Young Writers Society

The house belonged to Amvi’s grandmother who died when she was twelve years old. Years had passed by and the grief of her grandmother’s death had slowly faded. On every vacation Amvi and her mother would visit her relatives. The front gate was adorned with vines of jasmine flowers. The gate, whose silver paint was peeling off, opened with a loud creek- the home’s first doorbell. And the porch had a wooden seat with a comfortable yet old cushion. The slippers lay strewn on the right side of the porch. When you opened the doors to the hall a big mirror with intrinsic carving of fruits and flowers welcomed you. The tremendous square living room was always cleaned with a damp sweet smelling cloth. A long passageway led to an open space with its ceiling grilled horizontally. You could see the mango trees rising high above the house. And at the end of the open space was a kitchen dirtily kept. Over the years, it had also become home to lizards and spiders. Along the sides of the passageway were three rooms. And another bedroom was attached to the living room, separated by wooden doors.

It was a warm night and Amvi sat in the kitchen cross legged. She was fiddling with her Rubik’s cube. Her mother had gone to the nearby town to visit her sisters. Her aunt was sitting on a red plastic chair facing the hall, making sure her children were doing their homework. Amvi’s older cousins-three boys and a girl- were scribbling into their notebooks giggling about something their mother could not hear. Her aunt, Sheila smiled to herself and continued cutting the onions on the nearby table. She looked at Amvi, the seventeen year old girl. Yet Amvi looked young to be a teenage girl. She was short and had long curly black hair. Her hazel eyes were small and sparkled with curiosity. She looked up at Sheila and smiled.

‘You are a beautiful girl Amvi.’ Shelia said. Amvi stared back vacantly. She never responded to appreciation fearing they were never true. She smiled and looked back at her cube. She concentrated on the red color and was not thinking of anything in particular.

The house was bright with all the lights switched on. The porch had a small chandelier with crystals balls. The light was bright in the porch. The street lamps outside were not working. Their house was lonely, situated on an empty road with dry shrubs and a few mango trees. The house was silent except for the chirping of crickets and the soft giggles of Sheila’s children. The faint sounds were comforting and gave her human company while Amvi wasn’t doing anything to keep Sheila busy. The onions were sliced and diced. Her knife, she kept it aside and let out an audible sigh of relief. She saw Amvi lift her head to smile at her. The light of the kitchen went off.

Sheila looked into the hall. There was electricity in their house except for the kitchen’s tubelight. Too tired to get up she said, ‘Amvi, try switching on the light again.’

Amvi did as she said. ‘No, it’s not working. It must be replaced. I’ll try the lamp.’ Amvi said.

Sheila watched her switch on the lamp but that too did not work. ‘It’s okay. Bring me a torch. I still have rice to cook.’ she said.

Amvi nodded and went outside the kitchen and stepped into the passageway. The passageway was long and it accommodated a neat column of four tube lights. Sheila smiled as she saw slimly built Amvi bounce softly as she walked. She passed the first light and it switched off. As she passed the second the second light also switched off. As Amvi walked around, darkness followed her. Sheila gripped the arms of her chair and looked more carefully. The fourth light went off as Amvi passed it. As she went into the living room, Sheila saw her children greet Amvi. She saw that Amvi was looking for the torch everywhere. As Amvi glided into the bedroom, the halls light turned off immediately. She heard her children groan and hoot as the house slowly plunged into darkness. The light of the bedroom and porch now lit the house dimly. She got up and called out her children’s name and Amvi’s. There was an eerie silence. Sheila rushed into the hall.

Amvi mixed up the pillows of the beds and looked into the bookshelf. The house was big and the torch could be anywhere. Amvi felt surprised about why they didn’t have many torches or any candles. Losing hope she left the bedroom and stood in the porch and the bedroom’s lights switched off. Amvi couldn’t find the torch that Sheila had asked her to get. She turned back to see the house completely dark. She couldn’t hear anybody or see anybody in the porch’s bright light. She felt a mysterious black mist surrounding her from the streets and the house. She didn’t feel like leaving the light but she wanted to see her aunt and talk with her cousins. She walked into the hall anxiously. And she felt the porch lights go out. Not a whisper was heard from the grandmother’s house afterwards.