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- Excerpt | Bone Chilling: Darkness by Ratnakar Matkari
Did you ever narrate scary stories, with torches pointed towards your face, creating ominous shadows on the blanket over your head? Or did you ever say “Bloody Mary” in front of the mirror thrice?
We’ve something spooky for all horror lovers and fans of short stories.
Read at your own risk 😉
–
Pirojbai was all alone in her mansion, the servants having left for the day. Sleep eluded her, as it did on most nights, and it was well past midnight when she finally dozed off in her chair.
Suddenly, she was woken up by the sound of a clock striking the hour. She heard twelve dings. After a brief pause, the clock struck another five times.
There was no grandfather clock in her mansion.
Her blood ran cold and it was almost dawn before she fell asleep again. She had kept the light on the whole night. That was when it happened a second time. The clock struck twelve and after that, as she expected, five times more.
What’s happening? Was it just her imagination? Or was it a warning, a threat, a premonition? Was it about …death?
The clock struck again just before sunrise. This time, Pirojbai was wide awake. Twelve … followed by five. She remembered a tale from her childhood in which the sound of a clock in such a fashion predicted the listener’s death.
The number of strikes after twelve told the number of days the listener had left.
I’m going to die in five days … Her mind raced to find a way to delay it. She invited Dr Rustomjee over for dinner and asked him to stay back and keep her company. She wanted to know if he could hear the clock too, but refrained from mentioning it. After all, she didn’t want to seem like a senile old woman.
That night, Pirojbai expected the sound to wake her again. Meanwhile, Dr Rustomjee was asleep in a bedroom at the other end of the corridor.
At midnight, Pirojbai woke up to the sound of the clock.
Twelve and then four. A day had been struck off and only four remained.
–
Spooooky, right!
Grab your copy here!
About the Book - Darkness
A boy who can predict the exact date a person will die... An elderly woman who knows that death is close, but learns how to cheat it... A child with a dangerous friend who happens to be invisible... A ghost…
About the Author - Ratnakar Matkari
RATNAKAR MATKARI (born 1938) is a Marathi writer, a movie and play producer-director, and a self-taught artist. He worked as a columnist for newspapers and magazines in the 1970s. Matkari’s works thus far include a number of plays, collections of…
About the Author - Vikrant Pande
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