Black Magic

I'm sure all of us have heard about it at one time or the other. Believe it? No?

We'll see what you think at the end of this story..

There used to be a woman who lived down the street and she always made heads turn, for she was weird with very odd looking clothes. She never spoke to anyone, or even lifted her bent head when she walked in the colony. She was a music teacher at a high school, and always lived in her own world.

During one of my vacations when we had just moved to the town, there was a proposal that I learn music from her. As soon as my other neighbour heard it, she almost fell off the chair and said - no, no you should not even go towards her house.
Upon enquiring, we found out the following story.

Sumathi the music teacher had a niece who lived with her as her sister had died during child birth. So Sumathi had stayed unwed and was raising this niece. People came to learn music from Sumathi even at home away from her school. This gave Sumathi an extra income she could use. Sumathi lived in a small two bedroom flat on the second story in the yellow quarters very close to the fence of the colony that adjoined a small pond.

Sumathi and her niece Geetha got along very well - Geetha looked up to her as if she were her own mother. During the time Geetha had reached the first year at college, they found out that they were about to have new neighbours! They were excited as the flat opposite had not been occupied for a long long time. One fine morning, they heard the sound of the pressure cooker and some melodious music from a radio come out of the flat. Geetha the kid she was, immediately rushed to ring the bell. The door was opened by a middle aged man who had a smile on his face and a pleasant personality. He welcomed her inside and they were soon chatting as if they had known each other forever!

Lunches and dinners followed. At the end of a month, the neighbour Mr.Chary was almost living in Sumathi and Geetha's flat - going to his own house only to sleep.

In a matter of six months, it was obvious that Mr.Chary and Sumathi were very attracted and were seriously thinking of settling down together for the rest of their lives.

By the way did I forget to tell that Mr.Chary was a widower? Things moved at a very fast pace from that point on.

It was the month of January and one morning Geetha woke up feeling very sick. This continued for over a week before Sumathi insisted that they see a doctor. Upon investigation, it was found that Geetha was pregnant!

It was a shock for Sumathi who almost fainted upon hearing it - Geetha just kept crying and wouldn't budge into telling what exactly had happened.

More coaxing from Sumathi and with many threats, Geetha told her that one afternoon when Sumathi was not at home Mr.Chary had wandered by. One thing led to another and the worst had happened - he had mis-led the innocent young girl and had threatened her that she dare not tell anything to her aunt, who was so blindly in love with the sly man. He was trying to salvage a situation and make the best of it for himself!

Needless to add, misery followed - the two were not aunt and niece anymore. They turned into two women who were cheated by the same ruthless person, who was not only characterless but also thought he was clever to take advantage of the situation and be benefited.

On one dark moonless night, Sumathi woke up in the middle of the night to find Geetha absconding. She knew it...she didn't have to look far.

On his part, Mr.Chary had found out about Geetha's state and had forced her to come away with him. He needed someone to lead his life with and this girl was carrying his child - so why not? She was younger and would work for him for a long time - so it was a good choice to live an easy life.

Sumathi continued to live there - hanging on to the same house, same objects, smelling the perfume on Geetha's clothes. She had gone mad with the pain - she didn't know how to handle it.

Every moonless night she came to the cross roads on the street and made some offerings to someone - a red something, flowers, a pumpkin, some lemons and a black mass that was stretchy and shiny to some deity interested in these obviously.

She moved in the shadows all by herself carrying something under the sweater she wore. She wore either black or red colors on those days and was found sitting on the edge of the pond chanting something....

People rumored that she had turned to the dark forces to help her avenge her disgrace, her misery and her loss...she was hurt beyond all words. She was cheated by someone she had trusted...and she would not be quiet about it...

Anyway, that summer we moved again - and this time to a city up North to this town. I settled into yet another school - and enjoyed my new friends. We forgot all about Sumathi.

That Novemeber on one of our trips to a friend's marriage, we heard that her niece Geetha had died of Cancer...all of a sudden. She had died vomiting blood....she had died in his kitchen with no one to even notice her rotting body for three days...Mr.Chary was out on a tour..what an end...

Sumathi was found on her couch the same night with her wrist slashed, her artery punctured..and a picture of Mr.Chary in her lap...

Once I returned from the wedding, I ran up to the library near the vegetable market.

Found what I was looking for and turning the pages of a musty old book, found this excerpt...

Black magic or dark magic is a type of magic that draws on malevolent powers. It may be used for malevolent acts or to deliberately cause harm in some way. It is alternatively spelt with a 'k' (magick), this term is also known as black magic, dark magic, the dark arts of magic and dark side magic.

In fiction it refers to evil magic. In modern times, people who believe in or claim to practice magic use the term to describe the harmful magic that they consider immoral, as opposed to the good white magic.

Black magic would be invoked to kill, injure, to cause misfortune or destruction, or for personal gain without regard to harmful consequences to others. As a term, "black magic" is normally used to describe a form of ritual that some group or person does not approve of. Not everything that is called black magic truly has malevolent intentions behind it, and some also consider it to have beneficial and benevolent uses, such as killing off diseases or pests.

I shut the book and looked out...I felt a chill...I felt something...I saw from the corner of my eye...something had moved. I turned around and saw nothing and no one....was I imagining?

A shadow silently crossed the lawn...a beautiful young girl smiled at her own reflection in the pond...