Ramesh was lying on his bed, eyes wide open. He was clearly irritated. The faint, murmuring noise coming from the living room didn't let him sleep. He was thinking about the old lady in the living room.
Ramesh's parents were out for the night and had asked the old lady to look after him for the night. Normally, Kavya used to babysit him. Although he didn't like to be babysat, he was nine after all but Kavya was nice. But she suddenly broke her leg today morning and couldn't come. His parents were anxious that they wouldn't find a babysitter when the old lady volunteered herself.
The more Ramesh thought, the more suspicious he felt. He didn't even know the old lady's name. Everyone just called her Grandma. She was relatively new in the neighborhood and had moved into the dingy old house at the end of the street. She always kept to herself and did not talk to any of her neighbors.
When she came over in the evening before Ramesh's parents left, she asked his parents a strange question – she asked Richard's age. When they said nine, only Richard noticed a weird grin on her face. She asked the same question again to Ramesh before sending him off to sleep. She insisted on telling him a bedtime story. Ramesh wasn't a big fan of bedtime stories, and Kavya never did all this stupid stuff. But Grandma kept insisting.
She took out an ancient, dusty book from her bag and told a bizarre story. It was a story of a boy named Manu who was taken by an evil witch because he was disobedient. He tried to sneak and look at the pages but could not see any text. It was just the picture of a boy wearing a red shirt. Grandma quickly closed the book and asked Richard to sleep.
Slowly, the noise from the living room started increasing. Ramesh sneakily got off from his bed and started walking towards the living room as quietly as possible. The living room was lit in a devilish red light and in the middle of it sat Grandma, facing her back towards him, rocking gently on a chair and chanting something. Ramesh was going to turn around and run for his room when she said in an ominous tone, "Didn't I tell you what happens to disobedient kids and started crawling towards him on all fours. Ramesh couldn't even shout as a monstrous figure loomed towards him.
Joel was lying on his bed, looking at the strange old woman who was babysitting him for the night. She was going to tell him a bedtime story.
"Before I begin, what is your age?" the old lady asked.
"Nine," Noel said. He remembered that Grandma asked the same question to his parents.
"This story is about a boy named Ramesh, who was taken by the evil witch because he was disobedient," she began.
MOHAK ROKADE
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