A grateful knock.

Everything was silent, no movement nothing, until there was a knock! The woman's eyebrows raised, her heartbeats increased and her eyebrows showed an evident change in their alignment. Her gaze shifted towards the door and she was left with an extreme disbelief! Her hands shivered as her fingers slowly rearranged her hair and tried to tuck it behind her ears. She rose slowly. Why has he come now? I won't leave him! I will make sure he pays for what he's done! I will make sure......her words resonated through the beautifully kept ancient walls of the corridor of the house.

"Mom, I want to enter that house! I want to see what's inside, just look at this door, it looks so well carved, I want a door with this design, mom please...."

The girl's mother had managed to silent the curiosity of this little 5 year old baby and convinced her to go back to their house which was just a stone's throw away from this haunted one. The Smiths had recently moved into this house, which no one seemed to have bought because of the regularly flowing mythical stories about it. Some villagers said a man had died a few years back and his spirit walked around guarding the house, some said they used to hear faint voices of a woman from within the house enough to scare anyone out of their wits, while most of the other villagers never cared.

The mother and daughter moved back into their house about 2 days earlier, while the father was yet on his ship working as a crew member. This left the mother and daughter to settle into their house themselves. The mother worked hard for the first two days to make the house liveable and although her effort was whole hearted, her capacity was pretty limited looking at the huge three storeyed size of the house. But the energy that that little 5 year old

embodied was almost double of what her mom had. It seemed like her curiosity hadn't allowed her to shut her eyes off from the house neighboring her own. She woke up in the night and went to the kitchen to cure her thirst. Her anxiety got the better of her. She walked towards her focused house. She didn't fear anything at all. Infact, she walked to the house and felt that she had accomplished something big. Her heart rose with happiness which reflected a slight smile on her face. The beautiful wooden design on the door intrigued her but as she slowly disentangled the spider webs feeling how smooth they were, she finally knocked the door. She kept admiring the design on the door and didn't really consider fear or regret at all. After all how much would the complexity of the emotions matter in the mindset of a 5 year old? Surprisingly, the door opened! Her little feet walked with awe taking in with her breath every little detail on the architecture of the inner walls of the corridor. A light breeze circulated in the house as she heard a cracking noise and turned towards a rocking chair that began rocking. She rushed towards it and stopped it from moving. She didn't assume anything. A plate fell off the table and she heard a thud on the floor. Her eyes saw no one. Her little voice shouted, stop it "You're scaring me! I am just here to see how beautiful this house looks. If you don't want it, I'm leaving."

A beautiful woman dressed in a pink saree appeared in front of her eyes standing tall at a distance of 4 feet away. Her eyes big and scary. Her posture like a warrior, all set to kill. Her hair long and straight almost touching the lower curve of her body, flying in the darkness.

"Wowwww! You are so beautiful! Your eyes are so nicely done! I love your sareee, could you please get one for me? I promise never to tell my mom that I asked you for it! Pretty please......."

"No! How come you're not scared.....?", said the voice in a shrill tone!

"You're rude!", the kid made a stubborn face with her nose and lips turned up this time.

"Leave this house!" demanded the woman.

"But you're so beautiful! How can I ever feel bad? My mom says beautiful people can never be bad! So I don't think you're bad! But please can you now tell me where you got that outfit from?" the girl's voice gave hints of hope.

"Uhhhh....no! Why don't you get scared of me? I mean...till now I've had everyone get scared of me! And....here you are, a little girl who infact likes me! " the voice had changed its tone.

"Yes, I like you. You allowed me to enter! So thanks for that. But can I play in your house for a bit? My mom doesn't know I'm here, please can I see your house before my mom realizes I'm not there? Please please pl....?"

"Okay."

"Thanks! I knew you're an angel! Now let me see where I can start fro......"

The woman's heart melted looking at this kid. Love had changed her mind. She had been rude, mean and all full of revenge because that's what her heart had housed ever since her husband had abandoned her. Her heart had overcome the fence that limited its freedom.

"Auntyyyyyyyy, can you please help me here? " She immediately diverted her thoughts and went to help the little girl.

She played with her, showed her around the entire house until the kid sat down on a couch and told her the she's tired.

"Aunty, you're my best friend now! Actually, after Kim....Kim bought me a lollipop before I left for for here Uhhh." She observed the woman's smile and eyes and before they would drop she said, " Uhh okay, let's change the order for now! You're first!" The girl gestured her to come closer. She went closer. " You're my best friend, I won't tell Kim. You love me so much!"

The girl kissed her on her cheek and told her that she would like to sleep in her lap. She kept the girl's head in her lap and carressed it with a kind of love she never felt before. Was it ever possible for the woman to give up her frustrated, fearful, scary and obnoxious side for a baby with whom she had bonded so delicately?

She carefully held the little girl in her arms and walked towards the neighboring house tiptoed. There was no voice of anybody at that unearthly hour, she unlocked the house of the house, walked in with the kid and slowly placed her on the couch. She tore a part of her saree and covered the kid's body. The girl slept very peacefully.

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"Wakey-wakeyyy, little baby. Guess what I made for you today? It's your favorite, Cupcake with coffee and some jam, just what you love. Now get up fast, we also have to go to the market today, return back quickly and call dad. He is supposed to inform us of his plans of return. What happened? Why did you sleep here?"

The girl sat up in wonder.

"Mom, I met an aunty yesterday uhh.....last night, she is my best friend! I went to that house!"

"what???? Who is that aunty? Okay tell me the story later, first freshen up and have your breakfast." The mother dismissed it pretty soon.

" The walls of that house are so beautiful, the swing so comfortable and more than anything her outfit. Her smile was so wide and happy, mummy I thought I was in a very happy place.!" her face emanated divine happiness and love.

The mother smiled. "You might have seen a dream! I'm sure"

" NO, mom, I really saw her. Wait, I saw her cover me with her cloth which was the same as her saree!"

"ok, can you show that to me?"

She rushed to the couch, there was nothing there!

She searched for it everywhere. Now she herself was left awestrucken. Had she really dreamed? She wondered in shock as she sat on a chair against the table, grabbing a cupcake. A whiff of air went by displacing the pink cloth that had flown away and was tucked under a stool that her mom had kept on the side of the hallway after cleaning the house. She saw that and smiled. Her best friend had waved a hello to her that beautiful morning!