Road With Voices

(I'm using my brother's name as Jay and his wife's name as Ren.)

Last month my brother celebrated his fifth wedding anniversary in his wife's hometown of Tekhuba near Kohima in Nagaland. Nagaland is a state in the North Eastern India which is famous for its World War memorial and Hornbill festival. Being in India and having an extended holiday weekend, I joined them in their joy.

Ren accompanied me for sightseeing and then a visit to her aunt's place in Kohima. (Privacy purpose, I'm only going to say it's Northern Kohima.) We had decided to return before dusk but due to certain circumstances, we decided to stay a little longer. We had dinner and started off to (Ren's) home by 2000 hours. We decided to walk a little distance so as to digest the food (I had bit too much due to the delicious local cuisine). The road we were walking on was surrounded by trees on both the sides. It was isolated and there weren't any people. I was finding this place a paradise of solitude. I was taking photographs of the deserted road ahead and Ren was suggesting other places for sightseeing.

Just then, while Ren was speaking, a high pitched voice called out my name from the road behind. It was really high pitched and it broke the silence of the road. First reaction, both of us were shocked and looked back. There wasn't a single soul there. Then, I asked Ren if she heard my name being called out. Then she replied that she thought it as her name. Now, my name and hers (real name) are in no way similar to have been confused with. But I was sure that it was my name but that was weird as the only people who would know my name are Ren's relatives. Were they following us? Nah, why would they?

We both were just standing at the same spot, when we heard another shrill voice (it was sort of a woman's or a girl's voice). And this time, I definitely heard it saying my name. But the worst part was that it was coming from the other side of the road (the way we were heading towards). I looked at Ren who had a confused look, and said "How the hell does she know my name?" to which Ren said that it was her name that is being called out rather than mine. That confused me. (I clearly heard my name. And she says she was hearing hers.) We look at each other and then Ren gestures me to start walking. We walk, without saying a single word for next 1 or 2 kilometers and then Ren stops and looks behind. Judging by footsteps, I stop and look at her and ask her what is it. She looks at me (at that time she had a straight poker face) and again asks me to walk faster. We walked (almost speed walk!) and reached the local ground from where Ren's brother Kun picked us up in his car.

Two nights later everything was fine. Due to some of Ren's relatives coming over, Ren and her cousin Mandy had to share the room with me. I was sleeping on the edge of the bed. Ren was in the middle and Mandy to her other side. I remember that night, Ren was really fidgety and kept turning from one side to another. At first I thought she wasn't comfortable being in the middle and was just trying to find the right posture. But soon, it became sort of irritating as she was disturbing me as well in that process.

After some time (which seemed hours), I heard some murmur and thought that Ren had finally slept and started to snore. And I totally lost my sleep and sat up on the bed. After drinking little water, I just sat looking outside the window. It was almost dawn. And then something moved. At first, I felt it was some movement outside the window. But then something moved again near the wall on the foot side of the bed. I focused my eyes on to the wall and then I freaking realised that it was like a dark shadow of a human figure. The figure was somewhat translucent (I could see the flower vase kept behind her) but enough opaque to be seen by human eye. And I screamed in fright and it woke both of them and Mandy switched on the lights.

Even Jay and Kun who were sleeping in the next room came running. Mandy jumped and opened the door and they all asked what had happened. I, being horribly scared out of my wits and not knowing what it was, said something was there. At that time I didn't notice it but Ren was the only one who didn't ask what it was. Everybody calmed me down and as it was already dawn and I was too shocked, I went to the living room and watched television. After a few moments, Ren came over and sat with me. She looked tired but she couldn't get any more sleep. After apologising to her for disturbing her sleep, she instead thanked me for stopping her nightmare. I didn't say anything as I was still feeling weird thinking that why am I being haunted still. But then she said, she saw her too and broke down.

My reaction was sort of, "Who?" "Whom did you see?" "Why are you saying that it's a "she"? I felt that it was "Evelyn" again but why was she scaring Ren? And then she described everything that had happened since that night.

She told me that on that night when we heard a voice calling our names, she thought it was some kid. But when I said that I heard my name and she had clearly heard her own, she thought that it was weird. The moment when she had gestured me to walk, she was still not sure what it was. But then after a few kilometres she heard in her dialect, "I want your child. I want it. NOW!" with the word "now" almost seeming like a yell. She looked back and she saw a thin woman with untidy long hair, wearing almost rags and shreds of dirty clothes. She was really scared at that moment as she thought that she might even attack us. Then before I could ask, she shared with me a fact that Jay and her were trying to have a baby but they hadn't told anyone yet. And after hearing what she heard and saw, she was shocked and scared to the pit of her stomach.

After reaching the house, she discussed this with Jay and he ruled it out as some insane woman trying to frighten two young ladies on the isolated road and the "child" part was coincidence. But Ren had a very sick feeling. She was feeling sick for a last few weeks and since the baby talk had been stirred up, she decided to test whether she is pregnant or not. It was positive and she was 7 weeks pregnant. She didn't want to share the news with the family before the first trimester and told only Jay about it.

On that night, Ren had fallen asleep only for a few minutes after which she woke up feeling cold. She pulled her blanket up until her chest only to find that the blanket had been pulled down after a few moments. Initially she was frustrated as she thought that maybe Mandy was playing a prank on her. But her blanket kept sliding down towards her feet which annoyed her.

After some time, frustrated with the blanked sliding down, she looked at her side and found Mandy sound asleep. The she turned her head towards the foot of the bed and at that moment she saw that figure. She swears that she clearly saw that same woman (the road), right near her foot, and she was grinning and staring right at her. She couldn't believe her eyes. She felt she was breathing her last breath. Then she realized that she wasn't a human but something else as the figure was translucent as she could see through her. Instantly she shut her eyes close and held her blanket tight and started praying. She kept praying for a long time and she felt me getting up. She thought that maybe I was also experiencing the same thing but then when I screamed, it was the affirmation of somebody being in the room. She feared that it might be some evil entity who is trying to get her attention and something maybe even more precious. And now, that entity coming so near her, inside her house, she felt vulnerable and scared.

I was gob-smacked with all this information. I was happy for them and scared too. We both prayed after that and Jay booked their return tickets (as Ren insisted on returning to their home) on that same day. I left a day after. I am still in contact with her and she hasn't had any other confrontation with that woman as of yet.