The house at the bend

It seems like yesterday. It was a day like any other. Then the phone rang.
The next moment, the world came crashing down on her. Her only son and
daughter-in-law had succumbed to injuries in a fire at their favorite
theater. All that was left behind was their son, just two years old. Life
could be really cruel. That was ten years back.

She had left everything behind in the city and chose the confines of the
farmhouse in the country to grieve her irreparable loss. The house was old,
maybe even ancient. It belonged to her late husband. She never did
understand why no one in his family spent the holidays there. According to
her, it was perfect in every sense.

Desolate and yet quite near the main road. Many a villagers pass that way
while walking their kids to school or going to the post office. Strangely,
they quieten as they approach the house. She used to think she was
imagining it, but it was too obvious to ignore.

Not that she had any problem with it. The grief had left her with a longing
for solitude at all times. Except of course when she was around him, the
apple of her eyes, the sole reason of her existence - her grandson. He was
growing up fast. The teachers at school were happy with his progress but he
seemed to have a problem getting along with the other kids.

When asked about it, he would just say that they were mean to him and
teased him. He would say no more. Only when he came home in bruises too
frequently did she decide to interfere. She went to the village and spoke
to one or two ladies. Actually, she tried speaking. The moment she
approached a house, the doors would be shut and they would tell her to go
away giving a lame excuse.

Pitying her state, the local priest asked her to come with him.

"I don't understand..They refuse to even speak to me!"

"It's the house."

"What? What has the house got to do anything with it?"

"We believe that all is not well in the house. We keep hearing strange
noises emanating from there. The villagers suspect that some ghosts live
there."

And that was the day she stopped listening to Himesh Reshammiya songs.... :):)