Jagadesh felt relieved. The long weekend had arrived, and the nagging manager would not call him for the next three days. All he had to do was babysit his nieces, and he had downloaded a book about managing kids, so he knew this was going to be a piece of cake. But alas, he did not know about the others in the house.

“We will be back by night,” his elder sister said as she picked up her bag. “Keep an eye on them always; last week they let a chicken drown.”

“Okay,” Jagadesh said, confident of his skills. If he ever had kids of his own, he would teach them everything. He would be the best dad, he thought, as he sent an email to his team.

He left the little girls to play with their dolls and switched on the smart TV to watch the latest OTT release.

After a while, the little one, Keerthi, walked in gleefully and sat with him to watch the movie.

“Mama, can you put on Cho Cho TV?” she said with her eyes bulging.

Jagadesh knew this simple ploy. They asked innocently, but if he gave in, they would sit there for the entire day.

He pretended not to hear their pleading. The girls left for the other room. Jagadesh wondered what they were doing. He went to the other room and saw them concentrating on their coloring books. He loitered to the kitchen, tucked in some snacks, humming a tune that he had overheard somewhere.

The girls appeared in front of him, dangling their artwork.

“Wow, that is great,” he took the little one’s drawing first. There were two long legs and a square-shaped head. Keerthi smiled with pride.

“Who is this?”

“She is Thogila, mama,” she smiled once more. Jagadesh looked at her searchingly.

“Who?”

The elder one, Kavitha, waved hers. “This is a cat, and don’t you know Thogila?”

He knew kids talked incoherently, but in the next 10 minutes, he was introduced to two more imaginary friends.

“Mama, this is Sibila and Kabila,” they smiled at Jagadesh.

“But where are they?” he asked.

“They are standing right in front of you… say hi, mama,” Keerthi smiled.

“Hi,” Jagadesh said, feeling stupid. Anyway, he wanted to play along. “Where did your friends go all this time?”

Kavitha turned around quickly. “We are not supposed to ask them that.”

“Why?”

“They will be busy hurting people,” said Keerthi, still smiling.

Jagadesh knew this was hyperactive imagination. But where were they picking these things up? Probably from lots of YouTube channels.

He made a mental note to ask his sister not to give them mobile phones.

The dog started to bark madly.

Jagadesh went to open the door. The two girls screamed “No!” and clasped his legs.

“Thogila is saying not to open, mama,” said Keerthi.

“Why not?”

“Their father has come into Brutus,” said Kavitha.

“What are you talking about?” Jagadesh opened the door, having had enough of this game.

The girls screamed as the dog pounced on him and bit his leg furiously. Jagadesh kicked it.

But it didn’t relent; the pain seared through his veins.

Jagadesh frantically pulled the camera stand that stood near the door and hit the dog’s head. The dog winced and let go. Jagadesh shut the door and lay down in pain.

“Bring the phone,” he shouted to the girls.

The girls ran and brought the phone.

“Sibila is sad,” he heard Keerthi say to Kavitha.

He called his sister, but the line was not reachable. He examined the bite, and the pain was making him nauseous.

As Jagadesh lay there, the TV switched on, and grains formed like on the old TVs he had when he was a small boy. This was an Android TV, and this was not supposed to happen.

Keerthi stood up and said, “Sibila, come here. I told you many times not to get inside the TV.”

The girls laughed once again. This was errant behavior. He was in pain and bleeding, but the girls didn’t seem bothered at all.

“Kabila and Thogila are crying, mama,” Keerthi said, sitting down.

“Get me water,” he cried.

The girls brought water but started to giggle.

“What is so funny?” Jagadesh asked, infuriated.

He drank it in one gulp and tried to call his sister. Calling emergency was the only option, he thought. As he dialed 100, the call disconnected immediately. Then another call came from a different number.

“Give me back my girls,” a harsh, sadistic voice echoed before it cut off.

In shock, Jagadesh threw the phone away. It must all be a dream, he thought. He lay down and hoped everything would return to normal. But as he fell asleep, he saw three little girls walking toward him in a lush green farm.

“You are the three girls in our house?” Jagadesh asked.

“Yes, please help us. Our father is trying to hurt us.”

“You are not alive. How can he hurt you?”

“Yes, our bodies are gone, but we are still the same,” said Thogila.

“You need to leave the house…” Jagadesh said, trying to negotiate.

“How can we ever leave our friend?” Kabila started to cry.

Jagadesh didn’t know what to do. He could feel the pain in his ankle, but when he examined it, everything was fine.

“Why don’t you go along with your father?”

“He makes us do bad things. He makes us hurt people…” They all cried in unison.

“How can I help you?” Jagadesh asked, wondering if any of this was real.

“He has bound himself to a sorcerer. If you destroy the sorcerer’s talisman, he will be free to go.” As they said this, the dream faded, and the pain became acute.

He called his sister again, and this time she picked up, saying she would be there in half an hour.

A little relieved, he looked at the girls, who were busily drawing. Kavitha came to him and handed him a piece of paper.

“Go to third street and meet Dr. Vasanth,” the note read.

Before he could ask any questions, Kavitha said, “They asked me to give it to you.”

Jagadesh didn’t know if he could walk, but he wanted this nightmare to stop. So he asked the girls to stay inside and went out. The dog was nowhere to be seen. He took his bike and went to third street. It was easy to identify Dr. Vasanth’s house. It was the only house with lights on. He paused in front of the gate, hesitant to go inside. The door opened, but there was no one inside. Jagadesh walked in, wondering why the girls had sent him to a doctor’s house. It was empty except for the locked bedroom. He could hear faint whispers. As he neared the door, the whispers stopped.

He said, “Hello?”

And just like the voice he heard in his dream, a little girl’s voice responded.

When he opened the door, three little girls looked at him.

In the middle of the room was a boiling pot. The girls pulled him and tied him up before he could react. On the wall opposite him, a man’s skeleton was stuck.

“You asked for help!” Jagadesh screamed. But the girls changed into their real form. They were old witches—three sisters.

“Dog bite wound,

Blood on the full moon,

Maternal Uncle of two,

Black a buck, buck a black,

Macbeth we warned,

Wizard of Oz witch was our own,

This doctor we warned,

But he died too soon,

Now for the finale,

The moon, the clown,

and the mortal womb,

Spicey, dicey, masala spoon.”

“What?” Jagadesh screamed with fear.

“We are the three sisters, and our old sorcerer host died. Sad little veterinarian doctor; he was trying to capture us for a long time. Now wear the dead man’s talisman.”

Jagadesh wished wholeheartedly to be back in his office. The manager though evil was not a boiling pot witch.

Just then, the door smashed open. Jagadesh’s sister and her husband came in. The witches looked shocked.

“Sisters, the prophecy!” cried out a witch.

“Born of a mother,

Two gender,

One family member,

Three to spoil the broth

, To earth we turn soup and sauce.”

Jagadesh was rescued, and he threw the talismans into the pot. The witches fizzled and turned into soup and sauce, just like the prophecy.

On the way back home after visiting the hospital, Jagadesh’s sister said, “One day I leave you with them, and see what a ruckus you made.”

“Hey, your daughters were buddies with ancient witches.”

When they reached home, the sweet little girls were fast asleep.

Jagadesh rested the whole day, and when he woke up in the evening, he noticed Kavitha talking to something invisible.

Startled, he sat up.

“Who are you talking to?”

“Mama, Thogila has come.”

© Ronald Hadrian 2024