A Horror Story

I am 34 now. Quite old to believe in ghost and to get amused by their stories. When I was young, I had come across many such stories told specially at night. I remember many of them as  they titillated my imagination which in turn shook me with horror. Some of them were told by my father and I still believe them to be true as he himself does. In this post I am narrating one of those stories which never escaped from my imagination...

This was during the year 1949. My father was about 7. My Grandfather was out of station. There were only 3 people in that old - Assam type house with gabled tin roof. Grandma, her 7 years old and the infant who was sleeping in the other room separated from kitchen by a wide courtyard. Grandma was making some "Pitha" for my father who was sitting besides her in the kitchen. The walls of the kitchen were made of bamboo. The wall in front of the stove was broken and there was a little hole at the bottom. It was not a new moon night, but it was as dark. It had been raining since 3 days now. Tonight it was raining with hail. The hail on the tin roof was pleasantly noisy.

My father was eagerly waiting for the "Pitha". When it was ready and Grandma was just about to serve, they heard a cat crying outside. Grandma saw the paw of the cat inserted through the hole on the wall. The crying became louder. Grandma felt as if it was asking for "Pitha". She offered one and the cat pulled the "Pitha" outside and had it. Again, it inserted its paw inside through the hole. Crying was even louder this time, but Grandma decided to shoo the cat with a stick. The cat became furious and started crying loudly & started banging on the wall as if it'll break the wall. My father got really scared. That chilled thunderous night had added to the fear. Grandma felt helpless & tried hard to shoo it away. The cat was able to widen up the cracks on the wall. Grandma finally splashed some hot oil on the cat through the hole. At this it screamed even louder and it didn't sound like a cat this time. It sounded like a woman. It  was banging on the upper part of the wall which was beyond the reach of a cat. Grandma immediately grabbed her son and said it's not just a cat, it's something else. She started running to the other room where the baby was sleeping. The scream was still audible in-spite of the noisy hails...