Short-story

The Worst Dream

Published

4 years ago

December 18, 2020

Chaandneeka Choudhury
NPS International, Guwahati, Assam

I have a great fascination with hearing tales. I happily occupied the lap of Grandmom as a child listening to her thrilling stories. This is not exceptional, as listened from my Mom too. I love to hear the stories from her. She cracked her experiences of her days in a Medical degree course. The incidents related to the dissection of the dead bodies for practical classes were quite thrilling and exciting. I enjoyed the anecdotes explained by her with action and sounds. I laughed at her when she mocked with actions and choked her throat. I pretend to be innocent and asked her to repeat it again and again till it seeped into my mind. The incidents which I am going to narrate is what I experienced in my dream, the nightmare.

It was a chill, roaring, and thundery rainy night. The windows were shaking with loud sounds, and the curtains were dashing each other. It was raining so heavily that the beats of the showers were piercing my ears. I was stuck in the worst nightmare where I could not even move, scream, or run. The crack sound of the door horrified me. There was a shade in front of me. A lady with fiery red eyes, fluffy open hair, dressed in a white flare dress, was staring at me. I was shaking from head to toe. I was not able to speak as my throat choked due to fear. The horrified lady with screamy black and red tears dripping onto the cheeks said, “I have been waiting for long many years to take you with me to that beautiful destination where the cross-section of dead bodies is done and today is the ultimate day to take you there.”

I was afraid of hearing the quote of the horrifying lady. I stared at her, my heartbeat increased, and I wanted to escape from the room. I dashed the door hard and came out of the room with force. I started running with astonishing speed. Completely drenched.

I could not manage to run fast anymore. Suddenly when I turned back, I saw the lady behind me. Gathered the guts to run again and finally entered a lonely park. The black scary dark sky covered the park. As it was a windy day, the strong waves of wind pushed me back towards the lady. I tried to scream and shout, but so tight that I could not pull out my voice. I was finally stuck in a nightmare and trapped by the lady. “Alas! You are trapped,” she said.

The lady tried to console me with sympathy, “You will enjoy the best company in the dissection room where the dead bodies are waiting to welcome you.”

My hands were tied with a stiff rope, and my mouth taped. I was escorted to the dissection room hall where the dead bodies were screaming. At last, I fainted. I did not wake up anymore. I could not even bid my parents goodbye for my early departure to the morgue. The worst part was that I forgot the looks of my parents.

Suddenly, I regained consciousness. I found myself lying on the floor of the dark dissection room. The dead bodies were smiling at each other. I gained the strength to rescue myself, break the locked door with great force, and started running towards the main road. The road was clear, and I didn’t give up strength because I have to be with my parents again. It was a terrible nightmare for me, and now I am awake; I swear it will affect me every second. And I will be yelling and dying with fear and pain for this nightmare.

The dream continued and added up with the real situation faced by my Grandpa as narrated by Mom when I was a child. My Grandpa was a very picky person and particular with his stylish attitude. It was the night before his wedding when he passed through my Grand Mom’s house. He was thinking of Grand Mom at that time. It was around 2 am, and he was on the way to his home from a feast. Suddenly his eyes caught with a finely dressed girl dressed in white with long hair walking in the opposite direction to a destination. My Grandpa mistook her for Grand Mom and started following her. The lady strolled, but Grandpa could not reach her though he was riding his bicycle with astonishing speed. The intensity and curiosity of coming near her increased, but he could not manage to go close to her.

At last, he was in the mid of the playing ground. Just adjacent to it was the post mortem room where the examination of dead bodies is carried out. Grandpa was in the hope of meeting the girl. But unfortunately, a patrolling car approached him. When the brake was released hard with sound, he regained his consciousness. When interrogated about his visit to this lonely strange place in the late midnight, he explained that the maid at home was in a high-grade fever and he had come to call the physician to his house. The policeman on duty was surprised and asked him to leave the place immediately. The policeman also told him that if he needs any assistance to reach his home, they can help him. As Grandpa did not want to confess the actual incident, he left the place without asking for their assistance. While on the way, Grandpa recounted the incidence he had goosebumps with a choked voice. He somehow managed to reach his home with great fear and anxiety. This story also heated my body, and the day when I had to dream the same incident on my part, I was like a dead body lying on the bed.

The next morning, I woke up with puffy eyes and blocked memory. I spent the whole day thinking about the nightmare. I had snacks with tea and sat down for the preparation of the half-yearly exam. It was almost 11 pm when I had supper, winded up all my works, and was ready for sleep. Suddenly the fear and frustration paved me from every side. My body was cold with calm extremities. Though I was frustrated, I fell asleep. I was half asleep when the freaking nightmare knocked in my dream: the chill, roaring, thundery rainy night. The tremendous beats of rainfall and wind with sounds were shocking and fearful. My trapping voice and faint memory pushed me out of the bedroom. I was suffocating and shouting for help. By this time, my voice was not choked. It was clear as earlier. I was not miming. I got up with anguish, though, but I had the guts to face the worst dream, the nightmare. The chill and dark black night could not invade me. My Grandpa’s incidence of his young age, as well as the worst dream of dissection room, faded away. I was strong enough to face a nightmare with courage. And from then on, I never experienced any scary dream.

Moral- Believe in yourself, believe in reality and not in nightmares.

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Short-story

Fury of Tomato

Published

1 year ago

August 16, 2023

VOV Writer

Advika Bhatnagar
Shikshantar School, Gurugram
Grade 3

Alice, a nine-year-old boy, lived in the countryside of Tinseltown with his Granny. He was a stubborn and edgy child. He liked to eat whatever he wanted and didn’t care much about Granny’s words. This made the old lady very sad.

“Granny, Granny, hunger pangs! I want pizza and chocolate ice cream for dinner,” said Alice

“Wait, child, I’m making delicious chicken soup, healthy multigrain bread, and a fresh salad,” answered Granny.

Alice got angry when he saw salad on the dining table. He yelled, “Again, cucumber, bell pepper, carrot, and tomato. Is that what I will eat? “No, no, no, never, not at all. No dinner tonight.” Granny got worried and left the house to get his favourite food.

Alice was all alone. In anger, he picked up the tomato and threw it at the wall. The red pulp of the tomato almost covered the mid-wall. He was shocked to see the pulp turning into a monster.

“Ha, Ha, Ha, you stubborn boy. Every day I see you trouble your Granny for food. When you hit me against the wall today, I felt hurt. I will teach you a lesson. I am the new king of vegetables. I rule the meals,” said the tomato monster. And then the monster followed him everywhere in the room.

Alice was so scared that he was running in different directions. Sitting under the table, he quietly prayed, “Oh God, please save me from this deadly monster.”

Alice rushed to his Granny’s room, wears her hat and robe. He picks up the embroidered, favourite napkin of the Granny and moves slowly towards the wall. He wipes the tomato pulp, and the monster disappears right away.

Alice gets the lesson of his life to value all food. He vows to take care of Granny, as her belongings protect him. When she was back, he hugged her and said, “I love you so much. I will eat whatever you cook for me.”

The writer attended Takhte Writers & Publishers’ Story Writing Writeshop at Kalasthali, Gurugram.

Photo Courtesy – Andre Taissin (xRUJcUTEp6Y) Unsplash

Short-story

#Anecdotes of India@75

Published

2 years ago

June 2, 2022

VOV Writer

India, an enigmatic and epochal country, has an unparalleled and flourishing cultural legacy, which we are proud to represent. It is steadfast and unyielding, and it will never be lost to future generations. This year marks the 75th anniversary of India’s independence.

Writers are synonymous with bringing about a renaissance, whether literary or social; they function as negotiators to mediate the country’s social and cultural difficulties and, at times, become reformists. They have a legendary imagination, a distinct voice, flawless creative control of wordplay, and the ability to represent reality.

Takhte Writers & Publishers in collaboration with StoryMirror launch the literary contest ‘Anecdotes of India@75′

‘Anecdotes of India@75’ acknowledge the unacknowledged. It could be a person or an incident adding to national ethos, and you as a writer feel that others should know about it. So, start thinking, exploring and writing it in a stimulating story.

Rules:

Participants have to submit their content on the above theme.
Winners will be decided on the basis of editorial scores.
Participants should submit their original content. There is no limit to the number of content to be submitted.
There is no word limit.
There is no participation fee.

Categories: Story

Languages: English, Hindi

Prizes:

Top 2 winners will be felicitated with the Coffee Table Book of Rs2500/- authored by Takhte Writers
Top 20 winners in each language will be published in an ebook by StoryMirror.
Winners will receive digital certificates of appreciation.
All participants will receive a digital participation certificate.

Submission phase – May 29, 2022, to June 28, 2022

Declaration of Result: August 11, 2022

Contact:
Email: takhtevov@gmail.com
Phone/ WhatsApp: +91 9311845524

Short-story

Twisha and Alex on Moon

Published

3 years ago

April 18, 2022

VOV Writer

Reyaansh Bhardwaj
Scottish High International School
Gurugram
Grade 4

Alex was in his science lab carrying out his usual experiments. But, this time, he had thought of making a robot, which he wanted to gift to King Andrew during his birthday celebration. At that moment, Twisha came into the lab with Oreo.

Twisha, a year younger than Alex, is a sweet, pretty and short-tempered cousin. She asked Alex about his new experiment and shared her thoughts about going to the Moon.

Alex said, “Wow! Moon. I know you always wanted to go there. However, right now, going to the moon is more like a dream as we do not have a spacecraft. One day, I will take you to the moon”.

“One day! Seriously Alex. It doesn’t seem that near now. I surely want to go now,” said Twisha.

“Oh, Twisha! Don’t lose heart. I just remembered that Dr Peter is a Rocket scientist. He lives in the U.S.A, and I’ll talk to him about it,” said Alex.

Twisha replied, “Don’t make it tough. I will take you there.”

Alex was wonderstruck and astonished and teased her, “You are not a scientist. Are you a magician? HA HA HA HA HA HA.”

Twisha frowned. Seeing her annoyed, Alex said, “Ok, ok, so when are we going? How are we going? For how long are we going? What are we taking along?

Oreo heard the word going. He whined as if he should not be forgotten in their plans.

Twisha replied, “So many questions in one go. Bro, relax. We’ll go after two days on the full moon night.“

Twisha patted Oreo and said, “My Lil pup, I’m sorry you can’t go this time, but I’ll treat you with your favourite bone and peanut butter.”

As planned, on the full moon night, they both go on the terrace; Twisha asks Alex to lie down on the spread carpet. It was attractive, multicoloured with stars on it

Alex gets grumpy, “Are you serious. Is this your plan? Just lying down, and we’ll reach the Moon.”

“Have patience, this carpet has magical powers, and it will take us to the moon,” said Twisha. Her mind is burdened and overworking how to calm Alex and end his curiosity. Then, as in a trance-like state, she can take him and bring him back quickly.

Twisha picks up the crystal ball and asks him to focus on it and take deep breaths.

In no time, Alex exclaims, “Wowww! We have finally landed. It’s giant. Twisha, you know other names of Moon, its Luna, Selena or say Artemis. Moon is the only natural satellite of our planet and the second brightest object in the sky after the sun. Any object on the Moon will weigh six times less than on Earth. It rests on the tallest mountain, the Mons Huygens. Twisha, you would have read too, that Neil Armstrong was the first person to set foot on the Moon.”

Alex, for hours, kept gaping and looking around in awe. He is surprised that Twisha has not spoken and asks her, “Hey! Why are you not saying anything? You also know so much. So you should share your learnings.”

Twisha giggles and pats Alex’s shoulder, “Hey, Bro, how are you doing? I think you completely enjoyed your visit to the Moon.” Alex rubbed his eyes and looked at her with his mouth open.

Photo Courtesy – aron-visuals-unsplash