September 1, 2007

Ahmed was a nice 11-year-old boy but he had one problem — his curiosity. One evening when playing cricket with his friends Ahmed hit the ball with all his might and sent it flying into the shabby garden of a huge house surrounded by tall trees. “What a shot!” exclaimed Arsal and his friends quickly went into the garden to find the ball. This house was in a poor condition, the windows were broken and there were spider webs all over. Ahmed was interested in the house. “Wow… I have never noticed this building before!” As he was looking at the house, he experienced something unusual. He felt in his heart that he was unwillingly being pulled towards the house. He felt as if something supernatural was having an influence over him. He felt as if he had an old connection with this house. Ahmed wanted to enter into the house but soon they found the ball and returned to cricket.

During dinner that night, Ahmed asked his dad if he could go into that house. Dad said “Do what ever you like, but don’t get hurt.” At this, Ahmed jumped with excitement but his mother was not very comfortable with the idea until Ahmed told her that he will go there with his friends. Later that night he couldn’t stop thinking about the house and it was not before 1:00 am when he finally went to sleep.

The next evening, he met with his friends and urged them to accompany him to that old and freaky house. But they disagreed and insisted on playing cricket. Ahmed didn’t force them and started playing with them. Ahmed was a clever lad. He thought of a plan to make them go into that house. On the very first ball, he lifted his bat upwards and the ball went high and disappeared into the garden! His cunning plan was successful. Every one watched the ball and then looked at Ahmed knowing what he had done. Ahmed being naughty just shrugged his shoulders with a big grin on his face.

When they reached the house Ahmed insisted that the ball was inside the house and convinced them by showing them the lower window which seemed to have been broken by the ball. All five of his friends had to go in with Ahmed. When Ahmed knocked at the door the curtains started fluttering as if strong wind was blowing. His friends were scared because there was no such strong wind blowing outside the house. Ahmed threw the spider off the door knob and held it with anxious hands, then with all the courage and thrilling pleasure turned it open. Everyone with fast beating hearts followed him into the house.

It was dark inside the house. Ahmed turned on the torch which he had brought with him and they were all stunned at the sight. What they saw was unexpected. The walls of the house from inside were well-painted and there was a big comfortable sofa in the middle of the room. The house was really big with beautiful chandeliers, red carpets, polished stairs and a pleasant fragrance hanging in the air. They were amazed at seeing such furniture and noticed there was no electricity! For lighting, they found candle holders on the wall. Ahmed found a match box and lit a candle. With that candle he asked Shayan to light all the other candles. Now everyone was less fearful and pleased with the sight.

Ahmed’s curiosity regarding the house was increasing every second. They were all thinking why the house was not maintained from the outside and who maintained it from inside. Such questions made them a little scared and little excited. Ahmed wanted to explore the upper part of the house. There were three rooms on the top floor. They visited each and every part of those rooms but couldn’t find their ball. ‘I saw the ball hitting that window right in that room’ said Ahmed. ‘Wait!’ said Shayan, ‘from outside the windows seem to be all broken but from inside they are all furnished with proper velvet curtains!’

The mystery of the house was getting harder and harder to solve. They all started to shiver with fear except Ahmed. At last, they decided to leave the house. As they were about to leave, they heard a wavy and ghostly voice, “Don’t you want your ball back?” the voice was of a teenager but was really horrible and sent shivers down their spines! None of them looked backwards but stopped as if frozen. The voice repeated, “I will do no harm. Take this ball.” Ahmed turned around with excitement. He saw a young boy of about 13 or 14 standing in the centre of the room smiling with the ball in his hand. Slowly everyone turned around and was partly relieved by seeing a smiling face. Ahmed inquired who he was. “I live here all alone,” replied the boy in a distressful voice. Shayan asked his name. He said he was John Smith. He replied to all their questions in his distressful voice.

All was going smooth until Ahmed asked why they didn’t find him in any of the rooms and how he suddenly appeared. At this question he got angry and just vanished! Immediately the furniture started flying at them! Luckily Danial who was near the door opened it and they all got out of the house safely. As they ran out Ahmed caught a shivering sight and stopped. The name bar on the house stated: John Smith (1882-1896) as per the bar the boy was dead! Who had they met? A ghost? It was terrible! “What are you looking at? Just get out of here!” shouted Shayan. “Look! The ... name bar — it is the name of the boy we met!” said Ahmed in a wavy voice. The wind started blowing fast even outside and the sky was lit up by frequent lightening. Ahmed was not willing to leave but Shayan grabbed his hand and dragged him. Ahmed looked back at the house once more and between the curtains caught a glimpse of the face of John Smith!

When he got back to his house his parents were anxiously waiting for him. It was 8:00pm. Ahmed apologised but didn’t tell the full story. When he went to bed, Ahmed was still thrilled about the experience. Before sleeping he wrote in his diary, ‘the day when I met a ghost in a deserted house which stood among tall trees.’ However, from that day Ahmed did nothing just out of curiosity!