THE WATCHER: PART 1

NOTE: This story is based on Author’s fiction. It doesn’t apply to any historical references or real-life incidents.

Everyone has come across the term dream house at least once in your lives. Everyone around us like friends, family and relatives, it’s a lifetime dream for everyone. This is not only in our country. In every countries in the world, a family has a basic expectation and a lifelong dream of owning their own house. The work they do for it, the hard work they have to take, and the loan they have to take, cannot be put into words.

They say a proverb in our natives- Build a house, and get married. Have you ever thought? Why are they giving hype to these two things alone? Because, how much ever we planned about this two things, we will definitely black out somewhere. But no matter how hard it is, the happiness that comes when you finally build that house and move into that new home, I want to say that nothing else will give that much happiness. Because there is no place better than home.

Wherever you go in the world, no matter how many days you stay there. The happiness of coming back to our house and sleeping in our place, that pleasure is not available anywhere else.

Like that only in 2014, a person named Sanjay, who lived in Kannampalayam, worked very hard to get a new house for his family. After saving some money, he was looking at a housing website for his family, i.e., for him, his wife and two children. The days began to move. After several days of searching, like he wished in he found a six-bedroom villa in Shankar Nagar. So when he told this happy news to his wife Anjali, she was in a indescribable joy.

Because, the house which her husband Sanjay looked, was just a few house away from the house where Anjali grew up in her childhood. The people there and the environment are all very familiar to Anjali. So they can settle there easily without any problem. Not only that, it’s a very safe environment for children to grow. So now since Anjali also liked that place very much, they decided to buy that house. But the amount to buy that house is not there in the Sanjay family.

Because the value of the place where the house is located was 15 lakhs. But they have no thoughts of leaving that house and that house was also liked by everyone. So, somehow to buy this house, the amount from the savings they all had, the amount from the bank loan, and the amount was bought everywhere and finally they brought that house. So, after buying that house, for the first time, Sanjay and their family goes to Shankar Nagar to look at that house of theirs. Those who went there, stood in front of the door of that house. The garden around the house, gave a peaceful mind.

Now those who were standing outside and looking at that house, they saw a letter in the mail box at the door. So Sanjay went near that mail box and takes that letter. And there’s no one’s name in that letter. Instead, it was written as the new owner. Sanjay who was confused, thought that maybe the previous owner left a welcoming letter for the new one. He opened that letter now.

Upon opening the letter, Sanjay was very shocked. Because it was not an welcoming letter but a threatening letter. So what was in that letter means, “Dear New neighbor. I welcome you to Shankar Nagar house. My grandfather had been over seeing this house since 1970’s. After sometime, that is after he was not well, my father has been monitoring since 1990’s. So now instead of him, I am monitoring this house. And this year, this house is going to have it’s 110^th birthday. And I am waiting for it with great interest. Do you know the hidden secret about this house? Do you know the mystery behind the walls of this house? Why did you come to this house?” Like this it was written in that letter.

Not only that, along with that, do you want to know who I am? If you want to know that, I am around you only. Maybe among the hundreds of car which goes around 657 Shankar nagar house, I may be among one of that car or when you look through your window, I maybe one of your neighbors. Or around your house in any one places. I may be the one who watches your house every day.” Like this in that letter it was written like being suspicious of everyone.

Sanjay who saw and read this, he started thinking who could have written such a letter. Even though there is a fear in his mind he thought that it might be a prank. But before finishing that letter he should not jump into conclusion. So he continued to read that letter. Sanjay who was confused about that letter, until now, felt something serious when he continued to read that letter. He sensed that there is a big danger for his family.

So what else was there in that letter means, “I saw your children too, you have three children by my count. Why did you come here? Is your old house too small for your growing children? Or did you bring them here to fill this whole house full of young blood? Don’t worry, I won’t come to your children now. But after knowing the name of your children, I will make them come to me.” After writing like this, at the end there was a cursive sign named “The Watcher.”

Sanjay’s family who saw this didn’t know what to do. They were very scared. So for his family’s safety he thought of saying this to the local police in Sulur. But this is just a letter so they won’t believe it. They did not tell the police that they would not take this seriously. However, this letter remained a pain in their heart. So he thought of meeting Deepak’s family who lived there before. So Sanjay went there to see if they have any information.

Sanjay who met the family of Deepak, showed the letter to them, and asked: “Whether you received any letter like this before?”

For that Deepak said, “Sir. We stayed in that house for 23 years. So far we have not received a letter of this kind.” But while he’s saying that, Deepak’s wife Sowmiya Murugesan, said: “Sir. Once a letter like this has come to us.” Sanjay who heard this was very much shocked.

Now he asked Sowmiya: “What was written in that letter? Did you remember that?”

For that Sowmiya said: “I saw a letter in the mailbox. But I do not know what was written in that. As I was urgently going to work, I put that letter in dustbin.” Sanjay was very confused when he heard this.

“A letter like this has also come to those who were in that house before this. But they say that they did not read that letter, is this true or false? If that is true, if someone new comes to that house, they also received such letters? Who would post this kind of letters?” A thought-process has been going in Sanjay’s mind. So to find this he went to the police.

But the police didn’t take seriously. They said: “Since you came to that house for the first time, someone may have done like this just to make a fool of you. They have done this to scare you for the game. Because Deepak also got a letter when he came to that house. But after that they didn’t receive any letter. So don’t be afraid. You won’t get letter after this.”

Not only that, police informed Sanjay, “Not to say about this to anyone.” Because, this type of letter can also be sent by the neighbors. Maybe if they came to know about this they will be alerted. Now after this letter problem settled, Sanjay and his family went from the old house, and decided to move to this new house. So when they were doing the arrangements, another letter came to Sanjay’s family within a week.

Sanjay who took the letter thought that the police said: “It was a prank” and he was very nervous now. He opened the letter and started reading. In that letter the name of Sanjay, his wife Anjali and his children and all of their nicknames and their birth orders, everyone’s information was very detailed in that. What is the most shocking thing about this means, In that letter, it was written- “I saw your daughter painting in portico. Is your daughter the artist of your family? The hallway of this house, wasn’t ruled by the young blood for many years. Did you find all the secrets in that house? Do your kids play in the basement? Or they are afraid to go alone? I definitely wouldn’t go there if it was me. Why because, the basement is very far in that house. Sometimes when your kids play in the basement, even if something happens, you can’t hear them. What are you going to do then, okay just let it go. Where will your children sleep? Attic at the top? Or the street-facing bedroom on the second floor. If you don’t tell me, after you come to this house, I will know who is in which room. So then I’ll make a better plan for that.” That’s how the letter ended.

Sanjay who saw the letter contains their children’s nickname, stopped taking their children to that house. Not only that, they dropped the plan of moving to the house for the time being. Though this decision hit Sanjay’s family very hard, they did it for their children. Like this, when they were in lot of confusions, in a few weeks after the second letter came, another letter came like this: “Where did you go? Shankar Nagar house is missing you so much.”

EPILOGUE AND CONTINUATION

Since those types of creepy letters came continuously, Sanjay who was scared took all the letters to the police. So what did the police do after that? Did they found who sent that letter? Did Sanjay’s family move to their dream house finally? We can see that in Part 2 of this story- The Watcher Twist.