The Neighbourhood
Published: 2021-03-15 08:17:39

BY - SAYONI ROY

It was August 20. A car was followed by a huge truck and halted in the neighborhood. It seemed like a new family just joined the neighborhood. A fine lady, stepped out of the car with other family members, including a man and a boy. The lady asked the boy, “do you like the new place, Will?” Will nodded. Will just shifted to London along with his family due to the job of his father, Mr. Brown. Their family has always been moving throughout various countries and cities as Mr. Brown gets transferred very often. They rented a house in Bloomsbury which was in a pretty good location. The people residing in the neighborhood were helpful and amiable. Most of them paid a visit to the new family that moved in to offer help in any way possible. In the evening, an old man, probably in his mid 70s, walked up to their house and rang the doorbell. Mrs. Brown opened the door with a sweet smile despite of being tired of organizing the house throughout the day. “I’m Ben, old Ben as they call me.” He chuckled. “I live in the house just next to the Williams’.” Ben said. Mrs. Brown quickly welcomed him inside their roughly organized home and called out for Will who was in his room upstairs, probably doing nothing. Will was Mr. and Mrs. Brown’s younger son, a teenager. He joined the high school nearest to his house, which was going to reopen after the summer break in about a week. His elder brother is a Doctor and is currently living in the States. Will rushed downstairs as his mother called him and gave an unsettling smile to Ben. Will introduced himself to Ben. “Which school did you enroll yourself into?”, Ben asked Will in a calming voice. “Oh! I’m in the Mill Hill School.” Will said. Ben suddenly seemed quite interested and excited. “Eh really child? My Grandson also goes to the same school, might be a year older than you.”, He said. Will had the sudden urge to meet Ben’s grandson and asked his mother if he could go meet him right now. “Sorry Will, but your father is probably on his way home from the mall and he might need your assistance in helping him in fixing the bulbs and other appliances, you may go tomorrow, okay?” Mrs. Brown said. Hearing this, Ben informed Will that his grandson has gone out to meet his friend and would most likely be back by late evening. Will got sad but immediately got cheered up when old Ben told that he would send his grandson to meet Will the next morning. “Hope you people have a wonderful time living here in Bloomsbury. I’m staying here since the past 25 years and I can say that all the people living here are very gracious, so if you ever need any help, don’t be hesitant to ask for that from any of us.” Saying this, Old Ben smiled at Mrs. Brown and Will while getting ready to leave. Mrs. Brown was going to say something when they heard the door open. It was Will’s father, Mr. Brown. He looked at old Ben with a slightly confused face as he did not have any idea regarding the old man living in the society. “Hello gran’pa, I’m Robert.” Mr. Brown extended his hand forward in order to shake hands with Ben. They shook their hands and Ben introduced himself and left quickly saying that he has left his house empty and has to go now. 
It was around 8 in the evening when they got over with unpacking things and organizing them after which they had their dinner. Everyone fell asleep quickly that day as they all were dead tired from the journey and all the work that they did throughout the day. Although, Will was very delighted by the thought of meeting Mr. Ben’s grandson the next day, who can most probably become his first friend after moving to London. 
The next morning, Will woke up early and washed his face, had his breakfast and got ready immediately to meet Mr. Ben’s grandson. He walked up to Mr. Ben’s house as he directed the last evening ; beside the Williams’. He was confused as to which house it was when he suddenly saw a man, who came to greet them the previous day, washing his car out in the garage. Will went up to him and asked which house Ben lived in, and the man helped him with the directions. He thanked him and found his way to the house. The house looked very well maintained and taken care of. Will opened the short wooden gate which led him to the house through a narrow path, which had two sides decorated with beautiful flowering plants. He walked up to the main door and rang the bell. A boy of nearly his age opened the door and they both seemed to be very overjoyed. “Hey are you the grandson of Mr. Ben?” Will asked excitedly. “Yes! Are you by any chance the boy who moved into Bloomsbury recently? I’m Jim!” Ben’s grandson replied. Will responded in affirmation and introduced himself to Jim. Jim asked Will to come visit his house where Will saw Ben in the kitchen. They chatted for some time and then Will came back to his home. The next day, Jim came to meet Will at his house and started knowing each other better. Will got to know and befriended other children in the society before his school started.
After a week, Will joined his new school, The Mill Hill School. He was very happy to find few students from his neighborhood as his classmates. Few months passed by and things were perfectly fine. He had few friends,  good grades and a loving and caring family. In the mean time his bond with Jim and Ben grew stronger and they often had a good time together spending time with each other. 
On Friday, November 26, Will’s History teacher informed the class about their upcoming exams in exactly  1 week. After reaching home from school in the evening, Will had some snacks, played some video games and went to take a nap. He woke up and had his dinner. He was planning to study till late night after dinner as the next day was a holiday. It was around midnight when Will heard someone screaming loudly. It sounded like it was grandpa Ben. “But why is he shouting all of a sudden? Is everything okay? Are they in danger? Jim lives alone with his grandpa, What if there is some serious problem? Shall I go check?” Too many thoughts ran across Will’s mind. He wanted to run all the way to their home and check if everything is okay. But gradually, the loud screaming and shouting stopped. He tried to shift his focus from that and concentrate on his studies. He studied for almost for one more hour and then got ready to sleep, but the incident that happened an hour ago just does not seem to get out of his head. He kept thinking about it until he fell asleep. 

Will woke up to a lot of chaos the next morning. He ran upto his window and peeked through it. There were few people gathered outside Jim’s house. He saw his parents standing there as well. He quickly reached the spot and came to know that Grandpa Ben passed away that morning. Will felt his heart drop. He could not speak, could not express his feelings, could not cry; he was amidst a complex situation. His brain stopped working. He saw Jim standing in the corner, crying. Will ran to him and tried to talk to him but no words came out of his mouth. He felt helpless and weak. He ran back to his house and it all felt like a dream. A nightmare instead. He sat on his bed for a long time and did not realize the time passing away. Mr. and Mrs. Brown came back to their house with sadness on their faces. “Poor Ben was a good old man! Wonder what could have happened to him that he passed away so suddenly.” Mr. Brown sighed. Mrs. Brown did not say anything. She was still in utter shock that something like that could happen so suddenly.
Few days passed by and it seemed like the cheerful and happy neighborhood lost its colour and fun. The atmosphere in the neighborhood was sad and gloomy. Will did not hear from Jim since that day. “Jim even stopped coming to school. Hope everything is alright. I heard that his parents came over to Bloomsbury since the incident happened.” All such thoughts clouded his mind while going to school that morning. He looked over the wooden gate of Jim’s house and was stunned. His face reflected the expression of sheer terror. He quickly ran out of the place as quickly as possible and reached his school just in time. In the school, Will’s History teacher asked Will to meet Jim and ask about his health and if he needed any help in his studies o if everything is going well on his end. Will agreed , but the incident that happened in the morning was still sending chills down his spine. His mind and heart started to contradict as to he should visit him or not, but he followed his heart and went to meet Jim. He opened the wooden gate to Jim’s house and felt a sudden strangeness, an eerie feeling. Despite of that, Will reached upto the main door and knocked twice on it. No one answered. He rang the bell and heard slow footsteps inside, approaching the front door. Will was undergoing a very strange feeling and suddenly the door opened. It was, Grandpa Ben! Will stood there like an inanimate object with a shocked, pale face. “Hello son, I haven’t heard from you for a long time, how are you? Jim is currently in Australia with his parents for few days, so it’s just me-“  Mr Ben could not complete his sentence when he saw Will shaking and trembling and ultimately collapsed, blacking out completely. 
Will woke up in his bed the next morning. He still remembers everything so vividly. He started recalling the moment when he saw Grandpa Ben while going to school, how shocked and horrified he was to see him water the flowers in the garden and also the last evening when he saw Grandpa Ben open the door for him. “But he is dead, isn’t he?” constant thoughts started coming to Will’s mind. Will picked up his phone and decided to call Jim to clear every bit of his confusion when he saw the date, it was Saturday, November 27.