Beyond the Fence

Chapter: 1

The wind was howling, and it looked so dark since the moon had disappeared making the sky eerie. She sat on the rock that overlooked the lake which was invisible with all the darkness dominating it. Strangely today, the climate felt so cold that she had to pull her knees close to her chest, yet she shivered every time the wind brushed past her. She always loved to come down here at nights, when the town was fast asleep. It was always just her, her thoughts, the sky, the moon and stars; but today, she saw neither stars nor the moon. Ever since they moved to the deserted part of the land, she had distanced herself, she didn't want to socialize with people; she learned to be independent and brave. Gazing at the sky, Kashvi thought of the day when she was twelve.

28th November 2012, her father barged into her class and dragged her out. He didn't bother asking permission nor did he look at the startled teacher or the students. He dragged her to their car and pushed her roughly inside and slammed the door shut. His face was contorted with rage. For the first time in her life, she was scared of her father, as he was always kind towards her and  has never seen him so angry and scared. The fear in his eyes was evident. He did not utter a word until they reached home. She looked at him as he dragged her up to her room, she had no courage to ask him what was happening. "Pack everything." Those were the two words he spoke that day. It was too much for a girl of twelve to take in. she did as she was told without questioning. She packed her entire room, her teddy, her books, clothes, toys, everything into the only two bags she had had. She held back her tears, she can't be crying now, 'be strong, no matter what.' Is what her mother would tell her. She did not see her mother until she was in the car. Her mother turned to her from the front seat, 'everything is going to be fine love.' She said smiling but, the little girl made no mistake when she thought that her mother had been crying. 'Where are we going mother?' 'To where we belong.' She had said turning back to hide her tears.

She lay back on the rock resting her head on her hands, even though she shivered every time the wind brushed her. Closing her eyes, she dreamt of the day she ran on the big beautiful garden in front of her house with her friends, laughing and giggling; she had been happy. Only those memories made her smile now.

A sudden ear-piercing scream interrupted her flow of memories. Her eyes snapped open and she did not move an inch. Minutes passed in silence, and then she heard it again. This time, the scream was even louder and she knew it was a girl, a girl in pain. She jumped to her feet, her heart was racing and her body shivered. She grabbed the torch and waited for another scream or another sound. She heard it again and this time it felt like the scream was coming towards her like the little girl was running to her. Her body stiffened; a chill ran down her spine. She walked towards the scream slowly and carefully, still shivering and scared. Gripping the torch tightly she walked through the trees, over a few rocks, waiting for another sound. As she took another step she heard it again, but before she could make out the direction, it stopped abruptly. 'Was the girl dead? Or was she captured?' the atmosphere was becoming eerier. She climbed a nearby tree, gripping the torch between her teeth until she could see around. Nothing. "What do I do now?" She thought out loud. She sat down on the branch, hugging herself. The forest was aloof from the town and nobody could have heard a thing!

When they drove into this little town, she had a sudden feeling, a feeling she couldn't explain. She couldn't say if she was scared or worried, excited or creepy. The town had a single row of bungalows on either side of the road, each of them looked weird. There were not too many people in the town, and from the few people she had seen, all of them seemed to be weird to her. She started disliking the town. And now the scream was all the more reason for her to hate it. She got up and carefully climbed down the tree, she had to go back home before the sun comes up or her mother would give her a hard time and never allow her into the woods again. She walked back the way she had come. She knew the forest like the back of her hands. The forest was divided into two with wired fences. It becomes dangerous from the fence that is what the people say but Kashvi never believed it. She always had this strange feeling about the fence. She walked up to the drive, removed her shoes and washed them and her legs. She left the shoes on the stand and wore her slippers. She slowly opened the door without any sound, switched off the torch, walked back to her room and lay on the bed. Kashvi couldn't stop herself from thinking about the forest, the scream, the questions; 'What if the little girl is dead? What if she was killed?' She dreaded the thought.