[Scene 1: Midnight Silence]
It was 2:30 AM.
At the tin-roofed house on the edge of the village, Shafik was alone tonight. The whole area was drowned in silence except for the endless chirping of crickets and the distant howls of foxes.
Suddenly, a very familiar voice reached his ears.
Mother's Voice (from outside, softly):
"Shafik… O Shafik… come outside for a moment."
Shafik sat up in terror.
It sounded exactly like his mother.
But… his mother had died just last month.
A freezing chill ran through his chest.
Again the voice came, this time more tender and urgent.
Mother's Voice:
"My son Shafik, don't be late… come quickly."
The sound was coming from the bamboo grove behind the house.
Shafik knew what it was.
This was the Night Caller—Nishi's call.
Once someone answered it or looked back, there would be no escape.
He covered his ears and sat still in complete silence.
But the voice did not stop.
Instead, it grew more pitiful, as if his mother was in terrible danger.
An irresistible force slowly pulled him in.
Almost unknowingly, Shafik unlatched the door.
He stepped into the darkness.
[Scene 2: The Bamboo Grove]
As he crossed the yard and reached the edge of the bamboo grove,
the voice suddenly burst into a sharp, eerie laughter.
Sound Effect: Ha… ha… ha… ha…
Shafik looked ahead.
It was not his mother.
Before him stood a tall shadowy figure, its two eyes burning like balls of fire.
[Blackout]
[Scene 3: The Next Morning]
The next morning, the villagers could not find Shafik anywhere.
The only trace was a pair of footprints near the soft mud beside the pond, leading deep toward the forest before suddenly disappearing.
As the villagers followed the prints, they noticed something horrifying.
The footprints had sunk abnormally deep into the earth, as if Shafik was not being dragged away by force, but was instead walking while carrying an enormous unseen burden on his back.
In the middle of the bamboo grove, the prints stopped.
Scattered on the ground lay a torn piece of Shafik's lungi and the silver amulet from his neck, the same one his mother had placed on him before her death.
But there was no sign of Shafik himself.
Suddenly, the village elder Majid Mia looked upward and screamed.
Majid Mia:
"Look above!"
Everyone raised their heads—and froze in terror.
At the very top of the dense bamboo grove, Shafik was hanging upside down.
His feet were twisted around the bamboo tips, while his body dangled lifelessly downward.
But the most horrifying thing was his eyes.
They were wide open—
yet there were no pupils.
Both eyes had turned completely white.
Then his lips began to move.
In the dead silence of noon, everyone clearly heard the voice of his dead mother coming out of his mouth.
Mother's Voice (through Shafik):
"Who will come next time? I feel so alone…"
[Final Scene]
The moment the words ended,
a violent gust of wind rushed through the entire bamboo grove.
Shafik's lifeless body suddenly dropped from above.
But before it could touch the ground,
it dissolved into smoke and vanished into the air.
Only the echo of that unearthly laughter remained,
a sound that still rings in the ears of every villager as—
The Call of the Night.