Cannibal!

Another wave of soapy oceanic water crashed against the jagged spiky rocks. It was the end of town limits, end of earth, beginning of ocean. You could almost always find warm water livestock stuck in the rocks, but you never could catch any. This was the nature of things around the house.

The house that rest on top of these rocks found balance via, a combination of timber and concrete. The house was old; it was used as a look-out shelter during pre-independence era. There were a few reasons for it. Primarily, it was so because of the fact that it was surrounded on three sides by these rocks; the last side could be accessed only if you were returning from town.

These days a certain Badri Narayan was the sole occupant of the house. It was speculated that the ground was profane and Mr. Narayan was some sort of a male witch; but none of the speculations could of course be proved! Most of it was probably false and was in place because of the remote location of the house and the fact that the owner of the nearest tea stall aspired to be a successful writer in Kollywood and hence enjoyed telling stoppers-by about his encounter with the unseen, the unheard, and the eerie in and around the God-forsaken house.

The fact that Mr. Narayan seldom got out of his house and whenever did, wasn’t exactly friendly, or for that matter even happy (none had seen him smile) did not help the matters. Come to think of it, nobody had seen him talking to anyone except the postman, who, in spite of how-so-ever he hated it, had to go to the house twice a month. It was hard to imagine someone in relation to him. To know that there was actually someone writing to him was hence, certainly overwhelming. The first of them arrived on the 13th of each month; this one was a money order. The other one was a normal letter; nobody had any slightest clue as to the contents of this letter. It was almost like clockwork; maybe the rumors were true after all!

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Vishnu was new in town. He was an employee in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. His job included transfer to some random town in some district of some state; working out the logistics of installation, reporting it back in and then wait till part of the cost estimate reached his hands after considerable deductions. Then came the Gram Panchayats, they also demanded a certain part of the estimate. Finally, with whatever was left, he always managed installing a certain version of what was actually planned and also getting away with it. Then; another town, another estimate, another version. This time it was here, Podikatakapuram.

Vishnu did not particularly like this place. One, because it was his second straight visit down south and he being a typical Bihari was not too fond of the cuisine. Second, because getting away with doing nothing down here was comparatively more difficult down here. It all seemed to be a terrible waste of his time and energy. Add to that, the fact that only Telugu cinema was played in the local theatre and all the channels on TV were either Telugu or dubbed in it.

He was not really welcome any place except the local municipal department; but then he was not too fond of the place. He wanted to get out of here, quickly and hence, all he used to do was get up at eight am sharp and get on with the field trips. Half a month had passed since he had requested for the funds, yet there was no reply till date.

The weather was fine that day. He got an idea. He had heard from his driver about the house, the supposed profane grounds and the man. He thought, Why not!?