The profound silence devoured us. We were silently sipping our coffees. Through the window, I could see the vast meadow gleaming under the bright moonlight. The night was getting colder. I wrapped the blanket tightly around myself, and dragged the woolen cap a little down, covering my ears and forehead tightly.

Part of me felt anxious, excited, flushed adrenaline into my blood. However, nothing ever happened. I wondered why I felt excited each time.

Excited for what?

Excited for ghosts.

We were ghost hunters.

We were not like the flashy exorcists you often see on the TV, or in movies, or you read in the books. We didn‟t have any fancy equipment or anything. We didn‟t measure electromagnetic waves as they show. We simply waited, in some haunted house, till something appeared (which never had happened). We were just a bunch of high school boys with enough time on their hands.

We were sitting at a lonely manor house far from the edge of civilization. There were four of us. Charles, Peter, Jimmy and I.

This was a small manor located in the far countryside. And the most terrifying and discomforting fact was that there was no habitation nearby. Like this house had appeared out of nowhere in the middle of nowhere. Nobody knew when it was built. No dates, history or anything else was available. Some locals say that it had been here since the medieval era, but no accurate record could be traced. The government denies the very existence of it. However, there might be conflicts and disagreements about the origin of the house, but everyone was equally terrified of it.

Peter first brought the news of this manor house the previous week. He was pretty excited, constantly blabbering about it, like the local people had observed some unnatural activities. Like once a shepherd was going back home, after sunset. The evening was approaching and everything was getting darker, then on the horizon, he noticed the house from far away. But something was wrong. Each and every window was glimmering with light that evening. The shepherd knew the rumors surrounding the house. He simply started running, leaving his sheep behind - till he reached the nearest village.

Again, once in a blue moon, some shrieking screams could be heard from the house. They were filled with horror and agony. The screams were so loud that it could even reach the nearest villages.

Some time ago some gipsies were passing through the location. As they were totally unaware of the haunted manor, they had decided to stop there for a while. They set up tents across the field. Though the lone house made them curious, it didn‟t bother them much.

The incident happened at the dead of the night. One of them had stepped outside. After a few moments, he started screaming and kept screaming until everybody woke up. But even after that, he kept screaming. They found him rolling insanely on the ground and screaming. Whatever they tried, they couldn‟t stop his cry. They rushed him to the nearest village. Throughout the whole time, he kept screaming. His eyes rolled upwards, blood gushed out of his mouth. But he didn‟t stop screaming. Finally at the hospital, after three days, he stopped.

When his folks asked him about it later, nobody could get a word out of him. He kept his lips sewed. He just closed his eyes and shivered whenever one mentioned that cursed night.

But one thing was sure...

He definitely had seen something.

After hearing stories like these from Peter, we naturally got excited. Four hours of the train journey, and after changing two busses, when we finally reached here on an old truck, the sun was touching the horizon.

As the driver left us with his worried eyes, we stood there for a while and observed the surrounding. Whatever Peter had told us was almost accurate. There was nothing within the sight, except the manor house.

It was a big house in the middle of the void. Only the vast grassland, some hills so far away that they looked blurry and some tiny rows of trees near the horizon. And everything was getting imbued with the golden light of the sunset.

We had to set our base before dark. Hence, we moved in quickly. The front door made a squeaking cry as we opened it. Then we had to make our way through the dense jungle of the cobwebs. There weren‟t many things inside except for some rotten and broken furniture. We noticed several rooms, but all of them were locked with huge rusted locks. The thick plaster of dust on the floor and everywhere else around was indicating that it had been ages since anybody had stepped inside. We made our way to the first floor. The cracked wooden stairs shrieked out loud under our feet.

The first floor was completely empty. We preferred a corner beside the window to make our base station for the night. We placed a sheet of cloth there and sat and waited as the darkness engulfed everything slowly.

Well, that seemed ages ago. I checked my watch which was informing me that it was a little past midnight.

"Do you believe anything would happen?" Jimmy broke the silence.

"Why?" Peter asked.

"I mean nothing has happened till now, and those stories... those could be rumors. This might end up as one of those fake haunted houses we have been before."

"Hmm...."

"I don‟t know whether this is a real haunted house or not." Charles replied, "But I do not doubt the existence of ghosts."

"How come you say that?" I asked.

Charles cleared his throat, and then looked at us.

"Have you ever thought about why I decided to join this club?" He asked.

"That‟s a question that has always bothered me." Jimmy said, "I mean you‟re the most inappropriate member for a club like this."

"Oh, that would be you, Jimmy." Peter laughed, and we followed.

"Anyways, the answer is I... well, was not much of a believer of ghosts. But... quite a while back, something happened."

"What?" Peter and Jimmy asked together,

"Oh well, it was a few years back. You know I was searching for this particular book for my regional history assignment. And unfortunately, I could not find it anywhere, neither at the shops nor at the libraries. Then one of my friends informed me about this library which housed many rare old books. So, I went there. As far I remember the library seemed very ancient. I could smell the damp pages of the books. The lighting was poor, you could barely read the words, which was very unusual for a library. I couldn‟t even clearly see the face of the librarian in that dark. At first, they were reluctant to make a card for me. Strange isn‟t it?" Charles laughed, "But then I showed him my ID. So, they allowed me to copy from the book, but I was not allowed to borrow it."

"I remember it was raining cats and dogs that evening. And the cold was intense, bone-chilling. It took me a while to copy the references. When I finally finished and went to put the book back on the shelf, I noticed an odd book. You know, leather-bound, thick and black. I didn‟t know why... that book had something strange, like it was tempting me to open it. Out of curiosity, I took it out. The cover was black, no title or anything written on that. I simply flipped it open without much thought...."

"Then?" Jimmy asked. "Inside there was a picture." "Picture of what?" I asked.

"A face, a human face. But it was the strangest face I had ever seen. The eyebrows were like a thick forest. The nose was flat like it had been ironed, and The lips were like that of baboons. The eyes were shut like a picture of a dead body."

"So?"

"Till then everything was strange... but at least normal, odd but not surreal. So, I was staring at this picture. Suddenly it snapped open his eyes, and started laughing."

"You mean the picture?!" Jimmy gasped. "Yes, it kept laughing with its big red teeth." "Then?" I asked.

"Then what? I was so shocked that I dropped the book and ran out of the place, and kept running in the rain till my legs hurt."

"Woah!"

"Yes, after that I had nightmares for quite a while. But...," he paused.

"But what?" Peter asked.

He looked outside the window, "I want to be sure whether that was a hallucination or real? Whether I really saw something that strange? Or was it my mind which tricked me? I want to experience something like that again. I want to be sure."

"Hmm...."

Peter adjusted his seat, "Well, you‟re not alone." He said. We all looked at him.

"What?" Jimmy asked. "You have a story too?"

"Well, something like that." He cleared his throat. "It was two years ago. My grandfather had just passed away. And we went to their place to attend the funeral."

"So in the evening, all the cousins were sitting together, and somehow the topic of supernatural was on. We were discussing about different types of ghosts, stories, etc. Oh, by the way, there was a power failure. So in the dark, it was quite thrilling. And then...."

"Then what?" Jimmy asked eagerly. "Then I felt the urge to visit the toilet."

"Argh! What‟s the horror in it?! The toilet actually felt the horror, you should say."

"Patience boys...." Peter stopped him, "First listen to everything."

"So, I had to go to the toilet, and it was quite a big house and old too. So many rooms, I only had a candle with me and made my way through the long dark corridor, and as I entered and sat on the toilet. Well...."

"Well...?" I asked.

"Everything was fine for a while. But then I heard something."

"Heard what?" Charles asked.

"Somebody was murmuring, more like chanting. At first, I was confused. I couldn‟t grasp the meaning or the source. I thought it was coming from outside. But it felt much closer. Then I discovered the source."

"Where?" Jimmy asked.

"Below my butt, from inside of the toilet, I instantly looked at it. In that candlelight, in that dark cold toilet do you know what I saw?" he paused, creating suspense. "From the gap between my thighs, I only noticed two bright shining eyes, glowing inside the toilet."

"Then?" Charles asked.

"I ran...."

"Without pants." Jimmy added. "Shut up," Peter said grumpily.

"Hahaha! That was quite gross." Jimmy rolled over laughing.

"Just shut up okay!" Peter said. "Okay...."

Again, silence prevailed.

Few more minutes passed quietly before Jimmy reached his farthest limit of being quiet. He suddenly stood up.

"I need to urinate."

"Then go," Peter said, still being grumpy.

Jimmy yawned and headed towards the ground floor. The stairs shrieked in pain again as he stepped on them.

He had not gone for a minute. Suddenly a scream startled us all.

It wasn‟t any ghost. It was from Jimmy.

We looked at each other, and then rushed downstairs.

Jimmy was lying there, in front of the house, collapsed on the ground.

We grabbed him up.

"What happened?!" Peter screamed onto his face. But he was too shocked to respond. He kept mumbling in his panic-stricken state.

"What?!"

With his trembling hand, he pointed towards the field. We spun our heads.

What we saw, a living being should never witness. In the field... they were running....

Who were they?

I did not know. I did not want to know.

But I knew that they did not belong to this mortal world.

They were countless in numbers. Each and every one of them was running, spinning, jumping in that vast field, under the shimmering moonlight, running frantically, like celebrating the ecstasy of insanity under that mystical night, in that endless field where nothing else could be seen.

Or perhaps it was just one. It was not something that a mortal mind could analyze or mortal senses could perceive properly.

Suddenly the movement (or the surreal dance) paused.

My legs unintentionally started trembling.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

Another scream startled me. It was Peter this time. His eyes were almost popping out of terror. His mouth was wide open. He was having a panic attack.

Humans are selfish creatures, it doesn‟t matter whatever they claim about society or humanity, in the end, they always think about themselves first. And in those moments, they tend to be more selfish.

I did a selfish act too. I left them and ran inside. But I knew the house wouldn‟t save me either. But my mind was not working properly. It just needed shelter, a cover, a false sense of security.

I didn‟t know where I was heading for. Suddenly I noticed one of the rooms was open.

I barged into the room and shut the door behind me.

I was panting, sweating, gasping for breath. My heart felt like it would explode at any moment.

The room was completely dark, damped and heavy with a stench. I didn‟t know for how long I stood there, frozen with horror. I didn‟t know what had happened to them. I couldn‟t hear a thing from outside. Everything was dead quiet.

I took the flashlight out of my pocket and turned it on. I squeezed my eyes, as the light sprang into life. But then I noticed it.

There were some things laid out on the dusty floor. They were piled one above another. I shot my flashlight towards it.

Those were human bodies.

They were soaked in blood, ripped and clawed. Blood was dripping out from the torn flesh. Bones were peeping out.

They felt fresh, freshly butchered.

A lightning bolt passed through my body as I recognized those clothes. I pointed the light towards their faces. Those lifeless, faces, like blood was sucked out of them, snow-white, with terrified wide eyes.

Those were the faces of Jimmy, Charles, and Peter. I felt like vomiting.

"Grrrr...!" Something rumbled.

My flashlight automatically pointed upwards, hitting the high ceiling.

I saw it. It laughed. The laughter seemed out of the world. The flashlight fell from my hand.