Wood Flower

 

It was 3 o’clock in the afternoon when Adam stepped inside the Sundown Estate. It had been empty for nearly ten years, before it was opened up as a one-day shelter for people who wanted to call it a day over here in Milwaukee. However, it was also the spot of many deaths – deaths happening out of nowhere…some said that the house was – in fact – haunted…

‘Pff! Rubbish!’ Adam had commented upon hearing from the groundskeeper, Tom.

‘But Sir, it’s true indeed. Up until now, a total of 16…’

But Adam just brushed aside his words. Superstition!

Adam had completed his round of the first floor. (even though he was staying here for only one day, he liked to just take rounds of each place in and around the house.) He was about to to enter the second flower, when something suddenly made him nearly trip over. Tom rushed over to his visitor to help him…

And that’s when he found the wood flower.

It was nothing, just a five-sided figure in the shape of a flower. It was laying over there, on the last step. It was painted on only one side, and its colour was…

Blood-red.

‘Say, Mr.Catcher, where did this flower come from?’

Tom remained silent.

(Don’t spill)

Adam observed the flower carefully. It looked nothing extraordinary – just a simple, plain structure of a flower, but something about it made him feel a bit unusual…as if…

As if this flower was not anything out of the ordinary.

Keeping the flower in his pocket, he returned to giving his rounds around the house. Only this time, he saw that the groundskeeper was also behind him, just keeping a little distance away from him. When he finally completed all his rounds, he sat down on an old couch on the ground floor, and then asked:

‘Um, is there something wrong Mr.Catcher? I saw you following…’

His words did not finish, for Tom interrupted him, saying with a bit of fear:

‘Sir, this place is not good.’

‘Ya, sure. It needs a little dusting here and there…perfect for a 2-day stay…’

‘No, Sir. This house. This house is not good.’

Adam now looked up towards the old groundskeeper. He saw his face had suddenly turned pale.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘It’s that flower, Sir. The wood flower.’

Adam suddenly remembered about it. He had completely forgotten the little intruder. He put his hand in his right breast pocket, and took out the wood flower.

‘What about it?’

‘Sir, the flower…the flower…’

‘What Mr.Catcher?’ Adam asked. He was beginning to grow impatient.

Tom wetted his lips, and then said:

‘Sir, out of the twenty people who came here, all of them had died after they found the wood flower…Sir, that flower is cursed. Believe me, Sir, I can’t simply…’

‘Ha Ha Ha Ha!!’ Adam laughed aloud. ‘What? Cursed flower? Really Mr.Catcher, you make such fine stories…’

‘No Sir. It has been said that the…that the…’ Tom got stuck again.

‘What?’

‘…that the daughter of the last owner of this house still roams about here…’

Adam now stood up. Then, facing the groundskeeper, he said firmly:

‘Listen, Mr.Catcher. You know my business – you know the pains of a promoter when he has to select a suitable plot. I’ve been sent here from the Head Office at Chicago to study it carefully and see if it is fit for house-building…but if you continuously try to scare me by saying stuff like this then I’ll be entitled to…’

‘No no.’ Tom replied back. ‘I’m not scaring you Sir. But I’m just warning you about it. Sir, the place is not good. A lot of people…’

‘You said twenty.’ Adam interrupted, an eyebrow raised.

‘Well, Sir, this was at first a tavern for hungry travelers, and also a night shelter. That too had to be closed down because of the murders…’

‘Murders?’

‘Yes Sir. The traveler who used to stay there was found dead – his neck was slit open, and his blood would lie around him, as if someone had spray-painted it. And Sir, it would lie over there – the wood flower. The deaths didn’t stop over here too…bad…bad this place is…’

But nothing could be done. Adam had made up his mind to stay over here for the night. Then, a disappointed and slightly frightened Tom told him when he would be served dinner, when he would be bought his bed-tea, and so on. Then, being rejected again of his plea, he opened the door, and disappeared into the gathering darkness…

Adam – yawning – opened up the light of the chandeliers. These would be substituted by tube lights. The old-fashioned mahogany cabinets were okay, but they gave out a sound, similar to a female infant crying…so they had to be also substituted by…

Adam suddenly stopped his thinking.

Was someone crying upstairs?

He felt his heart give a skip. Then brushing that off, he slowly went upstairs. The crying got louder over there. It was as if a female…

infant was crying!

Adam heard it again. Yes, it came from the second bedroom over there. He slowly opened it, and saw…

Darkness. Gathering, misty darkness.

Adam felt a little foolish. It was all because of that codswallop Mr.Catcher. Who in hell gave him the idea to tell him those stories. Now he was imagining all of it!

As Adam was about to go down, his eye caught something.

The wood flower.

It was lying on the bedside table. As he picked it up, Adam saw something else.

Was the red colour looking darker and brighter?

As he was pondering on it, he suddenly heard another sound: no, not of crying, but that of crows.

It was as if the silence in the air was shattered by the sudden loud crowing of crows. It came not too far away…

Adam rushed down, and went into the old garden. There, upon a branch on a yew tree, stood a hundred of crows, who were crowing out aloud. Upon closer inspection, Adam saw that a crow lay beneath the branches. It was clearly dead…they were mourning for it…

The crow’s blood trickled down to the grass – its throat had been slit open.

***

After dinner – at about 9 o’ clock in the night – curling his hand around a cup of coffee, Adam was sitting on the chair in the second bedroom – the spot where he had come earlier in the evening. He was still a bit confused and scared about the crow incident. Perhaps it had been sitting on that branch, when suddenly it lost balance and fell down, and it was over here that it might have…

Slit its throat?

Adam looked at the small red figure on the bedside table. The flower just lay there, staring into the dimly-lit ceiling above it. He couldn’t understand why was this flower was something out of the ordinary? What was the groundskeeper saying? Yes, all deaths which had occurred over here were under witness of that wood flower…

He suddenly sat bolt upright.

‘Pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat…’

Was someone walking outside the room? But how can that happen? He was all alone…

Again the sound of the footsteps came…

‘Pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat…’

They made a muffled rasping voice on the wood, as if…

As if a little girl was walking about.

Adam stood up and approached the door. His body had suddenly erupted in goosebumps. Seriously, why did he listen…

He opened up the door, and saw…

‘Jesus, darkness!’ Adam spoke out angrily. There was no one over there…everything looked the same…

Adam went back to the bedroom again. Just as he was about to put out the light, his eyes once more fell upon the wood flower…

It seemed redder than before…

***

Adam woke up with a jolt. He had heard it again. The footsteps.

Those little, muffled footsteps had begun again.

Switching on the torch, he looked around. Nope, no one there. Just darkness…

Wait, did something move over there by the chair?

Adam flashed his torch over there. The chair was empty…

A wave of fear now began to come over Adam’s face. He didn’t know why but he had the feeling that someone was over here…someone who was hiding in the darkness…someone…

Whose cold breath he could feel right then on his neck!

Adam closed his eyes. Then slowly turning around, he opened his eyes.

Out of that darkness, two hands suddenly grabbed his neck and threw him down on the floor!

‘AH-HHH-H!’

Adam screamed aloud. But who would hear him? In the darkness he saw two hands holding his neck and shaking it vigourously. Panting and scared out of his wits, he saw – in the dimming light of his torch – that the two hands…

Were actually of a doll!

No, not one of those Barbie dolls which all kids wanted now, but it was one of those porcelain dolls, whose hands, eyes, and everything were made out of glass. The doll stared back at him – its glassy eyes motionless!

And then, it spoke:

‘You stole my flower. YOU STOLE MY FLOWER!’

‘W-what?’ Adam replied back. His eyes were starting to close…he couldn’t…

And then to his horror, he saw someone else rising behind the glassy figurine. He couldn’t see clearly in the darkness, but when the figure came closer – silently and slowly – he saw that it was a girl – a tall, fair six (or maybe seven)- year old girl. She just stood there, looking at Adam. There was an unknown rage behind her eyes…

(those eyes)

He then panted out, ‘Help-help me! Please oh God! Oh God! Help me! HELP ME!’

The girl said nothing, but just stooped down, and picked up something, which frightened Adam even more.

The red wood flower! It now appeared even redder and brighter than before…

Then, he saw the girl then take out a thin object from her pocket. Upon coming closer, he saw that it was

A glittering knife!

Adam now shrieked out, and tried to struggle himself out…out of this nightmare he had fallen into…but he couldn’t…his energy was fading…

And then – just as he was about to blackout – he saw the girl lift the knife high, and then, smiling, she said:

‘You hurt the wood flower. You’ll be punished.’

Then the darkness of the room was split by the sudden stabbing of the knife into human flesh, an ear-splitting scream, and an unearthly laughter of a doll which echoed around the old house…

***

Sunlight flooded into the bedroom located on the west side of the Sundown Estate. Over there, a man woke up with a start. Going over to the window, he tried to recollect what happened last night. It all seemed to him like a blur…like a…

‘It happens, you know.’ a voice suddenly called out.

The man turned around, and immediately gasped aloud.

It was the girl!

And suddenly, Adam remembered everything what had happened.

But then…but then…

‘Oh, I forgot.’ The girl again spoke. She was smiling. ‘It’s over there.’ She pointed a finger to a spot, beside the bed. Adam went over there slowly – his body was feeling weird and a lot lighter – and what he saw, nearly made him scream.

Whose body – now flooded in blood issued from the neck – lay over there?

Adam looked up, and finally screamed out.

The room was suddenly filled with people, who had all their throats slit!

‘Don’t worry.’ the girl said. ‘It’s all because of the wood flower. You shouldn’t have touched it, you know. You anger her.’

Adam didn’t understand what she was saying.

‘Who are you? Do you know what is happening?’

The girl just laughed. It was misty and tinkling.

‘I was the daughter of the last residence owner who lived here. My father – you see – practiced the dark arts. I had passed away quite suddenly at the untimely age of seven, due to pneumonia. Also, at that time, this house was also under the eyes of greedy promoters. So, my father performed a ritual, where he laid my soul inside my favourite porcelain doll. He furnished a wooden flower, and said that whoever touched it, they will face an untimely death, and will be forever imprisoned under the ropes of Wood Flower…it is powerful, you see…it is evil…’ her voice trailed off…

Adam perhaps had understood what she said. But there was one more doubt left…

‘The wood flower…does it murder the people?’

The girl laughed aloud.

‘Yes, yes. Whenever someone touches it, or throw it somewhere away, that person or animal will die within six hours – that was the duration of the ritual – and the blood which issues out, the wood flower absorbs it…the wood flower feeds on the blood of those who enter this house…NO ONE EVER LEAVES…

‘So, so that means…’

‘You will now forever stay with us, Mr. Adam. That’s how the wood flower works. You will never get out of this place…we would live here together, do everything together, and even laugh together…Ha ha ha ha !!’

The others now joined in with the laughter. It echoed around the room…along with it, the laughter of dolls also chimed in…

Adam looked down on the bed, and smiled at the five-shaped figure lying over there…

The wood flower.

Whose color was a brighter shade of red…gleaming in the sunlight.

***

M.Macabre

11.11.2020

Dedicated to: Sayak Aman, Anonymous, Redi

Image courtesy: M.Macabre