On the whole, after reaching the street, Walter stopped his car
near his house and started knocking the door very harshly. But his
wife, Sophia, did not show any sign of care.
"Sophia! Sophia! I‟m home" shouted Walter, hitting the door
repeatedly. At last, his wife opened the door in rage.
"And now listen, if I find you late again you need to stay
outside," Sophia went to her bedroom angrily, shouting at him.
As it was already the dead hour of the night, Walter stepped
toward his bedroom for sleeping. From the window, a pleasant
breeze was entering into the room and heavy showers of rain had
already changed the whole atmosphere of the night. After
innumerable trials, Walter was unable to sleep as something
dreadful was hindering him from sleeping – it was none but the
tunnel.
"Aah! When will this rain stop," Walter said to himself with
disgust, putting his hands on his head. Whenever Walter tried to
think, many questions started to strike on his mind.
"Who was that mysterious person wearing black hat?
What was that strange noise? Where had it come from?"
Who observed me from the trees?"
As the ambience of the room was very pleasant and peaceful,
the sound of the rain was clearly audible in that perfect silence.
The moment Walter turned his head to the left, his eyes flashed
seeing an unbelievable sight of a strange creature on other
building's backside. It was climbing to the terrace with the support
of pipes. When Walter again turned his head to the right, he saw a
shadow wearing a black hat and holding a stick on his left hand
and was looking at Walter standing outside the window. With fear,
Walter immediately turned the main lights on and everything got
normal. Still, Walter slept that night with fear.
Time Is 6.45, Early Morning
"Paper …" – shouted Peter riding on his bicycle throwing the
newspaper into Walter's house. Listening Peter's voice, Walter
immediately came to the window.
"Peter … Peter… Just a minute. I need to talk to you," –
shouted Walter. He walked down to Peter and enquired him about
the strange sound or whether he had seen any dead body near the
tunnel.
Peter was a paper boy, so to arrange his papers, he used to go
to cartage regularly in the early morning 4.00 AM, which was
situated exactly the opposite to the highway bar. This was the main
reason behind Walter's interrogation to the boy.
"No! The last night I have seen nothing. As it was late, Rob
and me came through the tunnel in paper distribution truck to Dstreet" – replied Peter listening at Walter's words.
"Then ok. Alright. I will meet you later. Good bye!" – saying
this, Walter just got silent and moved back to his house.
Thinking about the murder he had experienced the previous
night, Walter started searching articles related to that incident in
newspaper on every page of it but could find nothing. No such
incident was printed on newspaper. Being irritated, Walter threw
the paper away in contempt and felt that something bad was going
to occur on D-street which he must find.
Walter was fatigued as the last night he had slept for few hours
only. He thought of meeting his friend, Sedrick. Sedrick was an
innocent man with little education. Along with Walter, everyone
used to call him – B.C Boy because he was untouched by the
modern society's new trends and culture.
Walter spent some of his time with Sedrick. Meanwhile,
Sedrick's friends arrived to meet him. As Sedrick's wife was not
present at home, all of the friends sat together in the hall and
started playing cards. Meanwhile, the rain again started. The cool
breeze of rain was coming into the hall through the main door
which was kept open. Everyone sitting in the hall could see the
Picto Hills faintly which were quite far from the street and all the
dense bushes at some distance were appearing as sodden in rain.
Meanwhile, Walter began to run and started shouting.
"Hey! You. Am not going to let you leave this time. Wait
there".-shouting loudly. Walter came and stood near the dense
bushes. Being shocked with this unusual behavior of Walter, his
friends also followed him toward the bushes.
"What‟s the problem? Is everything alright! What are you
running for? No one is there. Are you ok?" –said his friends to
Walter.
Walter just narrated the whole story and the reason behind his
chase for the stranger in the bush. Lastly, he said that he was not
feeling well and headed toward his house.
"I think Walter might have seen the ghost. So he ran…" – said
Sedrick innocently to their friends. After listening the words of
Sedrick, all his friends dropped their cigars and started laughing in
amusement. After sometime, they all left the place whereas Sedrick
was seeing their departure innocently.
Sedrick was thoughtful like never before. He was seriously
contemplating on the incident happened with Walter. No doubt, he
was worried for his friend.
While returning home, Walter again started running to the
main gate of the street. He saw Michael sleeping in the watch
house and woke him up. Michael opened his eyes and looked at
Walter.
"You told me something yesterday … that story about tunnel.
Michael, will you please tell me the story" – asked Walter
curiously.
Michael thought that Walter must be in some trouble. So he
offered him a glass of water to drink. When Walter drinking the
water, Michael started saying …
"Relax Sir! Relax. I have already guessed that you would
come to ask me on this. I would have said, but one man like you
asked me about the tunnel, he is not alive now. He is dead" – said
Michael to Walter.
"No problem. Please tell about it" – forced Walter.
"Forgive me Sir! I would have said. But I think this not the
perfect time or place to say about it" – replied Michael frankly.
"No. I should know the story. Please tell me" – forced Walter
again.
"Ok. I will tell you about it. I too do not know the whole story.
The people of those days used to call the tunnel as "COLD
BLOODED TUNNEL". It is said that there had been a murder of a
mother and a little girl. Their spirits are wandering near the
tunnel. This is all what I know" – explained Michael and walked to
the main gate.
At around 4 or 4.15 PM, Walter went to his house. He was
watching T.V., there an announcement was going on that the
archeology department was likely to visit the city soon.
Someone rang Walter's door bell. Walter got up from the sofa and
opened the door.
"Sedrick!"
"You". "Here" – asked Walter surprisingly.
"Nothing."
"Is your health ok?"
"I have just come to know whether you are ok or not".
"You alright?"
"Any problem?"
"Would we visit the doctor?" – asked Sedrick out of love.
"No. Everything is fine".
"I had a small business deal, so I am little tensed" – answered
Walter with smile.
"Ok. Then,"
"You are alright?"
"Why don‟t you come and relax for a while at my home?"
"I‟ll make a coke for you".
"Come soon …,"
"I will be waiting for you" – said Sedrick and left Walter's
house.
Walter was very surprised at Sedrick's behavior, and the
affection he showed on him was a new experience for Walter.
The Time Is 5.30 Pm
In the evening, as he promised Walter visited Sedrick's house. As
usual, Sedrick was playing cards with his friends. Walter stood in
front of Sedrick's house waiting for him and glanced at him.
Sedrick saw Walter standing near the door.
"Hey! Walter."
"Why are you standing near the door?"
"Am waiting for you"
"There‟s your hot coke on the table."
"I have prepared it for you" – said Sedrick, showing the coke
on the table.
Walter had his coke and was looking at the Sedrick‟s room
moving his head around.
"Is there any problem?" – asked Sedrick.
"No, nothing. I need to go the washroom" – said Walter and
walked toward the washroom. While passing through the common
bathroom, an old wooden box, which was kept in a cupboard,
captured Walter's attention.
"Sedrick! Sedrick! Come here! – whispered Walter.
"I come back in one minute" – replied Sedrick and walked to
Walter.
"What is it inside?" – asked Walter softly.
"I will tell you later, what it inside, when all the friends go
back to their house" –said Sedrick and left to hall with Walter.
After sometime, when all his friends departed to their
respective houses, Sedrick took Walter to the room where the
suitcase was placed safe. Walter brought down the chest from the
cupboard. Sedrick opened it and showed him an axe made of silver
metal.
"Can you see this?" It is very precious and very rarely
available. My grandfather said that it has the power to destroy the
evil spirits, and it is our traditional doctrine, so I have preserved it
carefully – said Sedrick to Walter. After the discussion got over,
Walter left for his house.
The Time Is 9.30 Night
After a short chitchatting on the dinner table, Walter and Sophia,
both went to bedroom to sleep as it was 10.40 PM. After a few
hours of deep sleep, Sophia woke up suddenly being terrified.
Walter was astonished seeing her wife so tensed.
"What happened? Have you experienced any nightmare?" –
asked Walter giving her some water.
"No. When I was sleeping on my left, I feel like a strange
creature climbing over our terrace. I saw its shadow" – said
Sophia while drinking water.
Walter, somehow, managed the situation and made her sleep
again. When he saw Sophia was in deep sleep, in the middle of the
night Walter got out of his bed. He took the torch from the table
and walked toward the terrace. He was walking slowly in order to
observe the place more minutely. With the help of the torch, he
looked around. While investigating the place, he saw a light
coming from a long distance. The place was full of dreadful
darkness. He thought the power must have gone but he could see
the light as a spot. Walter again slowly walked down to the
bedroom to find out the source from where the dimlight was
coming.
Time Morning 7.00 Am
"Paper …," shouted Peter slinging newspapers in the houses.
"Peter!! Where were you coming from?" – shouted Walter
from the window.
"As usual. From the cartage" – answered Peter loudly so that
Walter could hear.
D-street's renowned astrologer – Christopher Saadrick – died.
Near the D-street outskirt, a dead body of a man was found whose
identity is yet to reveal. These were the news printed in the
newspaper. After reading all these, Walter felt that everything was
quite normal.