At the stroke of midnight

It was the week before Halloween. There was a reading at the neighbourhood bookstore. Megha, Arjun, and Priya decided to attend. The shop was decorated with paper bats, grinning pumpkins, and strings of orange and purple lights. A cardboard skeleton hung from the ceiling, and a witch with a crooked nose stood at the entrance. The storyteller was excellent. She read about haunted houses, headless horsemen and ghosts.But Megha was not impressed. She stretched and yawned and said, “What a load of humbug!”Arjun stared at her. “What do you mean?”“This whole Halloween business. Ghosts, witches, haunted houses! It’s all made up. Marketing people invented it to sell costumes, sweets and plastic skeletons.”ChallengedThey argued over it until Arjun lost his cool and said, “Fine. If you’re so brave, take a walk down our street at midnight on October 31.”Megha hesitated.“What’s the matter?” Priya teased. “Afraid?”“I’m not afraid!”“Then prove it.”Megha wished she hadn’t opened her mouth. But there was no turning back now.On the night of October 31, Megha lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Her parents were asleep, and the house was silent. She wasn’t frightened. Not really. That’s what she kept telling herself. Close to midnight, she went out.Out on the streetsThe night was unusually still. The moon hung above the rooftops, casting long shadows across the pavement. Not a leaf stirred. The houses stood dark and silent, their windows like closed eyes.Megha shivered. Everything looked different in the moonlight. The trees stretched their branches across the road like crooked fingers.A dog howled. Long and mournful. Another dog answered. Then another. Soon, dogs were barking and howling all along the street. Just as suddenly, the dogs fell silent. The silence was worse than the noise. There at the end of the street stood dark figures. The street had been empty a moment ago. Now, tall, thin, spectral figures stood there, with their heads tilted towards her.Megha’s mouth went dry. “It’s a trick that Arjun and Priya are playing on me,” she told herself. “They want to frighten me.” But there were only two of them and there were more than two dark figures there. The dogs whimpered. The ghostly shadows moved forward.Megha wanted to run but her legs seemed glued to the road. Arjun and Priya, who had been watching to see if she completed her challenge, hurried towards her.“What are they?” Priya whispered. Megha shook her head. She had no voice.Spectral singingThen came a sound that made their hair stand on end. Someone was singing. Soft, crooning… like a lullaby. Other voices joined in. The wind shifted. The song grew clearer. They heard snippets.“We come to get you…” They drifted closer. “We come to catch you…”Arjun tugged Megha’s sleeve, but she was rooted to the spot.The singing stopped and a voice floated across the street. Megha felt Priya’s fingers tighten around hers.“Let’s go,” said Arjun, louder this time. He pulled and, suddenly, Megha’s legs began to work again. The three friends stumbled backwards. The figures moved faster.“Run!” screamed Priya. Illustration: Manasvi Vijay Nilgunkar They raced towards Megha’s house. Behind them came the soft, scraping sound of many feet. They reached the gate, tumbled through it, and hammered on the front door. Megha’s father opened it, looking furious and bewildered. “What on earth are you three doing out at this hour?”They pushed past him and slammed the door. For several minutes, none of them could speak.Then Arjun whispered, “Did you see their faces?”Priya nodded, trembling.Megha’s father frowned. “Whose faces?”There was a knock on the door. Three slow, deliberate knocks. Megha’s father opened it. There was nobody there.A scrap of yellowing paper fluttered in the breeze. Megha picked it up. Written across it in spidery black letters were the words:Thank you for coming out to meet us.October 31,1896.“That’s more than 100 years ago!” the three of them muttered.A cold breeze swept through the hallway, though every window was shut.They heard the song again. “We’ve met you. We like you. We’ll come again…”Megha looked at her friends. Nobody mentioned marketing specialists again.