Mystery Woman

Episode- 05

“Oh my god... A ghost... Save me...”

Gunapala found himself facing a young woman clad in a white gown. The instant he saw her, her gaze was so piercing it seemed to drain the color from everything around him. Blood trickled down from her mouth, staining the gown a deep crimson, and the blood smears spread across the white fabric. A prominent feature of a woman's beauty is her hair, and it is said that the longer the hair, the more beautiful she appears. Although this mysterious woman had hair that could have been truly enchanting at another time, it failed to convey that beauty in this eerie moment.

Suddenly...

“Ha ha ha...”

The very essence of the environment seemed to be dominated by an inexplicable force. A powerful wind began to rustle the trees around him, and Gunapala saw sand and dust being whipped into the air like a swirling storm. The intense cold, which had been prevalent earlier, gradually intensified. Gunapala felt that the white, ghostly remnants scattered around him were the spirits of the dead, come to claim him. He felt an eerie sensation as if someone had placed a hand on his shoulder. Turning around quickly, he saw the same mysterious woman he had encountered moments earlier. Her blood-soaked gown floated in the air as she laughed hauntingly.

Gunapala, now in a state of pure terror, lost his balance and collapsed, overwhelmed by fatigue.

“Om reem kattukattu... over and over, Eswah... puff puff... Eswah...”

Amidst the choking smoke and incense, Gunapala saw a figure chanting mantras. When he focused his eyes, he recognized the figure as the well-known village sorcerer, Sediris Atha. Despite his efforts to rise from where he lay, the intense pain in his body prevented him from doing so, and he fell back to the ground.

“Ha ha. Stay down, you fool. You still don’t have a clear sense of reality. I saw you lying in the gully near the Karakopuwa. When I saw you, I knew immediately that you must have been terrified. I came to retrieve you. You were lying there in fear, and now you’re still disoriented. Just a short while ago, I went back home. The ritual is almost complete. You seem to be in a bad state. Why did you venture to the Karakopuwa at night? I knew right from the start that you were scared of something unnatural. What happened?”

Gunapala began to piece together everything that had transpired. The face of the mysterious woman remained a vague and elusive memory, though he felt he had seen her somewhere before. Despite his attempts to recall the details, it was like trying to catch a fleeting shadow. As he stared vacantly at the wall in front of him, he felt an overpowering wave of drowsiness.

“Ha ha. It’s all right. It’s all right. I’ll inform our priest to take you back home. You’re still in a dazed state. Just rest a little while...”

When Gunapala opened his eyes again, he found himself back in his own home. Was it a dream? No, it couldn’t have been. He suddenly realized that the ritualistic thread he had seen tied by Sediris Atha was meant to bring him here. He thought back to the stories told by villagers about haunted places and spirits that roamed the night. Had he stumbled into one of these cursed spots? The recollection of his earlier fear made him shudder. The realization that he had ventured into the Karakopuwa, a place shrouded in local legends of malevolent spirits, made his predicament even more terrifying.

Gunapala had always been weak and vulnerable since childhood. He had never believed in gods or Buddhas and had never visited a temple. Because of this, seeing the thread made him immediately cut it off.

“Absurd... What is going to happen now...”

Suddenly...

“Ha ha ha...”

The laughter echoed again, and Gunapala felt a chill run down his spine. He tried to make sense of everything, but his thoughts were a jumble. His heart raced as he struggled to remember the sequence of events. The earlier vision of the ghostly woman haunted him, and the ominous atmosphere seemed to press heavily upon him.