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Read Chapter 1 of the children’s book – The House in the Forgotten Forest by Gayatri Rao. A haunting mystery begins deep within a silent forest—enter if you dare. Start reading now.
If you enjoy atmospheric mystery stories with a slow-burn suspense, You can explore the book here.
The House in the Forgotten Forest (Chapter 1): Enter If You Dare…
Asha has Nightmares
“At last, exams are over. Now, we’ll be able to go back home,” exclaimed an excited Asha Bhat.
Radha D’Costa replied, enthusiastically, “Oh, yes, Ashu. We’ll be back in Goa tomorrow. No constant studying to trouble our poor heads.”
“Only unspoilt beaches, stretched far and wide and a lot of sea air to fill our polluted lungs with,” Asha gesticulated.
Radha and Asha were best friends, hailing from the lush green coastal town, St. Katherine, Goa, situated near Panaji. They were studying at a junior college in Mumbai and at that moment coming out of their examination center after appearing for the last of their Higher Secondary School Certificate examination. At least, two months were still to go for their results to be declared and decide about their future studies. So, they had almost 60 days to enjoy back home in Goa!
“Hi, Girls!” a tall fair boy of their age came up to them, from a group standing close to the college gate. He was Vijay Iyer.
“Vijay Anna, what are you doing here? Your center was elsewhere,” Radha exclaimed. “What a pleasant surprise!”
“I was too curious about what my twin and her friend had done of their exams,” he replied.
“Well, Vijay Anna, I can assure you of one thing. We won’t let you down. Though we may not score as much as you in the board exams, we may not be far behind,” Asha winked at her friend. “What say, Kathy?”
Asha called her friend Kathy, short for Katherine. Radha was christened by the name of the Christian Saint’s name, but was well-known by the confusing name of Radha D’Costa. Sometimes Radha felt mischievously happy at the confusion it created about her religion and at times oddly proud at the national integration it represented.
“Yes, I know, I know. It’s a hard task living up to the title of Vijay Anna’s younger twin sister,” Radha replied with mock seriousness.
Vijay was always the scapegoat of the girls’ digs. But he took them good naturedly because he loved his 2 sisters, very much.
****
An overnight train journey took the two girls back to their beloved Goa.
“Nooooo. Nooooo… Kaaaathyyyyyyyy” Asha murmured in her sleep.
Radha heard her friend murmuring in her sleep. She was sleeping on the next seat in the train. Radha shook her friend. Asha opened her eyes. But the other girl was still trembling.
“What happened?” Radha was concerned about her friend. She handed her some water.
“I saw you plunge into an abyss inside a haunted house!” Asha replied, sipping the water gratefully.
“It’s ok. It’s just a dream. You can see me. I am fine.”
Radha soothed her friend back to sleep.
****
Once they reached St. Katherine’s, weary with exhaustion, Radha flopped into bed after a warm welcome by her dearest Mamma and Papa. Her Papa, Dr. Joseph D’Costa was a scientist employed by the Indian government. He specialized in cybernetics, heading the Research and Development Department. He was not her biological father. When Radha was 5, she had got separated from her biological parents, the Iyers, due to the monsoon floods in Mumbai where they were living, then.
The building where they lived had collapsed and Radha had been washed away from it. The Iyers had shifted to the USA after a futile attempt to find Radha. It was a stroke of luck that the kind D’ Costas, who were good friends of the Iyers; had found her and taken her under their roof. They had also lost their home. Though they had tried to find the Iyers, through every possible means like the visual media and the newspapers, post the deluge, since all communications had been severed, the Iyers seemed to have missed the information. The social media was not so active at that time.
After losing their home in Mumbai, the D’Costas made their native Goa their home and had brought her up with the knowledge that they were not her biological parents. The D’Costas had adopted her since they had only one son, Julius. Julius was older than Radha by 10 years and had left them some years ago, angry with his father about something. Radha affectionately called him Julius Bhaiya and he called her tiny sis and Asha another tiny sis due to their age difference. He was now in touch with only the girls and their Mamma.
About a year ago, Radha and her college group had been selected to represent India in a dramatics competition in New York. The American commercial capital turned out to be the meeting place for the lost Iyer family members. It was the likeness between Radha and Vijay, who was 2 minutes older than her, helped them to recognize each other and this marked a turning point in their lives. The DNA test became a confirmation of their relationship between the Iyer family and Radha. Their eldest brother Ajay, 3 years older than them, was happy, too. He had been desperately missing his only sister, all through these years.
Radha returned to India, with her biological family; she had lost as a child. It was decided that though the D’Costas would remain her legal guardians; when she would be in Mumbai for her studies and career, she would live with the Iyers.
****
Both the girls got up late in the morning the next day due to the strenuous overnight journey. The first thing that Asha did was to go to her friend’s place. The girls always had breakfast together at Katherine’s Villa, while in Goa, after a session of yoga together. Asha was greeted by a 2-year-old girl at the gate of the mansion. The girl was Ritu Arora, Radha’s neighbor, who was usually called Dolly, by everybody. When the little girl saw Asha, she started jumping up and down until the older girl picked her up and cuddled her in her arms.
As Asha opened one side of the large 2-doored gate, the security guard asked her, “Ma’am, how are you? How were your exams?”
“I am good. I think I have done quite well,” she replied, politely.
At that time, Dr. D’Costa, who was sitting on the lawn chair in the garden, looked up from his expensive laptop and smiled at his friend’s daughter. He would stay in his office most of the time. But he made it a point to be home at least for a few days when Radha and Asha came home during vacations.
“Child, how are you?” he asked.
“I am good, Papa. How are you?”
“I am good, too, Child. How is your father?” He was talking about his friend Major Bhat.
“It’s the usual, Papa. He is only at one place during vacations. The same old golf course! He’s not ready to give it up, even after he sustained so many twists and sprains,” Asha replied, as Radha came out to welcome her and Dolly.
“Ok. Run off you two. I will get back to my work,” Dr. D’Costa said closing his laptop, picking it up and getting up to go to his study.
“Papa, don’t treat us like children!” Radha protested, as Asha placed Dolly on the lawn path near her. “We are 17, no less!”
“Even if you are 57, you will remain children for us, my dear Kathy,” Mrs. Mary D’Costa replied through the kitchen window, which opened toward the lawn. The D’Costas also called Radha by her nick name, Kathy.
“Oh, Mamma!” The girls looked exasperated.
Dolly ran to Dr. D’Costa and said, “Papa Uncle, chockolate!”
Dr. D’Costa was about to take an éclair out of his pocket when Mrs. D’Costa called out to the little girl, “No chockolate, now. I want all of you inside in 15 minutes. Your favorite dish chole bhature is getting ready.”
“Wow, yummy,” all the 3 girls shouted and ran into the house. Radha’s biological family belonged to the South Indian Brahmin community and did not touch meat. The D’Costas had turned vegetarian after they had adopted Radha.
Dolly went to the boom box and insisted that she wanted to dance on a few of her favorite Bollywood numbers with the other 2 girls. The older girls also enjoyed dancing to these numbers. Radha said, “We don’t need to do yoga today, Asha. Thanks to this little girl.”
****
“Now that you have completed your 12th std. exams, what do you intend to do?” Dr. D’Costa asked the two older girls in front of him, joining them for lunch.
“Papa, we are thinking of spending our vacation at some interesting place, until our results are declared,” Radha replied. “The only problem is that we can’t decide, where…”
“I want to go somewhere with a lot of peace and quiet,” Asha said. “The exams have been hectic. Besides, all that tension about the questions coming from, we don’t know where, but not from the syllabus. Phew! Thank God, it’s all over now.”
“But,” Dr. D’Costa continued to ask. “What do you want to study once the results are out?”
“I want to study Botany!” Radha exclaimed with excitement.
“What about you, Asha?”
“I want to do a degree in science and post that I want to learn journalism. I am not sure which subject should I take for undergraduate studies. Maybe I should do Botany, as well. Also, I want to earn and learn.”
“I can help you with the contact details of a friend, who is a senior journalist with an online publication. You may get suitable assignments for earning while learning,” Papa gave her the contact’s number. They silently continued to eat when Mrs. D’Costa reprimanded them about talking while eating.
After they had the tasty lunch prepared by Mrs. Mary D’Costa, the older girls went to the garden to spend some time with each other sitting on the lawn grass and Dolly returned to her home as her mother, Parmeet Arora, had told her to return home.
****
The next day, when the 2 girls were returning from a movie and were discussing it, Asha suddenly stopped. Radha had gone ahead and only realized a few seconds later that her bestie had stopped walking. When she turned back and asked her what had happened, Asha just pulled her friend roughly toward herself just in time to avoid a man on motorbike. The man was about to pick Radha up onto his vehicle! But the motion of pulling Radha toward herself made Asha also fall on the side of the road, with her friend. Before they could recover, a moving SUV stopped near them! As they got up dusting their dresses, the back window of the SUV on their side slid down, revealing Dr. D’Costa in it.
“What happened, girls?”
When they told him, his bodyguard, who was waiting for a signal from his employer, immediately called the police with information of the kidnapping that had almost happened.
****
“We were walking on the opposite side of the traffic on the footpath, like Mamma had taught us1. He came from behind us, on the opposite direction of the traffic. How did you know that the man was coming at us and was about to kidnap me? I know that you did not turn back,” Radha asked her friend. The girls were relaxing in Radha’s room. Radha had sustained a sprain in her ankle and she was resting it.
“I really don’t know what happened. But something told me to be careful about you,” Asha replied.
***
Dr. D’Costa later told them that the man had been caught. He had said that he was related to one of the criminals, Dr. D’Costa had helped the police put behind bars. He had been following the girls and had wanted to kidnap one of them so that he could hold her as ransom for the release of his relative.
****
“Nooooo. Nooooo… Kaaaathyyyyyyyy” Asha murmured in her sleep, 2 nights later.
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