Secrets Of The Jungle

The forest was not very far from where Jignesh lived. Many a time, especially on Sundays, he went for a walk in the jungle with a group of friends. Today was Sunday, but all his friends were busy. He decided to go on his own, although he had some irrational fear of darkness.

It was only 5.00 p.m. when he started for the walk. Darkness comes to forests much earlier because of tall trees which form a canopy at many places. There was a narrow road in the forest on which only one vehicle could pass at a time. He decided to stick to that.

While he was enjoying the serenity of the jungle, he heard the sound of a vehicle coming from behind. It was being driven very fast. To avoid the vehicle, he jumped off the road to the left side. He looked towards the road to see the vehicle. He was keen to hurl a few curses at the driver for driving on a forest road at such a reckless pace.

To his utter surprise, he did not see any vehicle there. Perhaps the driver was driving too fast and must have crossed the turning, although he had some doubts as there was no cloud of dust on the road which any fast-driven vehicle should have left.

He decided to ignore that for the time being and looked at the place he had jumped to. It was a trail leading to the denser part of the jungle. He decided to explore the path further.

He had walked for about half a mile when he heard the same roar of a vehicle coming from behind. He thought that his ears must be deceiving him. No vehicle could come on this narrow path. As he turned and looked, certainly there was no vehicle around. He turned and started walking. After only a few seconds, he felt a breeze, like air disturbed by a vehicle. He decided to ignore it and continued walking.

Soon he came to a clearing in the forest. He could see a big house at the end of the clearing. He was not aware of any house in the jungle. Perhaps he had not walked in this direction earlier. It looked like a regular house and not like any forest department building.

He was somewhat sacred, being alone in such a vast space. Yet his curiosity got the better of him and he continued walking towards the house.

As he reached near the house, he saw that the door was open. He did not know what came into him as he walked into the house, uninvited.

There were many rooms in the house. The house appeared to be reasonably well-maintained. He looked into all the rooms; they were all empty. Just then he heard footsteps on the stairs leading up to the first floor, although he could not see the person. He decided to follow the person and started climbing the stairs.

On this floor too, there were many rooms. He heard some voices coming from the corner room. He started walking towards that room.

He wondered what was happening here. Whether it was the den of smugglers or anti-social elements? Somehow, he did not feel any fear. As he reached near the corner room, he saw that a man was standing at the entrance of the room. Five persons were sitting at the table in the room. There was one vacant seat at the table.

One of the men sitting at the table was telling the new arrival, “Come, you are a bit late.”

Just then his eyes fell on Jignesh.

After that Jignesh did not remember anything. When he regained his senses, he found himself on the flat ground of the clearing. There was no house, but he could see the ruins of a house.

He confirmed later on from the long-term residents of the area that there was no house in that part of the forest. They had also heard that there used to be a big house there earlier. When its owners died without any heir, it was acquired by the government. Over time, the house fell under disuse and was used by smugglers and anti-social elements.

One day five persons were found dead in the house. There were two vehicles parked outside. The cause of their death had never been identified properly. It seems all of them had died of a heart attack at the same time.

He wondered if he had seen ghosts of those people.