An Amateur's Arrogance #ATOZCHALLENGE – A (2026)

 Haunting- #ATOZCHALLENGE – H (2026)

Anisha darted into the thick forest, her heart pounding louder with each sprint. They were close—too close. The angry thudding sound of their footsteps cut through the silence. If she stopped, they would catch up soon, and then the worst would happen.

She planned to hide behind the overgrown bushes, but her laboured breathing would be a sure shot giveaway.

No, no, no. God, this isn’t even happening. She thought to herself frantic with worry till she spotted an old mansion. A faint light was flickering from the window of the ground floor. She heaved a quick sigh of relief. She may get help soon. Or at least she could try.

Looking hither nor dither, she ran for her life, making it to the compound of the mansion. The rogues spotted her running through the foliage. “Look, there she is,” snarled one of them to his fellows.

Anisha had managed to read the main gate and began pounding the rusty and weathered iron ring loudly. Sheer terror had got the better of her while she almost froze in helplessness. They followed her into the mansion compound.

Tears of despair rolled down her cheeks as she began to should loudly, while still pounding the ring. 

"Help! Help! Pleaaaase!"

One of them reached an arms distance and almost reached out to grab her. Suddenly the door flew open and an invisible hand pulled her in. It immediate shut on the man following her injuring his nose, releasing a streak of blood trickling from the bridge to the nasal tip.

He cussed in pain! His companions tried to break open the door, but it did not budge at all. They had a chemical they would use to destroy any evidences later. It was highly inflammable. So, they decided to burn down the door completely. They picked up the bottle with the liquid, the rancid odor penetrating their nostrils, making them look away repulsively. The poured a bottleful near the door and ignited. After a loud blast, the door fell down. The main hall was pitch dark with age old furniture sitting beneath a thick layer of dust.

"Where are you?" Roared one of them. No answer. Stillness and silence.

Then, piercing through the quiet and solitude of the night were heard faint sobs.

"There you are!" He moved closer to the sound. The rest followed.

The sobs became louder. They grew increasingly louder.

The man laughed a wicked laugh. A glint of evil flashed in his eyes. He moved towards the sounds, closer and closer, his expression turning increasingly merciless.

The sobbing stopped. Suddenly.

Without the trail of sound, the man was grew confused and irritated. His evil expression morphed into furrowed brows. "Where are you?" He cussed a slew of invectives after this.

He then stopped. A long pause followed. Then like the howling wind, a patch of cold wind landed on his ear. He turned to look behind startled. He felt there was someone standing behind him walking towards him...slowly. A dark silhouette dropped on the floor. Was it the girl? It did look like a woman.

"There you are." He whispered ruthlessly.

"I won’t let you go." He described how he would assault her in intricate and gory details. It was about getting right inside her. Deep. Mercilessly, he asked, "Do you want to know how that feels?"

"N-no." A trembling voice replied.

The trembling stopped. The voice turned quiet and cold.

"Do you want to know how it feels?" She whispered in close quarters of his ear, icy breathe dropping on his lobes out of nowhere.

The rogue recoiled.

"You’ve gone crazy girl. Did you forget how fast you were running in the forest? Just give up and tell us where you are. We’ll be done in a half-hour, and then we’ll send you to hell quickly and easily."

A ghostly chuckle lingered in the room. What started soft and slow, became a loud spine-chilling shrill.

The rogues clamped their hands on their ears to block out the noise. Lights flickered, chandeliers swayed and windows flew open and shut. Slam. Slam. Slam. The slamming kept growing more frequent till the din obscured their senses.

"L-let’s go!" One of them signaled to the others. "This place looks haunted. Let’s run for our lives."

The main rogue was not the one to cow down so easily. "I am not scared. I will finish what I came here to do." He was determined to stay.

The ghostly voice hissed a cold his on his other ear. "Then so will I!  Khh… khh,.. hehehehehehehehehe!"

A sudden invisible force led the rogue to become horizontal and then levitate in the air.

"Stop! Stop! Put me down!" He cussed further.

The sharp crystal pendant of the chandelier separated the top and came crashing down on his torso.  It cut through his centre so deep, that his intestines became visible. An invisible hand held the small intestine and yanked it out like wires attached to a circuit board.

Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh! He let out a piercing scream of agony. He fell on the floor with a loud thud. After a few moments of painful flopping, his lifeless body lay on the floor.

The rest of them ran out of the broken door fearing for their life. They ran in different directions in the forest, in frantic search for safety. They managed to reach the main road where a police car was waiting with their pictures in their cell phone. Seeing the resemblance, an alert cop gestured the rest to run and catch them. In the next half hour, they were handcuffed in the police wan and were about to be taken to the prison.

"Anisha’s mother must have complained." One of them guessed.

"Listen, scumbag! We got orders from colleagues that you were harassing a girl and almost killed her." The cop’s reprimand was a mix of anger and disgust.

"S-sir, she’s in the house in the forest. B-but don’t go there. It’s h-haunted." One of them managed to quaver, his face pale from what he had witnessed in the last hour.

"Shut up! Guess you guys are on weed as well. Ghosts and all. Tonight, in the lockup you will see all the ghosts in your head come alive, when you will get the thrashing of your life."

"Are you alright mam!" A concerned lady officer inquired to a lady sitting in the front seat, clothes torn and tattered and scars from the wild plants.

"If you can talk now, can we have your name, please." The lady officer spoke in a soft tone.

"An-anisha Bhanushali. I am from Saraspur. I had to get supplies from another city so I took a lift in a vehicle. These people started following us. Our vehicle broke down. And before they could catch up, I-I r-ran for my life. Then I found this home where I entered from the front door. The back door was stuck, but it eventually open with my loud banging. But I didn’t see anyone, so I ran off without being seen, and then I saw your cars. One of you alerted the rest of your team, and I am here, thanks to you. And all four are arrested I am assuming?"

The lady officer looked surprised. "Four? No just three of them."

Anisha went pale. Was the third one still lurking in the forest?

"But don’t worry." The lady officer sounded reassuring. "His friends are saying he died in that house. Some chandelier fell on him. We went there to check. The chandelier fell on him and the stupid guy tried to yank it out. His small intestine came out along with the pendant."

Anisha burst into tears. "They said they would do this with me." 

The lady officer put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don’t worry, the worst is over. Incidentally, that house belonged to an ex-police officer. She was known to be just and fair and dealt with criminals with an iron rod. She lived alone. One fine day, after duty, she was found dead in her house. She was one of the finest officers we had, so I heard. And no criminal ever escaped her. I wish she was still around to help us bring a lot more people to book."

Deep inside the forest, the house lights flickered as if agreeing with what the lady officer just said.