Quadrangle

“You are free to go anywhere except this quadrangle.”

“Why?”

“It’s for your own good…… you are safe everywhere except this quadrangle because……. I am not sure…... it would be better if you avoid coming here. Rather, I forbid you.”

The girl was not convinced. She felt that the magician was trying to hide something from her.  It had taken her months to convince him that she was serious in her intent; she too wanted to become a great magician like him. He had eventually accepted her as his first apprentice. But, then, he too had an ulterior motive.

She looked intently but she could find nothing odd in that quadrangle. It was completely empty.

“You think there’s nothing here……you are mistaken,” magician smiled maliciously. “There is huge cage right in middle of quadrangle……. but you can’t see it. Five vicious witches that I have trapped are in that cage. They are desperate to escape from their captivity, but they can’t.”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to know……” the girl said.

She looked at the magician wickedly.

She stepped into the quadrangle fearlessly.

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A post for A to Z April Challenge

Today’s letter Q

You can read my earlier post here

P

  

 

 

The Cap

“Yes, that’s the cap my grandson was wearing,”. Old woman was pointing to a man in the crowd.

 “It’s his cap. Arrest this man, right now, He…. he must have…….” She was in tears.

The police officer felt sorry for her. He knew that there was nothing unique about that cap. Hundreds of such caps were available in the market. 

“You think I’m not in my senses. Just look inside that cap…. you will see my signatures…. the poor boy insisted…….”

The man panicked and tried to get away.

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Word count 89

A post for Friday Fictioneers on a picture post.

 

 

Poisoned Arrow

I could not believe that a lodge could have such a name. Poisoned arrow. It was not a funny name. Rather, there was something eerie about it.

“Actually no one really knows why that place is called Poisoned Arrow,” said Rishad. “The family that owns it shifted to their palatial house in the city long back. Now it is used as a lodge. But it’s beautifully located, right in front of the lake. The kids will love it.”

It really was a beautiful lodge and the view from portico was enchanting. The boys were overjoyed. They had never been to such a place.

The manager was an old man. Out of curiosity I asked him, “Why is it called Poisoned Arrow?”

“I don’t know but I heard some rumours when I first came here…… about thirty years ago, one evening the person who owned this lodge was standing in the portico somewhere over there,” he stopped for a moment and pointed to one end of the portico. “Out of nowhere an arrow came and hit him in the chest. He wasn’t wounded but……. he died after a few days. They said that the doctor who examined him suspected that he had been hit by a poisoned……...”

The manager suddenly let out a terrifying scream. He stumbled and fell down like broken tree.

He had been hit in the chest by an arrow.

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A post for A to Z April Challenge

Today’s letter P

You can read my previous story here.

O

 

Obituary

He woke up. He thought that someone had touched him on his forehead. He looked around but there was no one in the room. Where was his wife? She was not in the bed. That was unusual because it was still very dark.

He stretched his arm towards the side-table. But his wristwatch was not there.

He got up and switched on the light. He looked at the wall-clock. It was 3.30 AM.

Where had she gone? He came out of the bedroom and searched everywhere. She was nowhere to be seen.

He knocked at the door of Tinu’s bedroom.  The door was open. The room was empty. He was flabbergasted. 

“Where is everyone?”  

He checked the main door; it was not open. It was securely bolted. In fact, every night, before going to sleep, he invariably checked the main door to ensure that it was properly closed.

He opened the door. He was surprised to find the newspaper lying in front of the door.

“What’s happening? The boy never comes paper before 6.30?”

He picked up the paper and, as a matter of habit, turned to the last page.

His eyes fell on his own picture in the newspaper. It was an obituary.

Totally befuddled, he hastily read the obituary. Surely, it was about him.

He was dead and a prayer meeting was to be held in the afternoon in the Town Hall.

“It must be a prank……. yes, it is a prank…...a silly prank.” He tried to laugh but only a squeaking sound came from his mouth.

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 A post for A to Z April Challenge

Today’s letter O

 

 If you wish to read my last post please click here

 

Natural Death

“I think prima facie it is a case of natural death. Of course, a post mortem will be carried out…... but I tell you…... I have investigated many cases…. natural death, no doubt about it”

Dead man’s father could not believe what he was hearing. He knew his son had been brutally beaten to death.

“How can you say that? Unless….”

“You think I am trying to protect someone?” the police officer glared at the father.

“You should be looking for clues? Every criminal makes a mistake and leaves some……...”

“Every clue will prove that he died a natural death. But you don’t need tell me what I should do.”

Father felt helpless.

“Ok, if you suspect he was beaten to death, who in your opinion could have done it? Do you suspect any one? Did he have a girlfriend?”

“I have no idea,” father said, meekly.

“Or perhaps…... a boyfriend?  Was he queer?” the officer sniggered.

Father felt he was being deliberately humiliated.

Inspector examined the body again but the father could feel that he was just enacting a charade.

Suddenly dead man’s right hand moved and grabbed the inspector’s throat.  

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A post for A to Z April Challenge

Today’s letter N

 

 Here are links to my earlier stories

K L M

 

Monkey-fort

The fort was in a pathetic condition. Some of the walls and buildings were slowly crumbling into dust. Structures that had withstood vagaries of time and weather were covered by creepers and moss, lizards and insects.

But the temple situated almost in the middle of the fort was in a good condition. It was believed that descendants of a royal priest, who lived about five centuries ago, were still looking after the temple and were religiously performing the daily rituals.

Few people visited the temple. One had to walk all the way up the hill to reach the fort. But that was not the only thing that deterred the visitors.

There were hundreds of monkeys inside the fort. The fort was, in fact, nick-named as monkey-fort. Of course, the monkeys generally did not bother the visitors. But they often fought viciously among themselves.

One day three of us decided to go to the temple. When we entered the fort, it was perfectly peaceful. As we neared the temple, we suddenly heard loud shrieking sounds.

What we saw scared us. An old man was slowly walking towards northern wall of the fort. He was holding something in a small basket.

A large group of monkeys was shrieking at him. Within seconds hundreds of monkeys surrounded him. We could feel that they were about to attack him.

A huge terrifying male monkey sprinted towards the old man. But even before it could reach him, it let out a loud, piteous cry, as if it had been struck brutally. Soon all monkeys were running helter-skelter in all directions. Each one was crying as if it had been hit by something.

The old man hadn’t stopped even for a moment. He kept walking towards the northern wall, unconcernedly.

We were terrified and ran down the hill, as quickly as we could.

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A post for A to Z April Challenge

Today’s letter M

 

 You can read my earlier post here

L

 

     

 

Lazy

Lazy!

He was not at all lazy. It was his name. And it was a strange name for a ghost, a ghost who was very energetic and fun-loving. He hated his name.

He loved to enter computer games. Wherever and whenever he found a lonely child playing a computer game, he would quietly enter the game and play havoc with it. The child would go crazy and Lazy would enjoy the fun.  He particularly liked car racing games because he loved the mayhem he could create.  

But one day Lazy committed a blunder.

He entered a ghost game. He was not aware that virtual ghosts in that computer game were extremely nasty and totally heartless. When the virtual ghosts saw the real ghost, they promptly ganged up against him.

“You lazy, lethargic, listless loafer……we know all about you…. you like wrecking computer games……. now that you are here, we will teach you a lesson,” they screamed in their virtual ghostly voices.

Lazy laughed because he believed that he was too smart for them; after all he was a real ghost and they were just virtual ghosts.

But for once Lazy was mistaken; virtual ghosts were smarter than him. He got trapped in that computer game.

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A post for A to Z April Challenge

Today’s letter L

 you can read my earlier posts here

I J K