Banshee
●What life offers is not a surprise,
but a planned conspiracy by unseen●
"Shivani, psst Shivani."
"What is it Ray?"
"Are you asleep?"
"No. Just dreaming with eyes closed."
"I'm sorry to bother you in your sleepy state but I just heard some voices—"
"What?" Shivani's eyes snapped open. Ray bent further to whisper close into her ear.
"Yes and when I went out to look, there was a huge crowd moving towards the giant double doors with some sort of fancy candles. They were saying that someone was going to be executed."
Shivani stared at Ray in horror.
"We should go, might find some answers." She jumped up, eager to find out.
Within next ten seconds Shivani and Ray were out of their little house and joined the huge crowd as they all marched towards the destination with others.
"Hold these, children, may the mother sorceress bless you with wisdom and glamour." A middle aged man from the crowd said, handling them two candles with iron stand moulded into a ghostly shaped creature.
"Martha." Shivani halted.
"What?" Ray asked, staring at her in confusion.
"Marth is the mother sorceress."
"How do you know?"
"Remember the gate keepers, they also said something about mother sorceress. Only this is the valid explanation to whatever is happening in this place. Martha and her allies control these people's minds."
"That's why they have no idea of what happens outside, they are confined to this place. But how is that possible? Does she do some kind of black magic or some thing?"
"No, she's much more than that. Let's go."
Following the crowd of 100s of followers of Marta, Shivani and Ray reached the giant double doors, reminiscing the memory of the time they arrived in this mysterious town Ratri, the two felt the ting of hopelessness and fear.
Being the bodyguard of the spoiled brat for almost two years now, Ray was well aware of the annoyance he faced at work but all that seemd like heaven compared to this life of confinement. Where, every path was so smoothly blocked that escape seemed impossible.
Despite urging Shivani to look on the brighter side, he himself knew that this place had hidden secrets, just like puzzles, and unless they solved each and every one of it, this was their life.
"Hail Banshee" sudden outburst of crowd startled them both.
"Martha send her regards and blessings," a voice that chilled the core of each and every bone in their body echoed with the cold breeze blowing around them.
"All hail Martha."
"Please forgive me, no." The man, undernourished with bones and nothing on his body pleaded to the invisible soul of executor.
"What is he pleading to?" Ray whisperd closer to Shivani's ear.
"Banshee is visible to only those who are close to death, we can't see it but he can." Shivani whispered back.
"You mean he won't be forgiven?" Horror and empathy was evident in his voice, Ray couldn't help but stare at the poor man who begged repeatedly, dragged by the two gatekeepers, he was thrown at the center of two doors wide apart.
"They are going to crush him?" We should do something." Shivani panicked looking at the process of this painful, merciless execution.
"What can we do? It's an invisible enemy Shivani."
Before Shivani could utter another word or think of any implementable plan, without any effort from either of the gatekeepers, the otherwise heavy looking giant double doors slammed shut as the blood splashed all over the ground.
Except Shivani and Ray, everyone screamed with exhilaration and rejoiced at probable establishment of the town Ratri.
"Traitor is gone. Traitor is gone...traitor is gone." Roar of chant erupted from the front and made it's way to the last of the crowd. As the sky shook in terror of madness and unity of Ratri residents, Shivani squeezed past the crowd on the thudding ground and ran towards what remained of the dead man.
"Shivani—" Ray's voice submerged into the gala celebration, with the taint of curiosity, he too followed her.
"Banshee– banshee." Stopping near the giant doors, Shivani yelled in hope that her command could somehow reach the ears of death caller. With a whoosh of wind everyone fell silent.
Seconds passed in silence, then minutes , more minutes. Pin drop silence was getting heavier with every passing moment but neither of them dared to give another call to the, never seen before Banshee. Shivani and Ray scanned all the visible directions around them, looking for any, the slightest unusual sign for an unusual being but there was nothing but the dense night dust and burden of silence looming over them.
"You are in trouble." As soon as the woman gate keeper finished the sentence, a sudden whirlpool of dust circled around the two.
"What is happening?"
"I would say this is the consequence of you yelling out for some witch."
"Banshee is not a witch, she is a demonic soul."
"What? You you wanted a face off with a demon."
The speed of dust particles around them increases ten folds as they continued arguing amidst the forth comming disaster.
Suddenly the feel of ground beneath their feet disappeared, with a jerk, both of them fell into the well of eternity. Screaming at the top of their lungs, they clutched onto each other as their one and final life line.
The people and world around them disappeared, now all they could see were the glimpse of blue and green light, like disco balls but in entirely different gener.
"What's happening?" Ray yell over the whirling sound and buzzing head.
"I think this is it."
"What do you mean this is it? We are not dying like this."
"No——I mean I think we are finally going to meet the one who summoned us here."
"What? I can't hear you." Out of all the weirdness this place has offered, this was the weirdest of all. At this time of crisis they could think of nothing but to survive this unending fall, Martha, banshee, else will be thought of later.
With eyes squeezed shut, after being churned for almost 10 minutes, the sensation of touching the solid ground returned. Letting go of each other, they straightened up and checked out their surrounding.
"Where in the name of my so generous God, are we?" Ray said staring in shock and amazement.