CHAPTER FIVE
Or, as Jay thought so.
”Oh! Wait, I’ll be
right back!” Janice told them and skimmed off to an old pink convertible,
parked quite skilfully near the edge of the clearing.
The place seemed surreal and even though, Jay
was accustomed to seeing lots of beauty and appreciating nature, this place was
nothing like he had or will ever see again. There was a kaleidoscopic variety
of flowers around, merging into, what it seemed the bright blue summer sky
above. Similar patterns littered the surroundings, blossoming flowers all
around with butterflies and different birds flying gaily about the heavenly
meadow. A complete and picturesque portrait, God Himself, seemed to have
designed. A sweet fresh aroma was lingering in the air. A slight mist had just
started to come down, adding to the scene’s splendour. This was normal. The
descending mist. Almost every night after sundown, an unexplained haze would
come down. This would be so dense at times that it would be a problem walking
on the street, let alone drive.
Jay saw Janice open up
the rear of the car and lift some things from there.
“What is she doing?” Dawn grumped, apparently
upset at her weird behavior. Jay shrugged. He had known this girl for 10
minutes now, how was he supposed to know what she had in mind? As she neared, Jay saw that she held a picnic
basket and a sheet. She spread it over a cozy looking spot between two large,
shady, beech trees, and sat down cross legged on it. A short pause followed.
Then she looked up and asked, “What?” reading
their lost faces. “Come, sit.” Jay followed suit, while Dawn sat down on her
knees and smiled up at Janice.
“You are one distracted girl”. Janice chuckled
and winked. “You have no idea, mademoiselle!” Jay watched this interesting
exchange, smile playing on his lips.
“Okay, what do you
guys want to know?” Janice asked, apparently, pretty satisfied now that they
were all comfortably settled.
But just as Jay started to speak, she cut
across him quickly, opening up her picnic basket and bringing out things.
“Oh and yes. I have
something for you. You may have chips, cookies, and I also packed sandwiches,
chicken and lettuce, sardines and pickled onions, and yeah I also have soft
drinks and………….”
Finally, she realized what was going on and
stopped abruptly like she used to.
“Sorry. I am a real bore!” She quickly
corrected herself.
Jay grinned up at her and held up thumbs up.
“On the contrary, I find you quite amusing.”
“Aww. That’s so nice
of you.”
Janice blushed, the rich red colour which
flamed up beautifully against her pale, freckled skin. Oh, she did really seem
to be as if he knew her. But he didn’t think he had ever seen her before. And
yet….. The familiarity was uncannily surprising. And then it hit him. He had
seen a girl back in his high school, who kept more to herself and always had
her nose buried in a book or two. She was the girl that Janice resembled.
Seeing her relax under his soothing gaze, Jay proceeded on to the matter.
“Yeah, I wanted to ask
you about this place. Like its history and all. And why the hell do people seem
so scared to death most of the time?”
Jay inquired, and
instantly saw Janice’s smile vanish. He looked at her apologetically.
“I am sorry. I didn’t mean to be so harsh.”
Dawn raised an eyebrow
at Jay and immediately turned to Janice.
“I am so sorry,
Janice. Jay is so naïve, he didn’t mean to be that rude but he forgot he was
being just that way.”
She said
sarcastically. Janice managed a small smile but the tensed features around her
face made it pretty obvious that she did not feel that well.
“No. It’s okay.
Doesn’t matter. The only thing is that, this place has a complicated past,
which makes it less of an “appealing “place.”
Janice held up her
hands bending her fingers in sync with her sentence to give the extent of her
meaning.
“Like what?”
Jay asked hiding his smirk behind a
questioning gaze, lest he should annoy Janice too much. Janice was looking at a
patch of flowers some distance away, apparently too absorbed to notice,
anyways. Dawn, however saw his expression and glared at him giving him one of
the Will-you-stop-it? Look he knew too well. He shrugged and winked at her. She
turned away, grinning.
“I’ll tell you about
everything. But first you have to help yourself to something. Or the deal is
off.”
She told them and
quickly spread out a promising supper before them. Jay and Dawn exchanged a
look. This girl was too polite and formal. And sweet. Anyways, they helped themselves to some of
the things so they could get along well with Janice, since she seemed all on
for the party.
Once they were done,
they packed up and begin walking around the clearing. They reached the edge of
a very not so steep cliff and began to climb. It wasn’t difficult.
“20 years ago, this
place was called ‘Demeure de la paix’. In french, evidently if you have taken
it’s lessons in school, you’ll know, it means ‘Abode of peace’. The place
blossomed with flowers all round the year, well you get the gist…………”
Jay lost the track of the conversation for a
few minutes. Janice had led them to the top of the cliff. Tucking a lock of
hair behind her hair, every few moments. They now stood on the very top of the
descending cliff. As jay looked down, he could only see murky brown stuff,
blobbing and frothing, a great distance away. This was the marsh. The one this area
was famous for. It dominated a large area of land and was nowhere near the
normal civilization, yet, it seemed to threaten its existence. From the cliff,
an old, rickety bridge, led up to the other end of the marsh, which was
probably so far, that Jay could only see an outline of it against the blue
horizon. The weird part was, it seemed to have been broken somewhere right
around the middle. Where, there seemed a plank missing, not to mention, it was
skewed at an odd angle. Jay shook his head and steered his wandering thoughts,
back to the conversation.
“…beauty, which seemed to captivate those who
admired it….”
Jay’s thoughts,
however, were elsewhere. Absentmindedly, he placed a hand on the bridge’s
support and held out a foot to step on it.
“NO!”
Janice’s scream rang out into the vast open
space, for a few moments, time seem to have frozen. As her voice echoed around
the place, the vocal effect was amusing for a few seconds, but as the voice
returned, it was oddly creepy, very much unlike Janice’s soft, honey
voice. Jay turned to face her, surprised
at her over reaction. Dawn’s mouth was hanging open in a soft ‘O’ shape. She
too, look worried.
“What is wrong with
you?”
Jay turned to Janice
and frowned, a hand in his pocket while the other was massaging his temples.
Janice was sweating and breathing hard. She was not the composed, cheerful
self, she had been for the past hour.
“We do not cross the
bridge or even talk about it.”
Janice told them in a
low voice. Jay cocked his head to one side and widened his eyes in mock horror.
“Well, isn’t that a
surprise?”
“Shut up, Jay!”
Dawn squealed at him.
He looked at her and then back at Janice.
“Tell me, exactly what
happened, that you people are so scared to death about?”
Janice looked at him
and shook her head sadly.
“You may think it’s a
joke, but all of us here, know it’s true. About eight years from now or maybe
seven, a young girl used to live here. She was beautiful, and smart. She was
talented in singing and dancing. People used to adore her. She was sweet and
ever ready to help. But one day, a very bad thing happened. She was crossing
the bridge probably, and never came back. Later, when search parties were sent
to find her, the only clue found to her disappearance was a missing plank on
the bridge and her certificate next to it. We believe, since she was so
wonderful, someone just out of sheer jealously and envy could have murdered
her. She probably fell down in the marsh and drowned. Her body was never found….”
Jay was listening to
this fantastical tale with eyes wide while he felt Dawn stiffen to his side.
Janice seemed to be in a trance. Quietly going on with her tale.
“…. A few weeks later,
people started disappearing. People became superstitious that it was the dead
girl causing problems, and would keep on doing so until she had her revenge.
The revenge for her murder. So people started moving from here, to settle
elsewhere.”
Janice finished her
story, voice almost as low as a whisper. Jay gazed out into the darkness,
realizing, heavy black clouds were covering the scene. The overcast weather
made the bridge look even creepier.
“The rumors and
stories got so persuasive that people had to leave the place. Its name changed
to ‘Lieu du décès’. The place was beautiful and yet unapproachable for years.”
Dawn slowly completed
Janice’s story. Both Jay and Janice stared at her. Her eyes were wide and her
gaze was frozen at the bridge some distance away. Jay prodded her. She seem to
come out of her reverie.
“How did you know
that?”
Jay asked her,
surprised. Dawn shook her head and shrugged.
“I have lived here for
long, Jay. Mom and Dad always told me stories from here. This was one of them.”
Though she said it in
a casual tone, Jay noticed her hands were shivering.
“Want to know
something else?”
Janice questioned,
quite her bustling self again.
“I think it’s enough
for the day.”
Dawn turned down her
offer. Jay turned to her and looked at her intently.
“Are you okay?”
She was extremely pale
and her hands shook. Her lips quivered. She bit into the lower one to keep
calm.
“Dawn. Calm down,
buddy. For all we know, this could be just some stupid fairytale.”
He told her and placed
a hand on her shoulder and felt her relaxing in his embrace. He tightened his
arms and tried to put as much of his warmth in it, as he could. Janice
squirmed. Apparently, offended at his last sentence. But he had to make Dawn
feel better.
He thanked Janice and
then walked Dawn back to his car. She was quiet and looked scared. Still. But
there was nothing more he could do to make her relax. Not yet, at least. He
drove her back home, and then opened the door for her. As she stepped out,
their hands met briefly. Jay smiled at her and then took her hand and softly
touched it with his lips.
“Don’t worry,
Princess. All is fine. You have my number. Do let me know if there is anything
I could help you with, okay?”
Dawn smiled up at him
and the effect was immediate. Jay could feel his heart pounding in anticipation
as her smile widened. She was so beautiful. Her eyes glistened under the now
dark sky.
“Sure thing.”
Jay watched her go in
and then turned to his place. The clouds were thundering above him, accompanied
by heavy but short, bursts of rain and lightning. Parking his car in the
covered, porch, Jay went in. The house was quiet. Probably his parents were in
their room. He made his way to his room and dropped, exhausted onto his bed. He
didn’t even bother to take his shoes off.
Listening to the
heaven rage above him, Jay looked at the mantelpiece absently. But his thoughts
were still on the conversation with Janice and Dawn….
Ahhh. Dawn. He smiled and turned on his bed. There
was something so different about her. She always made him smile.