La Casa de Pooja - Daniel Davis

"What did Uncle Claude see in her anyways? Aside from the fact that she speaks a language like your mother's?" Sean asked Daniel as he jumped into Miss Amrita's back lawn through the low wall and Sean followed him.

Jumping in, Sean saw the doorway leading into the living room as something occurred to him and he said: "Wait, that can't be. You know Urdu too and he still doesn't like you. So…"

"Shush! Can you hear that?" Dan said in a whisper. "What?" he also replied, concentrating, as they both went inside the living room which was lit only by a few candles.

"Don't tell me you still can't hear it!" Daniel said again urgently, this time in a pleading tone but Sean couldn't understand what he wanted him to hear and his eyes landed onto something. He pointed at it with lightning speed. "Look! What's that?" He said, curiously.

It was a large portrait hung just above the fireplace. He picked a candle from a nearby coffee table and moved closer to get a better look. It was a long human (?) with a skin color which looked grey but it was so dark that it could be mistaken to be black. His fiery red eyes reminded Daniel of something but he couldn't remember what it was. The creature was wearing a long, black robe which hid its slender hands placed majestically on the armrests of the magnificent, black throne.

Daniel felt like he would explode of fear as he thought of his dream. The painting was of the Ifrit King, Shah Furaith.

Heart thumping with adrenaline, he said:

"Let's keep moving before she comes back." And he could still hear it, the noise.

Moving ahead, they passed a perfectly normal kitchen except for the fact that the kitchenware in there was a bit too large for a human, let alone the smaller-than-average-human Miss Amrita. Leaving the kitchen as it was, they entered the study room.

It was spacious, different from the other parts of the house but the lighting here was also just as dimly lit as the living room. There was one strange thing about that room. It was that Daniel could hear the voice more clearly now. He was able to deduce that it was a low and repetitive whisper but could not make out the words.

Danny looked around the room, but only found the same thick book which Miss Amrita was reading earlier. He opened it but it was written in a foreign language, rather he was certain that such a language script was not present on this world. An ominous sense of foreboding crept over him.

Flipping the pages, he could see various illustrations of similar demonic creatures like the one in the living room and at many pages, there were human bones and eyes drawn everywhere. Sean tried to fake a smile but it ended up looking like a grimace.

"This!" Daniel clasped the book shut in excitement; it was exactly what he needed to prove his point to his father. Now, everyone would believe him and know that Miss Amrita is a witch-

"Thud!" Sean flinched at the sound which came from underneath them. And the low whisper increased its volume into a scream of agony, uttering still unintelligible words from a foreign language.

The horrific voice was accompanied by a regular, loud thud which amplified its viciousness. Dan grabbed Sean strongly and ran out of the room in a dash as he handed the book over to Sean who placed it in his empty satchel, In moments, they were out, huffing and sighing, catching their breaths on the road.

*Huff! Huff!*

Both the boys were looking at each other in amazement as they were still catching their breaths, smiling. "We did it!"

Sean said: "So when are we going to expose her?"

"Oh I don't know? Maybe we could ask Fitz to slip it in the school news tomorrow." Daniel Davis suggested, at which Sean Smith let out a laugh, like it was the best thing he'd heard the whole day.

***

The two shadows ran for their life as they leapt into the cave hurriedly. As they talked to each other, the baby she held looked thoughtful. 'The same dream? Again?' It was thinking.