The Hunt (Part 1)

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The heat of the peak summer’s afternoon wasn’t enough to deter her as she walked down the nearly deserted road, the scorching bituminous surface heating her old feet through the worn-out rubber slippers. She covered her head and long silvery white hair with a thin shawl and wrapped it around her wrinkled face to protect herself from the melting heat. This also helped conceal her identity. There was hardly anyone around though, and those who rarely passed by her, barely noticed her. The descending heat and the burning breeze kept the heads low.

She strolled down empty roads, her soot-black eyes darting in the sockets, trying to absorb the surrounding as much as possible and analysing the captured images in her brain as fast as possible. She was looking for something or someone. She didn’t want to miss her hunt. It had been a couple of years since she last strolled down the roads of this small town, the way she did now. A couple of years since her last hunt. She wasn’t looking for stray animals to kill, or garbage bins to scavenge leftovers. She wasn’t looking to curb her bodily hunger, she was hunting for her spiritual lust.  Where are they? I can’t find even one outside! Her eyes strained, her head moved swiftly, stretching and prying every alley she passed by. It was so easy last time. 5 days of hunting, 5 children. Now, nothing.

The situation in the town had changed. The last time she hunted, five children disappeared mysteriously while playing outside their home, few other cases of children who ran from their home were also put into this strange disappearance phenomenon. Being a small town, these cases were a huge deal. Superstitious people were quick to connect the current situation to those that were continuously happening since the past few years during the summer, and they concluded they had a witch among them. Although this was highly disputed by other sceptic and “educated” residents who “knew” there were other more logical explanations. This reluctance of acceptance kept the old woman alive and no one batted an eye on her. However, she also knew she needed to stop and rest for a while, as continuous hunt could move any scepticism that was protecting her and people might get suspicious at last. So she went into a slumber for two years. No one noticed her absence from the society. No one cared. But parents were more careful now. Witch or not, they knew kids were getting kidnapped especially during the hot days and hardly anyone allowed their kids to go out during the daytime. She was finding it now in a harder way.

I need to find a child today. Master has commanded me. She’ll be highly upset with me if I returned empty-handed. For her these hunts used to be the same and simple every year; capture enough children, slaughter them at the altar Gyll and in return gain the permission and power to practice magic and witchcraft. When she last did the rituals, she didn’t ask for more power, rather she asked for a slumber. Deep and long slumber. Though, she was woken up by Gyll again after two long years, for the demon needed something from her. This time the commands were different. Something big is going to happen. Master ordered me for another ritual… something I never did before.

As the words of Gyll flew through her mind, her eyes caught the sight of her prize. In an alley on her left, a small kid was playing by himself outside his home. There were just 2-3 homes in the sandy lane, lined on the sides. A crooked smile appeared on her hidden face as she silently prowled towards the unaware child. Her eyes searched for witnesses around, but no one seemed to be there in the hot weather. As she reached near this 2-3-year-old boy, the kid finally realised someone was watching him and he looked up towards the old woman. She had now removed the shawl from her face and her vicious smile was visible on her wrinkled face. The boy was taken aback when he looked at her and was ready to run back into the home, but the witch caught his hand and almost hissed, “What are you doing here boy?”

The child now seemed about to cry and answered, “No..nothing… I was waiting for my brother. He would be coming back from school now…”

The hideous smile on her face grew wider, almost showing her crooked twisted teeth. “Oh, I know your brother. I saw him playing near the field. Come I’ll take you to him, we can all play there.” Her voice was a chilling whisper, every word enough to send a shiver down the spine. Her eyes, glowing black tar, her dried cracked lips producing a nightmarish smile. The small child seemed to be perplexed by her deathly appearance and her crippling voice. Sound stuck in his throat.

“Do you want a chocolate, boy? I’ll give you and your brother a lot of them if you come with me. Will you come with me?”

The boy didn’t say a word.

“Come, my child. Come with me.” Saying this she picked him up in a swift movement and started pacing away. That was easy. An easy hunt after so long. So close now. She was still smiling, and out of her contentment, she forgot to cover her face again. She was too engrossed in the success of the hunt and the thoughts of the ritual that she didn’t care. Meanwhile, the child was coming back to his senses now. The words stuck in his throat melted away by the tears filling his eyes, and at last he cried. The witch’s exhilaration drained away as she feared someone might hear the kid’s cries and catch her. She knew she needed to coax the kid. Damn. So near. Why this hell bound child had to cry now! Damn you, little twerp.

“Child shut up! I’m taking you to your brother! Shut up you pest!”

The child started bawling. “I want to go home! Take me back!”

“Okay, I’ll take you back. Come let’s go home, but I won’t give you any chocolate now. You are being a bad boy, I wanted to give you so many chocolates. But okay, if you don’t want.”

Saying this she turned back, trying to con the kid. The child amazingly slowed down his crying and said, “I want chocolate. I won’t cry.” The witch smiled and pulled the kid’s cheek. “Come then.”

Lucky for her there was a small shop still open at the corner of the road. Being afternoon, the shop was empty of any customer, and the shopkeeper was dozing off at the counter. Hearing footsteps in the shop, he woke up with a jerk to find an old woman with a beautiful kid in her arms. The old woman’s face appeared strangely familiar to him but he couldn’t recall where he had seen the woman. The child in her arms also felt out of place, but he decided to observe them before questioning and just asked what they wanted.

“My grandson wants some chocolate.”

“Your grandson?” he was amazed a little by that proclamation as the child looked nothing like her. The kid was fair and beautiful and handsomely dressed. The woman was an old hag, who at first appeared to be over 80-90 years old. He again said nothing and went to the shelf to get some chocolate, he was still trying hard to remember the face. When he returned and looked at her face more carefully, her identity shot back into his mind. “Aren’t you the old woman who used to live in the house in the next block?”

“No. I’m not her.”

“I know you! You are the same woman. My brother lives in the house next to you. I used to see you all the time sitting outside your home, watching every person passing by with those stalking eyes.”

“Yeah, I am her. So what?”

“Nothing. It’s just that I haven’t seen you for past 2-3 years, I guess. Where were you?”

“I went to the nearby village. My daughter lives there. I went to live with her. I can’t stay alone at this old age.” Lies came naturally to her.

“And this boy?”

“Oh, he is her son. This summer I decided to show this boy his ancestral home and the town. We’ll be going back in a day or two.”

It all made more sense to the man and he just smiled and gave the boy the chocolates. The woman hurriedly left the shop before the man could ask any more questions and made her way to her home. So close. I could have been easily caught! Why can’t these people mind their own business?

“Are we going to my brother?”

“Yes, child. Don’t you want to play with him?”

“Yes. And I’ll give him the chocolates also.”

“Yes, child. And we can all play for as long as you want.”

The child just smiled and got busy with his chocolates.

As soon as the witch reached her home, which was more of a large hut, she pushed the kid inside and bolted the door. She again picked him up roughly and carried him inside, crossing the small veranda and into a large semi-dark room. She then asked the kid to sit there for a while as she calls his brother and left him there. Soon she appeared with a glass of water and asked the kid to drink it as it’ll replenish his thirst. Being thirsty for a while, the boy didn’t ask anything and drank to his fill. As soon as he handed back the glass to the woman, the world grew dizzy for him and he fell into a deep sleep.

The witch carried him into another room inside the semi-dark room and locked the doors again. This room was damp and dark. She lighted few candles and through the flickering of the light, the large black pentagram on the floor came into vision and she laid down the child in the middle. She lighted up and surrounded the pentagram with more candles and sat next to the kid with a knife, a book, and several large bowls.

She started reciting the incantations and long forgotten ancient spells and swayed with every word. Her eyes were closed and the broken lips hissed as the ambiance of the room changed. A strange power filled the room. Candles burnt but the room grew darker. Her large shadow in the room grew smaller. Every word grew louder and sinister as the air became heavier.

The grotesque effigy on the altar smiled as the ritual began.