Ghost Story: You Killed Me

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It's good to see you Periamma. Thanks for your encouraging words!

 

@GeetaKashyap , @jskls and @Mistt

Thanks for the likes! The next part will be published tonight.

 

Chapter 8
Falling for Sona​

At night, I tried to think rationally. The smell could have been figment of my imagination, or may be it came from some wild feline animal. It didn't last for more than few seconds. Also, there was no logic behind relating the doll incident to the smell. Somehow, someone must have thrown the doll in the veranda, and I stamped on it inadvertently.

Nothing happened in the next two months. I avoided Sona as much as possible. After that doll incident, she too seemed to have been shaken a bit. But, who can stop someone, who is destined to invite trouble? At last, the harrowing winter left, and there came the queen of seasons, spring. The spring not only brings colour to the environment, but also it paints beautiful hues in human mind.

Sona's higher secondary examination was approaching, and she started visiting my apartment regularly for solving maths problems. As a matter of fact, I had been a sort of wizard in solving math problems. I had a great ability of making one understand. I loved tutoring, too. Considering that higher secondary was a very important examination in one's life, I could not refuse help in the last few months before her finals. But, I always had a fear that Sona might do something silly.

But allaying my fear, she could maintain her focus on studies. But, as the days went by, I was getting soft on her. Previously, I used to come late in order to avoid her. But now I began to come early. I began to wait for her typical 3 knocks on my door and the call of "Akshar da" in her mellifluous voice. I could feel that the eye-contacts were no longer just between a student and her tutor. She would prepare a cup of tea for me, and I would praise her profusely. She seemed to have been wallowing in the attention that I was paying her.

One day Sona came with a heavy make up on her face. She used to have a thin eyeliner and a meagre amount of lip stick. The amount of scent she used was so scanty that it could heardly be smelt. But that day, her eyeliner was deep, she wore mascara, her lipstick was prominent, and the scent could be sensed from a distance of 1km. She was wearing a golden yellow Salwar kamiz.

"What's up Sona? Are you going somewhere?" I blurted as soon as she entered my apartment.

She smiled coyly, and said, "Today happens to be my 18th birthday, Akshar da."

"Oh my gosh! Why didn't you tell me yesterday? I would have bought a gift for you. By the way, you look so lovely today."

I tried to compensate my forgetfulness -- as by then I remembered that she actually had told me about it last evening -- by paying lavish praises on her looks.

For a brief moment I saw a shadow of gloom on her face, as she remembered that she had told me. But she didn't press on that point, and I saw her face brightened within seconds. With a pout she feigned some anger in her voice, "You are praising my looks. But have you ever looked at me?"

That was silly question, I knew! Sona never talked to me in that fashion previously. Out of guilt or whatever, I again blurted, "I have always found you beautiful. Now, can we start studying?"

There was a distinct expression of delight on Sona's face, and she agreed to study. Sona had been a good student in mathematics. It didn't take much efforts on my part to make her understand difficult problems. But today, I was having a great difficulty. Very soon I realized that that she had been lacking in focus today.

Chapter 9
Sona in big trouble ​

Flabbergasted after repeated attempts, I closed the book, and directly asked her, "What is your problem today? Are you bothered by something?"

Sona seemed to have been relieved by my act. She was very hesitant to speak. When I encouraged her to speak up, she said in a soft voice, "Actually, I want to tell you something."

I could see she could not look directly at me. She was looking downwards, and constantly fidgeting her fingers.

"Go ahead Sona, I am all ears." I again encouraged her.

Sona seemed to have garnered some courage, as I could hear slight increase in the intensity in her soft voice, " Akshar da, what I am going to tell you is a very difficult task for any girl. Since you are very reticent, and never open up, I have to do that."

At this moment, I got an inkling what she was going to say. When a girl treads in that line, she is bound to express her love. I could have easily hedged the topic. But as I wrote earlier, I, too, was very soft towards her.

For a moment, I got goosebumps. The resistance of morality that seemed to have worked as a bullwork against any inappropriate act started to melt like a frozen vanilla ice cream when kept in open. Instead of stopping her, I held her hand, for the first time, and stopped her, "You don't have to tell it Sona. I know it."

I myself became astonished to hear the deep romantic voice coming out of me. At that moment, a very strong wind blew, and the jambs of my window made a huge noice. I could hear the sound of breaking glasses of window panes.

"Oh my Gosh, is it a Norwester?", I cried.

Sona, too, seemed to have shaken by the violent acts of the wind. As I rushed towards the windows to close them, the light went off, and I could smell that fetid smell.

"Oh my God!", I shrieked instantly, and changed my direction to bring the torch. The entire room was filled by that putrid smell. I sensed something bad was going to happen. Fortunately, I got the torch on the dressing table in that room. I lit it, and searched throughout the room, but could not see anything. However, I needed to light up the candles. I told Sona to hold the torch, and not to switch it off. For a moment I seemed to have forgotten the freaky nature of my torch. The candles and the matchbox were kept in the drawing-cum-dining room.

As I was rushing in dark, I stumbled on something, and fell on the ground. As if that was not enough, my forehead hit the edge of a wooden chair. Since I was running, the impact was severe, and despite being a sportsman, I lost my consciousness for few moments.

But, within seconds I regained consciousness by the loud scream of Sona followed by a sound of a very weird hysterical laughter from an uncanny voice.

"Help me", Sona repeated the words few times with descending intensity, and suddenly her voice stopped. I garnered whatever strength I had to get back on my feet, and lumbered towards my bedroom.

To be continued ​

 

Yes Mistt the ghost does not like the protagonist to make relationship with females. Unfortunately, the protagonist does not believe in ghost. That's why he is making a gross mistake of not taking any remedial measures. The next part is coming tonight.

 

GK, glad to see the emojis! Thanks for your support!

 

@GeetaKashyap , @Mistt and @mbharani thanks for your likes.

 

Chapter 10
My world has changed​

"Oh my God!" I cried as loud as I could. By that time, I heard the sound some steps rushing upwards. They were our neighbours, who heard the sound of Sona's screaming. By fate or by design I didn't know, the electricity connection was restored. There were two more neighbours other than Sona's mother. Her father was at that moment in his shop. All of us were shuddered by the sight we just saw.

It was nothing but the deja vu of what I saw 3 years ago. The body of Sona seemed to have been torn by some sharp weapon, and she was lying in a pool of blood. The room was suddenly filled with loud cries of Sona's mother. She took me by the collar of my shirt, and yelled, " You have killed my daughter, you monster! Tell me what wrong she did to you?"

I was as helpless as a convict of gallows. Who would believe me that I had no hand in the cruel death of Sona?

Some more people had come upstairs. Agitated by her hysterical cries, many people of the crowd became highly suspicious of my hands in her murder. They were looking at me with disdain. An older woman shouted, "Did you kill her? Why?"

Looking at the sombre but highly aggressive grimaces of the crowd, a shiver went down my spine. I explained my position without any delay. I didn't take more than 5 minutes to describe the entire situation in detail. The disturbing clamour took a lull for while. They looked at each other with an expression of astonishment. Probably, the firmness of my voice was good enough to make them rethink me as the oppresssor. Suddenly, Mrs Biswas, the wife of the PDO, took notice of the bump that I got on my forehead. She made others look into that. I realized that the people began to change their opinion.

Within half an hour the police from the local police station arrived. They took control of the situation. Being the joint BDO of the block, I got the required respect that I deserved. Very soon, they came to the conclusion that I had no hand, whatsoever, in the entire ghastly episode. That might have taken the threat of noose from me, but I could not avert the speculation of people, who spread many rumours.

Some said that mine was the case of Dr Jackyll and Mr Hyde. I remained normal under the light, sunlight or artificial, but became a deadly monster in darkness. I heard a rumour that I raped Sona, and then strangulated her. Even the office was not spared from the nonstop rumour mill. I could notice that the young female office staff began to avoid me. They were often using insulting innuendos.

Very soon, it became impossible for me to tolerate all kinds of nasty rumours. I took a long leave, and requested for immediate special transfer. Fortunately, they heeded my plea, and transferred me to Amdanga in North 24 Parganas. My parents were extremely worried about me, and they thought a marriage would bring happiness to my life. They floated the proposal to me, but I was not mentally very stable at that moment.

Initially, I thought that the rumours were killing me from inside. But in Amdanga, I realised that it had nothing to do with the rumours. Whenever I closed my eyes, the scenes of those two ghastly killings popped up in front of my eyes, and I shuddered in fear. My age-old beliefs began to crumble, and that was very agonising. How could I believe in a ghost? Since childhood I believed that ghost or God didn't exist.

But, I could give no rational explanations to both the killings. First Sara and then Sona, the same type of murders; the supernatural existence of the foul smell, the absence of the murderer, and the appearance of some mysterious creatures (though not seen by me) were all beyond my comprehension.

Another mind-boggling point was that the evil-entity, if any, never tried to harm me. Why so? Why did it only target my fiancees? I never had any girl-friend, who died and became a ghost. So, what could it be? I pondered over these gruelling questions night after night, but could not come to any satisfactory answers whatsoever. Soon, my health began to fail, and my mind became very weak with suicidal tendencies.

Chapter 11
New job, new beginning ​

At this juncture, my baramama (elder maternal uncle) stepped in. He had various businesses all over Eastern and North-eastern India. He persuaded me and my parents to quit the job. He said job would not be a problem, as he had plenty of acquaintances in that region. He wanted me to join as the manager of a timber company of one of his friends in the North-East. He said the pristine ambience would help me to forget the scar in the earliest.

My condition was so bad that I literally grabbed his proposal in both hands. My parents didn't fret on this matter either. All they were concerned was about my life-partner. Baramama told them to have patience, as he believed that time would heal every thing, and I would again lead the life of a normal person.

Thus, I resigned from the government service showing medical reasons, which were not false either. Since, I had completed 10 years of continuous service, I was eligible for a paltry amount of pension. I also saved a good amount of money; being the son of a rich father, I didn't have to incur much cost so far. This current job would fetch me only 10 thousand rupees, but added with the pension and interest, I would not have any monetary problem. My father, also, assured me to send money, if required.

In this scenario, I came to this small hilly town in Sikkim. I was retelling Baramama the entire story of mine that night. He would leave next morning, as he was indeed a very busy man.
After listening the entire story with a very grave face, Baramama asked, "Are you sure you never ditched any girl?"

Laughingly I said, "And, I would not know that? What are you saying Mama? I have thought of the same question many times."

"Hmm!" He sighed, and nodding his head in disapproval, said, "Then why would an unearthly creature would behave in this way? Anyway, this place is safe, and if you have not harmed anybody, you don't have to worry about anything henceforth. This place is so bland that you would forget about your pain in a month."

Thus, Mama left very early in the next morning, and I was alone in this pristine place. Bahadur, my caretaker, came at seven in the morning. He was entrusted with a lot of responsibilities: marketing, cooking, cleaning the house, washing clothes, cleaning utensils etc. Mama was dead right about Bahadur, he was a robot sort of a guy with no expression on his face. He considered talking a deadly sin. But he worked at a brisk pace.

He brought his ramshackle bicycle, and he went quickly to the nearby market, and bought some vegetables, fruits and eggs. Then he cleaned the entire house in no time. Then he started cooking. He prepared rice, dal, a mixed vegetable item and egg curry. He cleaned the utensils, and finally he washed the clothes. I was surprised to observe that the grim-faced taciturn man took only two hours in doing all the chores. By that time, I had responded to nature's calls, and completed shaving. After he left, I quickly had my bath, and then had the lunch. The items were not as tasty as I would have loved to have, but they were not unpalatable either.

By 10 in the morning, I was ready to join my new job. I took the motorbike that Mama had arranged from his friend for me, and got down at the saw-mill. The owner of the mill, Mr Lakpat Bhutia, who was a business associate of my maternal uncle, was personally there to greet me. Briefly, he outlined my duties and responsibilities. The main office of his company was in Namchi, where I had to report when required.

Chapter 12
An unexpected event​

Soon, I realized that my duty was very easy. There would be two supervisors under me. One would take control of the raw woods that would be brought from various sources and the furniture that would be delivered to various destinations. The other one would take care of the entire manufacturing process.

I would have to check their works, oversee the works of the clerks, take calls from the clients and suppliers, deposit cash twice in a week to the bank and send report to the headquarter. Within a few days, I realized that the workload was very light. The entire process would end by 3-30 PM. I would wait for another 30 minutes in my chamber, and at 4 PM would leave the office for home.

After reaching home, I would have nothing to do. Even though the electricity would stay for 8 hours at night, there was no good programme on television or radio, and the internet was as good as non-existent. As I said earlier, there were few scattered houses, but the people lived there were not the ones whom I could interact with. So, I took to wine. No evening would pass without my consuming 6 pegs of Royal Stag whiskey.

But the days were so beautiful with colourful rhododendron, orchids, wildflowers, the chirping of birds, the milky white ice, the melodious flow of the thin stream I thought that I was living in paradise. I started writing in the evening. In my inebriated state, I wrote a lot of poems, and most importantly, for a change, I began to forget about the unfortunate incidents. The days were passing peacefully, and I forgot about the painful past within 6 months.

In May, the snow was beginning to melt, even though the place was still colourful with rhododendron. Just when I was almost settled in this lonely place, on one fine morning I got the bad news that Bahadur had suffered a massivs stroke, and would be indisposed for at least 6 months. I felt very sorry for him. Even though, he seldom talked, we had developed some kind of mental bond with each other.

He never missed a single day in my stay in that desolate place. He was concerned about my growing drinking habit. He could not tell me directly, but he indirectly hinted me several times that how bad excessive drinking could be. He gave examples of people fond of drinking, who suffered a lot because of it. But that morning, I learned that he himself was a habitual drinker, and that might have been the main reason behind the stroke. It was his good luck that he survived it. The doctor had said that he would lead a normal life, but he would have to undergo a rigourous course of physiotherapy for at least 6 months.

That being the second day of the month, I had the entire salary of ten thousand rupees with me. I went to visit Bahadur at the Namchi state hospital, where he was lying unconscious. His family consisted of his wife, who was around 40 years of age and two daughters, the elder was around 24 and the younger was around 16. I handed my entire salary to his wife, and assured more support in due time.

She had cried profusely, I could tell from her swollen eyes. She thanked me from her heart, and said she had a request for me. Did she want more money, I was a bit embarrassed at the thought as I didn't have much left with me at that moment. But, that was not the request, she said she wanted her elder daughter to continue the job. I instantly said a big "No". She didn't know that my experiences with girls, especially young ones, had been horrific. Bahadur got rupees 2000 per month from me. I promised her to pay the money for few more months, and then left the hospital in hurry.

To be continued ​