Sometimes a picture can summarize a story or convey an idea without writing a single word. When used sequentially, such pictures can tell a story without wasting words. Do the pictures above tell a story?

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Who’s That?

Mysteries do happen.
They happen in unforeseen circumstances, in remote corners, and in ordinary people’s lives.

9:00 pm: A rainy night

The sleeping hills and valleys of Karivara are under a thick blanket of fog.  

On the slope of one of the hills stood a house hidden under a canopy of rubber trees. Two brothers, Seban and Mathew, are about to go to sleep in the Southend room of the nalukettu made of teak wood. The youngest one, seven-year-old Mathew, curled up under a blanket that he shared with his brother.

“Don’t take all that blanket for yourself,” the elder one grumbled as he pulled at the blanket.

“Did you hear any sound last night?”, asked Seban casually. It was the least expected question Mathew could handle that night. 

“No, what sound?”

“You’ll know. Just stay awake,” said Seban as he turned around and closed his eyes.

Mathew tried to stay awake but fell into a deep sleep soon.

••••••  •••••••

9:00 pm: It stopped raining

The howling of a dog nearby broke the silence of an otherwise quiet night. More dogs from neighboring homes joined the din. Kaiser, the resident dog, whimpered in a low note. He got up and ran away from the porch. Mathew knew someone was approaching the house. All he could do was move closer to his snoring brother. 

The intruder wiped his feet on the doormat and opened the door to the portico. Wasn’t it locked? Who could it be? A thief?  

There was no movement or sound for a while. Mathew’s heart beat went up a few notches above his usual cool mode. 

A low scratching noise moved along the front teak wall from one end to the other. Mathew already missed a couple of heartbeats! He moved closer to his brother and held onto him for comfort.

Silence.

Suddenly the intruder hit the cot as if he was drunk or struggled to see in the dark.
“Who is it?”, shouted Mathew with sheer shock.

His shouting jolted everyone in the house out of their sleep.

“Did you have a nightmare?” quipped Seban. 

Their dad came over to know what the whole thing was about. 

“Someone shook the bed!” Mathew sobbed.

“Don’t worry, it was just a dream. Go back to sleep,” the dad tried to calm Mathew who was already jittery.

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Next morning

“Didn’t I tell you not to fall sleep?”
Seban wasn’t very happy about the whole episode.

“I didn’t sleep. If I had, how could I hear the noise and felt the knocking?”

“Noise and knocking? No way, that was just someone walking on the gravel in our courtyard!” Seban was not in a mood to believe Mathew’s story.

“Then you are the one who fell asleep!” Mathew tried to defend himself.

Noise? Knocking? It is still an unsolved mystery.