BEING POSESSED

1: IT BEGAN

"Julie!" I hailed at her "Don't go over there, come to me, come on".Julie, my little sister came running towards me at once with a radiant and adorable smile flashing on her face . I entwined my fingers round her little palm and said, " Don't ever go near that well okay? Promise me you won't..". She nodded her head and I squished her little rounded red cheeks . She went away , her golden curls swinging in the mild breeze. It was a lovely evening and we sisters were in the backyard of the house. Julie , as always , was running here and there sometimes going near the buttercups that grew amidst a thick bush or sometimes running after a butterfly. I was sitting on a chair and was watching her and inspecting trivial things be it the evening sky , the scattered bushes , the swinging leaves of the shrubbery and enjoying the wonderful weather.

It was spring time and the flowers all around in our backyard were in full bloom , their sweet fragrance filling the air all around . Their radiance and beauty added a glow to our little backyard. Only one place looked gloomy and that was the old well at a corner . It hadn't been in use for long and now lack of care or supervision had reduced it to a mere pile of stones arranged round its hole. Whether it was out of curiosity or anything else I suddenly developed a strong desire to inspect it closely. I walked up to the well .

A dense growth of thickets accompanied by a thick blanket of moss had almost hidden the worn out walls of the well. Two stone pillars rose from opposite sides of the well to end at a height of perhaps a foot or two and over them rested a wooden plank. The pillars had been adorned by a bunch of climbers that entwined round them. Mild rays of the evening sun fell on one side of it casting a deep dark shadow on the other side. I looked behind to see Julie deeply engrossed in picking daises growing at the foot of the apple tree. Turning back I resumed my task of inspecting the well. I bent low to have a glance inside the dark hole of the well and at the same moment I saw something. Deep down inside the well where the water stood motionless and still , I felt as if I saw something move . I strained my neck inside to make sure what it was and just then a hand emerged out of the water. It was a human hand stained with blood with blood trickling down the fingernails. I wanted to scream out loud but my voice was choked, I became totally speechless . My body got tensed with an undefinable sensation of fear and trauma , my hands, my legs all froze and I couldn't even move and I could literally feel my heart racing . I don't know how long I stayed in such a state. A tap on my shoulder brought me back to my senses in an instant and I wheeled round to see Julie standing behind me with daisies in her hand." What are you doing?" she asked me. "Nothing dear" I said her rubbing off the sweat from my face.

"Was it absolutely nothing?" I questioned myself...

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