The curse of
SANDS A short story
Sneha Gupta
Author -
Sneha Gupta
Copyright Š Sneha Gupta
All rights reserved. This story has been published for free read on internet. It is the intellectual property of writer Sneha Gupta. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Author.
Sands : May 2013
SANDS My head was still dizzy when I woke up. Environment outside was quite noisy but I couldn’t hear a single word because of the locked doors of our van. My blazer was rolled under my head. I picked it up and put it on. Slightly unlocking the door, I stepped out. My half open eyes gave a view of Eric’s legs. He was under our van. I carefully jumped out and lowered my head, “What happened, Eric? What are you doing there?” “Nothing!” he replied without coming out, “Sometimes your van behaves just like a crazy girlfriend. That’s it!” His words didn’t make me laugh. I wondered how I heard so much noisy voices when everything was quiet outside. My head was still staggering. But I held myself and tried to do a quick inspection of the surroundings! SANDS….! Sands everywhere! I closed my eyes tight and shrugged my head. SANDS….! We were in a desert.
“Eric??” I called him, “Where are we?” Neither did he look at me nor did he reply. “Elle…” It was Susie. I looked back and found her looking disappointedly at Eric and our van. “What happened, Susie?” “You remember the sandstorm which struck us when we were on the highway?” she asked holding a juice can in her hands. “Yes, I do.” I replied buttoning my blazer. “All of us had fainted. And when we woke up today, we found ourselves here. Almost two kilometers far from the highway!” She replied in really disturbed tone. “But how could that be possible?” I asked, “How could that sandstorm pick a van full of five humans and dump it here like this? I mean look at the van. I can’t locate even a single scratch.” Susie didn’t reply. Her voice and facial expressions were enough to tell me the intensity of her anxiety. I decided not to ask her anything else. Nicholas was counting the number of food cans just a few paces away our van. He was incharge of food department of our trip. Having the round-bellied Nicholas around us, we never had to worry about our foodings. In spite of the anxious voice tone of Susie and annoyed behavior of Eric, Nicholas looked quite stress-free. He was counting the food and juice cans as if we were to start another trip soon. His cool gesture gave me some relief and I sat beside him with my shoes in my hands. “Hey Nicholas!” I tried to drag his attention towards me. Usually he didn’t like to be interrupted during his calculation of food-items. “Hey Elle!” he looked at me and passed a smile. Well, I understood why cheerful people become so popular. Who won’t love to be greeted with a smiling face? And yes! I was more popular as ‘Elle’ than ‘Electra’.
“What is happening here?” I asked as I put my left foot in the shoe and tied the lace. “Last night when Eric was driving, a sandstorm struck and when we woke up today, we found ourselves here.” He replied without the slightest note of worry. Not the problem but Nicholas’ gesture on the whole matter was quite surprising. “Isn’t it weird? Aren’t you worried about it, Nicholas?” I asked. “No!” he replied without any expression, “Everything happens at God’s will. Then why should we worry?" he replied. Nicholas’ ultimate faith in God Almighty had turned the atheist Eric in a true devotee of Almighty Father. Having Nicholas around always gave a sense of protection. With the cross hanging around his neck, he used to sing the psalms of our Heavenly Father. I had tied my shoe-laces and looked for James. James! My heart had a soft corner for him. Even James knew that. It happens when you care extra for somebody, it shows. It was not that James didn’t like me, but there were several things which had occupied his mind leaving very little room for my thoughts to prevail or blossom. It is not that easy to forget your past especially when it is about a dear one whom you loved. He was sitting on a sand-dune little away from us. A lonesome guy! I forwarded my heels towards him. My feet were sinking almost two inches in the sands. I had never had an experience of walking on sand but that was funny. James was not far. Still it took me little longer than obvious to reach him. The sand walk! I slowly went and sat beside him. He noticed me, “Elle!” he exclaimed, “How are you? Okay now?” he asked. I could feel the deep concern in his voice. He did care for me!
“I am much better.” I replied but it didn’t take me more than a mili-second to figure out that he was not well at all. He was rubbing his palms unconsciously which meant he was disturbed. “What’s the matter, James?” I asked him. “Zurich was a better idea.” He replied, “I contradicted Eric and we got stuck here.” “Yes, it is weird.” I replied, “But it is just an accident.” “Not that way.” He said. “Then what way?” I asked, “Premonition or hallucination?” He remained silent for a moment and then replied, “Ominous presence!” I looked at him. He was biting his lips also. The past! He had not forgiven himself yet! James didn’t say anything more. He was looking in the direction which led to the highway. I didn’t know what was going on. My dizzy head was still creating troubles for me. I left James and came back to our van. Eric, Susie and Nicholas were consuming the choco bars. I picked up a handful of them and starting chewing them reluctantly. “Leave that Elle!” Eric said, “It is not that easy for him to get that fateful day out of his mind.” “But that was not his fault. All of us love Lise. She still lives in our memories. Who knew that the under construction building was going to collapse?” Susie put up the matter. “But James still holds himself responsible for Lise’s death. Lise was reluctant to visit James’ friend. James had dragged her there. He wouldn’t ever forgive himself.” Nicholas interpreted. “So what?” Susie continued, “It is quite obvious that you ask your girlfriend to join you to your friend’s place. Cavin was leaving the city that day itself. James wanted to bid him good-bye. He tempted Lise to join him. He was never wrong.”
“Do not forget that even Cavin didn’t survive that accident.” Eric concluded. “All of us know very well how disturbed James still is. He thinks his presence is ominous. Death and disasters follow him wherever he goes.” “Guys please!” I interrupted them and looked at Eric. Off and stressed! Though his facial expressions told it all, I decided to ask finally, “What are the chances, Eric?” “I wonder where the fuel went!” he exclaimed looking at the zero! “What???” Susie, Nicholas and I almost cried in unison. “What do you mean?” With a grave look on his face, Eric said, “The fuel tank is full of sand. There is no fuel inside. Seems every single drop turned into a sand particle.” “Let’s walk on foot.” Susie stood up suddenly and started taking her belongings out of the van. “Only two kilometers! We can walk on foot. We can reach the nearest village and seek some help from the village folks regarding our van. But I am not going to wait here even for a single second.” She said and started walking towards James. Perhaps he knew the exact direction we had to go. Nicholas and Eric followed Susie and emptied the van off their belongings. Nicholas added the fooding and lodging items to the load he had to carry. I fastened my bag on my back and picked up James’ bag. We four marched towards James. He was still sitting there unaware of our decision but there were least chances of his disapproval. We reached him and asked his guidance. James looked at all of us and then encircled his vision with his palms to have a better sight. The sand dune was higher enough to give us a sight of the highway. “This way!” he pointed towards west of us.
We were on the right path. It brought a great relief to all of us. All five of us started walking in that direction. As we moved farther, we could hear the noises of vehicles. An inexplicable joy filled our hearts. Susie was right in her calculations! The highway seemed exactly two kilometers away from us. They had done all the possible calculations while I was asleep. We kept moving forward and forward. The noises seemed coming nearer and nearer. But the traces of the highway were not seen! We had been walking for almost four-five hours still the distance of two kilometers had not been covered yet! “Oh God!” We stopped and found Susie fainted on the ground. “Susie!” I immediately took Susie’s head in my lap. “Sun-stroke!” Nicholas exclaimed and splashed some water on Susie’s face. Susie opened her eyes and gave a faint look. But she closed them the next moment. “We should camp here tonight.” James said, “It is already the evening. I guess the highway is farther than we thought. Our calculation went wrong.” “I agree.” Eric said. Both James and Eric started fastening the tents whilst Nicholas and I sat beside Susie. “Did you notice one thing, Elle?” suddenly Nicholas asked. “What?”I asked with curiosity. “Look at the burning sun above. Don’t you think that the sands are comparably cool?” I looked at Nicholas with utter surprise as he spoke those words. I took a handful of sands. He was right! The sands were cool. As if someone had just strained them from the coolest sea-level. Either something or everything was wrong!
Our tents were ready and we were trying to sleep in our respective sleeping bags. Susie was much better. She was fast asleep and I could hear her snore. Even no voice was heard of Eric, Nicholas or James. Surprisingly, the noises of the presumed highway traffic were coming continuously. Suddenly, I felt something crawling under my sheet. I woke up immediately, took my flashlight and checked. There was nothing! Suddenly, breeze started flowing and I felt a sweet scent in the surroundings. I wondered what was happening! Suddenly, it happened…. As if I had discovered from where the scent was coming… A chill ran down my spine and nerves went numb! For few seconds, my mind got paralyzed… unable to think anything. But as soon as I came to senses, I ran out of my tent and hurried towards James. He was fast asleep in his sleeping bag. I shook his shoulder, “James?” He woke up immediately and gave me a surprised look with his sleepy eyes, “Why? What happened, Elle?” he asked getting up. I didn’t reply anything and dragged him out in the open. “Check it!” I knelt down and he followed me. I took a handful of the sands asked him to smell it. “Such a sweet scent… wait!” he exclaimed. “It is peculiar…. It is peculiar. It… It reminds me of Boaale legends.” He stammered. “Yes!” I gasped, “The Boaale legends!” I felt my throat choked. “We… we… we are on the cursed sands. The cursed sands of Elliah….” James exclaimed. Both of us stood numb for few moments and then suddenly, we started shouting. “The cursed sands… the cursed sands of Elliah… The Boaale legends are true….” Within minutes, Eric and Nicholas ran out of the tents. “What happened?” both of them panted.
“We are on the cursed sands of Elliah…. The Boaale legends are true…” It felt as if the last droplet of blood in our veins evaporated in utter terror. We were brought back to senses when all of us felt something crawling under our feet. “Run…. Run…!” Eric shouted. “Wait!” Nicholas stopped suddenly, “Susie!” We had not noticed that Susie didn’t come out of her tent. Maybe, she was still sleeping. All four of us ran towards her tent but as we approached nearer, strange sounds encountered our ears… it was like slurp… sob… slurp…sob…sob…slurp… We looked at each other and with beating hearts, slowly entered her tent. There was Susie… tears flowing from her eyes… and blood flowing from her mouth…. Blood had drenched her hands. And to our horror, she was crying and chewing her own fingers… “Susie…!” I shouted and tried to run to grab her but James held me back. Susie looked at us and burst into tears once again, “I am hungry… I am hungry…” she cried and chewed the bones of her wrist, “It hurts…. But I am hungry….” She sobbed and chewed her own flesh… “The curse… the curse…” Eric was murmuring. And as we saw, he ran out of Susie’s tent. “Susie is gone…. She is gone….” Nicholas cried. Susie looked at Nicholas and sobbed, “I am hungry…” she bent down and plucked her right toe and started chewing it, “It hurts a lot….” Tears ran down her cheeks, “But I am hungry…” she cried as blood dropped from her jaws… James held my hand and we ran after Eric. Nicholas followed us. “Highway!”
Running in sands is not that easy. I kept falling at every two feet’s distance. But James didn’t leave my hands. We ran without stopping. It was a clear moon night. Our shadows were following us. Or… or perhaps death was chasing us…. we were on the cursed sands of Elliah…. Elliah the pious one, who had cursed the sands….! As we ran faster, we caught the sight of Eric very soon…. We approached nearer and found him very near to the highway…. The highway….! We had reached the highway! Once we crossed the sands, we were safe! But….! Eric stood in the way like a statue….! He didn’t move. Highway was just a few feet away. But he didn’t tend to step towards it…. I wondered what damn was wrong with him….! I went nearer and shrugged his shoulder. “Eric run….!” I said trying to hold his hand and drag him towards the highway but James pulled me back powerfully. Eric turned back…. And we saw his eyes full of tears…. “I am hungry…” he sobbed. “Nooooo…..” I shouted. “Eric….!” James gasped. “Give me something to eat…. Please…. I don’t want to eat myself….” Eric murmured and sobbed as he started moving towards us, “Elle…. Give me your flesh…. I don’t wish to hurt myself…. I am hungry…. But I don’t wish to die….” Eric came nearer to me and held my arm. “Leave her….!” that was a powerful punch from James. He punched Eric hard on his face. He fell down. “Run Elle….” James held my hand and both of us started running back to the sands…. We ran…. We ran from our death…. From our fate…. From our terror…. We ran from the curse…. But both of us knew very well
that once stepped on it, nobody could ever escape the cursed sands of Elliah…. We ran and the curse followed us…. The clear moon guided our path and brought us to a familiar figure sitting on the sands…. “Nicholas?” James was alarmed as we approached the figure. The round bellied figure turned back. It was Nicholas….! He looked at us with eyes full of tears and jaws full of blood, “I am hungry….,” he sobbed and as we saw he inserted his fingers in his eye-socket and pulled his eye-ball out. I cried loudly and buried my face in James’ chest as Nicholas chewed his own eye…. and sobbed…. Nicholas cried loudly… sobbed… and chewed… James and I changed our direction and started running…. Truth was we were lost in the sands… in the cursed sands… We kept running…. We ran…. Faster…. We ran out of breath…. But we ran for our life…. “Look, that’s our van…!” James exclaimed. We had reached the same place where we had left our van. It was still there… abandoned…. “Board in immediately….!” James commanded. “But it will not start…” I had lost my hopes. “It will…. It will have to….. I will make it start….” James was consistent…. He fixed himself on the driving seat and I joined him. He tried to start the van. But…. It didn’t start… “Damn!” he was annoyed, “Oh come on please!” We knew everything…. There was no escape…. Still…. James started beating the steering wheel…. I looked out of the window…. Moon was shining…. There was dead silence….
“James, we cannot escape.” At last I gave up everything. I hid my face into my palms and broke into tears…. But…. James didn’t reply…. I looked around. James was nowhere to be seen. My blood froze. “James….!” I cried loudly. I couldn’t find his slightest trace. The moon was haunting me. And I felt as if the night gave a scary laugh. I stepped out of the van and looked around. James wasn’t there…. “Where did he go…?” I was scared to hell. “James….!” I cried loudly. “Elle….!” I heard James’ voice coming from behind. A relief filled my heart. I turned back and found James standing in front of me. Without thinking twice, I hugged him… tightly… Sob…! I heard a sob…. It was James…. I broke the embrace and looked at him. His eyes full of tears and a bloodline on his lips…. “I am hungry…. But I don’t want to die…. I want something to eat….” He sobbed, “Elle…!” “Nooo….” I cried my lungs out, “It can’t be true…. It can’t be true….” “Elle…!” James approached nearer sobbing loudly. I took several steps back, but couldn’t maintain my balance on the sands and fell down…. James came nearer. I cried…. He sobbed…. “Elle….!” He called. “No, don’t come near…!” I cried. “Elle…” he called. “Elle…. Open your eyes…., Elle….” Somebody shrugged me and I opened my eyes. James was in front of me. I looked around myself. I was in our van. Eric, Nicholas and
Susie were out of the van chatting with each other. I looked at James. “Are you okay?” he asked with his smiling face. I nodded and tried to smile. “Good!” James reciprocated the smile, took the food cans and left. I found my blazer rolled under my hand. Putting it on, I stepped out and went nearer to the crowd. They had formed a circle on the sands and were consuming the breakfast. I joined them. A discussion was on… “Yes, the villagers told us the Boaale chronology.” Eric said, “Once there lived a King named Boaale who wanted people to worship him instead of God. All his subjects surrendered to his tyranny except Elliah. He was the true devotee of God. He didn’t worship Boaale. One day, he was going to have his breakfast when Boaale’s men came and arrested him. He was murdered and cut into pieces and thrown somewhere near to this highway. But before dying, Elliah cursed that whoever stepped on the sands which consumed his blood will die of hunger…. A hunger which couldn’t ever be satisfied because when they arrested him, he was going to eat! Since then, the villagers had blocked this highway. They say that even the men who constructed this road were not seen again.” He concluded. “Rubbish!” Susie exclaimed, “People still believe such things in this 21st century.” “Never question anybody’s belief.” Nicholas and James smiled. I listened to them and my heartbeat ran faster. Suddenly I froze as I felt something crawling under my feet and a peculiar sweet scent almost numbed my nerves… ***********
Classified : Indian writers being identified as frustrated ex-students presenting the semi-autobiographical accounts of their random campus crushes is an ancient sketch which has acquired dust on it. New age writers have come forward to take the moral responsibility to bring a change in the society with their pens. The Lost Paradise is an example.
'The Lost Paradise' unravels the rare path taken by a gutsy, urban collegian and the repercussions it has on her life.
Riya was in a dilemma. Should she help her hostelfriend Kamini, who was involved in a sex-and-drugs racket and was depending on her to get her out of the mess? Riya had always dreamt big of becoming a politician some day -- so this was her chance to really help out innocent girl-victims and bust a racket... Or should she just concentrate on her studies and enjoy the attentions of her handsome boyfriend Vivaan with whom she soon planned tie the knot? More important, could she help Kamini without getting into really dangerous waters herself and risking her own life and the lives of all those whom she loved? The author duo left no stone unturned in making the novel the best at presence. Anjali Vaswani, Test Engineer at Naukri.com finally takes her pen to change the society. Her friends describe her as a chirping sparrow and a person who always wants to lead the crowd not just be a part of it. She believes revolution has to be from within and no government can enforce it on us. This is what describes her debut novel “The Lost Paradise� wherein she has paired up with Vikas Bansal, who
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Umesh Shukla(Director of Oh my god): "Its bold...believable...Well crafted" Annie Krislinzi (Super Model): "what a fantastic peice of art! i get goosebumps reading each chapter,its not merely a love story but a perfect mirror of the society and deals with many social problems like rapes, misuse of rohypnol, x rated mms scams. i feel every youth should read this novel! riya and vivaans love story makes me realise that some love story never complete, but yet are so complete! when i finished reading this book i had tears in my eyes!" The book is available on flipkart.com and other major websites including the retail stores.
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