Ghost Story: You Killed Me

Chapter 1
Fleeing from life​

"Wow" was the sound that came out spontaneously from my mouth. I was stunned by the beauty of the place. My maternal uncle, whom I depended completely in buying the property, had told me that I wouldn't be dissatisfied. The small bungalow in the backdrop of beautiful mountainous range looked like a masterpiece painted by a heavenly artist. Adding to the beauty was the thin white stream of a local river, which was not more than 200 meter from the bungalow. There were few hamlets here and there, but not a single one near my house. The environment was pristine, and the lush greenery was so soothing to the eye that I thought I could look at it for hours without batting an eyelid.

"Are you sure you can stay in this desolate place, where even a ghost would not dare to come in fear of being killed by loneliness?"

My maternal uncle, Nandu mama, might have been instrumental in my acquiring this property, but from the very beginning he had been constantly raising questions about my staying here. It was true that the nearest hamlet, where a few tribal people lived, was 1 km away from this bungalow, and the small market place was 2 km away from here. Thankfully, the place was well connected by road, and the bungalow had a garage to park my sturdy Tata Sumo. There was electricity connection, but it didn't stay for more than 12 hours in a day, Nandu mama had informed me.

"Why should I feel lonely? You have appointed Bahadur for cooking and doing household chores." I tried to ward off Nandu mama's fears.

"Haha haha!" Nandu mama burst into laughter.

"That grumpy old fellow? He hardly talks. No luck if you count him as a company!"

"See Mama, I don't need any company. Had I been in search of that, I wouldn't have come here."

"Huh! I know you are acting like an absconder. But let me tell the truth my dear nephew. This is not the proper way to deal with problems in life. Instead of running like a fugitive, why don't you face the challenges like a brave man?"

"Oh mama ji, not again! I am very tired now, need to freshen myself."

I desperately tried to change the topic. It's true that for the last 10 years, I had not lived a moment in peace. In my professional life, it had been a story of grand success, but my personal life had been simply disastrous. Disgusted by steady torrents of problems in my personal life, I decided to quit the job, and flee from my house. This place was more than 200 km from my house. I could not directly buy the property, as it belonged to a tribal. So, unofficially I purchased it.

"We are done Saab!" Exhausted by the unpacking job, Bahadur, who was aided by 3 other tribal men, was breathing heavily. Short in stature, wrinkled face resembling a typical Nepali old man, he was around 55 years of age.

"Come early tomorrow!" Mama gave them a 500 rupees note as tip for the work. He would stay with me this night before going back to Kolkata tomorrow.

Chapter 2
That foul smell​

My grandparents and maternal uncles lived in Basirhat. Every time I visited there, I became disgusted with their prejudices, and lack of scientific attitude. They believed in all kind of rubbish in the world: Gods, ghosts, bad omens, black magic to name a few. If someone sneezed while you were leaving from house, it was considered a bad omen. The remedy was more interesting: you had to return, and then restart. Let me give one more hilarious example of my relative's foolishness. If a domestic lizard made sound three times like "tic tic tic" while you were talking, your uttered words would become true! I used to laugh my heart out at those illogical prejudices. Because of my arrogance and my propensity to quote scientific laws, they gave me an epithet "mini-Newton". As I grew up, I transformed into a mini-Hitler from a mini-Newton. Previously, I had laughed, but later on I began to excoriate them with chosen invectives.


When I took my girlfriend, whom I desired to make my life partner, to my rented house for the first time, the first thing she said made my blood boil.

"This is very ominous."

Trying to maintain my cool, I enquired, "What do find ominous here?"

Taking out the handkerchief, and putting it on her nose, she angrily said, "Can't you get the fetid smell? Do you eat dried fish?"

"Are you mad? I never eat dried fish".

Having said so, I also realized that indeed a very foul smell was coming from inside. I became very ashamed that the first time I took my girlfriend-cum-colleague to my house, and she was greeted with such an ugly smell! I quickly went inside, and tried to find where the foul smell was coming from. Meanwhile, Sara, my girlfriend, opened all the windows of the house.

I came back, and apologised to her, "Sorry, I searched hard, but couldn't find anything from where the smell is emanating."

She said, " If you don't mind, may I go inside"?

It was a small 2 bedroom rented flat. Besides two bedrooms, there was a small dining space, a small kitchen, and a small toilet. The veranda was at the entrance, where I tied a rope for drying my apparels. My landlord didn't live in Joynagar, my then place of posting. I had paid him 6 months rent in advance. I had been living here for the last 3 months, but never experienced any foul smell. So, I, too, was very curious, and immediately nodded my head in affirmation.

Sara checked the dustbin first. But it had only peels of some vegetables. Then she went to the kitchen, and then to the bathroom.

"No it's not coming from inside. What's outside?" She enquired impatiently. I could see big frowns on her face. The foul smell hadn't diminished a bit. In fact it had increased. I was flabbergasted to the core. Here in this mofussil area, there was no good restaurant, where I could take my girlfriend for a candle night dinner. That's why I arranged some delicious dinner for her at home. I thought of an enjoyable romantic evening. But the smell seemed to have dampened everything.

"Road on the eastern side, houses on western and southern side, and a pond and bamboo field on the northern side", I tried to quench her inquisitiveness.

"What's that Akshar? Who is standing there?" She shrieked.

To be continued​

 

Hi guys, this is my first attempt at writing a ghost story. Personally, I don't believe in ghosts, but I love to watch horror films. I have read a lot of ghost stories in Bengali, not a single one in English though. This story is 50 % real and 50 % fictional. Feel free to express your likes and dislikes.

 

Ha ha! Can't stop laughing! Yes, being inspired by Suma's @sumalynux story, I am writing this story. Thanks for the encouragement!

 

@blissfull , @mbharani and @GeetaKashyap

Many thanks for your likes. The next episode is coming this afternoon.

 

Chapter 3
Eyes like fireball​

At that time, we were standing in the dining room; while Sara was near the northern side window, I was standing near the southern side window. I quickly went to that window to see why she became so excited! I looked at her her face. It was pale. Very feebly she was pointing her finger towards the pond. There was no street light in that area. The very dim light that was coming was from the headlight of a vehicle. That too had gone quickly. However, for the few seconds it was there, I could not see anything.

So, I tried to pacify her, "Calm down! There is nothing."

"Bring a torch immediately", clinging my shirt, she uttered those words in a quivering voice.

In this mofussil area, 2 to 3 hour of power cut was a routine affair. So, I always kept a couple of torches ready. I quickly handed one to her. She again clung my shirt, and focussed the torch outside.

"That's the middle of the pond Sara. Pray tell what did you see there?" I was surprised to see that she was pointing the torch to the pond.

"It has gone." Still fear was coming out from her voice.

"But, what has gone?" I was slightly impatient.

"I don't know. I could not see the body in dark. But, I saw its eyes. They were like fire balls, and it was looking directly at me. It was initially very close to the window. But when I went near the window, it moved towards the pond."

When I was thinking hard what it could be, I suddenly noticed that the foul smell had gone. But, by that time, Sara had enough of the foul smell, and she started to vomit. I felt so awkward that I didn't know what to do. I thought of putting my hand on her shoulder. But I balked, as I had never done so. As a second thought, I offered her a glass of water. But, Sara refused, as she was still too scared.

"What was that smelly thing Akshar?" She, too, noticed that the foul smell had vanished.

"I think you must have seen the big water monitor that lives in the pond."

"What! Water monitor?" I could clearly see signs of disbelief on her face.

"Yes! I forgot to tell you about the monster-sized water monitor living here. I have seen it on many occasions. You must have seen that."

For the next ten minutes, I tried hard to make her believe that she had seen the water-monitor. I was not sure how successful I was in convincing her! She didn't wait anymore, as she was not feeling well. I called the driver, and instructed him to drop her to her temporary residence at Sonarpur.

The sumptuous food that I purchased for dinner was lying on the table begging for attention. All through my life, I had been a foodie. No matter how grave the situation was, I has never ignored the little pleasure season of my tongue. So, by nature, I pounced on the mutton biryani and chicken rezala. Unfortunately, I didn't get any taste. I felt something was very wrong. It was true that there lived a monstrous water monitor in the pond. I saw it from a very close range on more than one occasion. Of course, it was smelly, but the smell had been completely different. It had a fishy smell. But the awful smell that spoiled the evening was like a dried fish. Also, the description she narrated about the eyes could never match the lizard's eyes. I tried to tell myself that since she was scared, she must have exaggerated about the eyes.

Chapter 4
Mishap at Kalyani ​

Sara was not beautiful from the traditional point of view. Her eyes were not as deep as Deepika's eyes; her nose didn't resemble Katrina's, or her lips were not as luscious as Amisha's lips. But, you couldn't find faults with any of them. However at best, she could be called good-looking. But, what was most charming about her was her killer body. She was 5 ft 5 inches tall, had a perfect shape, on the slim side though. To me she looked like a Barbie doll.

I felt an unbridled attraction towards her. So, despite that incident, I carried on with the relationship. We were colleagues in the same district. Though, we were posted at different block head quarters -- me at Joynagar 2, and she at Sonarpur -- we had a monthly district meeting, where we met. Also, as both of the blocks were at Baruipur sub-division, we occasionally met at the SDO office. Sometimes, I invented some works at Baruipur, and form there went to Sonarpur to meet her.

Life was going on smoothly, and within a few months the ugly incident was erased from our memory. There was pressure of marriages on both of us. Our parents were aware of our relationship. Her father was a renowned judge. On couple of occasions, when I went to her home, I met him. I had always feared a judge. But, her dad looked a perfect gentlemen to me. From his body language, I could understand, he accepted me as his future son-in-law. Though Sara didn't visit our house, from the picture I showed to my parents, my parents, also, seemed to have approved our relationship. But, the big question was when was I going to formally propose her. Suddenly, I got a news that new recruits like us would have to undergo a training programme at Kalyani for 1 month. This had to be the time, I thought, I would have to seal the deal.

After the hectic last day under a tight training schedule, I took a shower. I tried my best to groom myself. I wore a vintage finishing Denim jeans and a yellow Monte Carlo T-shirt. The mid-November autumn evening was neither hot nor cool. Training period was over, tomorrow would be valediction session, and after that we would head towards our respective work places. During the course, we met regularly. Everyone became aware of our relationship. But still I could not formally propose her. So, I chose the day before the valediction day to be my D-day. As I saw in movies, I bought a diamond ring. I chose a restaurant of repute in Kalyani, and invited some of our common friends.

I rang Sara to make sure she was ready for our 7-30 PM rendezvous. She said, " I am getting down within 5 minutes." Others had been waiting outside for us in the lounge. Happily, I locked my room, and got down. I joined friends, and we were waiting for Sara to join us. Ashoke, one of our common friend, said, " She must be dressing to look like Katrina. That's why she is taking so long." Priya, another friend said, "In that case will she ever come out, because she will never look like Katrina?" Ashoke reprimanded her, " You, jealous girl!" I knew Priya liked me, but she was a bit shy to show her feelings towards me. It was indeed taking a bit too long. So, I looked at my watch, and suddenly, we heard a very loud scream, and a dull sound of a falling object.

We all ran towards the building to see what happened, and what we saw was the most horrific seen that I had ever seen. Sara was lying unconscious on the entrance of the floor. Her entire body seemed to have been ripped by some sharp object. There was a pool of blood on the floor. And most strikingly I noticed that same fetid smell.

To be continued ​

 

@Daddysgirl , @creativemumma, @Bhoonzee and @mbharani
Many thanks to you all for liking the story. I will post the next episode on tomorrow evening.