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The old man sat in the coffee shop
Smoke his pipe read his newspaper
The sun was burning bright
The air was hot and humid
In this afternoon sunny day
Not many people came to stay
Many had gone to work
In the city chasing money and properties
He read with his short sighted glass
As age had caught up with him
Once a while he looked up
When he heard motorcyclists passing by
A woman walked in carrying her bag
She sat on the chair near to the old man
She ordered a cold drink from the waiter
While she took out her notebook
She smile at the old man
“Hot weather ya?
I came from the newspaper's office
I am writing about that abandoned house”
The old man looked at her
Then he looked at the empty derelict house
“Miss you shouldn't write about it
It brings bad fortune to you”
“Why is that so uncle?
I heard it was burned down decades ago
Nobody dared to build a new one
Is it something relating to the souls living there?”
“The while family was killed
When a group of bad hats came
In the late morning they burned the house
They locked the gates and main doors
They could hear the shouting and screaming
As they watched the fire engulfed the occupants
Then they drove away in their vehicles
I was around 15 years old then
The villagers came to help
But it was too late the fire caught them all
Leaving the concrete pillars standing today”
The woman reporter sipped her cold drink
“I was told the police didn't catch the murderers
Can you tell me about it?”
The old man now reaching 70 years old
“I can say nobody was caught in that night tragedy
One week later some villagers told us their stories
About how they met the family in spirits
They walked around the village
The whole family looking for a way to redemption
They were at the cross road of dead and living
They didn't know they were dead
They thought they were living in their lives
As times moved on more sightings were seen
Every one tried to add on the story”
“In this archive of the newspaper clippings
It was stated 5 family members died in the fire
However there was one member nobody could identify
Till today nobody had come forward to say who that person was
Do you know anything about that person?”
The old man looked at the abandoned house
He could feel the heat of that forgotten time
As he stood watching the fire engulfed the building
The cries and screams he could never forget
He could even smell the burning flesh
As the fire ate them raw and alive!
As a 15 years old boy he couldn't do much then
The villagers only watched in horror
As the passing years many had died
Leaving the story far behind.......
But for him he couldn't forget
The last person he saw before the fire took her
The girl he used to tease whenever she came for holidays
She came from overseas to holiday with her foster parents
Until today he didn't tell a soul about what he knew
The unknown person he knew then in the fire
“The police wrapped the case very quickly
They said they couldn't find who did it
The family died in an unfortunate death
Though eye witnesses recalled about 4 cars
Parked near the house the day of the fire
They couldn't remember the number plates
So the lead turned cold for the police”
“True uncle it was said here
The police had insufficient leads for any arrest
So they closed the file until I came along
I wanted to know what happened then?”
“Miss you should let it go
It has been buried for over 60 years
The house still lays abandoned
With the pillars to show of its history
It doesn't bring any good news
Every one involved had died or moved away
I guess I am the only living person here
I still dream about the tragedy”
The woman reporter smile again
“I know it is hard to recall the tragedy
I am here to seek a closure of this incident
The family members who died were my great uncle and aunty
I wanted to find out then close the family sad episode”
The old man studied the woman
He saw the familiar features of the house owner
“You may be right to find answers to the tragedy
Yet it has been filed away for decades...family or not”
The woman reporter got up
She walked to the abandoned house
She walked around feeling the echo
The soft breezes blowing along
She thought she could hear voices
Whispering to get free and go home
To the land of paradise they heard so much
She held on the pillar and listened
She stood there offering her soft prayers
“The old man knew who I was...........
I wanted to go home too you know
But nobody identified me in the morgue”
The woman reporter saw a young teenager
Smiling to her as she pointed to the old man
“He knows me then and he still have memory of me
This could be the link to let it rests finally”
She looked at her
The young woman slowly disappeared
Like a mist in the sunny light of the day
She wondered she had seen a ghost?
“Uncle you knew the young girl who died?
Nobody mentioned in the statement of her name
She wanted to go home and you knew her”
The old man looked at the reporter “Yes I do”
“I used to tease her
She was called Angel River
She came her every year
For her holidays with her foster parents
I remembered I saw her
When the fire swallowed her with flames
I stood there near the window of her room
I couldn't do a thing to save her
I always dream about it
Through the years of my existence
I am haunted by her face and the fire
I didn't tell nobody asked me then”
“So nobody knew where she was buried?”
“Miss they were burned to ashes
I guess they could be buried in the abandoned house
Every one of them in that home
I remembered the village elders conducted prayers
To let them go to their new home to live with The Lord
Apparently they are stucked here for so long
They couldn't go as far as I could recall of their sightings”
“Well I came and heard the story
I will tell Angel River to go home too
I think they have stayed too long here
Don't you think so uncle?”
By the time the woman reporter turned around
The old man had gone she didn't understand....
She asked the waiter about the old man
“What old man Miss?”
“The man I was talking to
He sat right here with me”
“I didn't see any old man
Maybe you have seen a ghost?”
The old woman came to the rescue
“You are talking to my husband
He passed away 5 years ago.....
I think he has gone now finally
He had passed the final piece to you
This is what he was waiting all these years”
The woman reporter stood at the house
She bowed her head a few times
“Well it is finally done
Uncle and Aunty, cousins and Angel River
Go and live in peace”
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