Huff…huff…", came a voice as a boy came panting, he looked like he just ran a marathon. Drenched in sweat running as if his life depended on it. After the boy ran for a while he stopped at the corner of an alley to catch his breathe. He was looking behind him repeatedly to see if his pursuers if they can even be called that are still after him. Seeing nothing he heaved a sigh of relief but not too loud as if afraid the walls might hear him.
After some time as he saw no one coming from the behind he silently started moving in the opposite direction. The boy's name is Kai. A simple boy 17 of age from a middle class family with loving parents and a sister. He is in his last year of high school and the scene we read about earlier was when he was headed home from school. And the thing he was running from is a spirit. A spirit which doesn't like to be seen by others to be exact. And unfortunately, for our main character has seen it and is now running for his life. The spirit won't kill him, now you'll ask then why was he running, it is because the spirit isn't exactly fond of being seen. It won't kill him but will take him and make him just like her, 'not living, not dead and obviously mot undead'. It'll make him something worse, a spirit braid, a part of the braid to be exact.
And that's because it's the only thing which makes her ugly, she's bald… With a bald head, she's searching for something or someone to be made into her hairs. Don't ask how it's possible, it's her business and she isn't exactly, you know fond of someone meddling in her matter. Who knows she'll come for you if you are too much nosy. And yuppp! you guessed it right, it's our famous bald witch the 'ganji chudail'.
And if you may ask how our main character got himself in such a situation then we'll have to go half an hour back.
The school was almost over as Kai was sitting in his seat bored and yawning from time to time, he started stuffing his books and other things in his bag as it was almost time. Just after he finished putting the books away the bell rang. He swiftly rose from his seat and made his way towards the classroom gate.
5 minutes later our main character emerged from the prison with a smile knowing that it's his last year in this hell. Kidding, he exited the school gate going in the nearby alley as usual, the alley being a shortcut to his home. Well, that was what he told his parents but it wasn't a shortcut. The thing was, it was deserted most of the time with little to no human presence, much to our main character's liking.
Now back to the topic how our main character got himself into this huge trouble, as usual Kai was walking alone, when he noticed the sky dimming. "What's with the weather nowadays. Sunny a moment, cloudy the other. It's gotten just like a girl's mood swings, changing every moment. Whatever, better make a run for home before it starts to rain." He fastened his bag while muttering to himself before jogging along the familiar path. All of a sudden he stops as the paths he usually takes seems to be getting longer and longer. "Might be an illusion." he told himself and started jogging again despite the doubts.
5 minutes later he stopped again as the way is getting weirder by the minute, becoming more dilapidated the more he went forward. After stopping he looked around and noticed even more abnormalities. Trees looked dry and black as if it's vitality has been sucked dry, buildings giving creepy vibes, and the swirling black shadow howering on the horizon.
There was no sign of the sun in the sky, only black clouds dark as ink. "Darker than my future, huh.", he chuckled as if the humourless joke could help him remain sane and not give in to fear. But the truth is, he was already scared inside seeing such phenomenon and just wanted to hurry home.
Just as he was about to start running again he noticed that…he's lost. A boy so familiar with the area near his school that he can even recount the number of steps needed to cross some alleys is now lost in one of them. Funny na, Kai doesn't think so, coz the previous familiar alley vanished in it's entirety without a trace. And right now in front of him lay a forest, a forest with dead tress. Compare these trees with the ones from earlier, it looks like comparing a person in his late twilight years and one in a coffin. It may sound exxagerrated but that's the only way Kai can describe them. The whole place was utterly desolate with no human presence whatsoever.
For a moment he thought he had crossed over, but on another thought he shook his head denying it. " Heh, I don't have a heaven defying luck that I'll get such an opportunity. And there was no sign of truck-kun or a heavenly tribulation going on nearby."
Shaking his head he gazed ahead of him, looking at those dead trees. Taking a deep breath he made his towards the woods, hoping to find a way out of here. Up close the trees looked like those horror movie scenes, where the branches comes alive and picks up people to hang onto themselves as if some kind of medal. "And it's looking just like an opening scene, a random person stumbles in such a place and is never seen again. O god, allah, bhagwaan, buddha, thor, please save this little soul. It's doesn't even fit with the ending I've had in mind.". He went forward praying to every deity he could think of.
After some minutes of searching in the woods, he finds out that…he's lost..again. "What shitty luck!". He cursed under his breath and started to search for a way. It was proving extremely difficult as all the trees are nearly identical. He was wandering there when he noticed that the land is showing a downward slope in a direction. His eyes lit up as he started running in it's opposite direction. After some time he noticed that the number of trees is getting lower and lower as he moved up the slope.