by reza
Posted on 2024-04-14 17:58:56
it was night. The weather is dark and a calm wind is blowing. The soft rustling of yellow leaves on the floor of the yard was wrapped inside the house. Mehsa, a 20-year-old girl who had come to Kerman alone for the first time, was sleeping in the dark of the night, while all the lights in her grandmother's house were off, on the bed of her grandmother, on which she died just a few years ago, and the rustling of the leaves of the trees in the yard. He listened to it to sleep. Mehsa had never gone to Kerman alone before, and this was the first time she slept alone in her grandmother's house after her death. Mahsa was a PhD student in aerospace engineering and was supposed to stay at her grandmother's house for the next two years. Little by little, his eyes were getting heavy when he heard the sound of something heavy falling from the next room. He said to himself, maybe his luggage slipped and fell!? Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Mahsa went neutrally in the courtyard, but the sound of knocking on the door stopped. Mehsa waited for a while, but no one was there anymore. He opened the door and looked at the empty and dark alley at night. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Someone was knocking on the door of one of the rooms inside the house. First Mehsa was afraid. He said to himself that a thief may have entered the building and is bothering him. Then he thought that maybe Saeed is his aunt's son who is bothering him. He slowly entered the house with a trembling voice while hearing the sound of his heart beating. He turned on the power switch but the lights came on. He said with a trembling voice: Saeed? Saeed ? you are here ? But the sound of knocking on the door had stopped and there was no sound. Suddenly, the sound of something heavy being pulled was heard from Kanari's room. Mehsa opened the door and looked inside the room. The moonlight shone through the window and lit up the room a little. Grandma's big chest was in the middle of the room. The box was big and heavy and it was not the job of anyone to move it. Only big men could shake that big box, that's why that big box was left in the corner of the room for more than 10 years and no one had moved it until tonight, the night that Mahsa had left Tehran for the next two years. spend at grandmother's house. Mahsa was scared and was sure that someone was there. He knew that shaking that big heavy box was not for everyone and definitely someone had shaken it. But who was there and what did he want from Mehsa? Nehsa constantly asked herself and her fear was gone. Suddenly, a little girl's scream was heard from inside the box. The sound seemed to come from behind the reed wall, but Mahsa was sure that she heard the voice of a little girl. He quickly went to the chest to open the large and heavy door, but there was a big lock on the chest. He shouted loudly. : Don't worry, I will open the door for you now. He ran to the yard in the darkness of the house and found the iron rod next to the yard wall that he had seen when he came home in the evening and went to the room, but the girl's voice was no longer heard. Mehsa levered the bar and broke the lock with great pressure, opened the door but did not see anything. The chest was full of old appliances such as an old sewing machine. old mirror and candelabra and all big and small clothes. But Mahsa was sure that she heard a little girl's voice from inside the box. Mahsa went to the door with fear and anxiety to pack his bags and go to a guest house. He could not stay there any longer. With other things he had seen and the sounds he had heard, he could not stay there. But he said next to the door: "Daughter, you are a physicist and you should not be delusional." He thought to himself that he could never become a great scientist if he became delusional. Mahsa knew that if she ran away, she would become a fantasy and superstitious girl and she would no longer be able to achieve her goal of being a woman scientist and leader in the field of physics and aerospace engineering. So he decided to find out the story of the voices. He slowly went to his room. In the darkness of the night, a girl in a white dress was standing at the end of the road and was looking at Mehsa. Mehsa was afraid. He was speechless and did not say anything. Suddenly the girl disappeared. But Mahsa remained in the dark for fear of safety and stared at the bottom of the road. Mehsa remembered. He saw a white dress inside the box. He opened the door a few minutes ago. He went to the box but there was nothing there. The box was empty. empty empty It was as if he was going to open the door for the items to come out and disappear. There was no mirror, no white girl's dress, and no sewing machine. Only on the bottom of the chest was a pair of old girls' shoes. Mehsa remembered that her grandmother had a sister when she was a child who lost her and she kept her accessories like her clothes in a chest. But he did not know what happened that night. Suddenly, Mahsa heard the sound of a child's soft breathing behind her. It was as if the air was cold and the tension was shaking from the cold. He wanted to turn his head and see behind him. He wanted to make sure no one was behind him, but he didn't want to face anything scary. The rustling of the leaves is no longer heard, as if the wind was blowing and Mehsa could only hear the sound of her heart beating fast. After a time that he didn't know how many minutes or seconds it was, he looked behind his head. There was no one and he did not see anything. He quickly packed his things and stayed the night in the inn and returned to Tehran forever the next day. Mehsa never talked about that night with anyone, but sometimes she felt someone was in her bedroom.