A Bag’s Life - Reshma Majithia

A group of friends stood engaged in silly banter in front of a deserted historical fortress they had gone to visit, when all of a sudden they heard a ear-splitting shriek from a nearby turret. For an infinitesimal moment, the friends wavered; but then they were young, adventurous and audacious, and decided to enter the building. It was spooky and shards of glass and other sharp items were strewn all over the place. One would think that some calamitous misfortune had ravaged the insides of the structure, which looked relatively pristine on the exterior, just a little weathered perhaps.

Some beautiful paintings were hung on one of the walls. Each of the paintings was sui generis, but shrouded by thick layers of dust and grime. Suddenly, one of the doors made a creaking sound and a black cat started to purr as if she were dogging footsteps of someone. They followed the cat and saw a grotesque looking woman. All of them gazed in consternation at her. She caught hold of one of the girls and tried to clobber her. Her face turned pallid and the rest of them were in splits. Later it turned out to be an April Fool’s Day hoax. Those clued in on the joke were tickled no doubt, but not so much the butt of the joke.