The Land of the Dead

It was a sunny morning as Mike skipped down the lively lane of Oak Avenue. It had finally come, his summer holidays. Now he can finally do what he wanted. Watch TV, laze around all day and not study. Although he was good in studies, he did not like to study. He was crossing out the days till his exams ended.  He reached his house and took out the key from under the flower tub and opened the door. He went inside and opened the fridge and took out his after-school snack. His mother had prepared a glass of ice cold lemonade and a mushroom and corn pasta in white sauce. “Yum!” he thought. This was one of his favorites. He gulped everything down and ran up the stairs. He was ready to play some video games. He reached the room. And as he was inserting some batteries into the joystick, the telephone rang. He put the joystick into his pocket. Annoyed, he raced down the stairs and received the phone. 

-“Hello, Robin residence Mike speaking”. 

-“Hello Mike”. 

-“Hello mom”, said Mike. 

-“Well, I have some rather bad news”. 

Mike knew that if his mother said that it was bad news, then it was very bad indeed. 

-“Well we can’t come home”. 

Unlike other kids, who would have liked to stay home without their parents in the night, Mike did not have a good sleep unless they kissed him goodnight. 

- “Why?", Mike demanded, literally shouting. 

- “Daddy’s got a car accident and broke a leg. They said that they’re going to put a plaster on his leg. The procedure is going to take a night at least and the reason he got an accident is because of a car that was chasing us. I just got a minor cut. Don’t worry too much it is going to be fine and don’t come out of the house. We are coming back soon. Lunch and dinner is in the fridge and wash up after you’re done. I love you a lot. Sorry that we couldn’t spend time with you. Bye”.

He hung up. He was in such a shock that he was still clutching the phone tight in his hands. This was too much information for the brain to take in. His father had an accident and he was not allowed to go to the hospital to see him. This was unbelievable. He suddenly realized and switched off the lights everywhere in the house except his room. He sat in his desk and put his head down. He was almost going to start to cry but pulled himself up. He stared at his watch. It was time for dinner. He climbed down the stairs and pulled open the fridge. It was spaghetti with meatballs. It was one of his favorite foods but he did not feel the same enthusiasm to eat it. He ate his dinner very dully and climbed up the stairs. He had so many questions. Who was chasing his dad’s car and where had he got the accident? He went into his room and switched off the lights.

He was going to sleep, he heard a noise. He slowly got up from his sleeping position. He mustered up as much as courage as he could. The door creaked open. It was a shadowy figure. It wore a shadowy cloak with ragged ends. It grabbed the door handle with its rotted hand. Mike tried to scream but it came out in a hoarse whisper. It advanced slowly towards him. Outstretched his hand he suddenly felt a warm tingling in the back of his neck. As the cloaked figure came towards him, he backed away. Finally his hands grabbed the handle of a cupboard. He opened the door and went inside. He closed the door behind him. To his surprise he found himself inside a big hallway. It was lined with silver armors. There were shields and swords hanging in the walls. He looked behind and found himself facing the door he had just closed. He thought of going back but he pictured himself with cloaked figure. He shuddered to think of that rotten hand holding the doorknob and thought better. He walked down the hallway admiring the shiny shields and swords. These were the type of toys, boys liked to play with. He reached out to one and grabbed the handle. A sudden throng of pain shot through his body. He dropped the sword which made a loud noise. He heard footsteps and looked around for a path of escape. He suddenly looked up and saw a large chandelier. He jumped on the suit of armor and grabbed the shield. He climbed on top of the shield which was on the verge of collapsing. He grabbed the sword and the same burning pain shot across his whole body. He stopped himself from shouting and staggered upwards. He kept his foot on the tip of the sword and held the tapestry which he did not notice. The sword had made a little hole in his foot. It was bleeding. Even with all the pain distracting him he still thought of the footsteps that were becoming louder and louder. He grabbed the tapestry tighter than before and climbed upwards. As he was climbing, he noticed a large hole. Large enough for him to climb in. He crawled through it. At last he came to a landing. He came out and found himself in a large room. There was a large and grand chair in the center. Sort of like a throne. The chair turned and he found himself face to face with the same cloaked figure that had entered his room. He stood very still. Almost like he wanted to act like a statue. The cloaked figure cackled gleefully. It said in a high pitched voice, “so you have come to me at last, dear Mike. Quite skillfully you had escaped my army and found the hole. You’ve escaped also my faithful minister.

Congratulations! Well you see you are in the land of the dead and there is no way of escaping. The land of the dead is split into two parts. The first one is the Peolesine. This means in the language of the dead, the paradise. This is where people who were good during the time when they lived are located. The second part is called Yedrasil also called as the land of unjust. This is where people who were killed in a mysterious way, live. The third and the last part is this place. The third and the last part is Memundore. This is also known as the place of sin. This is where all the people who have committed a terrible crime in their life, live. These three parts each have different kind of people. The Peolesines’ they have the exact same form of body with which they died but not solid. The Yedrasils’ they have a solid body but have transparent body parts and don’t have a skeleton, muscles, blood veins, nerves. Us the Memumdore have rotted skin and wear a cloak over ourselves to hide it. Now the one thing you have to understand is that once you enter the land of the dead, you cannot go back. You stay here forever”.

Mike thought about all the people he loved. It couldn’t be possible. He so dearly wanted to see his mother.

“You are telling a lie!” he shouted. The cloaked figure tutted. “You know it is unlucky as a living person in the land of the dead, fades away”. 

-“What do you mean fades away?” Mike asked anxiously. 

-“It means a living boy turns to ashes and withers away”. 

There was a long silence after this. He just didn’t want to believe him. 

-“You see, my minister by mistake opened the portal to your world which was inside the cupboard. Just so that you know” after saying this, the cloaked figure vanished.

Mike could feel his skin wither away. A sudden emptiness befell him. He was withering away. He said in a whisper, “the world is a beautiful place”. The lasts of him flew away and swirled around in the mists of the moors, into the moonlight and vanished.

By Wrishika Ghosh, April 2020, Bangalore