Haunted Cottage

Akshat, Jannat, Sharmin, Sandeep, Aryan, Rahul were all engineering students.. they met in first year in the same class and then became good friends.. time went and Jannat and Akshat and Sharmin and Sandeep turned in to couple from friends.. still they were in group and dint let their relationship to hamper their friendship.. Once while they were sitting in canteen—

Aryan—man its so boring out here.. lets go somewhere for outing or trekking..

Rahul—yeah I seriously need a break..!!

Sharmin—bt where will we go?

Sandeep—I think we shud ask Akshat.. he knows many places..

Akshat went to bring some food and all of their eyes were watching his way.. he came back wid his food and started to eat.. all of them gathered him and started to ask repeatedly to tell them abt any place.. he gave a glance on all the curious faces and said, “Aryan’s uncle had bought a plot last year.. to build a farm house.. what happened about it Aryan?”

Aryan—oh yes..! yes we can go there guys.. wait lemme seek permission from my uncle and parents..

Within next 10 mins both parents and uncle gave him permission for holiday of 4 days.. his uncle had shifted to London bt he informed that there’s a maid who will help them wid everything they need..

All members of the group asked permission from their guardians and all were allowed to go.. so all of them left the other morning in Akshat’s jeep.. Akshat and Aryan went there before so they knew the way.. it was cold climate.. moreover the house was located at kinda cool location which was some 200kms far from the city.. Akshat was a good and stable driver so nobody had problem wid him driving.. soon they entered in to the perimeter of that hill station where the house was situated.. climate was getting colder and colder.. fog was increasing.. Akshat was driving at speed of 10kmph to avoid any accidents and was pushing horn in every 10 secs.. he cud literally see nothing.. no roads nothing.. just thick fog.. Akshat asked Aryan to get down and guide him wid road.. Aryan agreed and got down.. he was guiding and walking and Akshat was driving behind him.. suddenly Aryan began to walk fast and Akshat was losing him.. he called Aryan to walk slowly bt he dint respond.. and he was lost in fog..

Akshat—wtf man..! I seriously don’t like this..! Aryan??? Aryaaannnnnnnnnnn??

Jannat—plz calm down and don’t shout.. leme give him a call..

His cell was left in jeep.. Akshat halted the jeep at road’s side and stepped outside it.. his eyes was jst searching for Aryan.. everyone stepped down and started to look for Aryan.. Akshat was a mild smoker and he began to smoke.. Jannat was making faces seeing that.. suddenly Rahul shouted, guys..! look there.. we all began to watch in the direction in which he was pointing.. Aryan was standing near by tree and relieving himself.. Akshat shouted—Aryannnnnn!! U a******..!!!!

Aryan came running towards jeep..

Akshat—dude, wat is this? We got so much worried..!

Aryan—woah! U all got worried for me?

Akshat—nahi re..! we were worried ki without u how wil we celebrate at ur farmhouse..!

All began to laugh on this..

Aryan—abe ****!! Sorry.. I went to relief myself.. and I called that maid.. she will be here anytime to help us out.. I told her abt sceneries.. she said that its jst 10 min away from here.. bt way is bit tricky.. so she will be here shortly..!

Akshat—Hmmm!! Good..!!

Within 15 mins all of them seen a old woman walking towards us..

Akshat—is it her?

Aryan—I don’t know bro.. have never met her.. most probably it shud be her..

She came towards us wid a smile and asked,”ye Aryan baba..??[Aryan..??]

Aryan—haan haan aunty.. aap Rajesh uncle k ghar ki maid ho kya?[yes yes aunt, r u the maid of Rajesh uncle’s home?]

Maid—ji haan baba.. laiye aapka saman pakad leti hu.. chaliye aap sabh mere saath..[yes kid. Give me ur luggage and follow me..]

Akshat—arre nahi aunty.. aap baithiye gadi mei aur hume rasta dikhaiye..[no aunty, sit wid us in our jeep and guide us..]

Maid sat wid them n guided them towards the place.. after abt 5 mins of driving, they entered in a compound.. it was 1980’s old home.. broken walls, a banyan tree in compound etc.. all of them were confused especially Aryan and Akshat.. because according to Aryan, his uncle jst made this house..

Aryan—aunty are u sure this is the house? It doesn’t look like it is jst made few months back..

Maid—it is this house only beta.. now its ur uncle’s choice he made it like this..

All of them looked at each other wid confused faces.. ignoring that everyone followed maid and they went in.. she had maintained the home well.. she showed girls their room on first floor and boys their room on ground floor.. she asked us to get fresh and she wud prepare something to eat.. all went to get fresh except for Rahul.. he began to look around the house.. he was checking the perimeter, when he saw a well behind the house.. he went closer to it.. climate was cool so he began to smoke there.. he was stepping lightly towards well murmuring a song.. when he went near well suddenly..

Maid—what the hell r u doing here??

Rahul—what?? Is this the way to talk? U nearly killed me..!

Maid—im sorry.. I told u to get fresh and that smoking irritates me..

Rahul continued to smoke ignoring her.. she gave him tough looks and went inside.. “stupid oldie” he muttered and threw the cigarette in well.. he went in to get fresh..

Everyone gathered for food and they were jst chatting abt the climate and stuffs.. they had their food and decided to have camp fire to avoid cold.. so Akshat called maid and asked her for some woods..

Maid—its better if u don’t go outside.. its dangerous..

Akshat—dangerous? As in?

Maid—jst listen to what I say..

Rahul got angry on this..

Rahul—listen.. im jst having some patience looking at ur age.. don’t test me..

Akshat—hey hey bro calm down.. and aunty.. don’t worry.. we will jst do it for sometime and then we will sleep..

Maid—near the tree u will find wood logs.. I will keep some kerosene there.. give me 15 mins.. I will make sitting arrangements and prepare eatables too..
Saying this she went in..

Akshat gave a slight tap behind rahul’s head and said, “see, always anger doesn’t work..!”

Maid arranged everything and all of them were sitting in compound near camp fire and playing truth and dare.. it was going smoothly.. it was rahul’s turn now.. he asked dare.. sandeep asked him to go behind home and bring some water from well.. Rahul laughed on this and said, “what yaar? Is this a dare??”

Sandeep—yes it is and u have to follow it..

Rahul sighed and headed towards well.. few mins passed but he dint return.. sandeep shouted, “yo bro, u need any help??” everyone began to laugh on this.. bt no one cared that there was no reply from Rahul.. suddenly it began to rain..

Akshat—wtf..! rain in this season??

All of them ran inside.. to add to their luck, power also went off.. everyone was sitting in hall and were waiting for Rahul.. Sandeep got pissed wid him.. he thot Rahul is playing some mischief and trying to scare them.. he asked akshat to accompany him to check the area where Rahul went.. Akshat agreed and went wid Sandeep.. they both went and checked the place bt they couldn’t find Rahul anywhere.. Suddenly something caught Akshat’s attention.. there was some blood on stone near well.. Akshat went near it and blood was fresh.. he got worried and called Sandeep.. Sandeep looked above and found that the place was covered by trees and hence blood dint wash out wid rain.. he checked inside well bt because of dark he couldn’t see anything..

Akshat—what now?

Sandeep—I got no idea.. maybe he is just kidding wid us..

Akshat—what about blood?

Sandeep—I don’t know about it.. lets go inside.. we cant do anything in this dark.. lets wait for morning..

They both started to go back.. when akshat heard something from well.. he stood there and looked towards well.. sandeep was walking and dint notice that akshat had stopped.. akshat went near well and checked once again.. he could see something inside well bt not clearly.. he turned to call Sandeep bt by that time he wasn’t there.. he again looked inside and he couldn’t believe his eyes.. whole well was filled wid blood.. he rubbed his eyes and checked again.. it was jst normal again.. he headed towards house, terrified..

Here everyone was now worried for akshat.. akshat came in 2 mins.. Jannat ran and hugged him tightly.. she was almost sobbing.. he consoled her somehow.. Aryan was looking for maid bt couldn’t find her..

Aryan—where the **** has she disappeared??!!

Akshat—maybe she went home..

Aryan—I don’t have any idea about wats going on..!

Everyone was silent on this.. Akshat felt something uneasy on his back.. it was disturbing him a lot.. he took his tshirt off and asked Jannat to check it.. Jannat was jst shocked looking his back.. there were lot of scratches on his back and blood was oozing out.. Akshat was really shocked.. he ran and looked his back in mirror.. he was completely shocked looking at that..

Jannat—please lets go from here.. I m not feeling good.. please listen to me please..

Aryan—what abt Rahul?

Sharmin—its jst 200kms from here.. we will come back tomorrow morning and search him.. bt its really something fishy out here..

Sandeep and Akshat agreed wid them.. Akshat ran to fetch jeep’s keys and his wallet and all of them came out of the house.. weather was unbelievable.. it was raining really heavily.. without caring abt it, all of them ran towards their jeep.. bt it wasn’t there.. the jeep jst vanished from there.. seeing this jannat sat on ground and began to weep loudly.. Akshat consoled her.. they all went back to house depressed waiting for morning.. all of them decided to stay in one bedroom till morning.. no one was ready to sleep..

It was 3 am in night.. everyone was jst waiting for dawn.. sandeep was standing near window and looking at the well.. he was very close to rahul.. tears were rolling off his cheeks.. all of sudden he saw something near well.. Rahul was sitting there wid his head down.. sandeep got overjoyed.. he started to shout Rahul rahul..!! rahulllllll!!! Bt seems he wasn’t listening to sandeep.. Akshat came running near to window.. bt he couldn’t see anything.. sandeep was repeatedly showing him that Rahul was sitting near well.. bt akshat couldn’t see anyone there.. sandeep began to run towards well.. everyone tried to stop him bt he was adamant.. akshat held his both hands bt sandeep pushed and punched him hard in his chest.. akshat fell down.. Aryan tried to hold him bt he pushed him hard too.. sandeep went running towards well and he found that Rahul was sitting at the same place where they found blood wid his head down.. he called his name bt Rahul dint respond to him.. sandeep stepped forward and shook Rahul’s shoulders.. Rahul made his face up and seen towards sandeep.. there..! sandeep was damn shocked..! he literally fell on ground due to shock.. 

Sharmin was standing near window bt couldn’t see anything.. neither Rahul nor sandeep was visible.. she broke into tears.. everyone tried to console her.. bt she jst kept crying waiting for sandeep.. 1 more hour passed bt sandeep dint return.. sharmin stopped crying bt she fell numb.. jannat kept her hugging to her, trying to make her sleep.. sharmin came near jannat and said that she wanna goto toilet.. jannat looked around and found that room in which they were sitting dint have toilet.. so she asked akshat and took her to the room which was given to girls.. she stood outside and sharmin went inside.. jannat was thinking abt everything that happened.. she felt thirsty.. she looked around bt water wasn’t there..

Jannat—sharmin, im going down in kitchen to have some water.. after ur done plz return to other room..

No sound came from inside.. thinking that sharmin wants to be alone for sometime, jannat left her and headed towards kitchen..

Here in bathroom sharmin wen tried to open door she was unable to do so.. seems the door was stuck.. she tried to shout bt her voice wasn’t coming out of her throat.. suddenly in mirror she saw something.. it was maid’s reflection.. looking at her face, sharmin was so shocked.. she fell on ground..

Jannat went in kitchen.. there was earthen pot kept over desk.. behind earthen pot there was a huge painting.. in that painting a mother was holding her child in her forearms and looking towards baby wid sweet smile.. jannat smiled for a second and took the glass which was kept over the pot.. bt the glass slipped from her hand n fell down.. jannat bent and took the glass.. when she stood up.. the baby which was in painting was sitting over the pot and laughing loudly.. the mother who was in painting was also laughing loudly.. jannat was so shocked.. she fell on ground seeing all this..

In room akshat and Aryan was worried abt jannat and sharmin.. Aryan said that he will jst check it.. akshat told him to take care.. Aryan headed towards girls room and when he reached there he couldn’t find anyone.. he went inside bathroom to check bt no one was there.. when he was about to leave bathroom he heard some noise.. it was coming from window which the bathroom had.. noise was sounding like someone pulling water from well.. he went near to check it.. bt no one was there.. thinking it as hallucination he rubbed his forehead and turned.. there was sharmin standing between door and him.. her head was down facing ground.. sharmin? Sharmin? What happened? Are you okay?

She wasn’t replying.. Aryan stepped towards her.. he went near her and touched her shoulder.. she looked towards him.. Aryan was damn shocked looking towards her.. he fell down..

It was 4 am now.. akshat was left alone in that room.. he was really worried about his friends and his love.. he stepped towards girls room.. when he went inside he saw everyone sitting there except for jannat.. all were laughing and cracking jokes.. akshat got really angry watching all this.. he went near Aryan n pulled his shoulder hard in anger.. when he saw Aryan, he was shocked..! Aryan dint have any eyes.. no nose.. nothing.. jst plain face.. nothing over it.. he fell on ground.. bt somehow he regained his senses n ran from there towards the main door.. there he saw jannat sitting infront of door with her head hidden in between her knees.. he ran towards her and shook her hard.. jannat made her face above and she had same condition like Aryan and others.. he was damn shocked looking at her.. he crawled backwards when suddenly someone held his shoulders.. he looked behind and it was that old maid.. she had the same face like others.. that was it for akshat..

Days went off any families of missing children got worried abt them.. they complained in police abt them.. police set up an inquiry and finally found the place.. jeep was standing outside the gate.. police was shocked to see the scenery in compound.. 6 bodies were hanging from top of the banyan tree.. bodies were sent for postmortem and this was the headline in all news channels—

“6 dead bodies are been recovered from a barren house situated 200 kms away from the main city.. postmortem report says that 5 deaths are due to severe and immediate heart attack and rest one died due to drowning in well.. it is the same place where dead body of a old woman was recovered 6 months before.. according to parents of dead, children came here to celebrate their holidays and they took permission from owner of the house who is also their relative.. police is unable to make any contact wid the owner of the house who is said to live in London.. police is also unable to find the reason of all the deaths.. this incident is really cruel which took lifes of 6 innocent children.. their names are—
Akshat, Jannat, Sharmin, Sandeep, Aryan and Rahul.. may their soul rest in peace..”

~~~~~~~~~~THE END~~~~~~~~~~