That One House In The Woods

Just a little stitious

That one House in the woods (Ft. The Indian cricket team - Some of them.) - Part 5

Disclaimer - This is just a work of fiction. All events are fictional and not real. No disrespect meant.

That door... Though he had been a bit out of it due to the pain, he would have noticed the door.

Ajinkya flung off the blankets stifling him and stepped out of the bed. He could see a shadow of something... of someone standing against the now-open door, with the moonlight lighting up her visage.

The child.

Ajinkya shook himself, placed a hand against his cheeks trying to check for a fever and pinched himself, just to exclude the chance of it being a hallucination.

"Hi?" He called out and moved towards the child. "What are you doing here? Your parents will be worried."

A giggle. The child shook her head and tossed her head backwards, towards the door Ajinkya had just noticed.

"That door. It was always here?"

The child nodded and skipped out, leaving Ajinkya in feigned silence and solitude; he thought for a moment and then followed.

The door led to a balcony, open to the woods surrounding the house. A stretch of empty grounds surrounded the it and beyond that a thick line of trees kept them hidden from view. It was truly a forgotten house in an isolated nook at a corner of the world.

Or so it felt.

"What is this place?" He mumbled to himself before turning to peer down the length of the balcony, searching for the child. "Hi? Kid?"

"Hi. What is your name?" The same sweet voice and Ajinkya could see the child flittering around, humming a song under her breath.

"I am Ajinkya. And what is your name?"

"Me?" Another giggle. "I am Avani."

"Avani. Nice name. But Avani, this is not the time to play, kiddo. You should go back to your parents."

"How did you get hurt?"

Ajinkya looked at his bandaged palm and shook his head. "I was being careless with the letter box. I should not have touched it."

"No. You probably should not have. Is it paining?"

"A little bit; yeah." Ajinkya squinted his eyes against the darkness. The snow flurries were being blown in by the gusts of wind and the cold made him shiver. "You should really go back to your parents, Avani. It is very cold here."

"Where are they?"

Ajinkya's thoughts stuttered for a moment. "What?"

"My parents. Where are they?"

He tried to think back to the conversation they had had in front of the house. "You are not the caretaker's daughter? Rajender Dada's?"

"No."

Ajinkya took a couple of steps towards the girl. "Then, who are your parents?"

"Do you have a daughter?"

"I..." Ajinkya hesitated. Something was terribly wrong with whatever was happening around him and all of a sudden, he felt very uncomfortable.

It was as if someone was slowly sucking off all breathable oxygen from the air, and Ajinkya Rahane kept walking forward. In a daze. In a dreamy state.

And a child's voice called out, "You should not come any forward. You should stop."

But he really wanted to get to the child, to get her back to per parents. Or her guardians.