idk im dumb

happenings at the bend

The yellow and blue tennis ball bounced towards the bend and vanished into thin air.Where did it go? Anu wondered, gazing in the direction of the bend.Bouncing its way on the mountains track, the ball had risen near the rocky edge, distinct against the sky and vanished. The ball had not touched the earth again, NOT BEFORE HER EYES, not near the rocking edge. Anu had not even seen it falling.if it had disappeared in the valley below, she would have seen it falling. But no, it had simply been gobbled up by the blue sky.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Anu muttered and pinched herself to see if she was dreaming.She was not. The ball had risen and vanished.

Anu went towards the rocky edge. At this point the mountain formed a bend. A huge rock seemed to cut the track into the dead end, exposing the mountain's edge as a thin line against the backdrop of the sky and the valley. Standing at the edge one could enjoy a breathtaking view of the valley and the ranges in the distance.

Tempted to investigate, Anu went further but retreated as soon as she felt the slippery, moss-covered rocky surface under her feet. Could she have failed to see the ball falling, she asked herself. She decided to check again. Holding on to stout tufts of grass and protruding rocks, she climbed up the rock.

She now stood on the top of the rock. Anu pulled out her catapult which hung from her belt, picked up a stone and aimed. The stone flew across, over the rock and, as it reached the edge, it vanished--just as the ball had.

A chill ran up and down Anu's spine. The spooky strangeness of what she had witnessed scared her. Frightened, she hurried down the track quickly, heart beating fast. Never had she seen anything so queer, or imagined such an experience. The supernatural enchanted her only in stories; she had not believed in ghosts either.

A cover of grey clouds in the east began to spread; an eerie stillness in the atmosphere deepened. It could rain any minute--the weather in the hills was unpredictable.

The rest house was nowhere in sight.She had come a long way from home, Anu realised and increased her speed. Relieved at the sight of Ramu's shop at the crossroads where the road bifurcated towards the bridge, she slowed down. Further ahead she could see the forest rest house situated well above the road, on the mountain slope.

As she crossed Ramu's shop she heard the familiar voice of Matadin, the rest house peon-cum-errand boy. "Anu baby,Anu baby," he called out.

"Matadin, What are you doing here?" asked Anu.

"Memsahib sent me to buy some besan," he replied. "Where did you go Anu baby?" he asked.

"Stop calling me baby," Anu scolded lightly. After all she was thirteen. Whenever she checked Matadin he would hang his head innocently, a mischievous grin on his typically Garhwali face.

"Yes, Anu baby,"Matadin replied as always. "But Where did you go all alone?"

"To the bend," Anu answered. Once again the memory of the vanishing ball sent a shiver down her back.

"That side," Matadin pointed towards the opposite direction, "where the road ends? All ALONE?" A faint shadow of fear crossed his face.

"Yes, I was getting bored at home," Anu paused. For a minute she debated whether to mention her experience to this illiterate boy. His frightened expression gave some support to her own fears. She asked Matadin, "Why do you look so frightened?"

"You should not have gone there," he replied, "it is a abode of ghosts."

"Nonsense!" Anu refused to believe him.

"Nobody ever goes there,  honest" Matadin touched his pigtail with his right hand in a gesture to prove that he was speaking the truth.

"Do you mean to say nobody has ever gone that side? Impossible!" Anu argued!

"Believe me," Matadin insisted.

"Then how were the mountain tracks that led up to the bend made? Unless somebody walks along that way regularly, how can they be formed all by themselves?" she snubbed his weird ideas.

"People once did go there but now they say it is haunted by the ghost of hunter sahib," Matadin replied.

"I wonder where you learn all this nonsense from," Anu laughed. But keen to know about the ghost she asked," What is this about the ghost of Hunter Sahib?". Matadin smiled. He loved talking. He could spend hours at it. it was while telling stories that he excelled himself. Now he has an eager listener too. He cleared his throat and said, " I heard it down in the village.There in Marwari everybody knows the story. Long, Long ago an angrez shikari  (English hunter) came to hunt. His name was Hunter sahib," Matadin paused for an appreciation of his knowledge. Anu simply nodded. Matadin went on,"Day and night Hunter sahib hunted wild animals--cheethas, antelope, spotted deer. The wildlife of the jungle dwindled rapidly as many were killed and some left these jungles and went away".

"Then..." Anu interrupted impatiently.

"One day," narrated Matadin, "Hunter sahib's eyes fell upon some brown bears. There were many of them. He started killing them one by one. The brown bears prayed to the god of vegetation to save them from the terror of the hunter. The god blessed them. He filled the pine cones with such a blinding light that Hunter sahib could not see anything. He slipped from the big rock at the bend and fell to his death."

Matadin took a long breath and said, "The brown bears left this territory after to reside in the higher plains of the Himalayas but the ghost of hunter sahib still wanders in these forests and even now the pine cones brighten to scare him."

"All rubbish, but of course you do have a stock of interesting stories, Matadin," Anu remarked.

" Story, you all it. Ask Runiya, Ramu's sister. She has seen the ghost. the other day she went that side to collect firewood. Not realising that she had gone as far as the bend, she sae the lighted pine cones, bright and electric blue, beckoning to her. Runiya ran for her life. Many others have seen the ghost too, Believe me, Anu baby," Matadin said.

"When?" Anu asked.

"In the last ten days," Matadin answered.

Anu went silent.

"Did you find something queer there?" Matadin asked Anu.

"No!" She replied firmly.

Certainly she was not going to tell Matadin of all people. He would soon weave a tale and in no time it would be all over the village.

Plop! a raindrop fell on Anu's cheek. She looked up.

The sky was overcast. "Oh god, we will get caught in the rain. All because of you and your stories," she blamed Matadin.

"You wanted to hear it and now you scold me. Later memsahib will scold me for talking so long. The cook will also scold me. He needs the besan. Some Gautamji and his family are coming," Matadin grumbled and ran in the manner of a true mountain-dweller.

Anu ran along with him but he left her far behind.She remembered her fathers's friend. Mr. Sibir Gautam, from Lucknow.He had two sons--Varun who was her age, and Pranav two years younger.