Suspense|19.8.2024

Lai­la’s deso­la­te farm

Baa-baa Lai­la

House as Him­self

Far from the bust­ling roads and the crowds, nest­led among rol­ling fields and den­se forests, stood an old aban­do­ned house. The house had been deser­ted for deca­des, with a par­tial­ly col­lap­sed roof, walls full of cracks, and bro­ken win­dows. The yard was overgrown with weeds and wild vege­ta­tion.

Howe­ver, the house’s for­lorn exte­rior concea­led a surpri­se wit­hin. In the cor­ner of a lar­ge, dim hall lived a soli­ta­ry sheep named Lai­la. No one knew how Lai­la had ended up in the aban­do­ned house, but she had resi­ded the­re for as long as any­one in the vil­la­ge could remem­ber.

Lai­la was not an ordi­na­ry sheep. Her fleece sparkled with tiny sil­ver specks that glowed in the moon­light. The deso­la­tion and silence of the house didn’t seem to bot­her Lai­la. On the cont­ra­ry, she had found peace in the aban­do­ned house, whe­re she spent her days grazing in the overgrown gar­den and retur­ned to the safe­ty of the house at night.

One autumn eve­ning, as the wind how­led and rain bat­te­red the win­dows, a tra­ve­ler named Elias was pas­sing by. Elias had lost his way and des­pe­ra­te­ly nee­ded shel­ter. He noticed the aban­do­ned house and deci­ded to seek refu­ge the­re for the night.

As he step­ped insi­de, Elias felt the cold air and heard the crea­king of the floor­boards. He was start­led by a lar­ge sha­dow moving in the cor­ner, but was relie­ved to see that it was just a sheep.

Lai­la loo­ked at the newco­mer with lar­ge, gent­le eyes. Elias cal­med down and slow­ly approac­hed the sheep. He sat down besi­de her and began spea­king soft­ly, sha­ring sto­ries of his tra­vels and how he had got­ten lost. Lai­la lis­te­ned qui­et­ly, as if she unders­tood eve­ry word.

Throug­hout the night, Elias and Lai­la found com­fort in each other’s com­pa­ny. Elias cove­red him­self with Lai­la’s warm fleece and fell asleep peace­ful­ly. As dawn bro­ke, the rain had stop­ped, and the sun began to rise, pain­ting the sky in bright colors. Elias knew he had to con­ti­nue his jour­ney, but he didn’t want to lea­ve Lai­la alo­ne.

“Thank you, Lai­la, for giving me warmth and shel­ter,” Elias said soft­ly, stro­king the sheep. Lai­la loo­ked at him again with gent­le eyes, as if she unders­tood his farewell.

Elias left the aban­do­ned house but never for­got the night he spent with Lai­la. He sha­red the sto­ry of the aban­do­ned house and its special inha­bi­tant with eve­ry­one he met. The vil­la­gers began to visit the house more often, brin­ging food and care for Lai­la.

The aban­do­ned house was no lon­ger lone­ly. Lai­la had brought life and sto­ries to it, and alt­hough it remai­ned old and crumbling, wit­hin its walls lived warmth and friends­hip that endu­red year after year.