February Story Series:

It Rained Stories

Granny’s Last Mango Season

Dear God

Run Baby Run

The Last Trip

The Birthday Party

Mum Again

The tree knew there was something wrong when the birds stopped sitting on its branches. The birds would come close to the tree and then fly away. It started to get very quiet and lonely up there without the usual calls of the birds and the frequent visits of the squirrels.

It was rainy season and the foot fall on the trail was at the lowest during those days. Other than a few trail runners, there wasn’t anyone around. One night when the lightning struck, the tree saw something and immediately knew what was wrong.  

There was a white shadowless figure hanging upside down on one of the branches. The tree was haunted. There was no way the tree could get rid of the ghost who recently shifted there. No amount of shaking the branches or swaying would have any impact on it.

Being a haunted tree was no fun. It only meant being lonely and witnessing some bizarre incidents. The tree also knew that, once human beings took charge of handling the haunted tree, it would be burnt down to ashes. That is what had happened to the previous tree that got haunted. A small kid was thrown away from his bike near that tree and the insensitive, selfish humans just burnt it down the moment they became aware of the ghost that lived on that tree.

After some thought and preparation, the tree stood tall on a night when the lightning was striking hard. It had to ensure that a part of the tree got struck by the lightning to drive the ghost away. The tree then had to depend on the rain to douse the fire. That meant sacrificing a part of itself to save the whole. It was a calculated risk that the tree had to take. As though working in a team, the lightning, the tree and the rain accomplished the task.

The tree would take some time to recover from the aftermath of the fire but nevertheless it was glad it took charge of the situation before someone else did.

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