Desi Horror Stories

The Lonely Beach

Kamal and Nisha had recently found love in each other's arms, and as young lovers are wont to do, they were in the constant search of a place where they could spend some time together. They had found just the place recently. About a half-hour ride from the colony where they both lived, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, was the Tomas Beach.

It wasn't a very popular beach. Maybe it was because it was too far removed from the city or maybe because the waters were choppy and perilous for swimming. There were no vendors here, which kept the family crowds away. But, needless to say, this suited young lovers perfectly.

On one such evening, Kamal and Nisha were on the far end of the beach. They had walked half a mile inward, away from the point of entry, and were now sitting on the sand. It was still early evening. The sun was still teetering above the horizon, just a sliver of it, and the sky was still turning from velvet to grey. Away from them, in the waters, the seagulls were preparing to leave their fishing grounds to wherever it was that they spent the nights.

The couple wasn't paying attention to all these nature's marvels though. They were busy discussing their future, the prime topic of conversation being how they would break the news of their relationship to their parents. It was at this juncture that a little boy walked up to them. He interrupted them with a sordid plea, "Would you like to buy a balloon?"

They looked at the boy then. He was a straggly fellow, dressed in a patched white shirt that came up to his thighs and black shorts. His straight hair fell to his shoulders. That, and his slender frame, made him look almost like a girl. With a thin upraised hand, he held a bunch of balloons—white round balloons. They floated in the air above him, slightly swaying in the nocturnal sea breeze.

"What will we do with your balloons?" said Kamal, not without irritation.

"Please, ma'am!" the boy said, directly looking at Nisha. "Just one balloon. Please."

Kamal guffawed and then shooed the boy away as if he was an insect. But Nisha stopped him. "Hey, he's just a little boy. Look at him. He looks hungry. Let's buy a balloon."

"You don't understand. It's all a scam," Kamal said. "I bet you, his parents will be around somewhere. They are forcing this kid of sell stuff. If we buy from him, we are helping the child-peddling mafia."

"How can you be so unkind?" Nisha said. "What's the child's fault?" Even as she said that, the wind began to blow more heavily. It tousled the boy's hair, and as it parted from his eyes, the vacant look in them was revealed. Ignoring her boyfriend, Nisha dipped into her purse and took out a twenty-rupee note. "Here, boy. Give me a balloon."

It was too dark now to see the expression on the boy's face, but it looked like a smile had broken out on his lips. "You are very nice, ma'am!" he said in a squeaky voice, and quickly undid one balloon from his bunch and gave it to her. With that, the child bounded away merrily, his tiny feet leaving little depressions in the sand.

"You should not have done that," Kamal said.

"Well, I have a heart," Nisha said, "and if you cannot feel for a child, I don't know if—"

But her words were abruptly cut short. Her gaze had fallen upon another couple who had been sitting a little away from them. They had been there before Kamal and Nisha arrived, and as per the protocol between the couples on this beach, they sat in their usual corners without disturbing each other. But right now, the other couple was running away from the beach. As they fled, they repeatedly turned to look at Kamal and Nisha with terrified looks.

Moments later, another pair stood up and started to run. Just as the other couple, they looked at Kamal and Nisha in sheer terror too.

"I... I don't understand," Nisha said. "What's going on?"

Kamal looked around. He was puzzled too. Everyone on the beach was running away. In fact, there was no one around them now. It was dark now, and as far as they could see, there wasn't a living soul.

"Let's go," said Nisha worriedly. "Something is wrong here."

Kamal would have argued, but Nisha had already stood up. Still holding the balloon string in her hand, she gathered her purse and urged Kamal to stand. He finally did and they started walking in the direction that led out of the beach.

As they hurriedly retraced that half mile that they had walked inward, they realized that things were getting incredibly spooky. The breeze was now almost a gale; it was a challenge for Nisha to keep her dress in check. The waves weren't just roaring anymore; there was a howling sound coming from that direction as if a pack of wolves were in those dark waters, yearning to come out. Nisha didn't even dare to look back. She was sure there was something in the water that everyone was running away from. And despite the gibbous moon above, the beach was in near darkness.

"Oh, there's the exit," said Nisha. "Let's just get out."

Not letting go of Kamal's arm, she came out of the beach. It was a relief when she found her feet back on a solid road.

"What in God's name was that?" she asked Kamal when they were out. She saw the other couples now, some walking away, some hailing auto-rickshaws to take them home.

"Well, we are out now," Kamal said. "Maybe it was a police raid or something. They raid such lonely beaches suddenly to catch druggies and perverts."

"But I don't see any police. What was it, Kamal?"

Just then, a middle-aged man walked past them. Kamal stopped him and asked, "Hey, sir, what was the scene at the beach right now? Why was everyone running away?"

The man looked at Kamal as if he was from another planet. "Have you come here for the first time?"

"We just started visiting. Why?"

"Today is the day she comes," the man said.

"Who?"

"We don't take her name. Definitely not so close to the beach." The man was visibly shaken. "Just go away from here and don't come back for a few days."

The way he said it, even Kamal felt a little shiver run down his spine. Looking at Nisha, who was now totally speechless, he asked, "Sir, wait. Just tell us what's going on."

"Okay, so the legend is that there's a chudail who visits this beach every few months," the young man said. "She has a boy with her, maybe her son. They say he's a ghost too. She sends him out first. He comes in different forms, sometimes like an ice-cream seller, sometimes a toy seller, sometimes a balloon seller. He asks people to buy his stuff. If they agree, all is fine. If they don't, the chudail immediately materializes and preys on the one who refused. It seems someone saw the boy on the beach today."

"Oh, oh!" Nisha almost cried. "Is that what... oh, damn! A boy... a boy just came to us on the beach. He was selling balloons."

The man looked at Nisha, terror-stricken. "Did you buy from him? Tell me you did..."

Nisha nodded. She indicated the string in her hand, and that was when everyone beheld a terrifying sight. The string was still in Nisha's hand, floating up in the air, but up there was no balloon at the end of it! The string ended in nothing, and yet, somehow, it stood right up as if by some unseen force.

Nisha jolted and dropped the string on the road. Kamal steadied her, but he was an utter failure at that, for he was shaking too.

The man looked at them and thought the best thing to do now was to get away from this tainted couple. But before going, he said, "Count yourselves lucky. Awfully lucky. It is your good fortune that made you buy from that ghost boy."

Trembling, Kamal led Nisha away from the beach, swearing that he'd never come back there again. He just had one last urge to turn and look at the beach. He did that and saw the dark waters in the distance. And there, far out in the sea, he saw the boy again. He was standing over the waters, the white balloons still in his hand. And, then his breath stopped. Next to the boy was the figure of a tall woman. An incredibly tall woman. Her hand was on the shoulders of the boy, but her gaze was fixed up ahead, unmistakably looking at Kamal and Nisha, probably lamenting the fact that they had gotten away from her.

(Hi, folks! Posted this one after a while. Hope you had a chance to read the other stories in the collection too. If not, just visit the index page and read! And do take a look at my books available on Amazon.)