“Look what I have!” said Zen as he came running to the playing area with a cricket ball in his hand. This ‘playing area’ was nothing but a broad road at the entrance of the society. Right next to this said play area, was a small run-down children’s Nursery school. This school was not on the society premises but was extremely close to it. The society developers had not got the permission to break down the school, so it was just there, untouched for years. It didn't cause any problems to anyone, except the children, who would often have their cricket balls go into the building.
Going inside the building was forbidden because the parents thought there were snakes in it. But the real reason why the children avoided this place was that they believed it was haunted. A story had spread that a child had lost his life there due to an accident and the ghost of the child roamed there. Now it doesn't take an adult to notice how generic and childish this rumour was. It seemed like a 7-year-old had come up with this rumour to impress his friends in some way, but whatever it was, it kept the children away from the school, so the parents didn't mind one bit. They let it circulate. There was this very old guard, who seemed to be a part of the group of people who kept the rumour alive. No one had told him to pretend that there was a ghost in there, but for some reason, he just did. He was also too into this whole play, he was a very sweet and kind person who loved the kids, as they reminded him of his own, but whenever someone even brought up the topic of the school, he would flip.
Well, let’s talk about the cricket ball Zen had so proudly brought down to show to his friends. It was a season ball, with the signature of a very famous cricketer on it. All his friends, who were playing cricket at the moment, dropped everything in their hands to go see what Zen had for display. It was the first time most of the 8-9-year-old children were seeing a season ball in real life. They were more impressed with the season ball than the fact that it had a signature on it. They all wanted to play with the cricket ball and were fascinated with it, but Zen didn't allow anyone to touch the ball. He kept it aside and everyone started continuing their game of cricket. After playing for some time, Zen went up to his house to get some water, leaving behind his season ball.
His friend Vihaan, who was the most fascinated with the season ball, got hold of it. He gave it to Inayat and told her to bowl it for him. Inayat, who was aware that the ball wouldn't bounce much, lightly tossed it. Vihaan hit the ball with all the force in his small hands. He struck it well, but it went right into the daycare school. When Zen came back and didn't find his ball, he started crying. He turned to Vihaan and told him that If he doesn't bring The ball back, he will tell Vihaan's parents about what he did. Vihaan got very scared and asked for a day to bring back the ball, which Zen agreed to. Vihaan still had no clue though, how he would bring back the ball. He dare not tell his parents, as he might get shouted at for that. He goes back home and constantly thinks about it all day. He couldn't go in the morning, because he might get caught, and going in the night meant that he might encounter the ghost.
In the end, he decides to go in the night because that way he won't be caught. Plus the guard who wouldn't allow the children to enter the school seemed to be on leave. The night fell soon and The moment Vihaan had been wishing should never come, was finally standing right in front of him. He got out of his bed and snuck out with a torch. He made sure to take the keys. Without making a sound he left the house and then tiptoed to the school. He was very scared at this point, but he knew it was too late, he had to do it. He slowly walked in with his heart beating profusely onto his chest.
The school was not very big from the inside and the moonlight was shining through the cracks. He could see all the numerous cricket balls that had been lying there for years. He was still scared, so he slowly bent down and picked up as many of them as he could. He saw the season ball right in front of him now. He went to grab it and as he bent down, he heard a noise behind him. His throat went dry. With his heart beating harder than it ever had, he gathered the courage to turn around and he saw a large snake, hissing and slithering towards him.
He got scared and as he was trying to back away, someone threw a big rock at the snake, causing it to die there right under the rock. And then The security guard who wouldn't let the children enter the place suddenly appeared from a corner and calmly said ‘i Had told you not to come here, I won't be able to save you the next time.” Vihaan muttered “sorry uncle” and ran away back home with the season ball in his hand.
The next morning Vihaan woke up. He was having a conversation with his mom when he casually mentioned that the security guard had come back. Where did you see him? His mom asked, to which he awkwardly replied ‘...around’ and ran down to play as he knew his secret could come out. The mother just sat in her place in shock, as The security guard had died in a bus accident a few days ago while going back home, and the news of his death had just reached the members of the society that morning.
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