The Adventures of Ron and Rhea

Ron was sleeping with an easy innocence of a boy child. A boy child he was, but with lots of courage. It was his twin sister Rhea who woke him up that morning – the morning where it all began. 

‘Wake up, wake up, I saw the windows rattling in the haunted house,’ said Rhea.

Ron woke up with a start. ‘What?’

‘Yes, yes. Just now, when I was playing outside,’ said Rhea, jumping up and down.

Together Ron and Rhea went outside to take a look at the haunted house.

‘Did you really see?’ asked Ron.

Rhea touched her throat with her tiny forefinger and thumb, and said, ‘I swear.’

Standing with his hands on his hips, Ron said, ‘All right. Let’s go in the evening and investigate.’

‘Evening?’ asked Rhea, widening her eyes. ‘It will be dark in the evening.’

‘Are you scared?’ teased Ron.         

‘No, no, I am not scared,’ said Rhea.

***

In the evening they went. The sun was down. The lamps in the street were on. The haunted house looked scary with a frown.

Ron walked towards the gate, holding Rhea’s hand. Standing in front of the house they raised their heads. The house was bigger than they had thought. Ron slowly pushed the gate open. They heard a ‘Creeeeekkk.’ Rhea jumped, ‘They will hear us,’ she said in a whisper.

‘Who will hear us?’ whispered Ron.

‘The ghosts,’ said Rhea, putting her hand over her mouth.

‘Come, let’s go inside,’ ordered Ron, holding his sister’s hand tightly.

They walked inside the gate. Ron tried the front door. It was locked from the inside. Ron and Rhea stepped back, looking at either of their sides. A gust of wind came sweeping by and rattled the windows that were just around the corner. Rhea whispered again, ‘Ron, these are the windows I saw rattling.’

‘It must be the wind, silly,’ said Ron.

Rhea kept mum. Ron took a few steps and stood in front of the windows. ‘Let’s see what’s inside,’ said Ron, and climbed up a tiny ledge.

The windows were not fastened. Ron peeked inside. ‘What do you see?’ Rhea asked.

‘I can’t see anything. It’s too dark inside,’ said Ron, climbing down. ‘I told you there were no ghosts.’

The windows started rattling again. Ron and Rhea looked up. A white face with white hair around its head stared down at them. The twins screamed and screamed and screamed. Ron held his sister’s hand, and they both ran outside. They didn’t stop screaming until they reached their home.

***

Ron and Rhea’s mother was worried. ‘What happened?’ she asked.

‘We saw a ghost, mamma,’ said Rhea. ‘Ron, tell her what we saw.’

‘Yes, mom. There is a ghost living in that haunted house.’

‘Nonsense,’ said their mother. ‘Now go and wash your hands and legs. I will give you chocolate milk and cake.’

‘Really, mamma,’ Rhea tried to explain, ‘The ghost has lived in that house for a long time and grown old.’

‘Ghosts don’t exist, sweetheart. You must have seen something else. Aren’t you a brave girl?’ said the mother.

‘I am a brave girl. Ask Ron,’ said Rhea. Nudging Ron with her elbow, she said again, ‘Ron, tell her what a brave girl I have been.’

‘Yes, yes, you are a brave girl, all right.’

‘See, I told you,’ said Rhea, giggling.

‘OK,’ said their mother, ‘Now off you go and get cleaned up.’

***

It was only when they had retired to their bedroom at night did Ron talk about the incident. ‘Rhea, let’s go again tomorrow.’

‘Go where?’

‘To the haunted house,’ said Ron.

‘No!’ Rhea gave a quiet cry.

‘Are you scared?’ asked Ron.

‘I’m not scared. You saw the ghost, didn’t you?’ said Rhea, sitting up on her bed.

‘Yes. Let’s fight it and save the people. Else, the ghost will kill everyone in the neighborhood,’ said Ron.

Rhea hung her head and said, meekly, ‘All right.’

***

The next morning Ron woke up early, took his bicycle, and rode in front of the haunted house. Two minutes later he was back home. Rhea was waiting for him. ‘Where had you been?’ she asked eagerly.

‘To see the haunted house once again.’

Rhea approached Ron, and holding the handle-bar of the bicycle, she asked, widening her eyes, ‘Did you see the white ghost?’

‘No, but we will in the evening.’

They waited for the sun to go down. Ron was ready with his weapons: a torch and a toy gun that shot darts.

At precisely six o’clock they left their home. They reached the haunted house five minutes later. Ron pushed open the gate slowly, as he had done the previous day. The same “Crrreeeeek” was heard. Ron and Rhea walked inside as silently as possible. The house looked more menacing than ever.

Ron walked towards the door, and knocked on it. He pulled himself back as he took out his toy gun from his pocket. Rhea stood next to him, wide-eyed and covering her mouth with her hands.

Ten seconds passed, which seemed like ten hours to Ron and Rhea. Holding his gun tightly in his hand, he walked round the house and stood below the windows through which a white ghost had scared him and Rhea the previous day.

One of the windows was open. He aimed his gun at it and pulled the trigger. The dart went flying into the window. The twins kept silent for a minute. Ron turned to his sister and said, ‘I think we have killed it.’

‘I think so, too,’ said Rhea, smiling.

Then, someone grabbed and lifted them from behind and took them inside the house. Ron and Rhea screamed at the top of their voice.

Both of them started crying as the ghost sat in front of them on the sofa.

‘Shut up!’ said the white ghost.

Ron and Rhea only cried harder.

‘I said, stop crying,’ said the ghost again.

Ron and Rhea looked at each other as they continued crying, tears rolling down their cheeks. The ghost that sat in front of them was an old woman. Her hair and her skin were as white as cotton.

‘I am not a ghost, children,’ said the old woman.

Ron and Rhea looked at each other again, exchanging surprised looks.

‘I am just a poor old woman who lives in this old house.’

Ron stopped crying first. Rhea then wiped her tears and sat silently, blinking her eyes.

Ron said, ‘You are not a ghost?’

‘Of course not, my dear. You can touch and see me if you want to,’ said the old woman, extending her hand.

Ron felt the old woman’s hand. ‘If you are not a ghost, then why did you keep scaring us all the time?’

‘I never tried to scare you. You imagined everything,’ the old woman explained.

‘Why did you grab us from behind like that? You did scare us, you know,’ said Ron.

‘You would have run away again if I had come in front of you,’ said the old woman.

‘Why do you live in the dark?’ asked Rhea.

The old woman made a sad face as she said. ‘Hmmm. That’s because I don’t have money to pay for the electricity, my darling.’

It was already dark and quite difficult to see inside the house.

Ron slowly took out his torch from his pocket and switched it on.

Rhea clapped in delight. The old woman ruffled Rhea’s hair and smiled. Ron said, ‘You can have my torch.’

‘Yes, yes,’ said Rhea. ‘You take the torch. We don’t need it.’

The old woman hugged the little children and kissed them on their foreheads.

Since that day Ron and Rhea often spent their time with the old woman. The old woman entertained them with her stories. Sometimes, she told ghost stories, too.

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Do you wonder how Ron and Rhea's day begins? How difficult it is to their mother to get them ready to school? Read In the Morning to get a glimpse of the kids' matutinal activites. In the Morning is not only a feast to your eyes, but it also makes sure your heart is tickled.
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