“Your timing was not good, sir,” the driver said as they made their way back to the town.

“Shut up and drive,” Shekar replied.

Monica, meanwhile, stared outside at the farmlands. They did not appear as bright and shiny as they did an hour ago and the smile on her face had vanished. She was very upset.

“So, where do you want to go now?” Shekar asked.

Monica took a second to realize he was asking her. She quickly turned back to him and said, “I think I will head to my room in the city.”

“Going to come back tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

He paused for a second and said, “I suggest you don’t.”

“I don’t want to give up so easily.”

“It’s your decision. We will drop you off at the bus stop. Should be at the end of the road.”

She looked out to see Jagan solemnly walking down the side of the road when she was suddenly hit upon an idea. However, she did not intent on sharing with the others in the vehicle. She remained quiet as they rode on till the bus stop.

“A bus should arrive any minute now. Know how to get to your room from the city?” Shekar asked as she got out of the auto.

“Yes. Don’t worry about that,” she replied.

“Great. See you tomorrow,” he replied.

She stood quietly at the bus stop. The platform had two pillars on either side in the back and a railing bridging them. Upon the railing was a bench split in two which was currently occupied by a few villagers, most of whom looked well into their fifties. A bus painted in red soon arrived and stopped before them. Much like before, it was packed with people who squeezed their way out while ones at the bus stop tried to make their place in an overcrowded bus. The bus departed, but Monica stayed back.

***

Jagan wanted to cry but he couldn’t. His life has been one misery after another and at this point, he had just run out of tears to shed. All he could think of now is how is he going to survive with his wife and son? Maybe they could sell his wife chain. It won’t fetch much, maybe be able to feed their bellies for a month or two. Then he must start searching for a job again. How is he supposed to find a job so quickly? Where are they supposed to live till then? So many questions and none of them have an easy answer.

When he arrived back at his home, he found his wife sitting outside, beside the door with their one-year-old son in her hand. She looked worried but seeing him comeback in one piece made her smile, even though it was only for a moment. He looked tired and defeated. He didn’t happy, worse he looked to be on the verge of breaking down.

“What happened there?” she asked calmly.

“We need to pack and leave.”

Those weren’t the words she wished to hear but she knew this was going to happen no matter what her husband had planned to do. There was, however, a small hope that her husband would think with a cool head and make a deal with Devraj but that was not going to happen. Her husband was too prideful to work with him, the man who tormented her husband’s father for years for this plot of land.

“Jagan?” a soothing voice called out.

He turned around to see a woman standing at the entry to his farm. She was short and looked pretty. Despite sporting a traditional Chudidar, he knew right away that she was a city girl. “Who are you?” he asked.

‘Poor souls,’ Monica thought. Now that she could see them up close and personal, she could tell the kind of trails life had put them through by just looking at their eyes. Their unkempt hair, the dry skin, and the dropping shoulder showed that they had been having trouble feeding themselves despite the work. She had a bit of a trouble speaking up but eventually gritted her teeth and said, “I know you are in trouble, and I can help you out.”

“You didn’t answer my question. Who are you?” he asked again.

“My name is Monica, and I can help you,” she replied.

He smiled unceremoniously, shaking his head, and said, “no, you can’t.”

“Listen. I too am in need of help. We can help each other and get out of this.”

“You can’t. My father has been…” he finally caved in as tears streamed down his face. He quickly turned away to hide them from her, but he had no need to. His wife could do naught but watch him, trying to hold back her own tears. “He has been after this piece of land for decades. This is all we had and with this he has taken everything from me. In the end, he died for this land. I thought I could continue. Just live with my wife and son. I guess that is not what god wanted.”

“Maybe you still can.”

“No. I hoped I didn’t have to spell it out for you,” he replied.

Monica understood immediately but didn’t know how to respond to it. Was he right? Did his father die at the hands of Devraj? Now, she knew she couldn’t push them anymore. There was no way she would put them through harm’s way.

“If you knew, why did you go fight with him?” Monica asked.

“I was angry and didn’t know what else to do. Now I regret it and don’t want to make it worse.”

She remained silent. There was no way she could ask him for any help now.

“Thank you and I hope whatever problem you had with Devraj gets settled,” he said and walked into the hut with wife following him.

She sighed dully and looked at far to her left where she spotted a scarecrow. It sat on top of a pole with a loose shirt and pant stuffed with hay for a body and a clay pot for a head with white paint used to draw a smiling face on it. She quietly stared at it, and it seemed to stare back at her.

***

Twilight was approaching quickly and whole of the countryside was bathing in the orange of the setting sun. Four men arrived at Jagan’s hut, each one was fairly tall and well built. They all had a mean look on their face and one glance at them made it clear that they were Devraj’s muscle. They split up as each took one corner of the farm to search thoroughly. The door to the hut was closed but unlocked. One of the goons prepared himself for any kind of surprise before slowly opening the door, but no surprise came. He peeped inside to find most of the furniture and vessels still inside. He tiptoed around the small hall before noticing empty baskets lying on the floor. Food too was missing from their place.

The other three did a routine check of the farm. Much of it was planted corn, whose stalk grew pretty talk. They couldn’t see too far ahead of them, so they made sure to do it with a lot more care. Eventually all three found nothing more than crops and some bugs feeding on them. They regrouped back at the hut with the last one exited the hut, bolting the door shut.

“They left long back,” one of them commented.

“Good. Would have hated to burn all this crop,” the other replied.

They began to talk about what they can take back to the mansion and what to tell their master when one of them noticed something strange. He came across the lonely scarecrow during his round but didn’t think much. But now, now the scarecrow was a lot closer than it was supposed to be. He shook it off and returned to the conversation, but the image of the scarecrow had burnt itself into his memory. Just a few seconds later, he turned back and to see it even closer than before. He jumped a little, which caught the attention of his peers.

“What happened?” one of them asked.

“That scarecrow. It moved,” he answered. He was sweating and was visibly shaken.

They looked at it and it looked as though it had been standing there for quite some time. However, none of the others had really paid attention to it, so they really weren’t sure.

“Are you drunk again?” he asked, “pay attention here and it will go away.”

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The frightened good simply nodded and turned back to the circle. Just as they were about to start the conversation, the goon right who stood across the scarecrow jumped. The two next to him stepped back noticing what the other had seen, leaving last one to slowly turn around and face the scarecrow which stood right in front of him.

He leaped back and screamed, “what the hell is that!?”

The scarecrow immediately did a backward flip, its pole spinning in a circle. The end of it struck the frightened goon right in the jaw, sending him crashing into the ground as the other three watched it land back on the ground up right. It never left the pole but instead used the pole to jump and spin around. The remaining three tried to scatter but the scarecrow quickly fell flat on the ground and spun around, knocking all three off their feet.

One of the goons tried to catch hold of the pole but it slipped from his grip. It reacted quickly by thumping on the ground with full force, leaving deep holes wherever it landed. They knew if they got caught under its pole, they would have one in their body too. They wriggled and scurried away from the scarecrow. Two them managed to get out of the path and looked back to see the other two struggling. They screamed at them, telling them to just run. The other two did as instructed and the scarecrow did not stop them. He planted itself back into the ground and remained motionless, lifeless.

They held onto their nerves, gritted their teeth, and ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Across the thin road laid yet another field of corn, beyond with sat a neem tree. Its branch spread wide providing shade for the many farmers who rest under it after a hard day’s work. Today, however, it was occupied by a lonely woman. She sat under its cosy shade and watched the drama unfold afar. Her blue eyes finally faded away and she was exhausted, having spent quite a bit of energy controlling the scarecrow from his far. But seeing the four idiots tuck tail and run made all that effort worth it in the end.

***

Monica was nervous. Very nervous. She had no reason to do what she did, yet she always had a bad habit of making decisions in the heat of moment and more importantly following through with them. Her deal rested squarely on Devraj’s mood and there was no way that was going to put him in a good mood.

The two of them remained silent as the auto, once again, huff and puffed as it rode along the winding road. Today’s driver, however, liked to mind his own business, so he pretty much remained silent throughout the journey. Both were tense and had plenty to discuss, but they chose to remain quiet. Monica peered out and looked ahead as they approached Jagan’s farm. She noticed black plumes of smoke rise from the sea of corn. Her chest grew cold as she clenched her fist, preparing for what was to come.

They finally drove past the entry where they saw Devraj and his men burn something in front of Jagan’s home. It was fast and brief, Shekar didn’t get a good look at what it was. He presumed the worse. However, there was more than enough time for Monica to see him and his men burning the scarecrow on the ground.

Shekar had no interest seeing Devraj today. “We turn around?” he asked Monica.

Monica, who was breathing a sigh of relief, said “Yes. We turn around.”

He tapped on the driver and asked him to take a u turn. The innocent driver was left clueless when asked why. Shekar simply replied, “our work is not happening today.”

“We are coming back tomorrow,” Monica said.

“You are crazy?” Shekhar retorted.

“This will happen. We will make it happen.” She looked at him with her eyebrows furrowed. Shekar thought to stop her, but he simply didn’t want to say no.

***

The night had finally arrived as darkness enveloped the countryside. All the villagers had wrapped up for the day and retreated to their homes, leaving the landscape basking in white moonlight.

The mansion too had turned silent. Workers left for their home, the muscle had retreated into their den, and the family had finished up dinner and quietly retreated into their rooms. Devraj slept alone in a room on the top floor while his wife slept all the way down where their youngest daughter stayed. This was good for Monica who didn’t want to ruin anyone else’s sleep.

Right above his room was a gable, behind which was a hard-to-reach nook. Monica sat there patiently for over an hour, waiting for all the lights to go out. She had spent all day collecting material for her little project, something she was quite proud off. She had covered herself up in all black before dressing up with the plain shirt and pant which she hoped was close to what the scarecrow was wearing. The pot had a smiling face which has been ominously staring at her all this time, but now it sat over her head and she was happy she was not looking at it anymore. The details need not have been exact, just close enough.

She rested the cross on her shoulder and slowly began her descent. There was unfortunately no way of getting into Devraj’s room directly without breaking a window first. The roof of the courtyard had a metal grill covering it. However, the space between each grill was just enough for Monica to squeeze through. She dropped the cross first in, which hovered over the courtyard. She looked down to see that the moonlight was angled just enough to make her entry and exit almost invisible. Squeezing herself between two bar, she softly landed on the cross before hoping onto the second floor. The cross quietly followed her as she tiptoed into Devraj’s room, whose door was left wide open.

***

He felt a sudden chill crawl up his skin. At first his though was about not having a blanket over him. Without opening his eyes, he tried to pull over the blanket, but something was wrong. He couldn’t feel his arms move. His quickly opened his eyes to see a strange figure standing before him. The figure he had burnt down just a few hours ago.

Cold sweat poured down his forehead as he looked at the thing with dilated pupils and seized tongue. He wanted to do many things, first thing was to get up and run but his arms and legs refused to listen. His only other option was to scream, but words wouldn’t come out of his open mouth. This was a dream, it had to be one. There was no other way. Little did he know that his sleep paralysis was a result of mind manipulation.

The figure moved closer, and his heart jumped to his throat. Shivers travelled down his spine while his hands and legs trembled in fear. “Remember me?” it asked in a hollow voice. He didn’t answer. He couldn’t.

“Of course, you do. First you kill my master, then drive his family out, and now you tried to kill me,” it said.

It paused a second when his anxiety was climbing through the roof. She felt his pulse skyrocket and so did his blood pressure. But she had just enough control on his mind to soothing pulse to manageable degree. She didn’t want to give him a heart attack.

The scarecrow broke its hands free from the cross and hoped down from the pole, walking towards him. Before long, it stood over him with its pot head right up his face. “Unfortunate for you, I am immortal.”

Devraj wanted to run, he wanted to scream but he could do naught. All he could do was watch. Watch has his actions bear fruit, or so he thought. “You bought the land, so now, you own me… correction, I own you. Yes. Had you inherited it honourably, I would have protected you. But you bought it with blood and now you will have to pay me the same way. With blood.”

It folded up its legs and sat on his belly and continued, “yes. I will watch every step of yours and every opportunity I get, I will take your payment. Tonight, is just the beginning.”

A sudden burst of heat flooded his chest, as though his heart was going to explode. His skin burnt like it was exposed to the sun but then an instant chill shot up his spine and everything went blank.

By the time morning came, he found himself back in control of his body. However, that wasn’t the only thing he had found himself in possession of. There were rumours that the next morning, Devraj and his family had found a scarecrow sitting beneath the almond tree in front of their home.

***

“Any idea why he asked you to come?” Monica asked.

This was their third ride up the winding road and by his point, Monica had memorized the entire layout of the town outskirt.

“No clue. I don’t even know how he got my number,” Shekar replied.

“That is a bit concerning,” Monica replied. She was tensed. She had made a great big deal of promises and she no plans on seeing any of them through. It was, to put it bluntly, a little more than a prank that she wanted to use to loosen a bit of Devraj’s nerves. However, he may have instead caught wind of what was going on and now she has put everyone in danger.

The auto came to a stop before Jagan’s farm. The old man stood at the entrance, patiently waiting for their arrival. The two got out of the auto and walked over to him. A small crowd filled the open space before hut where loud chanting can be heard.

“What is happening?” Shekar asked.

“He has finally lost it,” the old man replied.

They looked up to see the scarecrow sit on the pole with a garland of flowers around its neck. Monica wanted to laugh. Her face contoured just imagining the scene behind the crowd, yet she did her best to pretend clueless.

“He is saying that thing on a stick is their new house guardian,” the old man continued. “So much so, he just paid Jagan the full value for the land. The boy just left.”

“If he says it is. I guess it is,” Shekar replied.

“Yeah right. Must have been brain damage because of diabetes or blood pressure. Anyways, why bother with that. He said your warehouse need not pay tax. Here is the document for it,” he handed out a document which Shekar took and began to read.

“Wait, for all of them?” Shekar asked innocently.

“Let us take it and run from here,” Monica whispered. The old man heard it but had no interest in responding.

“See you again, sir,” Shekar said with a smile and Monica followed suit. The old man looked away and simply waved his hand.

***

Jagan had never seen so much money in his life. Yet, he was extremely scared of having to carry it all the way to bank. At a point he thought it was a part of Devraj’s plan. To give him the money and snatch it back on the way. But that sounded too stupid of a plan. He had been sitting at the bus stop patiently for about ten minutes. The cash had been hidden in his bag, underneath layers of vegetables. But with each passing minute, his anxiety grew.

“Jagan?” a voice called out.

He nearly jumped on hearing his name. Beside him was the woman from the other day. She looked back him, smiling. “I am sorry… but your name…” he asked.

“You can call me Monica.”

“Monica. I don’t know what time we meet you, but luck has finally turned in our favour after fifty years.”

Monica couldn’t help but snort on hearing that. “I have nothing to do with it. Trust me. I am no lucky charm.”

“Nevertheless. I couldn’t help you when you asked, instead ran to the city with my wife and child like a coward. But things turned around for me today.”

“It’s alright. My job got done too. I heard Devraj hit his head a bit too hard.”

“If so, hope he doesn’t go back to normal. Even then. I won’t be here to care,” he said. He smiled but it had a hint of sadness to it.

“Must have been here your entire life?” Monica asked.

“Except for when I left for college. Wanted to live and die here. But fate had other plans.” His smile was all but gone.

“Don’t worry. Devraj won’t be here forever.”

“I guess…”

“You can never go back, that is true. But you can always keep moving forward. Someday, you can make your way to wherever you want,” Monica said, deciding to part a little bit of her own wisdom.

Jagan couldn’t help but smile at the thought of returning here, to his home, one day.

Monica on the other hand quietly reflected on her side of the events. Never in her life did she think it was so easy to manipulate a person. She did after all turn a common scarecrow into God. She couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of that.