Cursed

The Tree

Ann's POV

Suddenly we heard a knock on the door. Turning around we found three police officers looking at us. We explained to them what we saw and gave them the file with the reports. They looked around the room, covering their nose from the awful smell, their faces looked quite disturbed with the harrowing sight in front of them. The forensic photographers clicked few pictures while the crime scene investigators went on with their investigation. Soon they took the corpse out and send it for forensic tests. They asked us few questions like how we got here and all and then let us go. We drove back to our house.

Siddharth's POV

As we were driving back home, my mind was occupied with only one thought. Back in the old mansion where we found the dead body of Nidhi, her corpse looked like it was staring at something from the broken window. When I looked in the direction to where she could have been looking, I saw a huge tree which was situated far in the Manan Forest. Amidst the uncanny woods, swaying lightly with the wind, I could see that the tree was situated beside the Black Waters. Looking at its direction a strange uneasiness surrounded me, it made me feel like there are a lot more mysteries still buried in the darkness. After Ann along with her sisters shifted with us things seem to have settled down, we haven't encountered anything unusual, but I have seen Ann trembling in her sleep, and waking up in the middle of the night sweating profusely in fear. But she seems to not remember anything after she wakes up.  

I need to find out what was going on. I need to end these sufferings, I thought as I drove on. But I am not going to tell Ann anything about this. I don't want to drag her into any risks anymore!

I will search for it by myself...

 "Sid!" Ann called nudging me bringing me back to reality.  

"Yeah?" I asked.

"What are you thinking?" She asked looking at me with confusion, catching me completely off-guard.

"Nothing at all! what will I be thinking?" I blabbered trying to act cool, hoping she doesn't get suspicious. Sorry, Ann but I am not going to tell you what I actually plan to do. I know I won't be able to risk her anymore. 

She raised her eyebrows looking at me. As a way asking me am I really telling her the truth. I bend forward and kissed her forehead and made an 'obviously' smile. She blushed a little and smiled back.

We reached home and saw Pihu and Sam. They were talking with my grandma. We sat beside them on the couch and joined their discussion. It was a beautiful evening, the last orange hue of the setting sun was almost engulfed by the dusky purple twilight sky. Ann didn't tell anyone about what we discovered. She said it's better if we don't get us or anyone involved in this spooky affair anymore. It might cost us our lives. 

While we were talking and discussing Sree brought warm steaming Darjeeling tea for us. It was getting dark outside and the blowing wind felt colder. We turned on the heater and had our tea. After a while, Sam went back to his house and each of us headed back to our rooms. It was kind of a long day, the sight of the corpse, the creepy room in the attic, Nidhi's diary, it kept coming back to my mind leaving me in desolation. I sighed as I stepped into the shower, how can someone be so cruel, so brutal? I thought thinking of all the pain that the woman put Nidhi through. 

As the warm water touched my bare skin I felt a little bit at ease, as if the refreshing water washing away my woes. It was rejuvenating. After getting dressed up in some warm clothes I went to Ann's room, Pihu was already there and we started working on our homework. Studying with them was quite fun, but somewhere at the back of my mind my troubles still lingered.