"The Midnight Mango Hunt"

 

"The Midnight Mango Hunt"

 

Shamsur, Raju, and Aliraj, known as the "mango hunters" in their village, were the closest of friends. They enjoyed the thrill of picking mangoes hanging from all trees they could reach, including risking lives by sneaking deep inside the village's densest forests to get at the most perfect ripe ones. They were unaffected by rain or storms, and their passion for hunting brought them closer than siblings.

On this particular night, after an all-day spate of laughter and games at Raju's cousin's place, the three friends finally turned in to sleep. The silence of night enveloped the house, and they plunged deep into a dreamless slumber.

But in that quietude, Raju suddenly felt a strong push and opened his eyes to see Shamsur looming above him and frantically shaking his shoulders.

"Get up!" Shamsur hissed. "We're running out of time. There are mangoes to pick! Hurry up!"

Raju rubbed his eyes in confusion. "Mangoes? Now? It's the middle of the night!"

Paying no heed to Raju's demurring, Shamsur hurried over to Aliraj, slapping him awake and repeating his request in full. "We need to get those mangoes. They're just waiting for us! Let's go before anyone else gets them!

With a strange sensation in their stomachs, Raju and Aliraj reluctantly succumbed to Shamsur's persistent demands. They went out into the night with him, into the chill of winter still nibbling at their skin, and wondered what had gotten into their friend.

Lured by Shamsur's words, "There are plenty of mangoes just a bit further," they trekked deeper into the nearby forest. Soon, the branches above their heads started to thicken, the shades lengthened, and they wrapped them in darkness. Finally, they came to a familiar mango tree, and Raju and Aliraj peered upwards, squinting into the moonlight to see what looked like hundreds of glistening mangoes, just beyond reach. Excitedly, they reached for the mangoes, but their hands were met with empty air.

They looked at each other, dumbfounded. "Shamsur, these aren't real... What's going on?" However, Shamsur's maniacal smile was drawing them closer. "The real ones are further in! Just follow me—hurry!"

Raju felt a sudden sense of unease: Shamsur's face appeared to ripple, his features melting and rehardening, for a fleeting moment, into something dark and inhuman. Apprehensive, he hung back, and then Shamsur's voice broke the stillness. "Come on! I can see a whole grove just up ahead."

A strange voice among the trees was echoing, "Come! Here are more mangoes! Come and see!

Shamsur quickened his pace, his laughter sending eerie bounces in the night, while his face stretched into an unnatural smile. Raju's heart pounded as he exchanged a panic-stricken glance with Aliraj. Before they could imagine what to do, an older man emerged from behind a nearby tree—the landlord.

"What is the meaning of this? "What are you three doing out here at this hour?" asked the landlord. The landlord barked, his stern gaze cutting through the confusion.

"We were... mango-picking," Raju stammered out in barely a whisper.

"Mangoes in winter?" The landlord narrowed his eyes and clutched both of them by the shoulder. "Get back in the house. Now."

The landlord followed close behind them as they returned in a daze with their heads reeling, his eyes darting about the woods. Once they reached the house, he took them up to the room, and there they found Shamsur sleeping peacefully in bed, dressed in clothes different from those worn by the person who had taken them out into the woods.

They had shaken Shamsur awake. "Hadn't you gone into the forest just now? Were you outside with us?"

Shamsur yawned and blinks in confusion. "I've been asleep this whole time. What are you talking about?

He ceased his narration and folded his arms, a serious look on his face. "What you saw in the forest wasn't Shamsur. That was a shapeshifting spirit. It haunts young boys like you, leading them deeper and deeper into the woods. Had I not come along, you might never have made it back.".

The realization chilled the three friends with cold, creeping terror. The rest of the night they huddled together, eyes wide with fear, too afraid to blink. At the first touch of dawn upon the village, they gathered their stuff and were off, leaving behind them in the wood’s weird memories of the shapeshifter, evermore watchful about what may be lurking in the shadow, waiting for a proper time to strike again.