Appearances are Deceptive

Old Tudor house, barn by the side and luscious fields. This is where Anna had chosen to stay. New  York had been a tiresome affair, her country roots had brought her back to this beautiful place. The hustle of New York was so different from the rustle of leaves here. 

She had shifted during Christmas. Instead of the embezzled crowds of New York and the dazzling streets, where she had been welcomed by empty homes and just the rays of the sun. She settled soon.  She had decided to start afresh as a florist inspired by the galleries in New York. 

Having spare time in her hands and no soul in sight, for it was still Christmas week, she decided to engage herself. The beautiful barn outside had seemed quite pale, with the red having faded over the years of no care. She decided to refurbish it. One fine day, just after New Years, she began painting the barn. Buckets of red paint littered around, she climbed up a ladder, and equipped with a paintbrush and hammer she painted and fixed the barn. But as all bad things happen, she fell. No, she wasn’t hurt, but the red paint was all over her. She had screamed. She left the barn with her hammer. Right as she neared the door of her house, she heard a scream and then her feet rustling away in the neighbouring farm. She was puzzled and caught unawares as no one lived beside her. Fright took hold, she went in and locked the doors. 

Night fell. She slept with a night light on, for she had grown accustomed to the forever alive New York and the scream had scared her a little, she admitted. Morning came with a rooster’s call. How beautiful was the countryside! She stepped out to get milk, right when she was nabbed, a sack was thrown over her head. She couldn’t breathe. The beautiful rays of the sun were just tiny specks through the sack. There was no one to hear her screams. 

Finally, in a room, the sack was removed, she was tied. There was a bevvy of people around. People who seemed like a family. A woman screamed, ”Who did you kill?” “I was there, I saw!” 

Anna was frightened, she was unaware of what was being screamed at her. It was when one man finally, wielding a spade came towards her and said, “Why, weren’t you the zombie, the woman who killed someone in our neighbour’s house. You had blood all over. And what? A hammer. You killed someone with a hammer.”, Anna understood what had taken place. Her neighbours had returned and had come home to what they considered a madwoman. Her screams and red paint accident had proven to be deceptive.