NIGHT, dressed in black, the guardian of mystery and mischief that comes out to play from within the deep shadows, secrets, lies and wandering souls from the beyond, haunting illusions.

Amit, a security guard, walked along the cemetery road to the backdam where two machines tilling the land were parked. He was assigned to guard the machines that night till morn, a job that took him to different locations in the backdams.
Tonight, the machines were parked on the dam of a canal, overlooking a cemetery. Amit had heard and seen many strange things on his night shifts, but he was a brave man, not afraid of unnatural entities.
But what he noticed that night, a short distance from his post, was a fresh grave, the flowers by the headstone of which had not yet withered. Someone had been buried there just that afternoon! A young mother from three villages away; he had heard about her death, shocking and tragic, another win for the Devil.
Amit took out a book from his backpack, a James Patterson novel, to read, his silent companion for the night. The hours ticked by, and his eyes, not heavy with sleep, shifted regularly from the book to the surroundings, alert to every little sound.
It was close to the midnight hour when he saw lights approaching from the main road. He stood up and watched as a car stopped, and a man walked into the cemetery grounds, straight to the freshly dug grave.
The stranger stood for a long while with head bent, then he picked up a handful of loose dirt and scattered it on the grave. As he turned to leave, he looked towards Amit, a savage look on his face; a look that turned to fear when he saw the flashing red lights approaching the grounds. It was the police who ended his fugitive reign as they cuffed him and took him away.
Amit sighed and shook his head, unsympathetic for the man’s evil deeds. He turned back to his post, and drew in his breath sharply.
Standing by the fresh grave in silent posture of a departed soul, was a young woman, dressed in a long white gown, her long hair decorated with tiny flowers, tied loosely at the nape of her neck. The most beautiful illusion of a fair lady.
From where he stood, Amit could see the grief on her face, eyes crying invisible tears. She sat down, head bent for a long time, and he watched her. So young, so beautiful, life interrupted, sending her soul into the dark world.
The night was becoming old, soon to give way to the dawn of a new day, and Amit eyes closed for just a few seconds. When he reopened them, she was gone.
He packed his bag to leave for the day, but before he did, he picked a bunch of wild flowers, and, putting it on her grave, said, “I do not know you, but I can see your pain. I just want to say sorry for what happened to you.”
The day for Amit seemed long; her ghostly illusion and her sadness imprinted on his mind, her story still hot on the gossip vines.That night seemed even darker, and from his post, he watched her as she wandered around, probably to ascertain where she was.
She looked at him for a long moment, and Amit held his breath; though not afraid, he did not wish for a close encounter with anyone from the Beyond. He closed his eyes so she wouldn’t know he had seen her, but too late. When he reopened them, she was a few feet away from him. There was a pleading look in hers, and she spoke in a very soft voice,
“I miss my children; they must be crying for me. I need to see them; help me, please.”
For a moment, he wasn’t sure what to say, or if he should say anything at all; but that deep sadness on her face made him forget she was actually a ghost.

“How do I do that?” he asked.
“I don’t know how to find my way home; guide me, please, my children need me.”
“You know you have died, don’t you?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Then how can you help them?”
“It was not my time to die, but my husband thought otherwise. So, Heaven is not ready for me, and until that time, I will stay around my children to guide them. The power of a mother’s love, dead or alive, can open doors everywhere.”
He smiled. Words worth more than precious gems. He guided her to her home that night to her children. Tears welled in his eyes as he watched her embrace them. She would now be their Guardian Angel until Heaven was ready for her.
Amit’s night shifts took him further into the backdams, but always, whenever he passed by the cemetery, he would put a bunch of wild flowers on her grave. Never would he forget her beautiful illusion.