The Ferryman

                

          

                        The Intro

  It was a cloudy dark day in London. Richard Greyman, who is a senior investigator of crimes, was called by high officials to investigate a strange case. When he reached his destined location, a man with a curvy shaved face and deep blue eyes, came near him and introduced himself as, 'James Anderson, head police of crime department'.

  Richard introduced himself and told the officer to call him Ritchie and asked for case details, but James Anderson said, 'let's better talk about this in a horse cart'.

  A few minutes later, they were in a horse cart going somewhere and Ritchie asked, 'Can I know the details now?'

  'Yeah, sure officer', James said. 'But do you have any idea why we called you?'

  Ritchie replied, 'I don’t know sir'.

  'Well eventually you would know, Ritchie', he said.

  Anderson continued, 'well, this case is somewhat of a strange one. There's a town, some two hundred miles from here. It’s a small and religious town. The town is really a beautiful one but the things happening there are so horrible. The people in that town are being killed but their cause of deaths are heart attack, stroke and other natural causes'.

  Ritchie asked, 'If the cause of death is a natural one, then how you're saying they're killed? Mr Anderson'.

  'That’s where the twist is', Anderson said, 'Their deaths are maybe a natural one, but the strange thing is that their eyes are robbed and replaced with golden drachmas'.

  'What?' Ritchie Asked.

  Anderson said, 'yes, their eyes are not with them and instead they replaced with olden Greek currency called drachma'.

  'You're saying people in a town are being killed but their cause of death is a natural one but though it is a natural death their eyes are missing but instead replaced with two golden old Greek currency. It's totally sounds weird, strange and crazy', Ritchie said.

  Anderson said with a grin, 'officer Ritchie, I bet you won't believe for how many years this thing is happening on that town'.

  'How many years sir?' Ritchie asked.

  Anderson's face changed from grin to grim. He said, 'It's been happening for more than eighty years'.

  'What? What you're saying? eighty years? If this thing has been happening for eighty years, then why I didn’t know about it till now. I haven't heard about this in any news or in an article. In fact, I haven't read any sort of case files like this', Ritchie cried.

  Anderson replied, 'you will not because as I said the town was a religious one and they're suspecting that these murders are done by some sort of….demon'.

  'It really sounds so crazy', Ritchie enquired. 'Even though they suspect like that, why has it been happening for more than eighty years? Why didn’t it solved yet?'

  Anderson answered, 'the town's police officers tried to solve it but unfortunately some retired and died in that mysterious sort of way and some even died while handling the case'.

  'This case seems like a critical one but why it didn’t come to the notice of the public?' Ritchie asked.

  Anderson said, 'Indeed, it’s a critical case but as the old saying suggests "some secrets, better get buried"'.

  'Ok, I understand it’s a government privacy', Ritchie stated. 'But what do you think about the case? Do you think it’s a demon doing all this? First of all, do you believe in demons?'

  Anderson replied, 'That’s a good question. As a police officer, I doubt these things are done by some mafia. You know that mafia is growing a lot bigger in our country and an evidence to it was this cause of death. It really seems like a mafia thing, but a couple of things are out of order. One is the timeline. It's been happening for eighty years in a particular town. Even if you assume a gang has been doing this for eighty years in a particular town, why are they leaving two golden drachmas behind? You know, a single drachma is worth thousand pounds.

  'But as a human and a family man, I'm a theist. A strong believer of God. I strongly believe in the existence of God. So, it makes me believe in demons too. I won't say the town is haunted by a demon because we didn’t get any proof about it, and we also didn’t get any proof to tell its human work too. I suppose by now you may have an idea of why we called you'.

  Ritchie said, 'I think you want me to go to that town and investigate the murders and prove whether the murders are done by a demon or a maniac. Am I right, Mr. Anderson?'

  'Well, you guessed it right. The big officials want you to investigate the case because they're so fond of you. I also seen some of your case files, you're so brilliant', Anderson stated.

  Ritchie replied, 'thank you, Mr. Anderson, but my question here is why now? You may have asked me some years earlier but why now? Why do the officials want to see to that case now'.

  Anderson laughed and said, 'you're really proving yourself as the best investigator Ritchie. By the way it’s a very good question. I think you would have heard of Holland Groups'.

  'Yeah', Ritchie answered. 'it’s a big company, extracting fossil fuels, petroleum etc.'

  Anderson replied, 'Yes that’s right. The chairman of Holland Groups, Bruce Holland and his family of ten people shifted to that town'.

  'Why a rich family shifted to a small town?' asked Ritchie.

  Anderson said, 'because that town is rich in fossil fuels. Bruce Holland decided to make a small industry there and extract some fossil fuels and make his company a lot richer'.

  'Well, this sounds more of a corporate thing. Can I know what happened to him in that town?' Ritchie asked.

  'OK', Anderson continued. 'He moved there a week ago. He bought a large Manor in that town and moved there with his family of ten people. The first few days were okay for them, but unfortunately yesterday, Bruce's father was murdered in the same way. He's a man in his eighties but the way he died; you know that. Bruce and his family were so shocked and called the officials and they called me and appointed you to the case'.

  Ritchie said, 'now I can understand everything. Some eighty years ago, this strange thing started to happen in a town. The government must have done something to solve the mystery but as you said the officers who went to that town were also murdered in the same way. Year by year the case must have become more critical, so the government started to hide the case and eventually, I think, they decided to leave the case because though the murders are an unsolved mystery, it's happening in a particular small town. Now because of a powerful man's complaint, the government decided to retake the case and appointed me as the investigator'.

  Anderson was so astonished. He hasn't seen anybody like Ritchie in his life. When Anderson asked the officials why Ritchie? They said you will eventually know that and now he understood why they chose him. Before talking to Ritchie, Anderson didn’t have any hope to solve the mystery but now he's afraid because if Ritchie uncovered the mystery, he may get a promotion to Anderson's job. 'Ritchie, if you don’t want to get into the case you can also leave. It's your decision'.

  'No, no, no. I will take the case. I would love to uncover some mystery. It's my chance to become a best detective', both Anderson and Ritchie laughed in unison.

  Anderson said, 'well, ok, it’s a good dream Ritchie. We're already heading to the town; we'll be reaching it in half an hour or so'.

  'By the way Mr. Anderson, you didn’t tell me the name of the town. Is that town have a name?' Ritchie asked.

  Anderson laughed, 'sorry I forgot to tell you that. I always call it That Town, that’s why I forgot to tell you. The town's name is Graver's Land'.

  Ritchie hasn't handled a case so weird like this in his life. Even the name of the town is so weird. 'It didn’t sound like a town's name. It sounds like a Horror Theme Park's name'.

  Anderson started to laugh again. Finally, he finished his laugh and said, 'that’s a good one. That town has a small history for the name it has'.

  'Can I know what the small history is?' Ritchie asked.

  'Of course, you can', Anderson said. 'Some many years ago, most of the towns in England were unnamed. An act passed on that time to name the towns according to their ethnicity. If a town has more bakers, it is said to be called Bakers Town. So, the people of That Town were mostly coffin makers and grave diggers. Even though they are low paid jobs now, in those days they made good amounts from it because the people from that town are traditional coffin makers, who make coffins for the royals. I heard that they even made a coffin made up of pure gold for a king. According to the law, the town got the name Graver's Land'.

  Ritchie replied, 'though the name is funny, it got a perfect name because of the things happening there. It really seems like a Graver's Land'.

  Anderson and Ritchie had a good talk and nearly became good friends. They travelled through a wood and crossed a bridge and reached a small billboard that said, 'Graver's Land ahead'.

  The horse cart dropped Ritchie at the billboard. Ritchie asked, 'Mr. Anderson you are not coming?'

Anderson replied, 'no Ritchie. My end is here. You should go alone from here. You'll find an inspector in the town. He'll help you in this case'.

  'Ok that’s not a problem. Any final tips for me for this case?' Ritchie asked.

  Anderson said, 'no, I don’t have any tips for this case, but I have some advise for you. Your work here is to just investigate the case and prove who did the murders. Finish the investigation as early as possible because anything can happen to you. If you finished your investigation, please inform us. We'll take over from there. Don’t try anything stupid'.

  Ritchie expected a motivational speech but all he got was demotivation. The horse cart left, so did Ritchie to the town. His mind was full of excitement. If he solves this case, definitely he will get a promotion and will become famous, but the actual thing is Ritchie didn’t know what this case is going to cost him. The question in everybody's mind will be, will he solve the mystery or not? But the actual question is, will Ritchie survive this case or become a prey to….The Ferryman.

       Part one: The Investigation

                  Chapter 1

  Ritchie walked past the billboard and went straight off to Graver's Land. In the way, he has noticed some dried trees and some hemlock trees. His grandmother, one day, told him that hemlock trees are a personification of bad omen. So if you see one, you should quickly return back to home, but he's not in the mood to return back. So he went on.

  After some distance, there was an another bill board but big in size this time. It says, "Welcome to Graver's Land" in printed words. In the bottom of the board someone scribbled, "Death is the new beginning, and Graver's Land is the beginning to death" in a black marker. Ritchie smiled at these words and entered the town.

  From the big bill board, the muddy road in which Ritchie came, changed into tarry road. He walked slowly amazed by the scenery. The houses he noticed was not so big or not so small, it was in an average size but the structures of the houses are looked so ancient and stunning. Far from the houses he noticed some farmlands which were beautiful as heaven. The black clouds were still there and the cold climate made Ritchie feel good, but in the meantime it gave him some creeps too. Ritchie concluded that this town is the best vacationary town for a winter visit.

  Far in front of him, he noticed a big church. The church also looked so ancient but the structures was so excellent. He totally forgot the case and walked the street with excitement. There were not many people roaming in the streets but he noticed some people who were buying some things from a local shop. The people gave a strange stare at Ritchie. Though there were only some people roaming in the streets, he know that many were in their houses because he noticed smoke from every ventilation shaft of each house.

  After some distance, he noticed 3 horse carts waiting outside a big house. Technically it’s a manor. People, who looked like servants, carried some bags and trunks and safely kept it in the carts. When he went some distance closer, he noticed a man who was watching the carts from the main gate. Ritchie knows who this man is. He has seen him in many postures and ads. This man is none other than Bruce Holland.

  He went near the man and said, 'Hello! Mr. Bruce Holland'.

  Bruce shook hands with Ritchie and asked, 'who are you, Mister?'

  'I'm Richard Greyman, senior investigator of crimes'.

  Bruce replied, 'oh, well, nice to see you'.

  'Oh, nice to see you too', Ritchie said. 'By the way, are you going somewhere?'

  Bruce replied, 'yes, we're shifting to the city. After such a horrible thing, we're not going to stay here'.

  According to the crime rule, the victim's family should stay in the town until the case is closed. But in this case, Ritchie understands the situation of Holland's family. So, he said, 'Yes, that’s the right decision Mr. Bruce. You and your family need some time to recover from this. But before you leave, can you give me a statement of what happened?'

  Bruce said calmly, 'Yes, I can'.

  Ritchie took his recorder from his pocket and clicked it on, 'tell me what you know Mr. Bruce'.

  'I think you know that I'm the CEO of Holland Groups and my father is the founder. Our company is the best fossil fuels extracting company. We heard that this town is rich in fossil fuels. So, me and my family of ten people decided to shift here and after the work is over, we'll be returning back to the city.

  'When we first entered the city, we were so amazed by its scenery and the houses were so stunningly built. The church was so big and the manor we bought was so big as the church and its structure, both outside as well as inside, were so amazing.

  'After we settled in the manor, me and my wife went to the neighbor's house to introduce ourselves but to our surprise when we knocked on the door nobody opened it. We knocked it multiple times, but nobody opened it and the strange thing here is we knew that people were inside the house because the lights were lit inside, and we heard some sounds inside and caught some movement in the window.

  'The next day my son went out to play. He noticed the neighbor's boy and he went near the boy to make friendship with him but with the sight of my son, the boy ran to his house and shut the door quickly.

  'I heard that this town is so ethnical. So, I assumed that it would take some time for the people to mingle with some outsiders, but our family decided to hold a party on the same day to enjoy our own arrival.

  'The party was so great. Just the ten of us. We played, we danced, we ate, we drank, we sang. It was an absolutely joyful moment but at that moment, I didn’t think this all would be turned into despair.

  'My father is eighty three years old. I'm the one who'll wake him up in the morning for a morning walk and get him to his bed for a night's sleep. After the party ended, as usual I got him to his bed, and we talked about our business stuff for half an hour. After that he slid into his bed, he was so erect and his eyes, those sparkling motivational eyes which motivated me in my dark times, glowed with happiness and his mouth gave a small smile (he always smiles while sleeping). I took off the lamps and went to bed.

  'The next morning, I came to his room to wake him up for our morning walk', Bruce stopped. His lips started to tremble and after a while he started to sob and then continued, 'he was there in his bed as erect as the day before. Hi-hiss-sss-his sweet smile was also there in his mouth, but his sparkling motivational eyes were not there but instead two gold coins buried deep inside his flesh. I was so horrified by the view, blood was dripping from underneath the gold coin, so I fainted at the same spot.

  'I was brought back to consciousness by my family. They were so shocked and confused like me. After a while later, the town's inspector came to our manor and saw my father and said, "this is the tenth one since my transfer to the town". I asked, "what you're saying?" he replied, "yes, Mr. Bruce. People were murdered like this in this town for, like, eighty years" I asked, "what? How? When?" but he didn’t answer me much'. 

  'After these incidents, we gave the body to the postmortem. The doctor who examined my father is a family friend. So, he gave the report the next day itself. I was shocked after seeing the report because it said the cause of death is heart attack. I asked the doctor, "what about the eyes?" he said, "it's really so bad because first I thought the eyes were underneath the gold coins but instead to my horror the eyes are not even there" then I asked about the cause of death he said that he really don’t know how but he's sure that the cause of death is heart attack.

  'In the same day evening, we had his funeral in the nearby cemetery. We have many friends and relatives but didn’t inform them about my father because I don’t want them to know about my father's eyes. Just the nine of us finished the funeral and returned back to the manor.

  'The next day, my mother was in the garden near the main gate. A woman from this town crossed our manor and noticed my mother. The women came near the gate and started to laugh, "so it happened to you so quickly". My mother asked, 'what? What are you saying and why are you laughing?" the women replied, "I thought it would take some time for your family's first death, but the curse is becoming stronger day by day" my mother asked, "curse? What curse?" the women said, "you fool old lady, this town is cursed. Cursed by a demon. It will take your eyes as a toll to your soul and now you're part of the curse too". After these words the women took her depart.

  'My mother was so afraid. She told me everything the women told. She was so worried about our family. So, she decided to vacate this place and move to our old home in the city. My family members also accepted this and started to pack their things.

  'I told my servant to arrange three horse carts for tomorrow, that is today, and went to my study. There I wrote a letter to the main officials and gave it to a servant to give to the officials personally and I suppose that’s why you're here, Mr. Richard'.

  Ritchie offed the recorder and said, 'Yes, Mr. Bruce, that’s why I'm here'.

  Bruce asked, 'can you do me a favor Mr. Richard?'

  'Yes, go on', Ritchie replied.

  'If my father is murdered by a demon, it's your job to eliminate it', Bruce said, 'but if he is murdered by a man, just give the man to me I'll punish him in my own way. Don’t worry about the officials I'll take care of them'.

  Ritchie replied, 'let's see to it, Mr. Bruce. I'll first start my investigation and then let's see'. He shook hands with Bruce once again and said bye as he climbed in the horse cart. Three horse carts, full of Holland family, departed to London city. As Ritchie stood watching the horse carts moving, he suddenly noticed a man came running towards him.

                     Chapter 2

  'Hi sir! I'm inspector Timothy Barton', the man said. 'You can just call me Tim, sir'.

  Ritchie shook hand with the officer and said, 'I'm Richard Greyman, the senior investigator. You can call me Ritchie'.

  'It's nice to meet you Mr. Ritchie'. Tim is a man of twenty five with dark black hair, deep brown eyes and a funny mustache with no beard. He was tall, maybe six feet height. 'It's nice to meet you too, Tim', Ritchie replied.

  They walked for some distance and Ritchie suddenly asked, 'how you came here Tim? Is this your home town?'

  Tim answered, 'No, no, sir. I was transferred here four months ago. The previous inspector of this town, you know, murdered in the same way. So, I was made as the in charge of this town. The government ordered me not to spread about the things happening here. They even pay me fifty pounds extra for my job'.

  'Oh! the government is the best secret keepers', Ritchie said. 'So, Tim, do you find anything about the case. You've been here for four months now. What did you investigate?'

  Tim's face went red with embarrassment, 'ug sir, that is, I didn’t investigate much sir. The first month I came here, a man died in the same way but the man's family refused to give complaint sir. But even though they didn’t give a complaint, I started to investigate sir, but in another couple of weeks another man died in the same way. Every month two people die in the mysterious way sir. I informed this to my officials but they simply replied, "take care of yourself" that’s it sir. But don’t worry sir, I can help you in this case with few small information'.

  'What information you know Tim?' Ritchie asked.

  Tim answered, 'I've read the case files of previous inspector and found out that these murders are happening here for eighty years and people are believing that these are done by some demon. They think that this town is cursed by a demon called the ferryman'.

  Ritchie said, 'Ferryman? I've heard this name. It’s a mythical name. In Greek mythology, the ferryman is the person who carries the deceased soul into the underworld. So, these people are believing a mythological being is murdering them?'

  'It's completely ridiculous, sir', Tim replied. 'You know, a town this old and ancient will believe in anything in the name of god, sir'.

  'Yes, that’s right. You know anything else, Tim?', Ritchie asked.

  Tim said, 'Yes sir, I know something important'. Ritchie gave a "go on" sort of nod.

  Tim continued, 'there is a girl living in this town called Wendy Pascal and she's having some bad dreams about Ferryman, sir'.

  'Bad dreams about Ferryman?' Ritchie asked in amazement. 'Like what dreams?'

  Tim replied, 'oh! Sorry sir, the ex-inspector didn’t mention about the dream in his case file but he did mention something interesting'.

  'What it is?' Ritchie asked.

  Tim answered, 'Every time Wendy had a dream, the next day a person dies in the same way'.

  Ritchie stopped walking. 'What?....How did the old inspector know about this girl? Did he mention anything about how he knows about her or what the dream is about or whether he believes her or not?'

  Tim said, 'No sir. He died correctly when investigating about Wendy and left the case book incomplete'.

  Ritchie silently walked for some distance and then said, 'there's something fishy about this girl, Tim. Did the people of this town know about Wendy or her dreams?'

  'People knows about Wendy, sir'. Tim answered, 'but they didn’t know about her dream. The only people who know about her dream were the ex-inspector, Wendy's step father and step mother'.

  Ritchie enquired, 'did you say step father and mother? What happened to her real father and mother? Did you know anything about her, Tim?'

  'Oh! Yes sir. I know some details about her', Tim said. 'After I finished reading the case files, I went straight to Wendy's house. Her father answered the calling bell and I introduced myself.

  'I told to him that I was an inspector and want to have a word with Wendy about her dreams. I thought he would be glad to allow me and talk to her but to my surprise he refused me to talk to her and locked the door shut.

  'I was raged by his behavior. I thought to ring his bell again but changed my decision and rang the neighbor's bell. A lady in her mid forties answered the bell and I introduced myself to her and she invited me to her house and gave me a cup a coffee.

  'I asked her about Wendy and her parents. She told me that the people with whom Wendy is living now are not her real parents. Wendy's biological mother died when giving birth to her. From then she was raised by her father. After ten years from her mother's death, her father died by hanging himself in the church-'

  'Church? Why church? Why he hanged himself to death?' Ritchie interrupted.

  Tim continued, 'according to the people, he borrowed some money from local moneylenders and traders and was unable to repay his loans. So that’s why he committed suicide but why he chose church as a suicide spot is a mystery till now. Some people believes that as he was a catholic man he chose to die in god's sight.

  'After this incident, Wendy was about to sent to church's orphanage but Mr. and Mrs. Harrington, who are the neighbors of the Pascal's, came forward and adopted Wendy. Mrs. Harrington had an accident and lost the ability to get pregnant. So, Wendy became their only child, sir.'

  They walked silently for some distance while watching the sun set. Finally, Ritchie broke the silence, 'I want to meet Wendy Pascal tomorrow, Tim'.

  'Yea sure, we can meet sir. This time let's break that man's nose if he not allow us to see her'. They both laughed. 'Sir, one more thing, the church father wanted to meet you. he asked you to meet him tomorrow'

  'Why he wants to see me?' he asked.

  Tim said, 'don’t know sir. Maybe he wants to bless you or something'. He grabbed Ritchie's luggage and continued, 'let's go to your hotel sir'.

                             Chapter 3

  The next morning Ritchie and Tim started to Wendy's house. After they reached the house Ritchie rang the bell and Mr. Harrington answered it. Mr. Harrington shot a glance at Tim and asked to Ritchie, 'Who are you now?'

  He said, 'the name is Richard Greyman, senior investigator of crimes'.

  Mr. Harrington gave a laugh and then said, 'senior investigator! Haha, in this town! Haha. I don’t know why our government is unchanged after so many years. It took them eighty years to send a senior investigator and that also because a wealthy man died. Haha'. He continued to laugh.

  Deep inside Ritchie, he agreed with this man. He also joined with Mr. Harrington and laughed. 'Well said! Mr. Harrington. Now if you allow me inside, I'll talk to your girl about her dream'.

  Mr. Harrington stopped laughing and his face turned grim. 'You want me to allow you to talk to my girl? Of course not. You think you can solve this case and banish the Ferryman? Don’t ever think of that. If you stay here, eventually one day you'll also die in the same way', he said furiously.

  'How dare you speak to him like that', Tim clenched his fist and charged Mr. Harrington but Ritchie grabbed and stopped him, 'cool down Tim'.

  Ritchie turned to Mr. Harrington and continued, 'well! Mr. Harrington. What you said about the government is true and what you said about me dying also maybe true. But did you think of one thing. Maybe one day eventually you'll also die in the same way, then what happens to your wife and your girl….or one day, your wife will die in the same way, then how will you look after your girl alone….or one day your girl will die in the same way, what will you do then?'

  This time Mr. Harrington got tensed and charged at Ritchie but a women came rushing from the house and grabbed Mr. Harrington, 'George! Please control yourself. If you hit an officer, you'll be in grave danger'.

  'Did you hear what he said, Laila?' he said furiously and struggled to release himself from her grip.

  Laila Harrington replied, 'I heard what he said and what he said was the truth'.

  George Harrington stopped himself and said in a offended expression, 'What?'

  'Yes, George', she said in calm voice. 'Everyone will die in the same way because we live in this bloody cursed town. So, we have left with only two choices. Either we accept the fact that one day we'll die brutally and live, or else we should try to prevent and solve it until we die'.

  Everyone gone silent for a while and then George opened the door wide open and went inside without saying anything. Laila looked worried at the direction in which George went and turned toward Ritchie, 'come inside, Mr. er-'

  'Ritchie'.

  'Yeah Mr. Ritchie, please come inside', Laila said and lead them to the house.

  The house was not so big nor so small, it was an average one with only one floor. Ritchie had a feeling of warmth in the house. Laila asked Ritchie and Tim to sit on the couch and went inside a room and shut the door.

  After 5 minutes, George came from the room in which Laila went. After him, Laila came with a girl beside her. The girl had brown hair, black eyes and must be in her teens. George came forward near Ritchie and said, 'you can investigate her but not so long because she's just a kid'.

  'Yeah sure, but I need to talk to her alone'.

  George asked, 'alone? But why? The ex-inspector investigated her in front of us only'.

  Ritchie said with a calm tone, 'well Mr. Harrington, please understand. It would make my job easy if I investigate her alone'.

  George turned toward Laila with an asking-your-opinion expression and she nodded. 'You can take that room', he pointed his finger toward the room in which George and Laila, with Wendy, came a few minutes earlier.

  After Ritchie and Wendy entered the room, Ritchie closed the door and sat opposite Wendy. He can clearly see that the girl was nervous and sweat was dripping from her like a water flowing from a waterfall. 'Hi, Wendy'.

  'Ha-ha-hi', she stammered.

  Ritchie said, 'I think you're nervous. You've already done this right. Then why are you so nervous?....oh maybe this time you're doing this alone, so that’s why you're nervous, I think so'.

  Wendy nodded.

  Ritchie continued, 'Don’t worry girl. Actually, you're like me. I'm also an orphan'.

  'Is it?' Wendy asked with such enthusiasm, so that Ritchie filched.

  'Yes', he said in a calm tone. 'When I was born, my parents left me in an orphanage. They reasoned that they don’t have the mentality to grow a child and left me the day I had born'. Hearing this, Wendy looked worried and sad. He continued, 'The only difference between you and me is that you got a lovable step parents and I got left with a bunch of nuns who stinks so bad'. Both Wendy and Ritchie laughed harder.

  'Ok, then Wendy, are you ready to narrate your dream?' Ritchie asked.

  Wendy thought for a moment and then said, 'yes, I'm ready'.

  Ritchie replied, 'ok then. Go on'.

  Wendy started, 'my dream always starts like this: a beautiful sunny day, where the clouds will be clear, and the landscape will be green, green, green, as long as you can see. In the middle of this all, a house as big as a palace will be there. I will be in the garden, playing with my real father. My grandfather, great-grandfather and my grandfather's twin brothers will also be there with us. We all live in that house happily and as a family.

  'But suddenly the landscape changes. Everything surrounding me turns to complete darkness. The beautiful sunny day clouds, all turns to total blackness. The green, green, fields, all turns to complete blackness and then….', tears were started to pour in Wendy's eyes. 'And then….my family….all of them were in coffins….their eyes were replaced with golden coins and….blood was oozing from their eyes….and suddenly they would start to scream in pain.

  'Then I will start to run in fear. I will run and run as far my legs take me and then I would suddenly freeze. My legs won't move to my command. I will try to move my legs but it will be like someone is controlling me and they don’t want me to move. Then I'll hear a jingling sound and following the sound I would hear a voice so old and like two metals are scratching, 'I WANT YOUR SOUL AS MY TOLL', and then blood will rain like water from above. I will start to scream and then a hand will seize my mouth shut from behind and drag me inside the earth'.

  Wendy stopped for a moment (she looked totally horrified). Then continued, 'after that, I would wake up screaming in my bed. My mom and dad would come rushing to my aid and would give me some water'.

  Ritchie didn’t speak. His mind was circling with thoughts. Part of him was thinking that this is ridiculous and not have any connection with the murders happening here. Another part of him thinks that maybe….maybe this dream makes sense and has a connection with the murders because the dream sounds unique.

  'Wendy, do you know at what year this dream started?' Ritchie asked.

  'Ha-yes', she said. 'I think this dream started after my father died and I have been dreaming this dream for about five years now'.

  'Uh-um', Ritchie replied. 'You said you was playing with your father and your grandfather, great-grandfather and your grandfather's twin brothers were there in the dream'.

  Wendy nodded.

  'Did they always there in your dream or people change, like your mother was there instead of your father or your grandmother was there instead of your grandfather?'

  'No. it's always me, my father, my grandfather, great-grandfather and my grandfather's twin brothers', Wendy answered.

  Ritchie waited for a moment to sink all the information inside his brain and then said, 'well! Wendy, thanks for your cooperation. We can go now'. He stood from his chair and opened the door and walked outside with Wendy beside him.

  Mr. and Mrs. Harrington came forward at the sight of them and Ritchie said to them, 'the investigation is over. Thanks for your cooperation'.

  They nodded.

  Ritchie turned from them and faced Tim, 'Come Tim lets go. We've got a meeting with the father. Did you remember?'

                        Chapter 4

  Ritchie filled Tim with the story of Wendy's dream on the way to the church. Tim gave some odd expressions while hearing the story. For him, the dream sounded like a horror movie scene.

  'It's almost sounds like a retelling of Frankenstein', he said.

  Ritchie replied, 'maybe it is but for me its 50-50'.

  Tim sighed.

  Ritchie asked, 'do you believe in ghosts or demons?'

  'Ghosts or demons?' Tim asked. 'Actually, it sounds ridiculous to me that these "ghosts and god things". People always believe in things they don’t see but they won't believe in things they actually see'

  Ritchie nodded.

  Tim continued, 'but my mother always tells me (she is a strong believer of god) that if god exists, ghosts and demons also exists'.

  

  By mid afternoon they reached the church. The church looked so ancient but the structure and shape of the church was so stunning. The outer walls of the church were glowed like a pearl in the sunshine.

  They both untied their shoes and left them outside and went inside the church. Like outside, the inner walls of the church was pearly white in color and looked so ancient. The church was so spacious and lined with benches.

  Amidst of all the benches, the church father sat alone on the first row. After noticing Ritchie and Tim, he stood from the bench. Ritchie and Tim went near him. Ritchie noticed that the father was aged well, maybe in his seventies, and has white hair and beard. He had blue eyes. He said to them in a senile voice, 'please do your prayers first and then we'll talk'.

  They both nodded and went to pray. Ritchie was not a well praying person. He went to church on Sundays in his childhood to see a girl, whom he like, but he had seen many people pray to God and he himself taught by his orphanage nun that how to pray properly.

  After finishing his prayer, he went to greet the father and the father welcomed him gently. 'What is your name gentleman?'

  Ritchie said, 'it's Richard Greyman, father'.

  'I'm father Mulligan', he replied.

  'Nice to meet you, father Mulligan', Ritchie said. 'By the way Tim told me that you wanted to see me'.

  Father mulligan replied, 'ha, yes. Just wanted to bless you to get success in this case'. After these words, he put his right palm on Ritchie's head and hymned holy words under his breath and finished with "amen" and drew a cross on his forehead with his bare fingers.

  'God is always with you, so fear nothing', said father Mulligan.

  Ritchie nodded and said, 'Father Mulligan, I want to ask you something'.

  'Go on'.

  Ritchie asked, 'everybody in this town says that the town is cursed. What do you know about it?'

  'Well, yes! This town is cursed by a witch', answered father Mulligan.

  Ritchie replied, 'a-a witch? Who is that witch and what exactly this curse is about?'

  'Actually, I don’t know many things about this witch as she was not in my period but as much as I knew she was a terrible one. She was hanged to death. Her hanging was personally done by the church and her body was incinerated to ashes'.

  Ritchie said, 'father Mulligan, I want to know about this witch and the curse. It will be helpful for me if I get to know about them'.

  'I'm sorry officer Richard. I was restricted to know about this witch by my father when I was a child. Not only me but the current people of this town will not be knowing the story of the witch', he said with a worried expression. 'But I know someone who can help you with the witch'.

  Ritchie asked, 'who's that?'

  'Its aunt Mariam', father Mulligan said. 'she's the only living elder person of this town. She's now 88 years old and she knows what happened to the witch. I think Tim here knows her house'.

  Tim filched by hearing his name and said, 'sorry father I don’t know where her house is?'

  'oh! Her house is near the cemetery, Tim. Her husband was a great coffin maker and her family was a professional coffin makers for ages. Most of the people in this town don’t know her because they hardly see each other', he said.

  'Oh ok, father. I think I know where the cemetery is!' Tim replied.

  Ritchie said, 'then let's go there Tim and see what we get to know about the witch'.

  'Yes sir, we can go', Tim replied.

  'Before you depart, officer', father Mulligan said. 'Please remember that god is always with you and will help you. But don’t be careless because the Satan will always be a step forward than god'.

                       Chapter 5

  After leaving the church, they took a horse cart and headed to the cemetery. On the way to the cemetery, Ritchie hardly see any people. Most of the houses was lit with lamp as the sun started to set and only some people walked the street, either carrying a empty bag or carrying a bag full of household essentials.

  Some minutes passed and then they reached the cemetery. Ritchie stepped outside the horse cart and saw the cemetery in front of him with an awed expression. He had not visited a cemetery this big before. The cemetery went on and on. Several houses were lined near the cemetery and a small bill board which hung near a house said:

                "Cheap and Royal Coffins are available,

                 to make your deceased one comfortable."

 

  'Well! that’s quite a rhyming', exclaimed Ritchie and pointed at the small billboard.

  Tim turned at the pointed direction and said in a curious tone, 'oh sir! Yes it is and by the way that is the house of aunt Mariam. Look at the bottom of the bill board'.

  Ritchie looked at the bottom of the bill board and noticed that there were three words printed below the rhyming sentence, which read: Mariam Coffin Builders. 'Ok then, lets get going'.

  They went to the house and knocked the door. Nobody came to open it. So Ritchie banged the door hard and a voice inside the house called, 'coming!'

  The door was opened by a man who was clearly in his 60s, with partial white hair in his head and had a clean shaved jaw. He had green eyes. The man asked Ritchie with a deep hoarse voice, 'what do you want, sir? Need a coffin?' After these words, he turned at the direction of Tim and said in shocked tone, 'yo-you're the inspector of this town right, sir?'

  'Yes', Tim answered.

  The man replied, 'so this gentlemen here ought to be a police right?'

  'Well, yes', Ritchie said. 'But I'm not just police. I'm the senior investigator of police'.

  After hearing what Ritchie said, the man's eyes bulged and his mouth dropped. He froze for a few seconds and then said, 'pe-pea-please come inside, sir'.

  He led them inside the house and asked them to sit on the couch. After that he went inside a room and came with two glasses of water and gave the glasses to each of them. After they drank the water, he asked to Ritchie, 'how can I help you sir?'

  Ritchie said, 'I think this is the house of Mrs. Mariam'.

  'Ye-Yes sir', the man replied. 'She's my mother, sir'.

  Before Ritchie, Tim overtook and said, 'ha, the church father sent us here to have a word with aunt Mariam. We want to know about something and we think that your mother knows that "something"'.

  Aunt Mariam's son tried to tell something but stammered so badly. Then after few seconds he said, 'ye-ye-yes sir. You can talk to her. Please come with me'.

  He led them to a room, which is faced opposite to the kitchen. He knocked the door and opened it and went inside. Ritchie and Tim followed him. The room was small compared to the room which they came a few seconds ago. Only two candles were lit in the room. So the room was covered in mild darkness. Amidst of all this, a old lady was seated in a wooden rocking chair in front of them. The old lady had wrinkles all over her face. Her hair was completely grey. She had green eyes. The atmosphere of the room gave a horror look on the lady's face, which gives creeps to Ritchie.

  Upon seeing the three of them enter, the old lady looked up and said in a very tired old voice, 'ohh! Thomas! How many times I should tell you to not disturb me when I'm trying to sleep. And now you're started to bring your friends to my room and disturb me. Huh?'

  'Mommy', Thomas said with a frightening look. 'These are not my friends. They are police'.

  Aunt Mariam didn’t show any slightest of surprise on her face. 'Police? What you need sirs? Do you need any coffin for the dead?'

  Ritchie replied, 'No, Ms. Mariam. We don’t need that for now. I'm Richard Greyman, senior investigator. I was summoned to this town to investigate the murders happening here. While investigating, I come to know that the people of this town believes that this town is cursed by a witch and also I come to know that you're the only person who knows the story of the witch. Now I want you to tell me the story of the witch'.

  Aunt Mariam's face expression changed. For a moment Ritchie thought that aunt Mariam will not tell the story, maybe she would deny that she didn’t know the story or something, but to Ritchie's amazement she said, 'yes I can give you the story but how much you'll give me back in return?'

  Ritchie didn’t know what aunt Mariam was talking about, but suddenly it striked to him, 'oh yes! I understood. How much you need?'

  Before aunt Mariam could reply, Tim said, 'sir, what are you telling. This old women asks money for the information we need. We are police officers and there's a rule, which states that we, police officers, can enquire and get information from whoever we need'.

  Aunt Mariam replied, 'ohh! You are speaking rules. Then stick to your rules but don’t forget one thing that I'm the only person who knows the story of the witch. If I don’t want to tell you, I won't tell you'.

  Tim whispered something. Thomas was horrorstruck. Ritchie said, 'leave it, Tim. Now Mrs. Mariam, how much you want?'

  'I like this man', aunt Mariam said in a victorious tone. 'As you're police officers and the fact that I like you, I just want you to give me only 50 pounds'.

  Again Tim whispered softly and Thomas was still horrorstruck but Ritchie calmly put his hand inside his pant pocket and drew 50 pounds and gave to aunt Mariam, which she placed inside a drawer. 'Now can you please tell me the story?'

  'Ohh yes! Thomas, bring two chairs here', she ordered. After a minute, they were comfortably seated in their chairs.

  'Now Mrs. Mariam, if you're ready, please'.

  She started.

  'A very long time ago, in this very town, there lived two handsome people. One was a beautiful man, who had a rare golden eyes, and was an inspector of this town. Another one, was a pretty girl, who had sharp features and eyed by every men of this town.

  'They both were so famous. Every women had an eye on that inspector and every men had an eye on that girl. But, to everyone's surprise, they both had an eye for each other and soon they fell in love. Their love blossomed and then they got married.

  'After their marriage, people started to gossip about their relationships. Some were telling that the girl married the inspector because of his parentage, who were royal and rich. And some were teasing her because of her father, who ran away with another women. Though they were teased and gossiped by some people, many people were jealous of their relationship.

  'The couples didn’t gave any interest to the town's talk. They lived happily and loved each other thoroughly. Like this, five years passed and the couples were gifted with a beautiful boy. They three made a beautiful family and lived peacefully but a sudden incident turned all their happiness into dread.

  'On a one fine day, the inspector was gone missing. The girl and the inspector's parents thought that maybe he had went to the city to handle an emergency case but he hadn't turned up to the house for a week.

  'A new inspector was appointed to the town and the search for the old inspector was started. With the search, rumors and gossips also started. Some were telling that the old inspector ran away with an other women from the city and some were telling that his enemies murdered him. Both the theories shook the whole inspector's family. The search for him intensified week after week but they couldn’t find anything about him. It's like the old inspector vanished without any clue.

  'Two months passed by but there was not a single clue about the missing inspector. The search party stopped their search and the new inspector stopped his investigation. But one day, when a group of friends were playing near the cemetery, they noticed something glimmering at the edge of the woods. They went near the glimmering object and when they come to know what the object was, they all fainted. It was a pair of golden human eyes.

  'Police surrounded the spot and allowed nobody to see the eyes but the news of the eyes was spread like a wildfire. Search part was sent into the woods to recheck it again. The police and the people assumed that the old inspector was kidnapped and killed brutally by someone but only one person of that town believed that something different happened to him and that was the great father Campbell.

  'After the disappearance of the inspector, father Campbell noticed that some animals were acting strangely and birds were started to migrate earlier. Crops and fruits were rotting earlier and many people were affected with diseases. Now they've found a pair of eyes of a missing person and father Campbell know that his suspicion was correct, that someone in this town is practicing witchcraft.

  'Father Campbell was a good believer of god. He have done so many exorcism. He also helped police officers to find a major cult, which had kidnapped kids and sacrificed them to the Satan. He knows all the dark stuffs and how to eliminate them. In the case of the inspector, he perfectly know what kind of ritual the murderer was doing. There's only one ritual which involves the removal of eyes from the deceased body. It was the very dangerous ritual: The Satan's Bride. And he knows very well that who can do this ritual in this town and he plotted a plan to catch the murderer.

  'Two days after the eye incident, the father, the inspector and some police officers and some town's men were gathered in the church. It was a no moon day, a good day to summon something evil. The father explained everything to them and convinced them to come with him.

  'They all followed the father, with each carrying a weapon, to the old inspector's house. They broke into the house and found it was empty. The father clearly had an idea of where to search. He went further into the house and found the door to the basement and went inside it. There he found a bunch of women, all wearing a red cloak, and in the middle of a weird ritual dance. They all dancing around a naked body, whose eyes were missing. Near the body there were some body parts like heart, lungs, liver, brain and etc, all were half eaten by rats.

  'You may have a doubt that how the father correctly suspected the old inspector's wife. The basic concept of The Satan's Bride ritual is that a women should kill her beloved husband and remove all his body parts except flesh and bone and sacrifice his body to the Satan. The Satan can't live in this world. So it uses the body of the slaughtered and marry the slaughterer. Then the Satan will have a baby with her and leave this world. The child born to them will be the destruction of human kind.

  'At the sight of the witches, the people behind the father charged at them. They bet some women to death. They captured some women to bury, the girl's mother was also one of them. But they need one of the witch to desacralize the evil eye that caught the town.

  'After the burial of the witches, they took the girl to the oak tree behind the church and started the evil desacralize ritual. They poured the holy water on her with a bit of kerosene in it. Then they nailed her face with the mask of the devil and hanged her on the oak tree and burned her to ashes.

  'According to the people who were present at the evil desacralize ritual, the girl screeched in a different language, which even the father didn’t know and that said to be the curse she casted to this town.

  'After some days from this incident, people started to die and their eyes are robbed of their sockets. People thought these were murders committed by a psycho but as usual father Campbell understood that the witch traded this town's soul to the immortal dark being known as the Ferryman. But unfortunately, before the father could take any precautions, he was died in the same way. After that, the curse became strong and no one knows how to banish it'.

  She stopped and took the glass of water, which was kept by her son while she's telling the story, and drank it. Then said, 'that’s it, officer'.

  Ritchie didn’t speak. He is processing the story in his head and recalling it from the beginning but Tim replied, 'no one in this town knows the story but you seem to know it very well. How you know it like it happened yesterday? And how you're the only person who knows the story perfectly well?'

  Aunt Mariam laughed and then said, 'first you ought to know one thing officer that I'm the only person still alive who lived at the time of the witch's hanging. I was a six-year-old then. And for your second question, this story was told to me by my father, who was there among the people who bet the witches to death. And another thing is that it is time for me to sleep and off you go'.

                         Chapter 6

  They walked silently till the horse cart stand. Ritchie was still processing the story in his mind. He's searching for clues in his mind and suddenly something occurred to him, 'Tim, do you have any idea of what the witch's name is?'

  'No, sir', Tim said. 'Actually, aunt Mariam also didn’t mention her name'.

  'Yes. I think she didn’t know her name. If she did, she would have told her name instead of calling her as "the girl"', Ritchie stated.

  Tim replied, 'Yes sir, it makes sense but we know the story now. So, is the name important?'

  'Yes, it's so important, Tim', Ritchie said. 'If we only know the name, we can say that the story was true and another thing is that aunt Mariam mentioned that the witch girl had a child. So if we know the name, it helps us to get further into the case'.

  'Oh! That's right', Tim whispered and nodded his head.

  Ritchie asked, 'but I want to know where we could find the name?'

  Tim thought for a minute or two and then answered, 'sir, I think we could ask the church father. According to the story, the case of the witch was handled by the father. So, basically, it means it was handled by the church. So maybe we can ask the father for the details'.

  'Yeah that’s a good idea, Tim', Ritchie said. 'Come let's go to the church'.

  'Sir, but it's already late. It's half past eight, sir. Can we go tomorrow?', Tim asked.

  Ritchie said, 'Yes, but it's only a small task, Tim. Why can't we finish it today?'

  Tim heaved a sigh and then said, 'ok sir. Let's go!'.

  

  They boarded a cart and headed to the church. On the way to the church, Tim asked, 'sir, if these murders are committed by a demon, then we should inform the higher officials and they would send some paranormal investigators. Why we should take action?'

  'That’s right Tim', Ritchie said, 'but we don’t have any evidence about any demon. The higher officials won't send paranormal investigators just hearing a story as an evidence. We should prove the presence of the demon, if it's true, by submitting strong evidence and eye witness'.

  Tim nodded and silenced himself.

  After an hour or so they reached the church. They noticed that the church doors were closed. 'That is the father's house', Tim said and pointed towards a small house near the church.

  Some seconds later, Ritchie knocked the door and father Mulligan answered, 'Oh! Oh! Welcome to my house, officer. What do you want in this time?'

  'I'm really sorry for bothering you in this time father, but I need some information from you', Ritchie said and father Mulligan gestured them to come inside the house and closed the door.

  Father Mulligan asked, 'How can I help you officer?'

  Ritchie said, 'I want to know the name of the witch, father'.

  'Name? didn’t aunt Mariam tell you about the witch?', he asked

  Ritchie replied, 'Yes, she told us everything but she didn’t know her name'.

  'Oh! If she itself didn’t know the name means how I'll know, officer?'

  Before Ritchie could answer, Tim interrupted, 'aunt Mariam told that father Campbell was involved in the "hanging of the witch", father. So we thought maybe the church have some details about the witch'.

  Father Mulligan gave an astonished expression, 'If great father Campbell was involved, you can find about the witch in his casefiles'.

  'Casefiles? Do you have it with you, father?', Ritchie asked.

  Father Mulligan replied, 'no, I don’t have it, officer. But it is kept safe in the church's dungeon'.

  Ritchie's inside flushed with happiness. 'Father, If you don’t mind, can you please guide us to the dungeon. You know, I think this is so important for the case. We need you to help, father'.

  Father Mulligan thought for a moment and then said, 'wait I'll change and come'.

  After some minutes later, they entered the church and moved further into the church. At the corner, Ritchie noticed a polished red door. Father Mulligan opened the door with a key and led them to a staircase which led downstairs.

  When they reached downstairs, Tim exclaimed, 'wow! I never been to a dungeon like this'. Even Ritchie had the same thought.

  'Actually this is not the dungeon. It's just the pathway which leads to the dungeon', father Mulligan said. The pathway was made up of rocks. Its like they were in a cave. Eventually at the end of the pathway there was a black door perched on the rocks. Father Mulligan opened it with another key and led them inside.

  'Welcome to the dungeon', father Mulligan said. The dungeon looked like a public library. There were bigger shelves all around it but instead of books there were files in all the shelves.

  'Oh! Don’t tell me we should search all the shelves for the casefile', Tim cried.

  Father Mulligan gave a laugh and said, 'Don’t worry inspector. All these casefiles were sorted in the shelves according to the year they were written. The "hanging of the witch" took place eighty years from now. So, the casefile must be in the row, 1872'.

  Tim heaved a sigh of relief.

  Father Mulligan led them further inside the dungeon. While following him, Ritchie noticed that each shelf had 15 rows and each row indicates a year. Father Mulligan stopped near a shelf and pointed to a middle row, where golden numbers were perched as 1872. 'You can get your files here', father Mulligan said.

  'Thanks, father', Ritchie replied.

  Father Mulligan said, 'Don’t mention it'.

  Ritchie nodded with a smile and said to Tim, 'Come, Tim. Let's search'.

  'Yes, on it, sir', he replied.

  Ritchie said, 'you start from the left and I start from the right'.

  Tim nodded and they both started to search.

  There were many different cases handled by father Campbell. The Exorcism of Mary Henderson, The cursed Jewel, The cult of the bloodthirsts, the human-wolf, the haunted castle of Vampires, and, many more. 'This man is really a powerful person, sir. The title of his cases actually sounds like fiction book titles. May-ha! Here it is!'

  Ritchie asked, 'did you find it?'.

  'Yes, sir', Tim held out a case file, which had a title, "the hanging of the Graver's Land Witch", 'here it is'.

  Ritchie said happily, 'ok, go on, Tim. Read the details'.

  Tim turned the pages, stopping at each page to scan the details, and at the middle of the files, he stopped and said, 'here is the details, sir'.

  'Go on, Tim'.

  he started.

  '24th August 1872, today, I, Henrich Campbell, with the help of some town people and local polices, captured a group of witches, who call themselves The Cult of The Widows. There were 10 witches, together, were practicing the most evil ritual called The Satan's Bride. Luckily, before anything goes wrong, we captured and stopped the ritual. Five witches were beaten to death by the town people, four were burned to death and the head of their cult was forced to participate in the evil desacralize event and then hanged and eventually burned to death. The name of the witches are given below'.

  Tim started to read the names of the witches and at last he read, 'the name of the head witch is A-' he stopped suddenly and looked from the book to Ritchie. 'What? What happed?', Ritchie asked. Tim was awestruck but he said, 'her name is Aa-Aaga-Agatha. Pa-Paa-Pas-Pascal. Agatha Pascal'.

  

            Part Two: The Twist

               

                      Chapter 1

  'There was a time in history, when the Greek people had an unwavering faith on gods. According to their myths, they believed in a realm called the Underworld. They believed that their afterlife begins there.

  'According to them, when a person dies, his/her soul leaves the body and visits a black void. Black! Black! Black! As far as the eyes could see. Suddenly out of nowhere, a boat would appear in the void. The boat will be steered by a ferryman called Charon.

  'Charon is a demon, who is gifted with the power of judging the souls. He is the one who decides whether the soul should get into Paradise (heaven) or Tartarus (hell). He carries the soul from the void and travel through the different parts of the Underworld and leaves the soul in different realms by judging the soul's purity.

  'So the people of ancient times believed so badly in the Ferryman. They even prayed to him and had performed some rituals in the name of ferryman. But as the time passed away, a new era was born. There came a time in history, where people started to convert their religions and the faith and believe on the Greek gods was in a brink of extinction.

  'Many people converted their religion to various types but some people started to pray for the demons. They strongly believed in the demons and Satan and performed many sacrificial rituals to gain riches and gifts from dark entities. A very few people among the believers of demon had gained enormous knowledge in occultism and they are the ones who summoned a demon to this world for the first time in history.

  'From then, people who gained knowledge in occultism started to summon demons for their own needs. They traded something valuable to the demon in return for the riches and wealth. Some people had embellished as the disciples of the demon, who performed anything asked by the demon without looking for something in return.

  'On a no moon day, a man who was a master of dark arts tried to summon a demon. He wanted revenge against her lover who cheated him and married a rich duke. The master kidnapped a small girl from the neighborhood and killed her. Then he spilled her blood on the sacrificial chamber and started his ritual.

  'After he finished his ritual, a demon appeared from the sea of blood. He was so terrified to see the demon because it's features were so horrifying. He backed away a little and knelt down and bowed.

  'The demon asked what he want and he said he wants to see his lover and her whole family dead and their souls must rot in hell. The next day, his lover's whole family was found to be dead and cause of their deaths were heart attack but their eyes were robbed from their sockets and instead replaced with Greek drachmas.

  'That master used this curse frequently whenever he wanted to kill somebody and when he realized his life was coming to an end, he wrote the procedures in a book and eventually died.

  'It may be the end of the master but it was just the beginning of the curse. Many occult people got a chance to get their hands on the curse book and many accomplished their need with the ferryman. The book was passed from family to family, friends to friends, master to their disciples and was eventually stolen by a thief and from then it was nowhere to be seen.

  'Until now! It was used in this town again. I can clearly notice its presence. When we hanged the witch to perform the desacralize ritual, we all heard the gibberish blabbering by the witch. We didn’t know it was a curse then, but now I understand what it was.

  'The witch used the curse to cast the demon not on a particular person. She used the curse and casted the demon to this entire town. I don’t know if this situation ever happened before anywhere but this is happening here now. No one has the knowledge of how to stop the ferryman. There was no record of how to cast him out of this town. But, I, Henrich Campbell, will try anything in this world to fight the demon'.

  Tim finished reading and said, 'and the next day the father was found to be dead in the same way'.

  Ritchie didn’t speak. He was processing the story in his mind. He had finished 55 cases in his lifetime and never in his life had seen a case like this. First, a higher official called and gave him this case and warned him to be careful. After arriving in this town, he got a chance to visit the victim's family and heard about the story of the horrific death of Mr. Holland. Then he visited a girl called Wendy Pascal and heard about her strange dream. Then he found out that this town's people believe in a demon called the Ferryman and they beleive he was casted by a witch and then he visited Aunt Mariam and learned about the story of the witch and later he visited the church and found out that the witch's name was Agatha Pascal.

  Now he is in the main alter of the church. Himself, Tim and Father Mulligan were seated in the neatly arranged chairs and in front of them, on the bench, was the casefile of Father Campbell. They were reading about the Ferryman. Who he was? And how he's connected to this town?

  When Tim finished reading the casefile, Ritchie felt like he heard a mythological story which were told to small kids to scare them. Actually he, himself, feels like living in a story. As mentioned earlier, he had successfully finished 55 various cases like theft, murder, and even treasure hunts (a story for another day!) but he had not seen a case like this. He is not a good believer of god and demons but in this case, every corner he turns it leads him to a supernatural ending. Even the clues he gets, like the witch and this casefile, are also leads this case in a paranormal way.

  From all this he understands one thing that in order to solve this case, he must lead this not in the normal way he always does but he should change his investigations to a paranormal way. If the murderer was indeed a demon, he must take actions and prove that this town was haunted with physical evidence and report it to the court and Vatican city. Although he didn’t believe in demons he must accept the fact that this case give creeps and for the first time in his life he fear death. 

             

                             Chapter 2

  'Father Mulligan', Ritchie said. 'I don’t know a clue about how demonism and curse works. Can you please show me some light on it?'

  'Yes it would be better from your version', Tim exclaimed.

  Father mulligan replied, 'yes, sure officers. Demonism is not difficult to understand. In this universe, everything that are created has an equal and opposite brother. For example, when darkness is created light is also created, when life is created death is also created. There is a duality in everything.

  'This law of duality is not only applicable for the creations, but it is applicable for the creators too. Like god, who is the face of light, there are demons, who are the face of blackness'.

  Tim interrupted, 'why these demons always mess with humans?'

  'As I said, demons are the exact opposite of god. They both are like brothers, but one wish to harm another. Demons are always jealous of god. God created human kind and flourished himself in our hearts. We are the best creation of god. So this fact makes us the natural prey for the demons, so that they can mess with god's work'.

  Tim nodded and said, 'this makes sense but according to Father Campbell's casefiles we are the one who summoned demons to this world. So it makes us as volunteers not preys. Right?'

  Father Mulligan grinned, 'well said inspector Tim. As you can see from the casefile, the people of the ancient world had a great faith in god. But as the time went by, people, who out of curiosity had made some mistakes. They paved a path for the demons to enter our world but their grave mistake was that they didn’t close the path. Their soul was corrupted and aftermath of that is absolute chaos. A great example for that is this town'.

  'So what you're saying is that people made mistakes but they didn’t try anything to undo their mistakes', Tim stated.

  Father Mulligan nodded.

  'Coming to this town Father, how do you think ferryman come to this town and kill people. Do you have a theory?', Ritchie asked.

  Father Mulligan replied, 'I don’t make theories officer. But as far as I know about demons, if they want to stay in our world, they need a vessel. For example, consider a person who lives in a place where the whether is so hot and suddenly if the person changes his surrounding and lives in a cold place, the person won't survive. But if he has the right equipment like sweater and gloves he can survive easily. Likewise, the demon needs a vessel to live in our world. They acquire this vessel by the means of possession. The vessel can be anything, a house, a toy, a horse cart and etcetera but the greatest and costliest vessel is human body'.

  'So do you think ferryman possessed somebody?', Ritchie asked.

  'Maybe. Maybe not. But if the ferryman comes to this world and kills the people, it can't do that without a help of a vessel'.

  Ritchie was startled by the fact of possession. As told earlier, this case was a new and a weird one for Ritchie but the fact of possession?He thought, it cant be more weirder.

  'Father can you show me some light on possession? How can a person or a thing can be possessed?', he asked.

  'Possession is an act of breaking someone's mind and soul and taking full control of the body. If the possession is a thing then it will be easier for the possessor to acquire it because things doesn’t have a mind and a soul'.

  'So can a person so weak by mind and heart be possessed easily?', Ritchie asked.

  'That’s a good question', Father Mulligan said. 'Yes it will be easier for the demons to possess weak bodies, like body of an innocent child. But though it is easier for them, they always choose the tougher souls. They will like to break a tough soul inch by inch because things which are harder to get are so valuable. If they a possess a weak body, the body will die in a short period of time and when the soul leaves the body even the demon can't live inside the body, its like trying to ride a car without the engine. So demons always prefer a tougher body whose soul can last for a long period of time'.

  Everybody went silent. Ritchie processed, what Father Mulligan said, in his mind. Now he knows about demonism and possession and thought that maybe these things help him to solve the case in the final stages. But now it doesn’t give him a clue, but suddenly an idea came to him and he thought that he should talk to a person who already gave him a clue.

  'Thanks father', he said and stood up and Tim repeated the same. 'Maybe if you want to help us please try to find more about this curse'.

  'Of course, I will. I'll start from today', he said. They shook hands and then Ritchie and Tim departed.

  When they went outside the church, Ritchie noticed that it was dark and checked his watch and shocked to see it's 1:07 am midnight. He also noticed that Tim was yawning and his eyes were red from not sleeping. So they both reached the hotel and Ritchie waved goodbye to Tim and asked him to come at tomorrow 11:00 am sharply and he also left to his room for a little nap.

                       Chapter 3

  The next day, after eating his breakfast, Ritchie came out of the hotel and waited for Tim. The time was 10:58 am. After several minutes, Tim appeared in a horse cart with a couple of people behind him. Ritchie noticed that the two persons were wearing the police uniform. One was a fat person, who had only a moustache like Tim, with black eyes and must be a man in his mid forties. Another man was a thin person with a bald head and had a tiny mustache and beard. He had brown eyes and must be in his late 20's.  

  Tim approached Ritchie and said, 'Good Morning, sir!' And the officers behind him repeated the same. 'huh, this is Constable John Mullick', the thin man nodded his head. 'And that is Constable Jimmy Keegan'. The fat man nodded.

  Tim continued, 'I thought maybe we need some extra force for help'.

  'That’s good Tim. Yeah we need some', Ritchie said.

  The fat man, named Jimmy Keegan said, 'we'll do our best to help solve this case, sir'.

  'Yes, sir', The thin man named, John Mullick roared.

  'Now what's the plan, sir?' Tim asked.

  Ritchie was so happy to know that even though this case was a mysterious, weird and a paranormal one, he have got companions who are so enthusiastic to do their job. Team work is the best part in an investigation. If they all put same work, their goal can be accomplished easily.

  Ritchie grinned and said, 'well, the plan is to re-investigate Wendy'.

  'Wendy? Again?', Tim asked.

  Ritchie replied, 'yes, Tim. The only clue we have about this case is Agatha Pascal and I suspect this ferryman is somehow connected to the Pascal's family. So I want to re-investigate Wendy'.

  'Fine, sir! Then lets go', Tim exclaimed.

  Ritchie said, 'No, Tim. I'm going alone'.

  'Alone, but why?'

  Ritchie replied, 'I want you to get me some information on the Pascals. I think every person, who had died in this town, had been recorded in the casebooks, right?'

  'Yes! Sir. Since everyone is murdered, we've been recording their names and how they had died. All these information is kept in the police station. I think we have information about the past 70 years', Tim said.

  Ritchie replied, 'that’s good, Tim. Then you search about the pascals and I'll investigate Wendy'.

  'Yes! Sir. I'll take a constable with me and you take one'.

  'Huh, I'll go with the Senior Investigator!', Constable Jimmy Keegan cried.

  'oh no! I'll go with him', Constable John Mullick protested.

  'shut up! You bald bastard! I'll go with him'.

  'ohh, you shut up! Douchebag! I'll go with him'.

  Ritchie lost his patience and interfered, 'you both shut up!'

  They both silenced.

  'I'll go alone. You both help Tim. It'll be hard for him to find few files from a pile of files', he said.

  'Yes! sir', they both said simultaneously.

  Tim laughed and said, 'then we'll take our departure, sir'. After that, Tim and the two police constables started for the police station and Ritchie went in the opposite direction for Wendy's house.

  After reaching Wendy's house, Ritchie knocked the door and the bulk figure of George Harrington opened the door and stunned to see him again, 'ha-wa-officer! What brings you again?'

  'Hello! Mr. Harrington', Ritchie said. 'Its nice to see you again. I want to talk to Wendy'.

  'Is there any problem, officer?', he asked.

  'No, its nothing. I just want to talk to Wendy again'. Ritchie saw that Mr. Harrington was getting worried.

  'Bu-But why?'

  To eliminate the dark atmosphere, Ritchie laughed and said, 'its nothing Mr. Harrington. I just got a lead in my case. So, I thought maybe talking with Wendy will extend my lead'.

  Mr. Harrington laughed, 'sorry I was worried about my girl, officer-' from inside a women's voice shouted, 'George, who's at the door?'

  'It’s the senior Investigator', he shouted back and told Ritchie to come inside.

   The room was so clean than yesterday but everything was same as that of the previous day. It had the same warmth Ritchie experienced when he first visited this house.

  He noticed the door to the bedroom in front of him. The door creaked open and the tiny figure of Wendy emerged from within. Her brown hair was tied in a ponytail and her eyes gleamed with happiness, 'good morning! Mr. Ritchie', she greeted him happily but he felt something weird about her. When she entered the hall, the warm feeling was banished and a coldness emerged and surrounded the room.

  'A happy morning! Wendy. I want to talk to you about something'.

  'With me? Ok let's talk'.

  Laila Harrington entered the hall from the kitchen. She greeted Ritchie and asked what happened and he replied, 'oh, its nothing. Just a formal investigation'.

  'Ok, officer, its fine', Laila Harrington said. 'you can go on'.

  George Harrington opened the door to the bedroom and gestured them to go inside. They both went inside and each took a chair and sat on it. Seeing them comfortable, George Harrington closed the door and left.

  Ritchie was so shocked that yesterday Mr. Harrington was so angry and frustrated to see him and Wendy was so nervous and Mrs. Harrington was worried about the investigation but today they greeted him like a family member and Mr. Harrington behaved so friendly. 'Does something happened to your family, Wendy? Yesterday they were so worried and today they greet me like a family member'.

  Wendy laughed and said, 'actually, I was also shocked to see my father behave like this. He'll always behave rudely to strangers but all these changeover was because of Father Mulligan'.

  'Father Mulligan?'

  'Yes. We visited the church today and my father told to Father Mulligan about yesterday's investigation and Father Mulligan insisted my father to trust you blindly. He said that he thinks you are the one who'll banish the ferryman out of this town', she finished.

  Ritchie was happy to hear these words. 'I'll be glad if that happens. But, now, I want to ask you some questions'.

  'Do you know who is Agatha?'

  'Agatha? I don’t know. Who's Agatha?'

  Ritchie thought for a moment and said, 'I'm talking about Agatha Pascal'.

  Wendy's expression changed. She had a look of confusion in her eyes. 'pascal? I haven't heard a name like that in my family'.

   Ritchie thought again and said, 'when you told me about your dream yesterday, you mentioned that you saw your ancestors in it, but the strange fact was that the ancestors you saw was only men of your family', Wendy nodded. 'No women of your family appeared. Expect you. Do you know why?'

  Wendy shook her head. 'I clearly don’t have an idea. Actually I didn’t think about my dream much so I didn’t thought about this fact'.

  'Try to remember something about this, Wendy. Just try'.

  She silenced herself and started to think. Ritchie saw her with a hope to get a clue and suddenly she said, 'hey I know something'.

  'Go on'.

  'My father always told me that he was glad that I was born because he told me that I was the first girl to be born in the Pascals family after so many years'.

  Ritchie was startled by the fact.

  'So, I think so this is why only men of my family appear in the dream'.

  'It may be true because dreams are strange to predict but again think, do you know who is Agatha Pascal?'

  Wendy again tried to think but after sometime she said, 'no I really don’t know who that is. I haven't even heard a name like that in my family'.

  Ritchie came to Wendy's house to get to know more about Agatha Pascal but instead he got another clue about Wendy's family. He suspect that the ferryman is somehow connected to Wendy's family. Every turn in this case ends with the Pascals. 'okay its fine, Wendy. Thank you for your cooperation. I'll take my leave now', he started to get up from his chair but Wendy stopped him and said, 'I want to talk to you, Mr. Ritchie'.

  'Just call me, Ritchie', he sat again in his chair and asked, 'what do you want to talk about, Wendy?'

  'You said your parents left you in an orphanage. How did you cope with the fact that you're an orphan?'

  Ritchie answered, 'well, actually I was not an orphan. When my parents left me in an orphanage, I got a new family in there. Now I have many brothers and sisters. I was actually so happy to get a new home like that'.

  Hearing Ritchie's answer Wendy's expression got changed. She looked like she's going to cry. 'is there any problem with your parents, Wendy?'

  'No, no, no. I just miss my father and speaking of brothers, I just realized that I am the last and lonely member of my family. My father once said that he had a brother but he was died the next second he was born'.

  'Everyone born in this world must experience despair and desperation. These two things carve us to become who we are at the end. The fact is, you are experiencing despair and desperation now, so you'll become more mature and successful very soon.

Don’t lose your hope, at least you got a good family'. Ritchie finished speaking and departed from the room and found that Tim was sitting in the couch at the hall. He signaled Ritchie to go outside and talk. They both waved a goodbye to Mr and Mrs. Harrington and departed from the house.

                       Chapter 4

  'What do you got, Tim?' Ritchie asked. They were walking on the streets and the two constables, John and Jimmy, were behind them.

  'If you know what I found….I'm sure that would shock you to your core', he replied.

  Ritchie was surprised to hear these words and said, 'then fill me in'.

  Tim stated, 'we three searched the casefiles thoroughly and found that the files were recorded only up to the period of William Pascal, who is suppose to be the great-grandfather of Wendy. We found the files of Howard Pascal, the son of William Pascal and the grandfather of Wendy. We also found the files of Shawn and Markus Pascal, who were the brothers of Howard Pascal and we have the files about Jonathan Pascal, who was the father of Wendy Pascal'.

  'Good job, Tim! But I didn’t get a shock like you mentioned', Ritchie exclaimed.

  Tim grinned. 'Because that part is yet to come, Sir. We found all these files and read about them and their deaths. The startling fact was that they all had one thing in common'.

  'What is it?'

  'They all died in the same way'.

  'what's-', Ritchie was interrupted by Tim. 'But not in the way you think, sir. They were all died by committing suicide'.

  Ritchie stopped walking.

  'wha-what? Not even a single one died in the mysterious way?'

  Tim's expression got serious, 'no sir! But their wives were died in the same mysterious way except Magdalene Pascal, who died while giving birth to Wendy'.

  Ritchie's expression turned from shock to seriousness. Every thing he heard so far were swirling in his mind. 'Tim, Wendy told to me that she's the only girl born in her family after a long time. From your information, only men of the Pascal family were committed suicide. This implies that the Pascal bloodline didn’t die in the mysterious way, instead they are committing suicide. But why is it like that?'

  'What the….Sir, did you remember Wendy's dream. She said she saw her ancestors like her great-grandfather, her grandfather and his two twin brothers and her father. These are the people who committed suicide'.

  Ritchie was so confused right now. He has all the pieces in the puzzle but he doesn’t know how to arrange them properly. From the starting till now, every clue and leads were leading Ritchie to the Pascals and their mysterious bloodline. He doesn’t have a idea to how to further investigate the case because every lead in the case were dead people. If he really want to finish this case, then he should dig some graves and talk to the dead people….or….he should talk to the grave digger, the one who's responsible to all the crimes happening in the Graver's Land.

  'Tim, did you mention to me that the mysterious murders were happening every two weeks?'

  Tim thought for a moment and said, 'its not accurately two weeks but approximately its been happening for every two weeks, sir'.

  'Then let us wait for every day till the Ferryman strikes again. Let us set up a small outpost and wait for it and catch it with proper evidence'.

  'But where will we set up a outpost? Sir'.

  'where the case lead us to'.

  Tim understood instantly and said, 'then lets start from today, sir'.

  'Yes, Tim', Ritchie replied. 'Its time to confront a demon'.

                      Chapter 5

   Ritchie, Tim, John, Jimmy, all four of them went near Wendy's house and spotted a empty area near the house. So they arranged the area and created a secret outpost. From the beginning, the case was leading Ritchie to the Pascals and the last remaining Pascal is Wendy. He knows that she was innocent but an another part of him suspect Wendy so badly.

  When he first arrived in this town, he thought that he will be the one who will be uncovering the mysteries of this town but now he know that things got out of hand. If the deaths happening in this town are committed by a man, then Ritchie would have easily uncovered the person behind it. But he knows that this case has a paranormal effect in it. So he decided to collect evidence against the paranormal things happening here.

  It really is hard for him to believe that this town is haunted but its time for him to believe the unbelievable. He thinks that the only way to find the accused is to confront him…..even if the accused is a paranormal one. Now his only job is to find the demon with proper evidence and report it to his higher officials and further take this case to the Vatican's door.

  To do the unbelievable, Ritchie plotted a plan. He had got a lead about ferryman, all thanks to Tim, that ferryman attacks approximately every two weeks. Though he got the lead about the attack pattern, he doesn’t know how or precisely when the ferryman will attack. He doesn’t have an idea to where to watch out for him. Then, a sudden realization and idea attacked his brain.

  As mentioned earlier, this case surrounds the Pascals family so intensely that every nook and corner of this case leads to the Pascals. The last remaining Pascal is Wendy. Ritchie didn’t suspect Wendy but though he suspect that maybe….maybe….she's possessed by the demon. He know that he's new to this topic and a conclusion like this may affect the case by leading it in the wrong way but his heart tells him to suspect her.

  So that’s why they had set up a secret outpost near Wendy's house, so that they can keep an eye on her everyday and every night. Ritchie didn’t want to expose about his mission to everyone. That even includes the Harrington's. So he decided to keep the mission and outpost as low-key has possible. But to collect the evidence against the ferryman he need eye witnesses to prove the paranormality of this case. So he decided to meet Father Mulligan.

  He explained everything to Father Mulligan and asked for his help. Without hesitation, Father Mulligan called ten faithful members of the church, who lives in the Graver's Land. Ritchie didn’t explain everything though he told them about his plan. His plan was that he would be spying on Wendy pascal everyday and each one of the ten person should stay with him each day and observe everything happening there. If anything suspicious happens, they would be the eye witness.

  

  Time went by like a fast forwarding wind. Its been one week and two days since they've set the secret outpost and started to spy on Wendy. Till now they've got nothing. They had been patrolling the town since the outpost was set up and spying on Wendy and the Harrington's ever since but literally….they've got nothing. Even the Ferryman didn’t attack.

  Its been one week and 5 days since the last murder took place. If the Ferryman has an attack pattern, then the next murder should take place either today or tomorrow. All four of them were in a mode of serious alert and tension. Ritchie and Tim went to patrol the town whereas John and Jimmy were left in the outpost.

  'Time is nearing 6 o' clock already and clouds are becoming darker in the each passing moment. The thought of confronting the Ferryman give me the creeps', Jimmy Keegan cried.      

  'I don’t know what the higher officer thinking. He's gone mad. Confronting a demon…its like suicide. I've been in this outpost for more than a week and each day I'm shivering from fear', John Mullick said.

  'Today marks exactly two weeks since the last murder took place. According to our inspector, the chance of ferryman to strike today is very high'.

  John Mullick started to shiver, 'we were happily enjoying yourselves in our police station without doing anything but our inspector told us to join him to do some petty works but now see where it pulled us'.

  Jimmy Keegan started to become nervous, 'we don’t have a choice John. Lets hope ferryman never comes in our way. If it does, then lets pray for less sufferable death'.

  Suddenly they heard a sound coming from outside. They both turned toward the door. The door was shuddering. John Mullick started to shiver intensely and Jimmy Keegan hugged a tree beside him tightly. The door was opened by a tall dark figure with an unburning lamp in its hand. The figure told with a hoarse voice, 'may I come in'.

  They both shouted loudly and John Mullick cried. Jimmy Keegan closed his eyes and was reciting the bible. John Mullick said with crying, 'plea-please leave me Ferryman. Take this fat man instead. Yo-you can have a feast for two week with that much of fat. Ple-please leave me'.

  The tall dark figure burned the lamp and its face was illuminated by the light. The figure was looking like a human with wrinkles all over its face. 'Sir! I'm not Ferryman. I'm old man Edmond'.

  Jimmy Keegan opened his eyes and saw the tall figure standing with the lamp in its hand. Indeed it was a human! 'What you're doing here, old man Edmond?'

  'Sir, today its my turn to play the role of the witness'.

  John stopped crying and shouted, 'you, old man! Don’t u have the manner to knock the door before coming in?'

  Old man Edmond taken aback by the tone. 'Sorry, sir! I tried to knock but the wood was so hard. So I thought to enter inside without permission'.

  'You scared the shit out us!'

  'Why are you shouting?' Tim entered the outpost and Ritchie was behind him.

  Jimmy Keegan said, 'sorry, sir! We had a misunderstanding'.

  'Misunderstanding? Whatever it is. Now, be ready. Its time already', Tim said and spotted old man Edmond. 'Gracias, old man Edmond! I think today is your turn to help us, right?'

  'Yes, inspector Tim!' old man Edmond exclaimed.

  'Then all of you, be ready. Its time', Ritchie said.

  The chance of Ferryman to attack today is very high but they didn’t know from where it'll attack. Their only option is to spy on their suspect. And the suspect was Wendy Pascal.

  All the five of them were hidden behind a big bush which was situated near the Harrington's house. From the bush, they can clearly see the backyard and the house very much clearly.

  'I think this will do', Ritchie said. 'lets be here till anything happens. If we see any movement, either inside or outside the house, we must act immediately'.

  They had been waiting for nearly five hours now. There's been not even a single movement occurred. Ritchie, now, doubted his instinct for suspecting Wendy. 'Tim, are you correct about the attack pattern?'

  'Sir! Yesterday also I checked the casefiles and confirmed that the murder were happening for exactly two weeks'.

  'ok, fine. Lets wait'.

  Jimmy Keegan silently whispered to John Mullick, 'you tried to sell me to the demon'.

  John grinned and whispered back. 'Well, its not a demon. Its just the old man Edmond'.

  'I know that, but what if the actual Ferryman appeared. I know that you would have sold me out'.

  'No, no, no, Jimmy. I would have done my best to save you if we confronted the real demon'.

  'Shut up! You baldy slim brat! You-'

  'What's that with the both of you?', Tim interrupted. 'You both act like small babies. Now, please knock it off and watch out for the Ferryman'.

  Tim reached Ritchie and whispered, 'Sir, I'm so tired. We've been patrolling for the whole day and its been days since I slept. Can you four carry on with the mission. So that I'll go to home and get some sleep'.

  'That’s the lazy brat inspector for you', both John and Jimmy murmured to themselves.

  'Tim! Be responsible. We are in a dangerous mission and you're saying you need rest. Act like a inspector, Tim', Ritchie fired back.

  'I know sir, but…', he thought for a moment and said, 'ok sir, its fine. Can I sleep here in the grass for like a few minutes and if you see any movement, just touch me, I'll wake up like a man who's been fresh and eager to attend a full day work'.

  Ritchie sighed and said, 'ok, go on'.

  'Thank you so much, sir', Tim replied and fell down to the ground to take a nap.

  

  Now, the remaining four of them, were watching carefully for any hint of movement. It was half past eleven. Jimmy Keegan was felt drowsy and started to yawn. When he finished, he caught a glimpse of movement near the Harrington's door to the backyard. It was like somebody opened the door and closed it back. The bush, in which they all were hiding, block the sight of the door. So, it was not clear to Jimmy that who exited from the door.

  'Sir, I think I saw someone exiting from the back door', he said to Ritchie.

  All four of them were instantly alerted. Ritchie saw that the back door was closed but he noticed a figure was coming from the door. The figure doesn’t spotted them because it was going in the opposite direction from them.

  In the darkness, it was difficult to identify who the figure was, but as it neared close to their eyesight, Ritchie noticed that it was a figure of a young girl. He whispered, 'Wendy Pascal'.

  'What she's doing alone in this time!', John Mullick exclaimed.

  'Something is weird with that girl. Look', Jimmy said and pointed in her direction.

  Wendy stopped short. She was doing nothing but staring at the ground. Something's wrong with her, Ritchie noticed. Suddenly they all heard a creaking sound like bones are cracking.

  'Oh my god. Look at her', Jimmy cried.

  They all looked at her. She was making a weird pose and suddenly her hands twisted and her bones were being broken by herself. Ritchie stood from his cover to interfere but suddenly he noticed that her hand was….growing. It was growing much larger than before. Her legs were twisted and again her leg bones were broken and suddenly again it was grown larger than before. Ritchie and the others were frozen in the spot and watching her transform. The next part was so horrifying and creepy.

  She twisted her head and her head was lolling sideway and again her head was regrown but not as a human head but as something so ancient and powerful and CREEPY as Hell!

  After sometime, she was completely transformed into something else. The place where a small girl was standing was now occupied by an unknown powerful entity. For the first time in his entire career, Ritchie feel the fear within himself. His hands and legs were shivering with fear.

  Old man Edmond was jaw-dropped. He commented, 'sh-she was no-not possessed….she is the ferryman'.

  All four of them were shuddering. instantaneously, like smelling the growing fear in them, the demon turned its head at their direction. They all froze at their spot and suddenly they heard someone shouting from behind. 

                       Chapter 6 

  Tim was happily enjoying his holiday at the Hawaii beach with his imaginary family. His imaginary wife and daughter were playing in the sand making sandcastle and stuffs at the presence of mildly hot sun. He was lying on a coastal sofa, enjoying the sea breeze and watching his wife and daughter playing joyfully.

  His daughter finished playing and came running towards him. He stood from his coastal sofa and grabbed her and settled her in his shoulders. His daughter was thirsty, so she asked drinks. Suddenly out of nowhere, drinks appeared and his girl was happily drinking.

  Tim was so happy to live a life like this. He thought that things can't get better than this scenario. He was happy to the core. But suddenly, a feeling of despair caught with him. The scenario before him started to change.

  The friendly atmosphere at which he was enjoying was changing into complete darkness. His family was faded away too. He did not have a slight idea of what happening.

  Suddenly he heard his daughter's voice at the far away corner. He ran towards the voice but he was covered in complete darkness. Black, black, black, as far as the eye could see. He stopped running because he was so confused right now. His daughter's voice was stopped crying and was muted away.

  With confusion, he started to analyse his surrounding. While analysing, he found at the right far corner, a slight bit of light was emanating from something. He started to run towards it. He ran, ran and ran until he spotted the source for the light. The light was emanating from his daughter. She was glowing like a star. He stopped short at the sight of her.

  Suddenly, her daughter started to cry. She said, 'father, plea-please help me'.

  He tried to speak, but his mouth was jammed shut. He also tried to run towards her but his legs are not moving. It was like, something didn’t want him to move.

  Her daughter was crying intensely now. She was blabbering and crying for help. Tim started to cry at the sight of his girl. He was worried that he was not able to help her.

  Suddenly large hands emerged from where the girl was standing and started to pull her to the ground. She cried vigorously and asked for help but Tim was frozen at the spot crying for his little girl. He tried his best to move but his legs didn’t even budge. Eventually, he was released from his position and was able to move but her girl was completely buried to the ground.

  He knelt down and cried so loud. He was in pain and agony for not able to help her daughter. His face was buried in his hands and tears were flowing from his eyes. Suddenly he heard a bell sound all around him. He stood from the ground and searched for the source of the sound but he spotted nothing.

  The bell sound stopped and a voice, so ancient and like two metals scratching each other, boomed all around him, 'I want your soul as my toll'. Then suddenly, a hand grasped his mouth from behind and dragged him inside the ground.

                        Chapter 7 

  Ritchie turned behind him and noticed that Tim was shouting out of pain in his sleep. He returned his gaze toward the direction of the demon and noticed that the demon was nowhere to be seen.

  Now, Tim was shouting more intensely than before. So, Ritchie tried to went near him but stopped at the sight of a weird thing. Tim was not lied down on the ground but he was floating on the air.

  They all were frozen already because of witnessing the transformation of Wendy to the Ferryman and now, also they all frozen at their spots, watching Tim floating on the air.

  When Tim went higher and higher from the ground, he started to stop shouting and eventually, maybe at 8 feet from the ground, he totally stopped shouting and his floating progression also stopped at 8 feet from the ground.

  At the air, Tim started to shiver and then he started to shudder so vigorously that Jimmy Keegan began to recite the bible out of fear. Suddenly, Tim shouted so badly like he was suffering from hardcore pain. Instantaneously, Tim's eyelids flew open and Ritchie was so horrorstruck to see that the fear in his eyes was so intensely bad.

  He struggled to release from his invisible bonds but he can't release from it. Suddenly, he shouted with more and more intense pain and hi-his…eyes…were started to bulge. Ritchie thought that Tim's eyes were bulging but they actually were rising from their sockets. Both of his eyes were unplugged themselves from their sockets and thrown at the ground.

  Tim stopped shouting and his body features started to relax and he was dropped to the ground. Warm blood was oozing from his eye sockets. From a sudden realisation, Ritchie knew that Tim was gone. It was a horrible sight to witness.

  Suddenly, Tim's head started to shudder and two golden drachma coins were risen from his empty sockets and replaced his eyes. The coins were literally came from inside of his eye sockets.

  Ritchie was watching this from the beginning but now, suddenly his head started to spin and his vision began to blur. He dropped to the ground and blacked out.

 

                       Chapter 8

  Ritchie woke up the next day in a local hospital. He found that John Mullick was at his side, sitting in a couch but facing the opposite direction. For a moment, he didn’t know why he was in a hospital and instantaneously, the realisation of yesterday's events hit him hard in his brain. He whispered a single word, 'Tim'.

  John Mullick filched and turned toward the sound and found that Ritchie was awake. 'Sir! Are you fine, now?'

  'What happened to Tim? Is he alright or is he…he…'.

  John Mullick lowered his head and continued, 'Sir, yesterday, we all witnessed his death. Yes, sir! He's dead', John Mullick started to cry. 'He is killed by ferryman and we didn’t even tried to help him. He's died in our own presence'.

  Ritchie also was so worried about not helping Tim. He even suspect that, what they can do in things which they can't even understand. The fear he experienced yesterday is like more than death. On the other hand, he has a slight feeling that he is highly responsible for Tim's death.

  'What happened to his body?' Ritchie asked

  John Mullick answered, 'his body was sent to autopsy. We'll be receiving his body at today evening. I informed his mother. She'll be coming here shortly'.

  Thinking about Tim's family gave creeps to Ritchie, how they're going to see his face, he thought. Suddenly, a burning sensation occurred in Ritchie's heart, 'we need to avenge Tim's death, John. We should avenge the death of every soul reaped by the ferryman. Now, the presence of the demon is confirmed. We have the evidence that confirms his presence. Is old man Edmond alright?'

  'Yes, sir! He's still in shock but he's safe. He is with Jimmy in the police station'.

  'Then, alright. Let's go and get him', Ritchie said.

  'Yes, sir!'

  'And arrange me a horse cart'.

  After sometimes later, Ritchie got discharged from the hospital and went to the police station. He explained the situation to old man Edmond and they both hurriedly left to the horse cart fetched by John Mullick. After boarding the horse cart, they waved goodbye to the two police constables and left the town of Graver's Land.

  On the way, to the city of London, Ritchie's mind swirled with thoughts. He know that this case is beyond his reach but losing Tim was a hard hit for him. They had grown as good friends in a very thin span of time. Losing a dear friend in front of you is a cruel part and Ritchie blame himself for doing nothing to help Tim.

  After four hours of travel, they eventually reached the Scotland Yard (the metropolitan police station in London). They went inside and asked for officer Anderson, the man who gave this case to Ritchie. They found him in his room and went inside.

  'Welcome, Mr. Richard', officer Anderson said with a tone of confusion. 'what's the reason for your sudden arrival?'

  Ritchie explained everything from the beginning to the end to officer Anderson and narrated the paranormal activity he witnessed yesterday night. In addition, he introduced old man Edmond to officer Anderson and told that he was the eyewitness.

  After they finished, Officer Anderson was so horrorstruck to speak for some time. Then, he took the telephone and arranged for an immediate meeting. He ordered Ritchie and old man Edmond to join him.

  The meeting was arranged immediately at the official meeting hall situated near the office of Mr. Anderson. A dozen of very important and higher officials were present in the meeting hall.

  Anderson explained the cause for the immediate meeting and asked Ritchie to elaborate them. Ritchie started the narration from the beginning, when Mr. Anderson called him immediately and asked him to take upon a strange case and he narrated till the death of Tim. After finishing his narration, Ritchie provided the recording evidence he took from Bruce Holland and asked the eye witness, old man Edmond, to narrate his part.

   After hearing their narration, the officials discussed with each other and the commissioner spoke, 'good job, Mr. Richard Greyman. The witness and evidence are all good and strong. We decided to take this case to a further extent. I'll write a letter to the Vatican City and explain the situation to them and ask for help. You wait here in London, till they send someone. I hope you finish this case as soon as possible. You can leave now'.

  'Thank you, sir', he said and left the room with old man Edmond at his side.

  One week was passed. Ritchie and old man Edmond were staying at Ritchie's house in London. One day, Ritchie received a letter from Mr. Anderson. The letter informed Ritchie to meet Anderson outside the Metropolitan Police Station. It also mentioned to bring old man Edmond.

  So, Ritchie and old man Edmond packed their things and left Ritchie's house. They boarded a horse cart and reached The Metropolitan Police Station, where they found Mr. Anderson and a man, in a long casual coat, was standing beside him. At the sight of the man, Ritchie found that he was the person sent from Vatican.

  'Good morning, Mr. Ritchie'. Mr. Anderson and Ritchie shook hands. 'This is father Peter Culligan. He's sent here by the Vatican to help you'.

  Ritchie introduced himself to the father and thanked him for coming a long way to help them. After a few moments later, Mr. Anderson said, 'okay, then, without delaying let's go that town'.

  They boarded another horse cart and started their journey to The Graver's Land. Ritchie was so happy and thrilled because he thought that this case is going to get some light from the darkness. But, at that moment, he didn’t know that darkness has different plans.

                         Chapter 9   

  All four of them travelled through the horse cart and reached the billboard of The Graver's Land, which read: Welcome to Graver's Land, below that another phrase of words were scribbled, Death is the new beginning, and Graver's Land is the beginning to death.First time when he saw the billboard, Ritchie laughed about these words but now he understood the real meaning behind it and now, he hope that no more death is going to be caused by the Ferryman because he's coming to banish the ferryman.

  As usual Mr. Anderson left them at the foot of the billboard and told them three words, 'all the best', and left them to London. They waved him goodbye and walked in the direction of the town.

  After sometime, Ritchie and the father were deeply engaged in conversation about the case. Ritchie explained everything from the beginning till the death of Tim. He especially told him about Wendy and her transformation. The father insisted that she was possessed and asked Ritchie to lead them to Wendy's house.

  When they stopped their conversation, they were already half way through the town. They were already near the house of Wendy. After sometime they reached the corner of their outpost and noticed that, nearly fifty to sixty people were standing and watching something. After a sudden realisation, he come to know that they were standing outside Wendy's house.

  He ran toward the crowd and squeezed his way toward the center and found that Jimmy and John were controlling the crowd and asking the people to leave the place.

  Ritchie ran towards them and Jimmy turned at the direction of Ritchie and said, 'oh my god, sir! You came back. W-we don’t know h-how to handle the situation without you and the inspector'.

  'What? What happened here?' he asked.

  Jimmy silenced himself. So, Ritchie turned towards John, who said, 'sir! It’s the girl. Sh-she….committed….suicide'.

  Ritchie was thrown aback. Wendy? Suicide? But why? These are the questions swirled in his brain. 'what? Whe-Where's the body?'

  'Backyard!'

  Ritchie ran towards the backyard and spotted Mr and Mrs. Harrington, who were knelling down on the ground and crying. Above them, on a hemlock tree, a body of a girl was hanging. 

                         Chapter 10

  What is happening? Why is this happening? What should I do now? Ritchie's mind erupted with hundreds of question. That night, he witnessed Wendy transform into entirely a different being and now that girl is dead. Committed suicide. But why?

  Wendy was buried at the burial grounds next to her father. The last heir of the Pascal family is dead. Not only that, but the last hope of capturing Ferryman is dead. From his investigations, Ritchie know that Ferryman is living inside Wendy. Like Father Mulligan said, every demon wants a vessel to contact and access the surface world and Wendy was the vessel to the Ferryman but now the vessel is shattered and the question is, where is the Ferryman? 

  From the first day, Father Culligan started his job. He visited every nook and corner of The Graver's Land. He went to every single house and blessed the house with holy water. He joined hands with father Mulligan and together they conducted everyday masses. He, himself, investigated the entire Ferryman case for one month.

  One month had passed after Wendy's death and father Culligan asked Ritchie to meet him on the church.

  'I'm sorry to say this Mr. Richard. I don’t know if this is a good news or a bad news. I've been investigating this case for a month now and I conclude that there is no presence of any demon here'.

  Ritchie was already confused and broken. This was another blow for him. 'But, father, I witnessed that girl transform'. 

  'Yes and I absolutely believe you. But what I can say is that the demon was banished when the girl died. You know that the Ferryman was been here for 80 years and no demon can stay longer on a holy ground of the lord.

   Open your eyes and see everywhere, officer. One month had passed since the girl died. No murders had taken place and the people started to socialize with each other for a past few weeks. The Graver's Land had got a redemption from the grasp of the demon. I can clearly see that this case was a new experience to you and I'll pray to god that you shall not cross path with a demon again. Amen'.

  After that meeting with Ritchie, Father Culligan departed from the Graver's Land and at the same night, Ritchie packed his things and departed to his home without saying goodbye to anyone.

                           Three Months Later

  Three months had passed since Ritchie left the Graver's Land. After he reached his home in London, Ritchie didn’t leave his house and didn’t interact with others. He stopped going to his job for the past three months. He's completely broken.

  How can I lose? He started overthinking and blamed himself for the death of Tim and Wendy, if I acted quickly, I may have saved them. He doesn’t even understand what happened at the end. What happened to the Ferryman. For every two weeks in the past three months, Ritchie enquired about the Graver's Land to Mr. Anderson, and he found out that there's not been even a single murder in the past three months and the people were started to celebrate and enjoy their freedom.

  But is this the end? This is not what Ritchie wanted. He wants to know what happened to the Ferryman. To find that, Ritchie thought to revisit his every encounter from the beginning. So, he started to write everything from the beginning till the death of Wendy in his typewriter.

  For the past three months, Ritchie was so stressed and disturbed. So, he engaged himself in a habit of drinking alcohol daily. Three months of alcoholism had made him an addict.

  While finish writing his encounter, Ritchie was totally drunk to the core. He read the files but didn’t even get a single clue. He read again, again and again but he got nothing. His alcoholism always relieved him from his stress but now the alcoholism started to show its another face. He got tensed and stressed to his core. His mind was overthinking a lot, you're the reason for all the deaths, you're a waste piece of shit, you lost a case, you lost, you lost, youuu losstttt!!!!!, 'STOP', he shouted aloud and got up from his chair. He grabbed his typewriter and threw it against the wall and dashed to his bedroom.

 

  The next morning, he woke up with a severe headache. He went to the kitchen and prepared coffee. He drank two glass of coffee and went outside to the mail box to see whether he received a letter or two.

  To his surprise, his mail box was stacked with hundreds of letters. He fetched all of them and went inside the house. He kept the letters in his reading desk and sat at the chair beside the desk. He opened a letter and found out that today was his birthday and the letter was a greeting card sent by a friend. He was so shocked to realize that today was his birthday because he knows very well that, May 3rd was his birthday and he always celebrated his birthday with his colleagues. But today, he absolutely forgot about his birthday. He thought, all credit goes to my previous case.

  He opened every letter one by one and happily read the contents inside it. Most of the letter were encouraging him to forget the past and start a new life. Many were praised him for helping them in their dark situations. He read every letter and was starting to feel happy.

  Among the hundred of letters, three letters caught Ritchie's attention. Out of the three, two were sent from The Graver's Land and the remaining one was sent from St. Mary's house of Orphaned Children.

  Firstly, he opened a letter sent from The Graver's Land and found that the letter was sent from Jimmy and John. The letter read:

  

  Dear Ritchie Sir,

                How are you, sir? We are all fine here. A very happy birthday to you. You may have a doubt about how we know about your birthday. After you left The Graver's Land, me and Jimmy were told to report about the town to Mr. Anderson. Yesterday, while reporting, he said that today was your birthday. We also got to know that you were not going to your job for the past three months. We all know that you were broken and blamed yourself for the death of Wendy Pascal and Inspector Tim. Mr. Anderson said that this was the only case which was not solved by you. But the actual truth was that, you saved The Graver's Land. This town was haunted by the Ferryman for the past 80 years and no one was able to stop him. But after you came to this town, the Ferryman was banished. Its been 4 months since a murder took place in the cruel way. The people were now happily spending their time without any fear and the good news was that Jimmy was promoted as the inspector and I'm the new sub-inspector. All I'm trying to say is that you finished this case without knowing that you finished it. I believe in fate and destiny and I want you to believe that everything happens for a reason. Start a new life, Sir and if you're free, please visit The Graver's Land anytime. We are always here for you.

                           Good bye sir! Take care!

  Though the letter was meant to comfort him, it didn’t not accomplish it's job. Murders may not happen but the real question here is, where is the Ferryman?, how will a demon suddenly banish from the reality? He was happy that Jimmy has promoted to inspector and John as sub-inspector and the town's new phase of life. But he knows that he's not the reason for their happiness.

  He kept the letter aside and opened another letter which was again sent from The Graver's Land. This letter was sent by father Mulligan. The letter read:

Respected Sir Richard,

                   I come to know from (inspector) Jimmy and (sub-inspector) John, that May 3rd is your birthday. So, I thought of writing you a letter. But this letter is not only a greeting letter but this is more of an information letter. First thing first, happy birthday dear son. May this birthday be the beginning of more to come. I am mainly writing this letter to inform you about the Ferryman. I know I am so late but gathering information about an ancient demon is not so easy. So don’t take me wrong but I think the information which I'm going to tell you will be so important. When you asked me to gather information the Ferryman, I made contact with my old friends and wise catholic people for help. From them I got to know that the Ferryman curse was a family curse. Which means that the Ferryman can only access our world by possessing the body of the summoner or can possess anyone from the summoner's bloodline. This is the only information I gathered from the wise people of the catholic because the Ferryman curse is far ancient and was very confidential, that only 10 in a billion of people will know about it. There's been not a single file explaining about how to banish the ferryman but from what I know is that to banish the demon, the whole bloodline of the summoner should be terminated. I hope my information was useful to you, officer. The church's door is always open for. So, visit me anytime.

                                 Amen

  Ritchie was awestruck after reading the letter. This explains everything,Ritchie thought. The ferryman was summoned by Agatha Pascal. The witch used her own bloodline to destroy the city which destroyed her. Now, he got the answer for his question, Where is the Ferryman?

  Wendy Pascal was the last member of the Pascal bloodline. If she's dead, then the Ferryman should be banished from this reality. So, the people and father Culligan was right that the Ferryman was banished. For the first time in 4 months, Ritchie laughed with happiness. Now, he understood why the Pascal family committed suicide. They committed suicide because they know that they were possessed by a demon which is haunting their own city. But, how Wendy know that she's possessed by a demon and how a small girl had the courage to commit suicide?

  Like the case, one answer leads to many other questions and Ritchie was totally new to these type of scenarios. So, he kept the letter down and closed his eyes and calmed his brain. Now, with a clear mind, he concluded to himself that the case was finally over. The Ferryman is really banished.

  He sighed with relief and grabbed the last letter. This letter was sent by a special one from St. Mary's Home of Orphaned Children. The special one was his mother, who adopted not only him but many other children. Her name is Sister Sandrine. He opened the letter and read:

My dear son Ritchie,

                  I am so happy that my beloved son turns 33 today. Some years back, a couple left you with me saying that they were not in a mindset of raising you. From that day you were born as my child with your brothers and sisters by your side everytime you needed them. I'm so happy that I got a chance to raise you. I heard from your brothers and sisters that you are in a state of depression and loneliness for the past 4 months. They said that you were affected by a mysterious case. There's an old saying, when you fall back ten steps, then raise back a hundred steps. Don’t let your mindset and spirit down, my dear boy. Actually to change your thoughts about your previous case, I thought to tell you something. Thirty three years ago, your father and mother reached our home and asked to help them. Actually they didn’t say that they doesn’t have a mindset to raise. It was a lie said by us to thwart your thoughts on your parents. The truth was that they said you were in danger and if they bring you to their town, you would definitely die. They didn’t mention about the reason but I saw the fear and the truth in their eyes. So I accepted their request and brought you in. You always asked me about their names but I replied that you were not matured enough to know about their names and the details about them. Now I suppose is the right time to tell you. Your mother's name is-

  Ritchie stopped reading. His hands were trembling and his mouth was stammering.

  

  your mother's name is Sa-Saa-Sandra…Pascal. Your father's name is Howard Pascal.

  Wendy's voice echoed in Ritchie's head, My father said he had a brother, but his brother died when he was a baby. Am I a Pascal? Now, father Mulligan's voice echoed, demons always prefer to break strong souls and possess them rather than possess a weak soul. Wendy was weaker from the beginning, which means she didn’t die on her own. Ritchie's mind erupted with thoughts, Everything happens for a reason, I'm the brother of Wendy's father, which means the Pascals bloodline didn’t end. Where is the ferryman? Is he the reason behind all this. Breaking me was the plan from the beginning. Where is the ferryman, now. Where is it? Where is it? What is it gonna do now? 'WHERE ARE YOU FERRYMAN?', he shouted.

  Suddenly behind him, he heard a tingling sound. His room was transitioned into complete blackness. He tried to stand from his chair but his body was not responding to his will. At that moment he heard it. He heard a voice so ancient and like two metals scratching. 'Give me your soul….as my toll'. Instantaneously, a hand grabbed his mouth and pulled him into the ground.

                

                           The End