Desi Horror Stories

Twist-o-Yama

When his father was leaving for his Bangalore trip, eight-year-old Anik had only one thing to ask of him. He showed him an ad he had saved in a magazine cutting for months. It was for a rare twister puzzle named Twist-o-Yama. It had 240 pieces, the ad said, and the pieces could be turned in 16 different ways max, and when solved, a secret picture would reveal itself.

His father got the puzzle for him. "It's a miracle that I found it," he said. "No one had heard of it. But when I was traveling back to the airport, I saw it with a street seller. Immediately stopped the cab and got it. I made the vendor's day, I think. He gave me a broad grin as I walked away."

Anik's happiness knew no bounds. He had solved all the twisters that his Dad had brought him so far, even a 15x15x15 cube. He was confident he'd do this one too. That first night, he sat with it for three hours until he could not stay awake any longer but didn't come any closer to solving it. Days passed and he made no headway. In fact, on some nights he would manage to put a few pieces together, but in the morning when he'd wake up, they'd be all scrambled again. Weeks later, when his Dad asked him about the puzzle, he broke down into tears.

Why was this one so darned tough? There were picture stickers on it. He thought he'd use that as a guideline, but that didn't help. He had never cheated, but frustration had the better of him and he scanned the net for tutorials and walkthroughs, but there was nothing.

Days passed. He noticed nothing in the house. His Dad was in the house a lot now, and his mother and brother seemed worried. But no one bothered him much and he went on with his puzzle till his fingers ached. At times, even in his sleep, his fingers would make those twisted contortions, which freaked his older brother out.

Then, one morning, suddenly, Anik had a breakthrough.

He woke up to find the Twist-o-Yama partly solved. No one at home could have done it. It was bizarre. But he didn't care. He could see some of the picture emerging, but still could not make out what it was. Without even brushing his teeth, he sat down to solve the rest. He did a little dance as each piece fell into place. The curves on the surfaces began to align, the lines of the picture became continuous. He beamed with happiness.

When only the last few pieces were to be put in, he still could not make out the picture. He anyway did not want to look. He closed his eyes to surprise himself, and going only by touch and feel, he twisted the last few pieces into position. As they snapped in place, he wondered why it had troubled him so.

Then he opened his eyes to see what he had unleashed.

And the greatest terror grew in his eyes.

The picture was of a monstrous creature, dark and hideous, his red eyes glowing and a vacuous snarl on his toothless sucker of a mouth. Instantly, Anik felt the puzzle move and something like a jolt of current ran through it and he dropped it. It fell to the floor and smashed right away, its 240 pieces each separating from the grid in an irreparable manner.

A phone call shattered the silence. His brother answered it and soon began to tremble. He placed the receiver and broke into a loud wail and somehow spoke out, "Anik, do you hear? Dad is no more."

"What? What happened to him?" Anik asked, his face going pale at once.

"Do you even notice anything? Dad had been getting sick for weeks. Mom rushed with him to the hospital last night. She was with him just a few minutes ago. It's freaky. Mom swears she saw someone rushing by the door of his room at lightning speed, someone black like he was wearing a hood, and he had red eyes. That was the exact moment Dad passed away."

Anik looked at the shattered Twist-o-Yama in horror. The picture side was blank now—it was as if the picture had vanished. Did the Yama in its name have another meaning?