Story Brunch
Amit had been spending some good time at his home during his winter vacation.His family had gone to his cousin’s house in a marriage ceremony.He was lying in sofa watching India Australia cricket series in the night,when the light went off.
He moved out of the drawing room and stepped on the spiral staircase to go downstairs to turn on the inverter. He had hardly moved halfway when he heard someone slam the door of the drawing room upstairs. It was dark and mobile torchlight was not enough to see what was the noise about. He went to the inverter,and found that the cables at joints were burnt,probably due to carbon accumulation at the plug points. He lit a candle and started moving upstairs. He heard someone enter the drawing room with loud foot steps.
Amit rushed upstairs holding the candle in his hand .
The door of the drawing room was shut. He opened the door and moved inside with slow steps,looking for the source of sound in the dim light.He didn’t find anything or anyone.
He moved towards the TV set to switch off the main plug,but then only he spotted an image of a young woman on the huge TV display. Image was not clear due to dim light,he turned back to see whose image was it,but surprisingly no one was there.
He turned towards the TV screen,but the image had disappeared, he could see white smoke coming out from behind the TV set.
Terrified,he rushed towards the door,the candle blew off and he hit the wall in the dark,fainted and fell near the door.
He regained consciousness in the morning.He found himself lying in his bed,with a blanket covering him.He could not decipher what had happened the night before.
His parents returned in the evening and he narrated the incidents of the night.They brushed the story aside as a nightmare.
Things were normal for next few days. His vacations ended and he returned to the BITS Pilani,where he was a second year student.
But strange things started happening in his life in the hostel. He would always find his glass of water full on the table,his bed would be arranged every day after he would return from the classes.
One night,at around 12 AM,he went to the washroom.When he raised his face after washing hands,he saw image of a beautiful young woman in the mirror, It resembled the one he had seen on the TV screen at his house in Patna. He turned back to check who was there.No one. He shouted loudly out of fear,his friends rushed to the washroom hearing the voice. He told them about the woman,all of them started searching for her in the hostel,but no one was found. His friends departed to their rooms.
Fearful, he walked gradually towards his room,opened the door,closed his books and retired to his bed,trying to sleep. He fell asleep few minutes later.
It was around 2 AM when he felt someone’s fingers caressing his hair.
His eyes opened out of fear and he saw a white saree over his shoulder,he raised his sight to see who it was.
A beautiful woman in white saree ,aged around 35 years was lying in the bed by his side,with wide eyes staring at Amit’s face.
Amit became totally numb,he wanted to shout but he could not,he was lying motionless,looking at her.He wanted to get up and rush outside the room,but he felt his body paralysed.
The woman smiled looking at him and said-
‘Calm down my child,I am here to take your care,nothing to worry,sleep well.’
She moved her milky white palm softly over his eyes, Amit fell unconscious and slept.He woke up very late in the morning. He rushed to his best friend, Rohit’s room and shared whatever happened the night before. Rohit laughed at him and said that it was a nightmare and nothing more.But Amit was sure that it was not a nightmare,some evil spirit had entered his life. He also realized that it was not worth sharing with anyone,because none would believe when his own parents and his best friend were not taking him seriously.
For fear of being mocked,he kept the things to himself.
The spirit did not disturb him for next few days.
It was a weekend night and most of the hostel students had gone to their local guardians’ houses. Amit was all alone on his floor. Before sleeping,he bolted both the doors of his room,one on the corridor side and the other in balcony.He turned off the light and went to sleep early.
At around 1 AM,he felt he was suckling on something soft, subconsciously. He woke up wide and saw that the lady in white saree was lying by his side,her breasts were bare and she was breastfeeding him. He tried to move out of the bed but he could not,he was motionless,only his eyeballs could move. He kept lying in the bed looking at her smiling face,he could feel the warm milk flowing down through his throat,and her hands caressing his head.She pressed his head against her breasts,and moved her palm over his eyes,Amit fell unconscious and slept.
Next morning Amit woke up at around 8 AM. He could see spots of milk drops over his shirt and bedsheet.He wrapped the bedsheet and his shirt inside a bag and rushed to the chamber of Prof Shrikant Dubey,who used to take classes on Psi Psychology and Paranormal activities in Humanities department. He narrated the ordeal to the Professor and showed him his shirt and bedsheet.
Prof Dubey visited his hostel room for a preliminary study ,he collected fingerprints from doors,glass ,tables, bed and installed CCTV camera and audio recording devices in his room. Fingerprints and his shirt , bedsheet were sent to a lab for analysis. He told Amit to be calm but careful and that he would help him get out of it.
Lab tests found no fingerprints except that of Amit,but the chemical analysis showed that the milk drops were real and matched that of a woman who would have just delivered a child. Prof Dubey was shocked at the results.
The next day too similar events happened with Amit,the woman appeared on his bed trying to breastfeed him .She whispered in his ears-
‘Everything shall be fine,you don’t need to worry,I am your real mother and I shall take proper care of you.’
The CCTV footage and audio devices were checked by Prof Dubey in the evening.The CCTV cameras had not recorded her,only the opening and closing of gates at around 1 AM and 3 AM and a wind of white smoke moving in and out could be seen,no woman. The audio machines had recorded only the humming sounds with intermittent shrill laughter by a woman.
Prof Dubey called Amit to his chamber after classes.He told him that they would have to take the help of a Tantrik who would perform some rituals to ward off the ghost.He also told him that he should not worry much as had the ghost wanted to hurt him,she would have done it in the first instance itself. They scheduled the meeting with the Tantrik next morning itself.
Amit returned to his room,and went to sleep after taking sleeping pills.Anxiety had started taking toll on him. No woman visited his hostel room that night.
He woke up at around 1 AM, went to the washroom,lit a cigarette and roamed in the corridor,looking towards the clear dark sky. Everything was normal and peaceful. He returned to sleep.
Rohit banged his door next morning at 8 AM,Amit woke up and went out to find group of boys standing and gossiping loudly among themselves. Rohit,with a worried look informed Amit-
‘Prof Dubey is no more,he committed suicide last night ,he was found hanging in his room’.
Amit ,terrified and shocked,could not believe the news. Everything was normal with Prof Dubey till the day before, there was no reason for him to hang himself.
Amit rushed towards Prof Dubey’s residence. When he reached,he saw an ambulance carrying away his dead body wrapped in white sheet.
To be continued…
