Cursed

Cousin time

Anwesha's POV

After lunch, we decided to visit the temple which was situated 13 kilometers northeast of our house to meet with the priest and ask for his help.

Following the direction that grandma Kashi gave us, we found ourselves driving through an unpaved road, a bit muddy which passed through the woods. Twigs snapped underneath the tires of our car as we drove on. The path was carpeted with fallen leaves and in some places, the overgrown bushes brushed against our car as we moved forward. We could hear Nightingale calling in the distance. The leaves rustling lightly with the soft breeze. It was very soothing. The tall pine trees formed a canopy restricting the sunlight to enter the forest grounds. We drove on, the distant forest ambiance surrounding us, and finally reached the temple. The temple was situated on a very secluded uninhabited land. There was no locality anywhere near to it. It was hanging at the edge of the mountain right by a steep cliff. The place was surrounded by tall trees, and the rocks around were covered with moss, the ground was beautiful, carpeted with wild mountain flowers of vivid colors. It was such a divine and peaceful sight.

Sis parked the car in the small clear patch of ground by the temple. We stepped out of our car in the beautiful evening with the cold breeze gently caressing our bare cheeks.  It was so pleasant, the dusky orange hue of the setting sun spread across the vast mackerel sky. There was no one around outside the temple, although we could hear the distant sound of the puja bell coming from the temple. We walked inside the temple where we found few priests engrossed with the evening aarti. There were few devotees sitting around, their hands folded in a praying stance, worshipping. We sat with them praying and waiting. After a while, as the aarti got over and slowly the devotees went back one by one, a man around his mid-40s came by. We could easily recognize him by his attire that he was the head priest.  He noticed our tensed faces and hence he came by to ask what was bothering us. We told him about the unnatural things that have been happening to us. He listened to us very carefully, his expression seemed very worried. Finally, when we were done he placed his hand on our shoulders assuring everything will be okay.

"Don't worry dear I will do everything I can to help you!" He spoke which brought a smile to our faces. Hope, hope for things to get better was what we felt.   

"Sometimes even though people pass away, their grudges remain." He spoke as he handed us a lock and key purified with holy water and asked us to lock the basement door with it. "It's better to keep them locked away." 

 He gave us two chains with 'om' carved pendants and asked us to wear them. 

"These will protect you." He spoke. We nodded and wore them around our neck. Thanking him for his help and walked out.

As we were wearing our shoes standing outside of the temple, we heard his worried baritone calling our names. We turned around to meet his worried eyes. He took a deep breath and spoke with a very serious tone.