The cursed tree

My name is Rehan. I come from a small village located on the edge of a dense forest to whose heart the sun does not know how. Since I was a child, stories have been woven around a tree deep in that forest; A black, dry tree that looks dead but overflows with evil. They call it the “Cursed Tree.” Adults used to say that simply passing through its shadow was an open invitation to death, and I used to mock these myths...until I was twenty-four, then I realized that some doors should never be opened. That night, the air was strange; Cold and hot at the same time, It is as if the living and the dead breathe together in one lung. The three of us—me, Amer, and Zubair—set off carrying flashlights to challenge the silence of the forest and see if the tree was real or just an illusion. The deeper we went, the darker it became. Tree branches whisper, and faint laughter comes from nowhere. Then we saw signs of terror in Amer's eyes for the first time. Amidst thousands of trees, she was there... black as if she had been burned by the fire of hell, without leaves, her branches merely twisted thorns trying to catch the sky. No grass grows around, The soil beneath it is dark, as if it has drunk old blood. “That's it? Let's take a picture and leave,” Zubair said, trying to break the silence with a shaky laugh. But at that moment, I felt thousands of eyes watching us. Suddenly, the sound of “Anklet” (Ghunghru) emanated from underground! Then our flashlights went out all at once. Total darkness prevailed, and in my ears the sound of an anguished woman crying behind a muffled scream trembled. When I tried to turn on my flashlight, the ground moved beneath my feet. Zubair shouted: “Run!”, but our legs were paralyzed. From behind the tree, a thin, long, distorted shadow emerged. No eyes, just two black sockets like burning suns. The shadow spoke in a voice that did not belong to humans: “Why did you come?” It was not just a shadow, but the face of a burnt person and hands that looked like tree roots. He pointed towards the ground, and a dry, white, eyeless corpse emerged, whispering with its last breath: “Come back...” Amer tried to run, but a root came out of the ground and wrapped around his leg, pulling him down with terrifying force. He screamed a scream that shook the forest, and in an instant, his eyes turned white and he disappeared under the dirt, leaving nothing but a wet blood stain. We lost our minds. Zubair threw a stone at the tree, and a scream came out that shook the entire forest. In the blink of an eye, Zubair's neck twisted 180 degrees and he fell dead, and a voice that was not his own came out of his mouth: “Another one has come...” I ran like crazy. The branches were following me like human arms, tearing my clothes, and wounding my body. I arrived at the edge of the village at first light. No one believed me, but the dark circles under my eyes and the cuts on my body made them silent. Aamir and Zubair never returned. And now, the scariest part... Yesterday, the soil in front of my door moved, I heard the sound of anklets inside my room. Black mud began to seep out from under the door, and with it came this hoarse, dead voice:

“It's your turn now...”