her late son that evening. She saw her boy standing next to the railway platform, playing with his ball. He was kicking it from left to the right and sometimes throwing it up in the air and give the ball a soft header. But that one unfortunate moved caused the ball to drop on the train’s railway. It was only a second when Jane found out her son was missing from the platform and heard a lady was screaming in horror. The boy managed to escape full frontal collision with the train but his head was severely struck by the train’s front metal bumper and caused him to collapse next to the railway. On that instant moment Jane woke up from her nightmare and broke down. All she could say was “I’m sorry” in repetition.

Jane realised it was almost midnight. She had to go to the temple right now. Packing only important things, she brought along her son’s toy car, a lighter, some candles, incense and torch light. The temple would be deep in the forest, where nobody went there anymore. Completely deserted, unconnected with the outside world. She tried to catch a ride for few minutes now and fortunately for Jane luck finally reside with her. An old man riding a motorcycle probably a merchant, stop and greeted her.

“Good evening ma’am. You need a ride? It’s already late, it’s no good to be out this late.” said the old man with a thick Indian-English accent.
“Can you bring me to Mehandipur Balaji temple? It’s not far from here.”
“Balaji temple? Ma’am why would you want to go such place? That place is no good. I need to warn you now. Most people after coming back from that temple, they’re not right. Something wrong with them. They’re not themselves again.”
“I have to. I must.”
“Ma’am, I don’t want …”
“Please.”
“You’ve got things to settle.” Said the old man again. Jane only nodded. Then the old man agreed to lift her up and brought her to the location. It only took about fifteen minutes to arrive at the abandoned area. The entrance to the temple was an old cemetery, where no one came to visit again. The distance between the graves and the temple was about half a mile in which the middle area was a thick forest. From now on Jane had to walk by foot.

“Thank you for the ride. Here take this money.”
“Ma’am no. You keep the money. Are you sure you want to do this? There’s still time if you want to change your mind now. This place gives me goosebumps.”
“Yes. I’m sure about this. I didn’t come this far only to fail. I had to do this.”
“Okay. But ma’am, if there’s something out there that seems not right, please get out back here quickly. Save yourself.”
“Sure. I will. Thank you.”
The old man then quickly left the area leaving Jane alone with her dark path ahead.