𝙻𝚘𝚠 𝙻𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜

Chapter 7: Mysterious Canal

Jaafar, the fisherman, has seen many strange things in his life. The work of a fisherman is not an easy task. Facing storms and surviving many other risks in the water is common for them. But, until today, Jaafar had never been afraid of anything, and he mostly enjoyed fishing.

He lives with his wife in Shajapur, Bangladesh. He and his wife and their little hut—that's all he had. Jaafar's livelihood was based on fishing and selling fish in the market.

Recently, Jaafar has heard a lot about the northern canal. His fellow fisherman told him there were big fish in that canal. But there is also a bad rumour about that canal. People claim that anyone who went to the canal after sundown has never returned home. Jaafar doesn't care about these rumours at all.

Experienced fishermen like Jaafar used to believe that better fish can be found only in a quiet environment, which means fishing at night is more beneficial than fishing in the morning.

However, when his wife heard that Jaafar had decided to go fishing in that canal, she got worried and upset. To convince his wife, Jaafar told her, "It's okay; I will not go alone." But Jaafar knew that there was no one to go with him to the northern canal at midnight. He asked a few fellow fishermen to come with him to the northern canal, but everyone who heard about this ran away.

Jaafar was a stubborn person. If he decided something, it meant he would do it. When he saw no one interested in joining him, one night, without informing his wife, he left the house alone at around 10 p.m. with a net, a lantern, and a knife.

By that time, the whole village was asleep. There was complete silence all around. Without making any noise, Jaafar started walking towards the river. He had no fear in his blood. He reached the bank of the river within a few minutes, then carefully got into the boat and started rowing. The northern canal was his destination.

After passing for a while, the river turns to the right and left, the canal comes on the left, and the fish market area is on the right. Jaafar takes the left towards the canal. It would be hard to understand the river in the dark for newbies, but not for an experienced fisherman like Jaafar.

It was midnight. He was nearly at his destination when he suddenly saw a boat coming from behind and going straight towards the northern canal, like fireworks. He was a little surprised to see a boat this way at midnight.

Jaafar screamed loudly, "Where is this boat going?" A careless answer came from the sailor of the other boat in a broken tone: "Going to the northern canal for fishing." Jaafar was happy to hear the answer. He stopped the boat and again screamed loudly, "Let's go together." But the sailor did not respond to Jaafar's call and silently disappeared into the river.

Though naive, Jaafar didn't even think once. Could a boat really disappear silently from a river's heart without the sound of water? He didn't mind and thought the sailor must be an individualistic person, so he turned the boat and started rowing it until it reached the northern canal.

Upon reaching his destination, Jaafar's lantern sliced through the darkness, searching for the other boat. A flicker on his right, just a short distance away, revealed it. With the lantern's steady glow, he also caught sight of the sailor.

He was wearing a white cotton dress with a long white mask. Jaafar did not understand why the sailor was wearing such a dress while fishing and why he was even covering his face. Jaafar said, "Whatever, I don't care," and without another word, he took out the net and threw it into the canal. In the silence of the canal, only the sound of water splashing caused by Jaafar's nets on the canal could be heard. One thing he did not notice was that the unknown sailor was sitting on the boat without fishing and staring at Jaafar with big eyes.

After trying twice, Jaafar feels a strong pull on the net. He thought that a big fish was caught in the net, as it was heavy and he was unable to pull it up. He looked back to call the sailor for help. Shockingly, the sailor was standing right behind Jaafar on the same boat.

Jaafar felt a bit uncomfortable seeing him on his boat. "I haven't even called him yet. Then how did he understand that I would need his help?"

Although there were many questions running through Jaafar's mind after seeing the unknown sailor in his boat, he did not bother asking anything from the sailor; he just looked at him and tried to see the sailor's face. He was thinking, "If the man is crazy or what, why is he still covering his face?" The matter seemed unusual to Jaafar. But he ignored everything and asked the sailor, "Could you please help me? Put your hands on the net; it looks like a big fish."

The sailor, without looking at Jaafar, continuously pulled the net all by himself into the boat. Jaafar's eyes widened. He could not lift such a heavy thing alone. How did he? After pulling the net, the sailor quietly sat down on the deck. Jaafar had been looking at the sailor for so long. But now, when his eyes moved towards the net, they widened again. It is clearly seen that instead of a fish in the net, there was an object like a dead body wrapped in a white cloth.

Jaafar was scared and now realised why no one came here at night. He was scared but still did not show it to the sailor, and went to open the wrapping of the object and see what was inside. As soon as he touched the object, he knew it was a human body. He started to unwrap it quickly. Once, he opened the wrap and was about to see the face in the dim light. When Jaafar realised that the unknown sailor was now standing right next to him and had removed the mask, for no reason, the sailor started laughing at Jaafar.

Jaafar got very angry by seeing the ugly laughing face of the sailor. He turned his eyes away from him and looked at the body. But shot!!! The body looked the same as the sailor—same dress, same face. Jaafar once again looked at him and the dead body, thinking it might be his eyes' fault, but he lost all his control over the fear when he saw that even the dead body was laughing at him. He couldn't believe anything. He was stunned and didn't know what to do. He wanted to run away from the boat. But some invisible force was holding his body. Slowly, Jaafar loses consciousness.

The loudness of the Deadman's laughter turned into a burst of 100 laughs, and the loudness only increased until Jaafar lost his last breath. After that night, Jaafar never returned to his home again.

The next morning, people found his abandoned, dead body on the banks of the northern canal. Since then, the people of Shajapur have never dared to catch fish in the northern canal after sundown....
________

~ Will see you in the next story ~