Digging the ground behind the house to plant trees, the daughter-in-law hooked up a broken necklace – the grandmother trembled as soon as she saw it: “Why is it here?”, could it be that the person lying there has never been anywhere?”, later the whole neighborhood came over and was shocked and terrified
That afternoon, Priya – the youngest daughter-in-law who had just been married for nearly a year – was working hard in the backyard of her grandmother’s house in Udaipur village, Rajasthan state, India to plant some ornamental banana bushes. The soil here was soft, as if it had been plowed many times. Before digging even a hand’s breadth, Priya suddenly touched something hard. She stopped.

It was a broken silver necklace, but the pendant was still intact in the shape of a hollow heart – a very old style, almost no one wears it anymore. What made Priya shiver was… there were still a few thin strands of hair stuck to the pendant.

She picked it up, intending to wash it with water, but the grandmother – who was peeling fruit in the kitchen – took a quick glance and dropped the knife, her face pale, her hands shaking:

– The necklace This… is Anjali’s…
Her voice broke.
– I put it on her when she went missing. But… she was buried in the village cemetery… Why… why is she here?

The house fell silent. Priya was bewildered:

– What did you say? Buried here? But… Grandma stared at the land behind the house, then muttered like a lost soul:

– So… for the past 20 years… that body has never left here?

Anjali is Priya’s mother’s biological sister. She went missing when she was only 17 years old. For nearly two years after that, the family searched everywhere. Finally, they received news that a girl’s body had been found floating in a river in the neighboring district. Although her face was disfigured, because there was no hope, the family had to identify her through her shirt and the mole on her leg – then buried her.

The case was closed with the note: “Died by accident, no signs of murder.” Since then, no one mentioned it again.

But now… the necklace was found right under the land behind the house – where her grandmother had grown vegetables for more than 20 years. She remembered very clearly: it was the only gift she had saved up to buy for Anjali, on the last birthday she was at home.

The rumor spread like wildfire. The whole village came. Some whispered, some called the local police. The forensic team was sent to investigate.

And then… they dug up a part of a human skull – still with a few long hairs. DNA analysis later confirmed: it was Anjali.

No one was buried in that land.

The missing person case, which was thought to have been closed, was suddenly reopened. People turned over old records, reinvestigated the identity of the body that had been buried by the family. Unusual points began to emerge: the shirt could have been switched, the mole could be faked, and Anjali – who could have been murdered and secretly buried behind her own house for two decades century.

The most heartbreaking thing: for the past 20 years, the family has been living, eating, and farming right where she was buried. That land, every year flowers bloom, every Tet they erect a pole…

Grandma sat down on the porch, her eyes sunken, her hand tightly holding the pendant. Her voice choked:

– It didn’t go anywhere. It’s here, waiting for people to remember it…
– It’s just a pity that in 20 years, no one dug deeper than a hand span.