ArShi SS: The Haunted Lake CHP 5 PG 22 - Page 10

"Sometimes, the calmest of the waters hold the deepest secrets"

"Umm...excuse me.." Khushi tumbled back a few steps with her heart ready to jump out of her rib cage. He turned in a quick moment had turned around and was now staring at her with a grave expression and...his eyes were glowing red. He dropped the shawl which was wrapped around him, only to reveal a sharp piece of metal poking out from a side of his back...Khushi was now hyperventilating; her voice seemed to have frozen in her throat... The phone dropped from Khushi's hand and she staggered back some more...her heart was ready to make an escape from her rib cage. She got back her senses when he stepped forward, quickly Khushi bent down and grabbed her phone before sprinting off towards the house door, she was an inch close to the open door when it suddenly banged shut on her face. The auto-lock inside it ended up locking Khushi outside the Khushi looked around with naked horror on her face, the wind seemed to be howling now, the trees were shaking violently, however, the lake was still as calm as it always was. Khushi quickly stepped forward near the stairs to look around the house, Khushi shook her head around in quick movements to spot the caretaker anywhere but he wasn't seen anywhere. Her breathing was getting shallow, she slowly took one step back, still looking around for a hint of him but couldn't see anything...it was almost like he just disappeared into thin air or maybe she had just been dreaming all this while. No, no, that couldn't be happening...this is real!! Khushi was bought out of her reverie by a hard solid thing...Khushi gasped and turned sucked in a large gulp of air before slowly turning around, not wanting the thing...more like the person to be the one she was fearing it was. However, Khushi instantly staggered back a few steps when she faced the same person again IT WAS HIM!! But before he could as much as take a step forward, she jumped off the stairs and sprinted towards the backside of the house as if there were spirits chasing her...which wouldn't be very untrue in this case.

Khushi halted her steps as she reached the back of the house; it was nothing different than the front part. There was damp mud under her feet, a few wooden boats were lined up against the old wall of the house and there was the woods starting from a few feet away. Giving a look around, Khushi silently rushed over to one of the old wooden boats that were vertically resting against the wall and she sat behind one of those; hiding herself.

Wiping the dirt off her phone, she brought it closer her face and typed in Lavanya's number and pressed the call button. Khushi placed the phone on her ear and waited for it to be picked up with her hand tapping on the ground. The little speck of hope flew away from her eyes as soon as she heard the message of no service' and Lavanya's words rushed back into her brain.

'Urgh, NK just had to choose a place where I can't even get good phone reception!!!'

Khushi covered her face with her hands in defeat and slumped back against the wall. How the heck would she ever escape now?! But the next minute she quickly straightened up as she heard a shuffling of feet. Khushi held her breath and stiffened up as she heard the same voice coming near her and in no time the boat covering her was pushed aside, revealing her shivering form. Without wasting a second, Khushi shot up and had just started racing away when a strong grip on her upper arm stopped her from doing so and with a jerk from the same grip; she was brought face to face with the person.

Khushi's mouth was about to release a scream when she saw that face. Instead her mouth released a relieved sigh for the first time in the last thirty minutes. And without a second thought, Khushi threw her arms around him and tightly hugged a very confused Arnav.

"OhMaGod!! Thank goodness you're here!!" Khushi said, catching up on her breath.

"What? What happened? And why were you here? How did you come outside? And why the heck were you sitting here?...Do you even know it could have been so dangerous; the woods are right here!!" Arnav shot all his questions at once, not giving any time to Khushi for an answer. The concern was clear in his voice.

"Not here, come inside" Khushi whispered, detatching herself from him, kind of embarrassed and very much scared.

Saying that Khushi grabbed a very confused Arnav's hand and dragged him inside with her, opening the slightly ajar door, she walked into the house with Arnav walking behind her. After seating Arnav down, Khushi walked back and locked the door securely after giving a final look to the lake. Then, she walked back to the couch and placed herself a decent distant away from Arnav.

"Okay Aranv, now listen to me very carefully and please let me finish before you ask any questions.." Khushi started to which Arnav just nodded curiously, wanting to know what all this was about.

"Okay basically, do you remember when we went out to get the snacks and stuff from the car yesterday..." Khushi waited for Arnav to react and as he nodded, she continued, "So, when you were getting the stuff out from the car, I had seen a pair of red eyes staring at me from the cabin window...I even saw a shadow...but later I thought I was just hallucinating as no one else seemed to have seen anything like that...But, today, a while ago when I was sleeping, I had heard these strange bubble-errupting sounds. When I woke up to check, I had seen some bubbles on the surface of the lake and...I also saw the caretaker next to the lake. It was as if he was talking to someone. When I had gone down to check, it was him. I didn't know what he was doing so I well, decided to ask him...bbut..whenn I...when I..I turned him around...he was looking at me with the same red eyes I had seen the previous day and so I had ran away from there but unfortunately this door had gotten locked, I dunno how though, I mean it just slammed on my face. I then saw him again in the corridor outside and so I ran to hide behind the house and that's when you came. I thought it was him and so I tried to run...please trust me, I'm not making this up! I know you might think I am but I'm not...I know it sounds very unbelievable and stuff and like those lame horror stories but please..."

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Veggie