PUNISHMENT

In the southwestern part of India, a few kilometers away from Goa, there used to be a small village for a Christian community. The village was not so popular until a horrific unearthly incident changed the lives of the villagers.

In the whole village, there was one big church. Behind the church, there was a huge graveyard. Villagers would bury their family's dead bodies in the graveyard. One day when a family reached there to bury the dead body of their relative, they found a woman's decomposed hand raised from one of the graves. They were terrified. The caretaker of the graveyard was called in. He somehow managed to have the hand buried but the next day another family spotted the same hand raised from the same grave. Even after continuous attempts to hide the matter by the caretaker for five consecutive days, he failed. This phenomenon spread like a fire in the whole village.

A crowd gathered at the graveyard to witness the miracle. Everyone was curious. Within a few days, this news spread to the surrounding villages. People started gathering in the graveyard not only from the same village but also from other nearby villages. Due to the crowd, the situation became so destructive that the villagers did not have any place left to bury the dead bodies of their relatives. They demanded the place to be vacant. Even the local police were deployed to get the land vacated.

Meanwhile, a rumor was circulating that this incident took place because the villagers were cursed by Jesus. They wanted to know the explanation behind it so that they could please God. They demanded a probe into the matter. The father of the church, Benett who was an exorcist as well, was requested to come to the spot to investigate. Finally, the father Benett agreed to look into the supernatural case. He fixed a date to go to the graveyard. 

On the fixed date, father Benett came to the grave and whispered a few lines from the Bible. As soon as he came to look into the matter, villagers from the same and other villages flocked to get the answer to their curiousness. When father Benett poured the holy water on the decomposed hand, it jerked for a nanosecond. Onlookers were surprised to see the act. After waiting for some minutes, father Benett called for the caretaker to bring the graveyard record book. He wanted to know in detail about the dead body of the woman. Caretaker brought a big copy of the record. He read the name of the body as Rina Gomes, a widow who had been buried fifteen days earlier by her only son, Adam.

Father Benett paused for some time. He touched the hand raised from the grave. His body was trembling. He seemed to have been building some kind of communication with the hand. This continued for a few minutes. After that, he requested the caretaker to bring her son, Adam to the graveyard and promised the spectators the day Adam would come, he would reveal everything. 

A hunt was executed to find Adam. But he was nowhere to be found. Authority of the graveyard then inquired Rina Gomes' neighbors so that they could find her son Adam. One of the neighbors disclosed to them that Rina's son was in jail for forgery. Adam was sentenced to two years imprisonment. Everyone wanted to know the truth so the authority appealed for one day of bail for Adam at the police station. The police chief agreed without much hesitation.

A date was fixed again. Father Benett arrived and Adam was taken to the spot accompanied by two police officers. Villagers also gathered. The crowd was so large that police were also deployed from different villages to control the gathering.

Adam had no idea about all of this. He was arrested the next day after her mother's demise. He was brought to the father Benett. Adam was curious. Father Benett turned his face toward the spectators and told them he was the reason for all of this. A fuss emerged from the spectators. They grew more interest. Before anyone could ask a question, father Benett continued with his speech. 

"Before revealing the reason, I want to narrate to you Adam and his mother Rina's story," said the father. 

So far the gathering was controlled by the police but now the crowd remained silent to listen to the story from the father. He began to narrate their story.

"At the age of eleven, Adam lost his father. He was too young to understand what went wrong. He wept bitterly. His mother Rina Gomes could not stand it. She promised to fulfill his every wish and never let him realize that his father was dead. She was not rich. So, she worked hard to get Adam a good education and tried to fulfill all his desires. Getting everything easily made Adam even more greedy. His demands increased day by day. He was not studious. As a result, he left the school. Rina could have readmitted him again to the school, but she did not punish him.

As the day passed, Rina grew older and weaker. She was too weak to work but she had to do it to satisfy her son's needs. Meanwhile, Adam, leaving the school, became more relentless. If somehow his mother could not fulfill his demands, he would quarrel with her. He even started to steal many expensive belongings from the neighbors. He was caught red-handed many times. Knowing this, Rina remained tight-lipped. 

Within a few days, Rina was bedridden. As she failed to complete Adam's wishes, she was tortured by him. Then she realised her mistakes. She regretted her past deeds. No one stood by her side to take care of her. She prayed to God to rectify the mistakes of her past. She wanted to punish her son. She had to die without fulfilling her last wish."

Father Benett paused. Tears welled up in the eyes of the people who were listening to the story. At the same time, they got furious with Adam. Adam also realised his wrongdoings. He began sobbing. Father continued.

"God always gives people a chance to correct their mistakes. A few days after her death, God appeared and blessed her hand to be alive only so that she could slap her son." 

Father ordered the two police officers to take Adam near the raised decomposed hand. As soon as he was taken near the hand, the hand slapped Adam and buried itself into the grave.