Karthik's heart started to pound rapidly. He stood frozen, trying to convince himself. "This is all just my imagination," he thought, his voice trembling in his own mind. "I didn't hear anything." As if to mock him, the wind began to howl, whipping through the old trees and rattling their branches.
He tried to calm himself down. "Yeah," he whispered aloud, his voice shaky. "It's the rainy season. It's normal to have heavy winds in an open place like this." He started to walk back towards the entrance, but the desperate, screaming voice was still there, echoing in his ears. His nerves finally snapped. He abandoned all pretense of walking and just ran, scrambling away from the terrifying sound as fast as he could. While running, he tripped over an exposed root and fell hard. Without even getting up, he started to crawl, desperately trying to put distance between himself and the horror behind him.
His mind was a mess; he couldn't think straight. In the middle of all the chaos, through the screaming and his own panicked thoughts, he heard another sound: a steady voice, chanting something he couldn't recognize. As the chanting grew stronger, the screaming voice became quieter, filled with more pain, until it finally stopped.
The sudden silence was deafening. Karthik stood there, his mind completely blank. A moment later, his senses came rushing back, and he did the only logical thing he could think of: he ran away.
He reached home, breathless and terrified. His father was still at the temple, and his mother was in the kitchen preparing dinner. Instead of going to his room, Karthik went straight into the pooja room and started praying, his hands pressed tightly together.
His mother came out of the kitchen. "Karthik, do you want some snacks?" she asked.
"No, Amma," he replied, his voice muffled. This was unusual; he almost never refused snacks. After he finished his prayers, he went to his room, climbed into bed, and pulled the blanket over his head, trying to hide from the memory that haunted him.
Later that night, his father came home and saw Karthik sleeping, completely covered by the blanket. He looked at his son with a worried expression but decided not to press him. He gently sat beside Karthik and woke him up. "Son, it's time for dinner," he said softly. They had idly and kurma for dinner, a quiet, simple meal.
The next two days at school were normal. On the third day, during a free period, Karthik and his friends decided to have a storytelling competition. The rules were simple: everyone would tell a story, and the others would vote for their favorite.
First, Karthik's friend Rakesh told the story of the intelligent crow who drank water from a pot. Everyone laughed, not to make fun of the simple story, but with a warm, nostalgic feeling.
"My parents used to tell me that one all the time!" another friend giggled. "Especially when they wanted me to think outside the box."
Like that, everyone told their stories, and soon it was Karthik's turn. He thought about telling a funny story like Rakesh, but the recent events were too fresh in his mind. He decided to tell the story of what happened to him at the cemetery.
As Karthik began, his friends looked shocked. Karthik, of all people, was telling a horror story. But his story was too interesting to ignore. As he spoke, he remembered everything in vivid detail: seeing the ghost for the first time, running away, and the strange mantra he heard. When he mentioned the chant, he had a sudden realization. Even though he had spent his life surrounded by chants and mantras, he had never heard anything like that one. He decided not to get stuck on it and continued with his story. As he went on, his expression grew more serious, which made the story even more captivating for his friends.
When he finished, everyone was a little disappointed. "That's it?" Rakesh asked. "The story just ends with you running away? You didn't even fight the ghost?"
Karthik just shrugged. "That's what happened."
After a few more stories, the fun competition ended. The winner was Rakesh, whose nostalgic story made everyone laugh. Karthik was the runner-up. "Your story was great, man," Ravi said, clapping him on the back. "But the ending could have been better."
After coming home, Karthik couldn't get the strange chant out of his head. He went through all the religious books his father owned but found nothing that matched what he'd heard. He decided to stop for now and get some rest.
From the other room, Karthik's father had been watching him. He was surprised. After their talk, he had seen a big change in his son. To reward Karthik for his hard work and newfound interest, he began to plan a little surprise.