The Scarecrow and the Tragic Friendship(Achu biju) The Lonely Scarecrow and the Tragic Friendship

This is the story of 13-year-old Rumi, who lived with her father in a village. Her mother, who was her best friend, died due to a disease a few years ago, and since then she started feeling very lonely. She also did not have many friends in school, and being small in height, all the children of her class used to bother her all the time, but that night her life changed forever. That day, the children of her class made fun of her so much that she had a fight with one of them. All the children started running after Rumi to harm her. School children were looking for her everywhere. Due to which her father took her to a farm to avoid them, she went on that path and did not know that she is heading to the middle of that field. She saw a scarecrow whose eyes were staring at her in the suns light. Seeing the scarecrow there, she realized that she had come to a field where there are no shortcuts because the whole village knew that if anyone is going to that field, they might lose their life at the hands of that scarecrow. She was standing there to see him that the boys who were following her reached there, and they surrounded her from all sides. They scared her, knowing what was going to happen to her, so she gave up her eyes and closed her eyes before she was beaten by those boys. She started crying at the same time, but when she opened her eyes, she saw that her school boys were falling on the ground, and their hands were deeply hurt. Her condition had become so bad due to nervousness that she turned in shock and went straight to sleep. Whatever happened in that field, she was thinking about the same lying on the bed at night. But she could not understand why the scarecrow did not kill her, and thinking this, she lost her eyes.

Late that night, she was completely sleepy, and she saw that the scarecrow was staring at her with the same white eyes from the other side of her room's window, but before she could do something, the scarecrow also put the hand inside the window and grabbed her hand. She started coming quickly, but still, she started seeing the scene of a small child who was going to the same field looking for his ball. Being of low caste, some upper-caste people killed the child with sticks to enter their fields, and to hide his murder, they filled the body of the child inside a scarecrow. Seeing all this, she understood that the scarecrow was actually a small child who probably wanted to be her friend. Knowing his story, she and the scarecrow became friends, but due to the children in the village, last night her father, who was a pundit, was called to cleanse the souls of those children because everyone's parents feared that the scarecrow would fall behind their children and kill those children. On the other hand, she and her new friend started spending a lot of time together. Wherever she went, she would play many games with her forces, and she would bring new clothes and toys to him.

A few days later, when her birthday came, the children of her class started fighting with her again, and that fight increased so much that one of them started making fun of her mother's death. Due to which she got so angry, she hit the ball next to the boy's head and ran away. She ran behind the school after which something happened due to which the whole village was shocked because that night, those children of her class were also found with straw hands and ripped chests. The whole school gathered there due to the sound of those children’s shouting, and when they looked around, the scarecrow had disappeared from there. After the death of those children all the villagers thought that today they would burn the scarecrow and end it forever. They started looking for the scarecrow, but they could not find it anywhere. She was not at home when her father returned home at night. Even after looking around, he could not see her anywhere. He was very scared, and with a torch in his hand, he started searching for her everywhere. When she was not found anywhere, he became tired and sat down at his wife's favorite place and started crying in grief for losing his daughter. He felt that the scarecrow had taken his daughter somewhere.

Then he heard Rumi's voice and saw that she was with the same scarecrow. He did not know that Rumi had rescued the scarecrow herself from the villagers. She was talking to him when her father came in front of them with a torch, and he started moving forward to save his daughter. Before he could do anything, the scarecrow held him with his straw hands. She shouted and begged him to leave her father, but the scarecrow would not let go. So she picked up a fallen torch and set her best friend on fire to save her father. The burning scarecrow left her father's grip, but by then, her father's breath was already gone. That night she became even lonelier because she lost two people forever.

After that tragic night, Rumi was filled with guilt and grief. She couldn't forgive herself for what she had done to her friend, who had only wanted to protect her. She became withdrawn and stopped talking to anyone. She couldn't even bear to look at the field where she had burned her friend. Her father's death had also left her feeling alone and lost. He had been her only family and the one who had always been there for her. She didn't know how to cope without him. Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, but Rumi remained in a state of mourning. She had lost everything that had mattered to her, and she didn't know how to move forward. She would often sit by her father's favourite spot and cry for hours. But then one day, something strange happened. As she was crying, she heard a faint whisper in her ear. She turned around to see the scarecrow standing behind her. She was terrified at first, but then she realized that it was not the same scarecrow that she had burned. This scarecrow had a different aura, and it seemed to radiate kindness.

The scarecrow spoke to her and told her that it was okay to grieve but that she needed to let go of her guilt. It told her that her friend had forgiven her and that she needed to forgive herself too. The scarecrow also told her that her father was proud of her and that he was always watching over her. As Rumi listened to the scarecrow's words, she felt a sense of peace wash over her. She realized that she needed to let go of her past and move forward. She thanked the scarecrow for its words of wisdom and walked back to her house with a newfound sense of hope.

From that day on, she started to heal. She began to talk to her classmates and made new friends. She even started visiting the field again, but this time, she was not afraid. She knew that her friend, the scarecrow, was watching over her and protecting her. Years passed, and Rumi grew up to be an independent lady. She never forgot the lessons she had learned from her friend, the scarecrow. She knew that life was full of hardships, but she also knew that she had the strength to overcome them. She left her village to pursue her dreams, but she always carried the memory of her friend, the scarecrow, with her. It had taught her the most valuable lesson of all: to always believe in oneself and to never give up, no matter how difficult life may seem.

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