We were out camping. I was with my younger sister Kayra and my cousins. It was quiet late and we were sitting around the campfire, playing Antakshari, enjoying. My mom was not feeling well so she and dad were in the tent, resting. We were enjoying the barbeque and suddenly there was a loud scream,”Aaaaarrghh”.

It felt like a female voice coming from nearby forest area. We all were shocked and decided not to tell our parents and let them rest. We thought it would be some other campers like us here and they will come to help. So we decided to stay where we were. There was silence and no one of us spoke. We all were a bit panicked and also eager to know what happened.

After some silent and strange moments, alas, there was another scream. We all were scared to death, but decided to help whoever it was. We decided to form two groups and go in different directions. I and my sister went in one group and my cousins formed another one. We decided to give a signal by torch light, if any one of us finds anything.

After we left the campsite, the light that can be seen was only of the torch and moon. Everything else was dark as the blackboard. As it seemed like fifteen minutes of walk, the moonlight also vanished, as trees became dense.  We saw something that scared us like nothing ever did. On a thorny branch, there was a torn piece of cloth and blood was dripping from it.

We managed to keep faith and followed the blood trail, which led to one direction. The blood was not dry hence it was clear that it happened just few minutes ago. With each step in the direction of blood, our panic increased, and to our horror, the battery of our torch died too. Not a single thing can be seen. Slowly, the trees were becoming thin and the moon light was back. There was a clearing in the forest. It was a pond there in between the forest. The water in it was crystal clear and was shining in the moon light. We went around the sides of the pond. At the end of the track, we saw a hallow groove…!!!

The second I saw in the groove, I felt like my heart skipped a beat. There were bones of animals and also A HUMAN BODY of a girl. I tried giving a signal, but in vain, as we had no extra battery.

We didn’t know that the girl was dead or alive. Many thoughts came to my mind within fraction of second, one of them was that an unknown creature could have done that to her. My body reacted by itself. I got hold of my sister’s hand and started to run. But after running like a hundred feet, I realized that I had lost hold of my sister’s hand. When I asked her why she stopped, she said that the girl might be alive…!!

She said that we should go back and help. We went back to the clearing and stopped when we saw two creatures were standing near the groove. They looked like shadows in the moonlight. We could see their backs. My heart came to my mouth…!!! Definitely, they would be that creature who brought that girl here.

I was so scared, but my sister reacted calmly again. She grasped my hand and got out of the trees. I was going to ask her, what was she doing but my question was answered before I could ask it. Those creatures were none other than my lost team - my cousins.

I was so relieved to see them but the mystery of the girl was not solved yet. We reached her, sprinkled some water from the pond to her face. She woke up and we were relaxed to see her alive. We pulled her out of the groove, gave some water to drink and asked her what happened. She was too frightened to speak at first. But after few minutes she got normal and told us that her name was Kriti.

Kriti said that she came here to camp with her group which was at another side of the forest. She was hiding in the forest for a camp game and accidently fell in the groove that was actually made to trap animals.

We all helped her to reach her campsite. She and her friends thanked us and we left for our campsite. There, when we reached, we saw our parents finding us. They were very happy to see us. We told them the whole story. They were proud of us and also a bit angry to leave without telling them.

We all were happy and went to sleep. I will never forget this small adventure of fun, thrill and excitement.

-          Naisha Raychanda (09.12.2019)