Written by : Madhul

None of the villagers went to the house, 

They didn't like it now as they didn't like it before,

And then the night came that with fear doused,    

The villagers haunted by an old folklore.            

If a pure maiden's heart gets swallowed by the earth,     

She will wander around till she regain's her soul-rebirth,         

With pain her transparent form will roam,       

To haunt all who couldn't save her from her doom.      

What the villagers didn't realize was that the folklore was false,

Not completely but the ghost it stated was not there to haunt.     

The stars were clouded,        

The sky an angry grey,            

The wind howled as if it almost said,     

Only Eli's young body is dead.                   

The villagers locked their doors in the first time in years, 

Chills crept up and down their spine,     

The village dog let out a mournful whine,         

Little children screamed as they let out their tears.                                

 One little boy a little too brave as one must say,   

Just had to prove to the other kids that he wasn't scared, 

By walking to the trees just a touch away,    

He turned around to see how foolishly they prayed.       

To his astonishment they just stared,       

Behind his back he felt someone was there,     

In a moment of panic he swiveled around,       

Smack in front of his face was Eli in her white gown.               

One sincere smile was all it took,   

Little Jonah was off running back along the brook,

This saddened Eli to no bounds,

That's when the villagers brought their torches and hounds.

Now Eli ghost or not,

Was still a girl alone, now a scared one!

She hid along the trees, felt hunted,

Soon insecure she went to the one place the villagers hated.

From the window of her room she watched,

As two burly men argued whether the house was to be torched,

Silently she looked a tear trickling down her eye,

She looked down at her hand and realized this is how you feel when you die.

There she stayed for years on end,

Throughout the generations the villager's mindset didn't bend,

Every attempt at friendship failed miserably,

Leaving her as she had been before sad and lonely.

Soon she realized she had no friends,

The ones she had while alive now belonged to the land of the peaceful dead,

Even though she tried to make amends,

She was shot down it was as if their hearts were carved out of lead.

Soon enough as it were bound to happen,

Though her heart no more her soul faltered,

Believing there was no way to be out of this cage,

She turned on hope her soul was bitter.

Quietly she spent the majority of her immortal days,

She saw it all through the ages,

The village changed so did the hills,

Children grew up and became old men,

All of them looked towards the house in fear,

Not one soul dared to come near.

Only one story was recited over and over,

The one of maiden Eli who died so young,

Whose ghost still haunted the broken mansion atop the hill,

Around which even the wind remained still.

With reluctance and hate she passed her days,

Every crevice of the house she did examine,

Thousands of centuries went slowly by,

Somewhere in the wood her body still lays.

 One solemn evening it so happened when the stars twinkled,

Someone, earth it seemed spoke to her,

Somewhere within hope flickered,

She looked around, vision a blur.

There in the middle of the room a willowy mist took form,

A beautiful lady with a face crunched up with scorn,

She beckoned tto eli, "come here my child,

Its not you its the villagers I mind".

Coy and scared she drifted over,

In the goddess' eyes she saw fire,

These men know not what they do,

Every little thing they can't explain is evil.

Worry naught little one,

  I know answers is what you seek,

       I shall not tell you who brought this upon you,

To you who committed this evil deed,

But instead I shall grant you this one gift,

You may have the power to find,

A boy a love a one who will not mind,

The sight of your bodice more transparent than mine,

Find him and you will find your answer,

Due to him the truth will surface,

After I shall tell you your fate,

From destiny your escape.

What may happen or not is not in my hands,

All that fate told me is that you shall find love in this very land,

The rest is a mystery that even I have no insight upon.

Be brave my little child as you have been,

Your lonely days are at an end."

Saying thus the mist broke and splintered,

In a sudden gust of wind It completely disappeared,

eli wondered whether it could be her imagination,

the result of days of wanting a miracle to happen.

She looked around, not sighting a trace of their exchange,

She sat down heavily a burden lifted or placed? 

More and more days passed by,

The prophecy in no way even remotely taking shape,

Disheartened eli tried to bring her hopes down,

But once embedded in her mind as it were,

she could not think even once of letting go.

One evening same as all the others -

 the village bathed in the glow of the drowning sun;

she looked from the broken window down below.

Engaged in thought, distracted with an open eyed dream,

She failed to hear the shout, one shout,

                           a scramble of footsteps and then a scream.

Silently flitting through the house,

She finally reached the dilapidated hall,

She looked around in tense expectation,

Nothing moved, she stood with apt attention.

A scuffle behind her back,

A gasp and heavy breathing.

Hearing thus she swiveled around

A boy about the same age as her

Was crouching down upon the ground,

He was in pain it was clear to her,

But as she bent to help he screamed in fear,

What could she say? she had not spoken in years.

She flew from the room in complete terror,

Angrily wiping away stray tears.

She sat on her musty bed,

She looked around at the broken walls,

And her heart filled with dread,

Not much younger than those walls was she,

And she wondered, "Who in the world would love me?"

Now tears came along with the wrath of the gods,

Burning her as if she was being branded with hot rods.

She sobbed and sobbed again missing the sound,

The sound of the front door opening,

Followed by the patter of feet hitting the hard ground.