Part 4 The House Behind Mine..iam sure this will be good
Previous part: https://www.reddit.com/r/TwentiesofIndia/s/enlJ47yNi4
I didn't answer the call. I just stood there staring at my own number on the screen until the ringing stopped. My hands were shaking so badly that I almost dropped the phone. I wanted to leave that place immediately, but I had nowhere to go. Because of the lockdown, most of my friends were staying with their families and the few people I knew in the area were not going to let me stay with them. Even going back to my native place was not simple because of the restrictions. For the first time since all of this started, I felt completely alone. I called my colleague and told him that I needed somewhere to stay for a few days. He asked me what had happened, but I couldn't explain everything properly. I just told him that I had found something inside the house and that I was scared to go back. He told me to wait near the main road and said he would try to help me find a place.
While I was standing there with my bag in my hand, I noticed something across the empty plots behind my house. There was another house there. I had seen it before, but I had never really looked at it properly. It was behind my rented house, separated by an empty plot covered with weeds and broken pieces of construction material. The house looked unfinished from the outside. The compound wall was incomplete on one side and most of the windows were covered with dust. I had always assumed that it was empty. That morning, however, one of its windows was open. I don't know why I noticed it, but I stood there watching the window for a few seconds. Then I saw something move behind it. Someone was standing there. I couldn't see the face clearly. It looked like an old woman standing completely still and looking towards my house. I immediately looked away because I didn't want to believe what I had seen. When I looked back, there was nobody there. I told myself it was probably a curtain or some shadow inside the house, but then I noticed that the window was on the exact side facing my bedroom.
My colleague called me back and I told him about the house behind mine. He laughed nervously and said I was probably seeing things because I had not slept properly. I told him I was serious and asked if he knew anything about the house. He said he didn't and told me not to go anywhere near it. He asked me to wait for him near the main road. I agreed, but after the call ended I kept looking at that window. A few minutes later I noticed a small figure standing near the doorway of the unfinished house. It looked like a child. I couldn't see the face because it was too far away. The figure was wearing something dark and standing completely still. I felt my eyes fill with tears because the voice from the previous night suddenly came back into my head. The child had said, "Amma is waiting." I wanted to run, but instead I started walking towards the house. Even now I don't know why I did it. Maybe I wanted an explanation. Maybe I wanted to prove to myself that there was a normal reason behind everything. I crossed the empty plot slowly, stepping over broken bricks and weeds. The closer I got, the quieter everything became. There were no vehicles, no people and not even the usual sounds from the nearby houses.
When I reached the compound wall, I saw that the front gate was not locked. It was hanging slightly open. I stood outside for a long time before finally pushing it. The gate made a long metal sound that seemed much louder than it should have been. I called out and asked if anyone was there, but nobody answered. I told myself that I would only look from outside and then leave. I walked towards the front door and noticed that it was also slightly open. Then I saw something on the floor. There were footprints. They were small and wet, starting near the entrance and going inside the house. I stopped breathing for a moment because I knew those footprints. They looked exactly like the ones I had seen inside the hidden room behind my kitchen. I took a step backwards and my phone vibrated.
It was my landlord.
He had finally replied to my earlier message and simply asked, "Where are you?" I told him I was standing near the empty house behind mine. He called me immediately. His voice changed the moment I said where I was. He asked me to leave that place and return to the main road. I asked him why he was so scared of that house. He didn't answer. I asked him if the previous tenant had anything to do with it. There was silence for several seconds before he finally said, "That house is the reason I told you not to open the room." I felt my chest tighten and asked him what he meant. He then said, "The room behind your kitchen was not built as a storage room." I asked him what it was originally used for, but he refused to tell me. I told him that I was standing inside the neighbouring property and that I had seen wet footprints leading inside. He immediately told me to get out. I asked him one last question and asked whether the old woman and the child had ever lived in that house. He didn't answer. Instead, after a long silence, he said something that I still remember clearly.
"Don't look through the back window."
I don't know why I looked.
There was a large window at the back of the house facing my rented house. The glass was dirty, but I could still see the reflection of my own house in it. At first I saw nothing unusual. Then I noticed something behind me in the reflection. Someone was standing there. I slowly turned around, but nobody was there. I looked back at the glass and the person was still there.
It was an old woman.
She was standing directly behind me in the reflection, wearing a faded saree. Her face was not clear and her head was slightly bent down, as if she was looking at something on the floor. I couldn't move. My eyes filled with tears and I started whispering to myself that this couldn't be real. I slowly turned around again, but there was still nobody behind me. When I looked at the glass again, the old woman was gone.
But something else was there.
A little girl was standing in the reflection.
She was looking directly at me.
I couldn't see her face properly, but I knew she was smiling. My phone suddenly started ringing and I almost dropped it. It was my colleague. I answered immediately and heard his frightened voice asking where I was. I told him I was inside the empty house behind mine. He became angry and told me to leave immediately. I asked him why, and he said, "Because I'm standing outside your rented house right now."
I froze.
I told him that was impossible because he had just called me from the main road. He said, "I'm not at the main road. I'm outside your house." I asked him what he could see. He didn't answer for several seconds. Then his voice became very low and he said, "Your bedroom window is open."
I looked through the dirty glass towards my house. My bedroom window was definitely open. I had locked it before leaving.
My colleague then asked me something that made my heart sink.
"Who is standing inside your bedroom?"
I couldn't answer him.
I looked at the window again and saw someone standing behind the curtain. It was not the old woman and it was not the child.
It was someone who looked exactly like me.
The figure was standing inside my bedroom, wearing the same clothes I was wearing, and it was looking straight towards the house where I was standing.
I started crying.
I don't remember leaving the property after that. I only remember running towards the main road while my colleague kept shouting my name through the phone. I didn't look behind me even once.
Just before I reached the road, I heard a little girl's voice somewhere behind me.
She didn't say Amma this time.
She said my name.
Then she said, "You left me here."
I stopped running.
I don't know why I stopped. Something inside me just froze. I stood there crying, trying to understand what she meant.
Then I suddenly remembered something I had completely forgotten.
When I had first moved into that house, I had found a small child's slipper behind my bedroom cupboard. I had thought it belonged to some previous tenant's child. I had thrown it into the garbage without thinking twice.
But I had never told anyone about it.
Not my landlord.
Not my colleague.
Not anyone.