“Cursed Country” by Phani Krishna Sharma

Flint’s Nightmare

A foggy night, in the Flint Country, a woman was ready to have supper in her house.
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“Where are you? I am calling you for dinner” she shouted.

“Jen, our dinner is ready. Come on dear, we can have it”, she kept calling him. 

Meanwhile, she could hear water leaking. Soon enough she could hear it was fast increasing. She said to herself “Hoof! I have to go there now. I am vexed with this man!”

“Tlick, tlick” She walked into the washroom to tighten the tap and at once door was shut on her face.

“Tlick, tlick” She walked into the washroom to tighten the tap and at once door was shut on her face.

She said “How many times, should I keep on telling you to tighten this tap?”, not bothering the door shut. She tightened the tap and turned around slowly saying “Stop teasing me Jen, open the door!”

The door did not open. So she said again “I am sorry to scold you dear, please open the door.”

The surroundings are calm at once and for one last time, she said “Jen! Jen! are you there?”

She heard a mourning sound soon enough after she spoke last. She is frightened and began to scream. All of a sudden, water from the tap started to gush on her face.
She began to cry louder “hel...p... he..lp me!”

After a moment silence prevailed. Everything is calm and dark. The door suddenly opened and she ran out of the washroom in search for Jen.

She shouted “Jen! Jen!” and continued, “Jen! Something is happening here. Come on, we should leave this place.”

Walking slowly into the living room, she said again “Dear, can you hear me? It’s completely dark over here. Talk to me so that I will know where you are.”

She whispers to herself to build strength, “It’s better to light a lantern.” She moved towards dining hall with a lantern calling Jen repeatedly with fear.

She saw something red flow down the steps. She touched it with her fingers to sense that it’s blood. She thought, “What happened to Jen? Is he okay?” and she followed the blood trail. She shouted “Nooooo!” staring at Jen.

He is lying on the floor bleeding through nose and ears. His tooth is broken and his eyes are red with blood. She began to cry and her voice echoed throughout the house. Again all the door of the room she was shut. The next day, early in the morning the guard of that ménage found that blood is flowing out of the house, and lodged a complaint to the police. In an hour, police and media reached the spot. The police stepped into the house towards the dining hall observing the fingerprints, footsteps and slowly followed towards the bodies.

Those bodies are in the state of decomposing and that frightened them but they notice that blood is still fresh! That is a new experience for the police and it was pretty confusing. They instantly started interrogating Jen’s neighbors. “We found two bodies in the Flint country, the situation crossed limits. The villagers are greatly scared and seeking protection from the police”, the reporter described the situation to the NEWS studio, in the interim.

“Do you suspect anyone regarding this issue?”, the host asked the reporter. And the reporter replied “All that they said is investigation is still in progress”

“This is the second time in thirty days there were killings. So could it be suspected that these murders are done by the same person?” asked the anchor.

“No, the police have confirmed that there is no match between the evidence of the last murder and this incident.” said the reporter concluding the session.

That afternoon, the police arranged a meeting and announced the names of two victims being Mr Jen and Mrs Rek. They also stated that “The last murder’s victims were also the natives of that country”. While the conversation was going on a person from the last row in the hall raised his hand asking “Excuse me, sir!”

“Yes, Mr Tinkron?” replied John, the person addressing the throng.

“May I know about it in detail?” asked Tinkron.

John replied “Sure!” and both of them walked out from the addressing.

Tinkron asked curiously “When did the last murder happen?”

John replied, “Thirty days before the couple was killed in the same way.”

Tinkron asked, “Could you show me the files on the last case?”

Being a renowned detective yes was the only reply John could ever say.

John handed over the reports to Tinkron and said “I hope you find this case interesting. But be safe and fast, people are dying!”

Tinkron nodded and left to the Flint country.
 
Days passed by. Flint country was never so silent. Streets are calm, cold and shivering, water froze to ice. On the spur of the moment water turned into vapours, the temperature embossed to the extreme, and the skin of the villagers is burnt badly. In the next second the temperature dropped and all vapours condensed into ice. All people relaxed at once and took a deep breath. They are in great confusion and couldn’t understand what comprises around them.

That night an eighteen-year girl was walking through the main street of the country, carrying burgers in her way home.

“Hey ... wait!”

She heard someone calling her from the back. She peskily turned back, her eyelashes are falling on the pupils due to dense fog and she couldn’t see clearly the person coming towards her. Slowly fear crawled into her and her eyes are slowly brightening. She started to step back as the man came closer. Soon enough she began to run away from him.

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Flint’s Outcry

The man shouted “Stop! Why are you running Lesia?”

The girl halted and recognised the voice to be her father’s. He walked near her and asked “I followed you because you are too late.”

They continued to walk when, in just a blink, a truck hit Lesia’s father. She shouted and madly ran behind the truck. All of a sudden she heard a voice call “Lesia....!” and she turned back and there was no one. She looked in the direction where the truck was going and there was nothing. Her father had also disappeared. She cried out loud with fright and rushed towards the juncture. Her dad stood in front of her horrified. She ran back but her legs pained while her blood oozed out from her foot. She sluggishly slipped beside a tree. After a minute, she could feel blood oozing out from her eyes. Her hands swelled and in pain she cried out for one last time.

Next morning ‘Tinkron’ found the dead body of Lesia on his way back to the country. He was shocked seeing the body. Her post-mortal report said that she was greatly hassled before her death and he returned to the location to trace clues. He went searching each and every step and followed her footprints walking to end of the avenue. He was bemused to see that every third footprint had a burger packed in a silver cover. Tinkron walked to the nearby restaurant which was famous for burgers.

Tinkron assumed that the burgers might had been bought from the restaurant and the girl might had started her journey from there. He went inside the Rica Samva restaurant. He walked around to see the surroundings after talking to manager, seeking for a start. In one room he found a photo frame at a corner fixed to a wall.

He observed the dates written below “16th March 1905- 21st August 1986”
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He thought it was not even a year since the person in the photo passed and
then he saw the name Richard Samwan. Tinkron repeatedly said “Richard Samwan! Samwan! Samwan”. He tried recalling the person in the photo and then he remembered “Samwan was registered name of couple who were murder earlier”

He presumed that there might be a relation. Now he put off his hat down, took a chair, called a waiter and enquired about the person in the frame who was Mr. Richard. After few minutes, Tinkron planned to travel to Richard’s residency, in his jeep, which was a mile far from the restaurant.

However his friend called him for a help and so he started to visit his friend. On his way one of jeep tyres got punctured. Tinkron lost control and dashed to a pole, falling unconscious.

It was nine in the evening. Cold breeze started to flow, as always, and in the old bar music kept the girls dancing and men drinking. All of a sudden, music stopped and the people inside the club started freezing. Bottles cracked and all of them shouted for one last time in cold and the entire bar collapsed within seconds.

The next morning wayfarers saw ‘Tinkron’ and took him to hospital. Three days went by and the people of Flints Country and few of them started leaving the city to settle in a remote village. Few days later Tinkron recovered and heard of how people were leaving the city and so he organized a press meet, assuring them that everything would stop.

Later he travelled to Mr. Richard’s residence and knocked the front door but no one answered. He went to the back of the bungalow and found a broken window. He managed to enter the bungalow. It is very dark, with a smell like the decomposition of dead bodies. He slowly walked through the hall and climbed the upstairs. Alas! He did not find anything useful. For one last time, he turned back to the living room of that bungalow which was much darker and wet due to moisture. He switched his torch and noticed photo frames fixed to walls. He took a few frames and returned back to the police station. He verified the death file of “Mr. RICHARD SAMWAN”. On seeing the file, he was shocked to see that “Mr. Richard” was killed by his brother “JAMES SAMWAN”, “JAMES” also killed by a stranger on a snowy day.

Tinkron realised both of these deaths were not natural. An hour later, he went to Jen’s residence to trace the clue of murderer so that he can get any match with SAMWAN’S murder.

He searched whole house but couldn’t find anything useful there. He stepped out from the house. Opposite to the house was found a man under a tree. Tinkron was in no mood to talk to him, so he headed to police station. He searched post mortem reports of Richard and James Samwan and both of them stated that they were killed in accidents. Tinkron took those reports to the mortuary and compare JAMES face closely to the photo frames which he had taken from the bungalow of Richard SAMWAN. The face of the James was totally different from the body and confirmed that the body was not James. He reopened the case and started investigation from the beginning.

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Team:

1. Contributor:
   Phani Krishna Sharma

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