An Unforgettable Story

After long and monotonous months of lockdown and restrictions, She had a chance to roam around and explore places like she used to do always.
Finding happiness in nature, she set out for a renowned place,
a certain patch of greenery,
located in the heart of the city- often referred to as the city’s Lungs.
The sun was shining and it was windy.
The weather was starting to get slightly on the chilly side-just as it should be in October.
She walked freely,
saw many families enjoying in the sun,
kids playing,
sweet couples entangling fingers,
fitness enthusiasts sweating away jogging,
people smiling and enjoying at the Lakeside.
Some of them even smiled back at her.
It all felt so good after a long time.
She felt ‘normal’ after months.
After spending some time, she went outside and sat in one of the local ‘dhabas’ on the periphery of the place.
That is when things started getting weird.
There were no other customers,
everyone seemed to be taking orders,
everyone was just smiling at her, being a little extra help, and the entire street was eerily empty despite being daytime.
She sipped her ‘chai’ and booked a cab.
After a very long time and multiple efforts, she finally found one.
While waiting for her cab, she chatted for a bit with the ‘old man’ who served her tea and asked about her and why she was visiting alone.
Post pandemic, everyone’s favorite topic has been discussing their experiences and the ‘old man’ told his.
Listening to him, she felt sorry and consoled him.
While chatting, she had failed to notice that suddenly everyone had gone silent and looking at her.
Weird, but she ignored it.
She freaked out when they started grinning at her talking about vaccinations and what efforts the officials are taking to combat the pandemic.
They started approaching her, step by step.
Sweating, she frantically took out her phone and called the cab driver.
Luckily, the cab appeared right at the moment at the end of the road.
She thanked the ‘old man’ for the tea, paid him, and ran to her cab.
A little over a middle-aged man was in the front seat looking at her with strange disbelief.
He drove off and after half an hour of silence he asked her “Madam aap wahan kyu gye thay?”
(Madam, why did you go to that place?)

“Kyu Uncle, Kya hua?( Why, what happened?)

“Wo Sahi jagah nahi hai madam.”(it’s not a suitable place to visit)

She then enquired if it’s an unsafe place to visit because she had everyone smiling back at her and at no point in time she had felt awkward or unsafe there. She told him about the ‘dhaba’ outside and the friendly conversation she had with the ‘old man’.

The cab driver was taken aback,

“Kaun sa dhaba madam? Wahan koi nahi tha, aap kya bol rahe ho!”

“Kya matlab hai apka?”- she couldn’t believe her ears.

“Maine apko akele bat karte dekha, mujhe laga ap Bluetooth par bat kar rahe hoge. Wahan kuch nahi tha madam. Aap akele thay.”

Shocked and horrified, she frantically opened her phone’s gallery and swiped through the images she took of people in the park, on the pathway, in the greenery.

To her horror, those were just empty pictures of the jungle, pathway, and the lake.
It was barren empty, with no sign of human beings.

The cab driver then told her that, people passing by that place have had strange and weird experiences.
That deserted place was used as a dumping ground, a hideout to bury the dead bodies of the people affected by the pandemic during the Second Wave.
Bodies were thrown in the lake, buried deep into the forests, and even in the present-day park was used to bury the children’s bodies.
The officials to hide their incompetency and failure to secure human life, committed this horrific act.
The place was declared haunted.

Shocked beyond words, not knowing what to say, she realized she had reached her destination.
Trembling with fear,
she opened the door and stood out of the vehicle for some fresh air.
Diving into her bag for the fare, as she took out her wallet, the cab had moved, and before she could realize it had disappeared at the turn.

She took out her phone to call the gentleman who had practically saved her from the trouble unknown but to her worst fears, she had no call log history by that name.

Her last call was to her mother whom she had called in the morning.

Nothing else.