Surprise!

By Ananya Kamat

In a small town in India called Khatrapur, there lived three little boys – Atul, Arnav and Rahul

who were famous for being the village pranksters. They performed all kinds of pranks on the

villagers – hiding a fake snake in their houses, dressing up as ghosts at night, putting salt in

the sugar box so that the poor villagers add salt to their tea; but the prank that irked the

villagers the most was when Atul pretended as if he was dead and when they went to bury

him, he sprang up and started laughing at them. Infuriated, they set up a meeting with the

village elders where it was decided that to stop this nuisance, the boys will go straight to

home from school and from school to home.

*

Two months later, the three boys were walking sadly back to their home. They were upset

because their life had become boring.

“It has been so long since we had fun!” Atul wailed.

“The villagers should have just admonished us, but stopping us from going anywhere is just

cruel!” Rahul cried and burst into tears for he was very upset.

“Maybe they are envious because they do not know how to enjoy life like us.” Arnav

observed.

“We must do something about our mundane life.” Atul said gloomily.

“God, please let something interesting happen in our lives.” Rahul pleaded with his eyes

closed.

Suddenly, the boys saw something on the side of the road near the bushes. Their hearts

started beating rapidly and they froze in their tracks with the eyes wide open. There were so

many thoughts going on in their little heads. They looked at each other, anxious and excited

at the same time.

“Are you thinking what I am thinking?” Atul said looking at his friends expectantly.

“It is a corpse! Not a pretty sight for my delicate little eyes!” Rahul said covering his eyes.

Near the dense and tangled bushes, there was someone or something covered in a linen

shroud. There were many stains on the cloth that looked like-

“Blood!” Atul howled, laughing like a maniac.

“This is surely a murder, there are infinite blood stains.” Arnav said, circling the body and

examining it carefully. “We need clues to find the murderer – fingerprints, footprints or

even a murder weapon!”

“You are so paranoid, stop reading into everything. This may not be a murder.” Atul said

thoughtfully.

“That is preposterous!” Rahul exclaimed.

“Yes, that is just absurd. There are obvious signs of a brutal murder!” Arnav said pointing to

the body.

“The villagers could be playing a prank on us to teach us a lesson.” Atul said.

“I do not think they would go that far.” Arnav said.

“Let us see who is under that cloth.” Atul said moving towards the body.

“No! We must not leave any fingerprints. That will make us the prime suspects.” Arnav

explained calmly. “We must find something else to- “

“There is a stick over here.” Rahul said who was beaming as he had found a long, powerful

lathi.

“Let us poke it to see if it moves.” Atul said smiling mischievously.

“That is a really bad idea, the lathi could be the murder weapon!” Arnav said, looking

alarmed.

“That makes absolutely no sense, why would someone leave a murder weapon near the site

of the crime?” Atul observed.

“Fine, do whatever you want.” Arnav snapped.

“All right. I will just poke it once or twice.” Atul aid and poked the body at least ten times.

“Who is that who dares to wake me from my slumber?” an angry voice shrieked from under

the shroud.

“Run! It is a ghost!” Rahul yelled.

“Ghosts do not exist.” Atul snapped.

“How can you say that?” the voice from under the sheets questioned. “Just because you

cannot see something, does not mean it does not exist.”

“It is definitely a ghost, let us run before it kills us.” Rahul said urgently.

“That is just ridiculous.” Atul said. “I am going to end this suspense once and for all.”

Without heeding to his friends’ warnings, he removed the sheet. Under the cloth, there was

an old man who had long white hair and long shaggy beard. His teeth were rotten and his

clothes were torn. A swarm of flies buzzed around his puny body.

“Well, surprise.” He grunted bitterly. “You expected a dead body or a mystery of some kind,

but you found a mere beggar.”

“Are you alive?” Rahul asked, puzzled.

“Of course I am alive.” The beggar said, his voice raising. “I eat, sleep and breathe just like

all alive people do.”

“Then why are you covered in a dead man’s shroud?” Arnav asked.

“That is because I want some sleep. I also do not want to get robbed.”

“What about the blood stains?”

“That is just paan.”

“Why would you do such a dreadful thing?” Rahul bawled, looking hurt.

“I thought no one will pay attention.” The beggar tried to explain. “People care about

money more than a dead man. If I had not done this, I might have been robbed.”

“You do not have any money to get robbed.” Atul pointed out.

“I am not rich, but I have a lot of wealth.” The beggar protested, showing a five hundred

rupees note.

“No one will rob you just for that.” The boys looked at each other, snickering.

“That is not the only form of wealth that I possess.” He growled indignantly. “Ask anyone in

the village about me. They fear me and respect me.”

“That is just a bunch of baloney. No one cares about you.” The boys guffawed.

“Well, then ask your parents about me.” He said and went back to sleep.

*

That night, Atul was sitting at his homework table, lost in thought. He tried hard to forget

about the beggar but it seemed impossible to do so.

When his mother saw him, she felt concerned. When she asked him about what happened,

he asked her if she knew about a strange, mysterious beggar.

“There is a very old legend where an evil spirit lies on the side of a road like a dead body.

When some naïve little kids go snooping like detectives, the spirit confuse them. Then at

midnight, it quietly sneaks into the kids’ houses and takes the kids away to its demonic

abode and feasts on their blood.”

Atul looked at his mother trembling with fear.

“I do not think this is true. It is just a story we loved when we were kids.” His mother said

with a reassuring smile. “It is just a tale to warn kids to not investigate dangerous things.

You have not done any such thing, have you?”

“No mother, I would never do such a thing.” Atul started laughing loudly as he was terrified.

“Good, now go to sleep. It is late.” saying this, his mother left.

Atul saw the clock in his room. Only two hours left till midnight. He locked all the doors and

windows. He locked himself in his room. He was confident that nothing could enter his

house and that he was safe and secure. He closed his eyes and went to sleep.

After, some time he heard a faint rustling sound.

“Maybe it is just my mother who has gone to get a glass of water.” He said to himself. The

sound grew louder and louder.

When the clock struck twelve, he saw some weird creature standing in the corner of his

room. It was completely black and had two red eyes.

“I am hungry.” It growled in a frightening voice. “I need blood.”

“This is just a nightmare.” Atul told himself convincingly. At the same moment, he saw his

two friends in the demon’s hands. He was unable to believe it. Were they-

“Yes, they are dead.” The demon said cackling. “And soon, even you are going to die.”

“Please do not kill me.” Atul begged.

“This is what you get for disturbing my sleep.” The demon roared. Atul flung all his books

and toys at the demon to defend himself. The demon became more angry.

“Well, surprise.” It howled. “I am death. If you go looking for it, you cannot defend yourself

from it.”

“Please, I want to live.” Atul said whimpering.

“Life is short and there is nothing you can do about it.” The demon grinned, showing its red,

blood-stained teeth. Then the demon slowly moved towards the boy with a chainsaw. Then

there was a bloodcurling scream but no one heard it for they were fast asleep.

By Ananya Kamat