The Deserted Hut

Tomba and Ahanlem arrived before a noisy crowd along with Chaoba and Naoba. As they drew closer, they saw that someone was getting beaten up while an old lady was trying desperately to stop the anger driven crowd. She was bawling her eyes out as she wailed, "It's not his fault! It's not his fault! Spare him!"

"Shut up! You are just as guilty as your bastard son!"

"That's right! We are not laying any hands on you only because you are an old hag!"

"How dare you bring a beast in this peaceful town? You both must be evil practioners!"

"No, no, no! Please, spare us! Forgive us! I beg you!" wailed the old woman.

And the mob continued assaulting the man and old woman. It was a pitiful sight. Nobody said anything for a moment until suddenly a voice spoke up, "Stop it."

Everyone turned to the person who spoke. It was the most unlikely person who cleared her throat and spoke again, "Ahem. Sorry to interrupt but let me ask you, who are out looking for the missing child and the, um, mad woman?"

Everyone was silent for a minute or so until one of them said, "I think Pishak and few men went to chase them.."

"I see. Which direction?" Ahanlem said.

"The north..?"

"Well then. I don't dare to be rude but I suggest we all go look for the child as fast as possible. Every minute counts. We are wasting our time here. You can beat them up to your satisfaction after the child is found."

"..."

"..."

"I guess you are right. But if we all go, who will take care of them?" someone finally said.

"Tide them up first. Then lock them up. And of course, two or three people have to watch over them until everything is over." Ahanlem suggested.

"Alright. I'll take watch."

"Me too."

"Good. The rest of us will take torches and begin search. But remember don't shout or call out. Or else we might alarm the mad woman. I suggest it's better to open our eyes and listen carefully. Specially, the sound of someone laughing or crying, got it?"

"YES!" the crowd said in unison.

"Then, let's go!"

Leaving the culprits and rest of the town, all the men set out in the north direction in haste.

--

Ah, Ahanlem would have never imagined the ordeal she was presented at the very moment. She was your average first year college student who was on her university excursion on the hills for a project. But she lost her way trying to sightsee then slipped her footing and fell off a cliff in mere seconds. It all happened so fast! Before she could even registered what and how, she was falling to her death, hit her head on something and she woke up after a long time. And of course, beaten awake at that too. At first, she thought everything was a bad dream but shockingly realised she was stuck in the wrong place and at a wrong time.

After this realisation, she immediately panic and tried to tell it was not true. Must be a dream or a nightmare. But days went by and the harsh truth was staring at her in the face and she reluctantly accepted her situation. With no one to rely on in this unfamiliar place, she imposed on the simpleton Tomba and stayed with him, helping him with his chores and meals. And Tomba seems to not mind her habitation and even lied to the whole neighbourhood that she was his little cousin who came to stay. They accepted the explanation and welcomed her. How simple. Ahanlem was grateful for it but she was always anxious.

Why? Because she was hiding her identity from everyone. That, she is actually a girl!

Having landed in this timeline dressed in her big hoodie, torn jeans and white sneakers, Tomba failed to identify her real gender, which was good. And since then, she always kept a low profile while interacting with Tomba and everyone. And she planned to hide this fact as long as she can because it was scary being a girl in this uncertain place. Who knows what trouble might happen to her. So she dressed up as well as behaved like a boy, not that there was much difference from how she usually is.

Anyway, she had wanted to stay quiet as possible until she could figure out how to get back home. Then, this happened. She felt so sorry for the old lady who reminded of her grandmother that she had intervened to help.

And there she was.

And now she felt a headache coming.

How was she going to help capture the mad woman and rescue the child?

She had no plan. It was a spur of the moment thing when she decided to took lead. And just like she feared, Naoba who was walking ahead of her, turned and said, "Ahanlem, we didn't bring any weapon besides our torches. Any suggestions?"

She was about to answer when Chaoba snickered, "We'll use your body of course!"

"Hey, Shut up!"

"To be honest, I'm surprise you actually spoke up like that. Right, Tomba?" Chaoba said ignoring his twin brother.

"Yeah..yeah.." Tomba mumbled. He looked anxious and awfully paled.

"Hmm? What's the matter with-" Chaoba was saying when suddenly they heard a series of mad cackling nearby.

The four of them abruptly stopped walking. Their hairs stood on end. Fear was clearly drawn on their faces. They stood and listened for a while until it stopped altogether.

Under the light of four torches against the dark night of the woods, Chaoba took lead and gestured with his free hand to follow him. They trailed behind each other cautiously until they came upon a clearing. Soon, the fire lights revealed an old worn down hut in the near distance. As they approached closer, they saw the straw roof was tattered and the bamboo pillars holding it were full of holes. They quietly walked towards the wooden door which was beyond damaged but it seemed to be locked from the inside. They looked at each other silently, confused as to what to do. Then, Ahanlem kneeled down and peered through the tiny holes in the door. She narrowed her eyes to see clearly. There, sitting in the middle of the room was dark big silhouette. Naoba raised the torch slightly and sat down beside her. Finally, the lights revealed the shadows. The kidnapped child seems to be sleeping; his face was dirtied and stained with tears. He seems to have exhausted himself from crying. And cradling the child in her arms was a young pretty faced woman. Her eyes cast downwards, gazing at the sleeping child and she was humming a sweet lullaby with a pleased expression.

The scene looks to be nothing wrong except that the woman giving a sweet motherly vibe was no one but the mad woman who almost killed and then kidnapped the victim's child.

"What shall we do now?" Naoba whispered to her. Chaoba was looking at her too for the same.

Well, don't look at me, Ahanlem complained inside. When she took the lead back then she only wanted to stop the rowdy crowd from further assaulting weak people and only wanted to lead them towards the right effective action and save time. She didn't actually believe her group will be the one to run into the culprit so fast. What a stroke of bloody luck!

In the end, she sighed and said, "Chaoba, Tomba, both of you stay guard here quietly. Naoba and I will go back and bring the others. Is that fine with you two?"

"What?! No way! I can't-" Tomba whimpered but Chaoba cut him, "Okay!"

"Good. Until, we come back with people, don't try anything dangerous."

"I know! Now get going."

And so, Ahanlem along with Naoba quickly left. But the further she walked away she felt a dread crawling over her spine. Anxious, she quickened her paced and after a long while in the night she heard Naoba cried out, "Look! I can see torch lights! We found them!"

And sure enough, she can see and hear the sound of people and their voices in the near distance.

"Naoba! You called them and bring them over. I'm going ahead first." Ahanlem said.

"Eh? What are you saying? Why can't we all just go together?" Naoba was dumdfounded.

"No time! I feel something bad is happening, I can't wait, you hurry up and called them. I'm going!"

Saying so, Ahanlem hurriedly left.

She finally arrived gasping for breath with her hands leaning on her knees. She raised her head and look forward. She immediately widened her eyes in shock.

Chaoba was lying down on the ground, two torches haphazardly burning by itself near the hut and Tomba was nowhere to be seen.

---