PINT OF BLOOD

I was the only child to my parents. I enjoyed the benefits of being an only child like having everything for myself, getting pampered and scolded from both my parents, getting attention from all the relatives and so on. But apart from all these perks of being an only child I used to feel lonely and terrible at times, I had no one to fight with, share secrets with, team up against my parents with and other usual things that an only child misses upon. The most happening time of my year would be the school break where I used to visit my maternal uncle’s place, my maternal uncle was some sort of a big shot in his business and had a huge bunglow in the hilly area at Junagadh, Gujarat. He had two sons, one of them used to stay in Mumbai as he aspired to become a hotelier and studied hotel management there and the other son who was a year older than I used to study at Junagadh. My mamaji (maternal uncle) had to travel a lot regarding his business and so I used to get loads of foreign goodies whenever he returned from his trip. His entire family was too jovial. The jolly nature was seen through his 90 kg fat son, but he was a sweetheart. After my 10^th boards I had made plans with my cousin to travel to Mumbai to his elder brother. I packed my bags and left for Junagadh. My mother had decided to stay at home with my father and visit us later on when we returned from Mumbai. I packed my belongings and left for Junagadh the next day of my vacation. Mama’s house was on the outskirts of Junagadh and I had to take a bus to reach there. I was tired of travelling for 7 hours straight but when I reached there all my weariness disappeared by looking at Mamaji and his family. The welcomed me as if I had come after many years. My fat cousin though looked a little pale and thinner than before, but he seemed relieved to see me. I was soon fed with mango puddings and mango juice and certain things related to the mango as it was a mango season. It was dinner time and after chating with my mamaji I sat with the family to enquire about mamaji’s new adventures to the foreign lands. Mamaji had travelled to China and Indonesia this year and I saw many Chinese art pieces collected by him, he had also brought the famous kimono which his wife was of course not going to wear but he was possessive about his collection and no one was allowed to touch it. He had collected some authentic chopsticks from china and I challenged my cousin to eat mango pieces with it, the family burst into laughter except my cousin who tried to smile, poor thing, he had lost his sporty spirt somewhere in studies I thought. As we were discussing I asked Mamaji that what he had collected from Indonesia, he said some holy doll, I wanted to see it but Mamaji tried to change the topic everytime I enquired. When I asked that when could I see it my mami came from the kitchen and said that she has something to tell. Mamaji’s face became grave and my cousin looked at her with a hope. Mamiji said that she had just received a call from my elder cousin that he has a field tour that week and so our trip has to be delayed. The coming week I had to go back to my home as my 11^th science tuitions were about to begin and so this particular week was the only week to go out and enjoy. It all came as a big disappointment. I suggested Mamiji that I call my cousin and ask him to delay his trip for a day or two but Mamji nervously said, “oh my dear, but it is his last year at the hotel management, he cannot cancel, what if they detain him for doing so, all our money will go down the drain for this year.” I insisted and tried to involve my younger cousin but he sat there with a poker face. I was so angry at that fat fellow but I kept quiet. Soon I decided to go to the bed and my cousin followed me. I asked him that why had he lost his weight and why was he so quiet but he didn’t answer. Then I asked him does he like some girl and was it some love problem? He said no. after insisting him for an hour or so he said that when his father returned from Indonesia, he had got a doll with him. The doll looked ugly as hell with fangs and mummified skin and he hated it. For a few days it was all good somehow but soon… I heard a knock at the door; my jovial Mamiji had come with two glasses of milk. She asked my cousin to accompany her in the kitchen for some help, I asked to join them but she said that I was too tired and I should sleep. But I decided to wait for my cousin lying on the bed to hear the whole story about the doll. But by the time my cousin came sleep had succumbed me. Three to four hours later I heard faint noises of my Mamaji and Mamiji arguing, my Mamaji said that the work will be incomplete if they don’t finish the given task when my Mamiji in a pitch which sounded higher but careful said that “she might be tired, let her sleep, she is here for the whole week.” To which my Mamaji replied, “okay but tomorrow we shall not forget.” I thought that maybe they wanted to show me the doll and as it was too late my caring Mamiji refused her husband to wake me up for such museum type tours.

The next day I woke up at 6 a.m. The sun was about to rise I saw my cousin my dear fatso lying beside me; he had marks underneath his eyes like someone who has cried himself to sleep. I wanted to know the problem now. Feeling uneasy I washed my face, brushed my teeth and went downstairs. Mamaji and Mamiji were sound asleep. I decided to visit the old kids room, in order to find something old and fun, but I was surprised to find it locked. So I went to the balcony and saw the sunrise after a long time appreciating the beauty for nature and small towns. I then went for a bath and when I returned I found that Mamiji was up and going inside the kids’ room, a few moments later she returned with a bowl. I followed her to the kitchen, she saw me and was shocked, she gave an uneasy smile and offered me to plait my hair. Mamiji always wanted a daughter and so she considered me as one, as a kid she used to dress me up plait my hair and I never missed mom when I was with her. She oiled my hair and plaited them. The day soon took the speed, my lousy cousin woke up, we had breakfast and soon it was lunch time. Post lunch we decided to roam a little in the hills, my never doting Mamaji unusually accompanied us everywhere. We went to hills my Mamaji leading us and we were walking behind him, my cousin slowed down so did I to keep pace with him. He silently whispered, “Jenglot, Indonesia, tomorrow 6.30 first bus is available take your belongings and leave.” My Mamaji suddenly looked back and I was scared as death but his look transformed into a made up smile and he said “let’s go kids, it’s about to sunset.” The entire way back I was trying to decipher what my cousin said, I tried to Google but my phone had weak signals in the hills and Mamaji’s wifi connection was not working. After dinner my Mamiji plaited my hair once again and tied a ribbon. Oh she was adorable. We prepared for the bed, Mamiji brought us chocolate milk and soon i was off to sleep. I woke up with someone tucking me at the middle of the night, I saw my Mamaji taking me somewhere, and my fat cousin trying to stop them and cry, my Mamji carried an injection, I thought, “what? Are they trying to drug me?” but I was wrong. I tried to run as fast as I could but someone held me from behind. I got something pierced and when I turned back, I saw Mamji take out a blood filled injection and fill it in the bowl. I tried to get up but I couldn’t then the needle was thrust for twice or thrice in my left hand. I saw the bowl filled with blood.

 I was left on the floor and the bowl was taken into the kids room. I blanked out. When I woke up I found myself on the bed again. I got down from my bed and went to the kids room making least amount of noise, I felt dizzy. I saw the door was unlocked and I opened it. To my horror I saw a tiny mummified object with the size of my palm with black burnt human like skin and fangs uptill its shoulder with golden hair longer than its size looking sharply at me. A chill ran through my spines I tried to move but I was glued. Soon the ugly mummified doll grew in size. It grew as big as me and drank from the bowl kept besides it. The bowl had blood. My blood. And all of a sudden all the things became crystal clear to me, why my Mamaji was acting weird, why my Mamji was requesting him the previous night to leave me alone as I was tired, why had my fat cousin lost weight and looked pale. I wanted to go and talk to my cousin I couldn’t move. I held the door and tried to move, that ugly doll shrunk into its original size and stood there as a showpiece. My leg suddenly got the life and I could move. I ran upstairs to my cousin, he was sitting in his bed, as soon as I entered the room, he, in a very ghastly voice said, I told you to leave, and he started to cry. Then he told me that the mummified object is called a Jenglot and is found in Indonesia where Mamaji went for business tour and someone had gifted him saying that feeding it with blood everyday would give them prosperity and if in case if they forgot to serve it the little piece of ugliness would ruin them. The sound of money was louder to Mamaji than the sound of threat. So he got the doll. Initially, he fed it with animal blood, stray dogs, chicken, cats, etc. but when he was left with nothing he started feeding it with his own and Mamiji’s blood, and sometimes my cousin’s. then they called me for vacation saying that we could go on a trip to Mumbai to my cousin and as soon as I came, they got a call that my cousin had a field visit. There was no such call initially. It was all a made up lie to keep me at home. As my cousin moved forward the door shook open with a bang and in came my Mamaji, we were freaked out and he thrust some liquid in my mouth, my cousin was frantically screaming and again my sensed waded and there was a blackout. Soon after my eyes opened and it was 5.am. My phone battery was about to die. I packed my bags and tried to wake my cousin to take him with me from these monsters but he didn’t move, he was fast asleep, he opened his eyes and smiled, I said I was going but he didn’t react, he smiled and slept. I carefully stepped down and opened the main door. I did not want to look back as it gave me a grave feeling. There were practically no transport outside, I ran  for my life, it took me an hour to reach to a proper bus stop the bus came in few minutes and I got in. and the rest of my journey was in a haze. I woke up around 6.30 evening and I had an eerie feeling that it had all been a dream. I got down asking my mother but she was not there and had left a note that she had gone for grocery shopping. I checked my phone there was no trace of my visit to Junagadh. I went to the mirror, I looked pale and I had a bluish mark on my left hand, it pained. I saw my hair, they were oiled and plaited.