Skip to main content

DOG CALLED BO

Image
SANGEETHA KAMATH

“Yoo-hoo! Here boy! Bo! Where did you disappear to now, you lil furry brat!”

“Do you think he's fine, Ethan? I'm not having a good feeling about this. Usually he comes bounding up to us as soon as we call him.”

“Can you not panic, Jezel? I'm sure he's alright. Must have chased a wild hare deep into the forest and may be out of hearing. C'mon, let's keep calling him.”

The woods which usually looked welcoming and enchanting didn't look too inviting at this time of the day, with the trees casting long, sinister shadows and strange sounds echoing through the slow rising mist.

Jezel and Ethan couldn't possibly abandon their pet dog in the wilderness and mustering every inch of courage, they wade through the thickets and meander through the clumps of swelling bushes. 

Whistling and calling out yielded no sign or response from Bo. 

It was past sundown and the light was fast fading, 

“We should hurry back. We can return in the morning for Bo, Ethan…I don't think it's a good idea to wander further lest we lose our way back.”

“Are you out of your mind? Leave without Bo? Never! Bo! Bo! Come here right now else we're leaving without you!" 

Ethan finally agrees that Jezel is right and they should head back. They're just about to turn around when they both jump out of their skins, their hearts pounding.

"Did you call for me? Here I am! Tell me…"

Jezel and Ethan stop in their tracks, petrified, as they hear an unfamiliar voice ring out at close quarters but there was no one in sight.

Gathering his bearings first, Ethan shields his sister while putting on a brave front. Standing his ground, his voice comes out slightly more than a whimper, " Who are you? Where are you? Show yourself!"

"Here I am", hisses a tree next to them. My name is Bo. And whoever comes into these woods and calls my name is forever mine and can never leave."

“We weren't calling out for you, whoever you are. We're in no mood for pranks.We want our pet dog.”

“He's not your dog. We, the Dryads, send him to children, to stay with them, gain their trust and lure them here. Now you can't leave.’'

Outstretching his wraith like branches, the tree captured the children in a stranglehold. The hollow in his trunk widened as he crammed the screaming and writhing children inside. 

The hollow in the tree seals shut and the woods are shrouded in silence engulfed in the now rolling thick fog.

Jezel and Ethan were  never seen again!

****

“Oh look there! A beagle outside our gate. Poor critter looks lost and homeless. Pa, can we keep him?”

The children squeal in delight when they're allowed to keep him. 

“What shall we name him?”

The beagle's eyes gleams ominously at the same time as the children excitedly and spontaneously shout “Bo!”

©️ Sangeetha Kamath 

Pic Courtesy :Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

Labels:

Comments

  1. Srivalli RekhaApril 4, 2024 at 1:31 PM

    Ohh, a creepy story today! Fab twist and love how the tree comes alive. Superb!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HOME AND HIBERNATION

SANGEETHA KAMATH
And out of nowhere came this madness to wreck mayhem in my already topsy turvy world! Tickets back to Singapore were initially booked on the Chennai transit (why of all the cities?) Because of the shortest layover I could muster, given my still delicate health conditions and which was never even an intentional choice in all my 23 years of travel to and from Singapore. This had to be it even though I was on unfamiliar grounds.  But Luck seemed to have a mind of it's own and turned its back on me when Fenjal decided to crash bang in the middle of orderly events, a day before my intended day of travel.  When destiny's favorite child was shielded by Baba and his blessings, even Luck had to bow down and retreat in haste. **** Roused from my siesta with a sense of a peculiar dimness and chill , a far cry from the usually sunny and blinding brightness of humid Mangalore, I couldn't help but have that niggling feeling at the back of my mind. Checking on the flight updates for IXE-M...
Post a Comment
Read more

IRONCLAD

SANGEETHA KAMATH
  I trudged through withered bracken and the frosted winter parade As ice-storms swept across a barren, icicle'd glade A hushed midnight and the gloomy woods were bathed in a dull pallor of the gibbous moon Melodies lamented and moaned an endless, melancholic tune ‘Twas a lone walk through pastures of wilted blooms Solitude was a friend in the summers of honey breath in the deep green woods Swept away by the currents or blown away by the torrents As twilight lazily rested on hillocks and in the amaranthine dells Like a laden cloud I cascaded down when the load was a dead weight I had gathered pieces of myself and strung them together with a parched wreath  Pensive was the boon of listening to rumbling whispers  Like a dimpling stream I flowed and carved my own trails Like the ocean arose and crashed to write my own fate, Letting the sun guide my way and the moon shine on my rugged path Now I ask all the pulsing stars to sing of my struggles,   The forests to hum...
Post a Comment
Read more

SECOND LIFE SECOND BIRTHDAY

SANGEETHA KAMATH
  I finally muster the energy, the grit and the emotional embrace to write about it. When life socked the daylights out of me in ways that I never imagined, I looked on the upside of it as a divine intervention and a another miracle to add to my list in this year 2024 which went down the memory highway full throttle ahead. July 7, Dear Diary is a day which left a distinct mark. A day when my father had a coronary follow up and I not only went along, but also had a check up done for myself. This was a couple of days after my visit to Sai Mandir where Sai Baba guided me to go for a cardiogram. A strong inner voice, authoritative yet kind, a heightened intuition, call it what I may, rang in a manner that couldn't be ignored. That said and done, I had a consultation with my father's doc who did my ECG and ECHO. Minutes flew by in deafening silence when he finally finished the tests and to my horror bluntly revealed that I have an ASD. A 38mm hole in my heart. I was advised to go f...
1 comment
Read more

SAPPHIRE POOLS (DAY 3, POST 1)

SANGEETHA KAMATH
Glinting sunlight off jeweled pools of sapphire Shimmering in the vast aridness of coppery fire Fringed with a viridescent canopy of trees fig and fronds of palm A sanctuary for birds and animals to splash about, it's a soothing balm Scorched and parched, my soles trudge on the sun baked grains Seeking respite from the bleeding crimson fireball, stranded I remain Mounting sand dunes, slipping, tumbling, sinking Scraped and raw, peeling sunburnt skin  Veils of illusion lifts from fleeting dreams and hollow shine Fading hues of paradise around reduced to shriveled creepers and withering vines Imperial silver puddles on blazing bronze sand Deceived again by the phantom of the parched land Visions and charms swirl like a mist under a chrome moon Conjuring sprites of the desert weave mirages of oasis and lagoons Sailing across a barren horizon are walls of crystal waves No water lilies and wild roses unfurl under  these mystic skies. ©️ Sangeetha Kamath Pic Courtesy: Pixabay 
Post a Comment
Read more

TULIP-O'-PURPLE

SANGEETHA KAMATH
                                     TULIP-O'-PURPLE The flower you sent me stands tall in a vase of porcelain The bud clammed close concealing drops of rain It holds a promise of a lavender refrain  The silken petals of webbed lilac veins The stalk a mossy green reminds me of meadows The long walks in the Alps and valleys below I conjure up woodlands and dappled  sunset glow Purple is my favourite colour you always know  The delicate bloom of sweet fragrance Reminds me of an amethyst of lustrous brilliance Swaying in the summer breeze it yearns for a dance A single Tulip in a vase takes a ballerina stance Blooming in full two days later Invites butterflies all aflutter As precious as a fairytale dream It is tinged at the tips in hues of clotted cream Purple is soon brown---a colour of wither... A hardbound diary is used to press and preserve  Along with the card and cheri...
Post a Comment
Read more