THE WATCHER

Only minutes earlier the little girl had discovered her, on a wooden plank on the kitchen wall. And she had stood awestruck. Etched on the wood in lines and knots was a lady in a gown, standing with grey hair flowing up to her shoulders and watching something open mouthed and eyes rounded, as if dumbstruck by what she is watching. She had run into the house and dragged him to the kitchen, made him see her discovery. As a young man he was not as much surprised as this little niece of his, but took note of the unusual design nevertheless. Indeed it looked liked a creepy lady watching.
It was his friend’s house. Dad and mom had gone to town leaving their little daughter under his watch. Minutes after being shown the discovery, he murdered the girl in the kitchen as the lady on the wall stood watching, terrified and dumbstruck.
A year later, the wall was no more there and neither the house. First mortgaged and then sold and then ripped off, everything that could be salvaged was sold as scrap. Including the plank with the lady on it.
Another five years later he bought a house in another place hundreds of miles away from where he spent that weekend with his friend and family.
Now he has his newly married wife with him. She discovers her the second night of their home coming. A creepy lady above their bed, looking down at them from the ceiling. She makes him take note of the design.
It rings a faint bell. “I think I saw something like that before,” he says and goes on loving his wife, not wanting to wreck his brain on anything less important.
Later at night he wakes up from sleep. In the faint light with his wife sleeping beside him, his eyes fell on the ceiling. The lady is watching. Even in the semi-darkness of the room he can see her clearly; she seems to be watching him with more and more intensity. Now he remembers.
She wakes up in the morning with a drop of liquid falling on her face. A drop of red. She doesn’t find him beside her. Another drop falls. She looks up. It’s dripping from above. Blood. She freezes in panic. Then runs up to the attic. All is heard is her blood curdling scream.
Later neighbors console her as police carries a body bag out of the house.