Sinister Nights : Horror Short Stories

#1 Night At The Cremation Ground

I used to hear from people that the cremation ground is a place of peace. Where human parts are burnt to ashes, everything including pride, greed, lust, ambition, revenge. ...only remains, a handful of ashes

But in personal life, I still carry a horrific experience. Forty-five years ago, the condition of cremation grounds were not so modern. Where was the electric furnace? Where to sit or rest? Where were the tubes of neon? I would be terrified by the thought of visiting a crematorium or a graveyard even during daytime, let alone at night. Laxman Babu's cremation ground was in our area, on the banks of the Ganges - surrounded by banyan and neem trees. There were two holes cut in the place surrounded by a small fence for burning the dead body, so that the wind does not extinguish the pyre. The hassle was during the rainy season. We had to carry old bicycle tires on our shoulders. The smell of the burning bodies could be found all over the area and even if the body came from the hospital in a rotten state, then the smell would be unbearable.

My friend Chandan's mother died after having a fever for three days. I got the news in the evening. Since it was a dear friend's mother, I had to go to the cremation ground. It was during winter time... we four friends and two relatives of Chandan took the dead body out of the house at ten o'clock at night. We reached the cremation ground and saw that there were no signs of any pyre being burned, hence we realized that no other body had been brought that day. There was darkness all around and the only little light that came was from a lamp burning in front of the Dom people's house nearby. The surroundings felt even darker because of the huge banyan tree in front of us. A blanket of mist was also spread over the Ganga.

I said "Good, we don't have to wait for too long. The cremation will be done soon". In fact, I wanted to leave the place as soon as possible. I started feeling unusually cold. Chandan's uncle said, "Give me the death certificate". Chandan face turned pale. He had forgotten to bring it. No one had brought a bicycle, or else one could have gone back and brought it quickly. One had to go back such a long way, in the cold winter night, and we had to wait there with the dead body. We all were furious inside but didn't express it. The poor guy was not in a good state of mind. It was decided that two of our friends would go to get the death certificate, and two of his relatives would go to call the Dom and buy wood.

Before going to buy wood, Chandan's uncle said, "Hope we find a Pandit here. Chandan, you sit close to your mother's body." We both sat on the bed of the Ganga. From a palm tree nearby, a large bird was humming. We could faintly hear the sound of the waves at the river.

"Rupam, I feel a bit scared", Chandan said to me in a trembling voice. I also felt a bit uneasy. There was no one but the two of us there in the darkness. " I can feel my mother's body shaking", exclaimed Chandan. On hearing this, my throat turned dry. "Please don't speak such nonsense at this hour", I said, just to calm myself.

"Touch the body and see for yourself", he said, with his teeth chattering - I wasn't sure whether it was because of the cold, or because he was scared, or both."You are yourself shivering in cold, that is why you may be feeling it", I said, and took a small torch out from my pocket and lit it. His mother's dead body, with tulsi leaves in her eyes, was absolutely still. I saw him slowly removing his hand from his mother's body.

"What are you doing? Do not take your hand off your mother's body" I put the light of the torch on his mother's face and said, "I can't see the body shaking." There was vermilion on the forehead and the face looked pale and frozen. The lips were slightly parted. I wondered why we feel scared looking at a dead person.

"When will they come back?", Chandan asked in a thin voice.

"They have gone just a while ago, it would take some time", I replied, " You are the one who caused all this trouble." I felt angered towards him. But also felt he must be really scared.

"Should i touch the body and see if he's telling the truth", I thought to myself, but couldn't gather the courage to do so. "What if it's the body is really shaking?"

It was already 11 o'clock. "Should I go and call them back?" Chandan asked, his voice still trembling.

"Are you crazy?" I snapped back at him, "And I will sit here all alone in the dark? I would suggest that you stay here and I go and call them back."

He immediately held my hand and said "No! No one has to go. Let them buy the wood and come back. It's already too late". Neither of us wanted to be left alone. None of us were holding the body any more. It felt as if time had stopped. We both just sat quietly in the darkness. The only sound was that of the waves. Suddenly, we could hear a different sound. Standing up, I cast the light towards the water. In the low light of the torch, what we saw was rather unsettling.

There were some children bathing by the river, joyfully. There were laughing, swimming and splashing water at each other. Something about it felt extremely creepy. Who's children would come to bathe in the river in this cold winter night, that too near the cremation ground? How could they see in the pitch black darkness? Some of them were diving under water, coming up and jokingly putting mud in each other's bodies.

"Rahul, are you sure they're humans? " asked Chandan. I had the same doubt, as well.

"Should I call out to them?", I thought to myself, " Maybe they are the Dom people's children. If so, then it would be an embarrassing situation and everyone would laugh at us. We should just wait for some more time; Our companions would return soon."

"Why? Do you think they're little ghosts? ", I asked, to lighten the mood. Chandan understood that I was joking. We both kept watching them bathe. There must have been a high tide, as the water level had risen and had come closer to us. The children had also come closer and the water that they splashed also came towards us. We could now see a bit more clearly in the torchlight. Suddenly, two of the kids looked towards the torchlight. Their eyes were glowing just like the eyes of foxes at night. They called two more kids and whispered something to them, and then they all together looked towards us. The four pairs of eyes glowed in the dark like fireflies. I felt scared and turned off the torchlight. We suddenly felt a cold wind, which made us tremble even more. "You turn on the torchlight! ", exclaimed Chandan, " What if they come closer to us in the dark? We wouldn't know!" I felt extremely scared and anxious.

"What if I turn on the torchlight and see them standing right in front of us? And what about Chandan's mother?" Neither of us dared to go near her body. I felt nauseous. I couldn't even see Chandan beside me in the darkness and whether he was fine or not. I could sense that something sinister was going to happen. Trembling with fear, I turned on the torchlight, and could see exactly what I had feared. The children had come up close to us near the pyre, their bodies dripping wet and covered in mud. Their huge eyes looked even more terrifying, and they had a grimace on their face. We could not bear to look at the sight any longer, and let out a huge scream, dropped the wood and ran in the opposite direction. Behind us, we could hear the sound of them jumping back into the water. Everyone in the cremation ground and the Dom people heard our screams and came running towards us and tried to calm us. Still shivering, we explained to them what we've seen. They cast a light towards the river but there was nothing. Just the waves.

The Dom people realised what had happened and explained, "The dead bodies of children are not burnt at the pyre. We bury them there underneath the ground by the riverside. You must have seen the ghosts of those children."

After the cremation of Chandan's mother, we returned home still trembling with fear and cold. The sky had started to lighten up and it was the break of dawn. Since that day, I have never gone anywhere near the cremation ground till this day.