The Necromancer

By Vandita Srikanth Reddy

Tired and exhausted. Two things Stephen could only think of. It was pitch black at night and Stephen was supposed to be returning to his house by 6. He would always take a right turn from the river then would take a left and then a right turn from the river then would take a few simple directions later to reach straight home. easy, isn’t it? Well poor Stephen shifted to his new house only a week back and is a bit slow in adjusting to new surroundings, so now Stephen got lost in trying to figure out the route back to his house.

Weary of going round in circles, he saw a house, it was quite old. Outside of the house there were clumps of rotten leaves which clung to the base of the house and a few clawed hands that scraped out of the dirt and up the wall. With a slight feeling of trepidation, he knocked on the acorn-coloured door and waited. The door creaked open and there stood and old woman who had hair as white as silver, face more wrinkled than a raisin and hands thinner than sticks. However, a creepy smile was painted on her face. In an old cackling tone voice she asked ‘’ Yes Dear?’’ ‘’Why did you knock at such an absurd time’’ Stephen was petrified to say the least and could feel his bones shivering. He asked if he could stay for the night. The old woman agreed

Later learning that her name was Cordelia after glancing at her notebook had her name on top, she led him through a flight of stairs and gave him a room. Stephen thanked her profusely and started to remove his coat. Few minutes later, Cordelia knocked and Stephen opened the door. ‘’Would you like to eat something?’’ Stephen was famished so he agreed.

Cordelia served him some leftover meat she had for her lunch. ‘’The meat is tenderly cooked. May I know what type of meat is it?” he asked while eating. Instead of replying, she said that the meat was tenderly cooked then sat in front of him watching him finish while taking a piece for herself then cutting herself a slice with a knife. After they both finished eating, Stephen repeated the question he asked earlier, he asked whether if it were mutton or beef. He even asked whether it was veal. With a sinister smile……. clutching her knife, she replied “This is meat from a human, delicious isn’t it”, and attacked him with the knife.

“Then?!Then?! Then what happened?!!!” yelled Ben, his 11 year old son with excitement in his eyes. “Then? I escaped!” laughed Stephen while narrating a story from his days of witch hunting to his son. Whining like a puppy Ben repeatedly asked how he escaped which Stephen smiled and said that it was a story for later. Tucking his son in bed not before switching off the light, he left the room. He glanced at the huge scar on his had and shuddered of that horrid night of the psychopathic necromancer who fed on human meat to survive. The only words roaming around in his head “I wish I never had knocked on that door nor do I ever end up in that place again”

By Vandita Srikanth Reddy