“Are you crazy? That house is haunted!” thirteen-year-old Hassan exclaimed to his best friend and schoolmate, Ali.

Ali had dared Hasan to go inside that deserted house notorious for being haunted. The house was just a few blocks away from their own homes.

“What nonsense!” laughed Ali. “There are no ghosts, these are just rumours. Our neighbourhood guard has already checked out the place and says there is not unusual there.”

In the end, Hassan relented and accepted the challenge.

This house was a mystery in every sense of the word. A generous business family, the Maliks, had lived there since a long time. They had a boy named Kamran of their age. Ali and Hassan were friends with Kamran and they often played together. The family was very involved in the neighbourhood social and philanthropic work. But for the last two months, no one had seen anybody in the house, they seemed to have just vanished in thin air.

There were all sorts of rumours regarding the house and the family itself — from a secret base for spying, to paranormal beings and spirits living in it, which was by far the most interesting and popular theory.

Now the two boys were playing a game of dare and Hasan was challenged into going inside that deserted house, while Ali waited outside.

“It’s been 20 minutes now,” thought Ali. “Why hasn’t he come out till now?”

Ali was becoming more worried and impatient as time passed. After all, he was the one who dared him, if something bad happened to Hassan, Ali would be responsible. But the wait was making him more worried, so Ali decided to check matters for himself by going in, taking a bat with him for self-defence. He too entered the house by climbing over the low boundary wall.

The house was quite well-furnished, lit up probably by Hasan who entered a while ago. Ali noticed some paintings on the walls, but all were covered with dust.

Ali was growing more desperate and worried for Hassan. He slowly walked and peeked inside the rooms, but couldn’t find any sign of his friend.

Suddenly, Ali heard footsteps. He hid behind the curtains and peeped to see if it was Hassan. But instead of Hasan, there was an old lady, slowly walking and yelling before entering the living room, “Who is there? Come out now!”

Ali had never seen this lady before, he remained silent. The woman, fortunately, had not seen him so she walked to another room and close the door. Ali realised that the situation was far from simple.

He remained silent, then he took out his phone and called his uncle, Javed, a very loving and caring person. In hushed tones, he told him everything.

Trying not to create noise that would alert the old lady of an intruder in the house, Ali continued his search. Ali then entered the main master bedroom of the house. There was something odd and different about it. There was a big bed and a dressing table, but the room was not in a good condition. Some dirty clothes were lying on the ground, along with picture frames of the Malik family.

Just as he was about to leave the room, Ali heard cries for help from somewhere below. He tried to search in the direction of the sounds, and then he found something — a hidden trapdoor underneath the carpet that covered the floor!

By then, Javed uncle had also come inside the house stealthily. They both quietly managed to lift the heavy door, which had wooden stairs leading to the basement. The sight below shocked them to the core. There was a well-lit room and they saw Hassan, along with the whole Malik family, tied there! It became clear that these people had been kidnapped and captured by the old lady, who might be part of any gang.

Javed uncle, without wasting a second, called the police and told them the situation. As Javed uncle turned, he saw the old lady standing there with a gun in her hands, Javed uncle, instantly grabbed the bat from my hands and knocked her down.

I closed the trapdoor immediately so that we could stay indoors until the police came. We heard the hasty footsteps and some men talking.

“Keep quiet, they must be the gang members,” Javed uncle said. I was scared.

The men knocked on the door and asked the old lady if she was inside. We remained silent. Thinking that the old lady must be sleeping, the men murmured and left. A few more minutes passed and we heard the police siren. The men inside the house ran in confusion.

We heard the banging of doors and men running, but we remained silent. Next, there was a knock at the door, and a voice said, “Open the door, you are all safe now!”

Javed uncle opened the door and we saw police standing. They came in and rescued the Maliks and Hasan.

It turned out that the police had been looking for this criminal gang for a very long time. The gang would break into random people’s houses, blackmail the occupants to hand over their entire fortune.

The mystery of the Maliks’ deserted house was solved, they got their house back and all that the gang took from them. It was only through the courage and bravery of two friends, Ali and Hassan, along with Javed uncle, during a simple but daring game.

Published in Dawn, Young World, August 3rd, 2024