Kharagpur was very lonely then. After seven o’clock in the evening, the movement of people would be reduced. There were many stories gossiped about the place, about the ghosts roaming about, at that time many crimes had been conducted at that place.
The roads and ghats were not as shiny as they are now. There were empty roads on both sides on the way back, roads were deserted. There was a huge storm that day, it was raining heavily, there were no people around, there was not a single light on the village road, a rugged road, a group of college students, they forgot their way and instead of reaching their destination they moved to this village.
They got out of the car and fell into a terrible disaster. Going a little farther, they could notice the thunder and lightning, but there was no one to guide them. Then they saw an old worn out house in front. Seeing that house, they all agreed, Deep told,
“We will spend the night here, and the next arrangement will be done positively”.
The front gate looked like a huge block, it had a big lock, but after a little observation, the caretaker and his wife came out when they heard a lot of shouting from the back of the house. Among the five college students were two boys and three girls. And they also learnt from the caretaker’s wife Nirmala,
“Yes sir, there are no people in this house and the owner is a fugitive, he ran away as he couldn’t pay off the loans.”
Swastika, “We haven’t found out a house like this in our previous holidays, I hope you all understand my words”.
Anupama, “It’s a matter of luck for us.”
After they settled a little, the caretaker made tea for all of them. Swastika saw Nirmala on the verandah and said,
“Listen, I saw there is a well behind the house. We will stay here for some time, will there be clean water?”
Nirmala, “Yes, I will look to it tomorrow morning and you would get the right services, Madam”.
But the sudden appearance of good fortune at first frightened them. Of course, it was not too late for them to overcome that fear. Until the next morning, they arranged for themselves to stay. They did not have any difficulty in bringing many tools with them. As they had food and water, after eating and drinking at night, Jukta became a little scared and said,
“I’ll spend the night talking to you people, then we can have a completely different experience.”
Anupama, “Tell me what got you last time in trouble”.
At about three o’clock in the morning, the sound of a loud shout and knock at the door woke them up as they were dozing off6. Sumit, one of the three friends, says,
“Who’s here again, ghost or not!”
“You’re just scared only of ghosts,” said Deep.
“But we are very scared, the same unfamiliar place like before, if there is any danger?” Anupama spoke the words trembling with fear.
Jukta and Swastika went to see what’s the matter. Deep,
“Wait, I’ll see to it” then asked loudly, “Who is it?”
He opened the door and saw an old gentleman standing, wearing glasses and a blanket over his body. They were relieved a little and asked him to come inside. Sumit, “Come on in.” When he asked for some water, when they went to give him some water, everyone noticed that he had merged with the darkness in one corner.
Suddenly a dog’s barking sound was coming from outside which seemed to be a sign of something ill for some of them. Anupama whispers,
“I think this old gentleman has many supernatural powers.”
“As a lot of weird things have been happening since he came,” said Swastika. Sumit asked the gentleman,
“Come and sit in the light.” The gentleman avoided the matter, citing his eye problems. A box of sweets was offered as a gift to them, everyone was reluctant to take it.
He drank some water and said,
“My daughter had been killed ten years ago by some boys on this day. My wife committed suicide because she had gone mad as she could not bear the shock. I remained here as a teacher. Everyone respects me a lot. We had complained to the police about them, but behaved with us very rudely and didn’t take any action. Be careful if you stay here for a more couple of days.” With that he left.
Swastika, “Look, it was said that as long as we are here, its not safe, more people must have been killed in this house.”
Deep and Jukta said together, “Yah! What nonsense are you talking about”.
The next night, when they were all falling asleep, they heard a loud noise again. There was Silence all around, the sound of crickets outside, the light of the gentle moonlight coming through the window falling on the bed, the creepy atmosphere for the crying of the dogs, an unknown silence sometimes prevailed.
After a while the sound stopped. After a long time, Anupama started drinking water. As she turned around and noticed someone sitting in a chair near the door, she wondered first of all, it might be one of their friends even with many names, called out,
“Jukta, Sumit, any of you among the two?” But there was no response.
This time when she saw something strange, she jumped up and fell unconscious on the bed. Everyone woke up in a daze. Swastika,
“What happened to you, why are you doing like this?” Anupama was not in a position to speak. Her gaze was fixed on one side.
After shaking and regaining consciousness, they calmed Anupama by making her drink water. Suddenly Sumit turned his face towards the door and saw the caretaker’s wife standing there,
“Why are You here so late at night, we have been calling you for a number of times!”
Nirmala, “I think you called someone, so came to see the situation.”
Jukta, “What happened just now?”
Anupama, “The caretaker of this house suddenly came to the verandah, I asked what happened, he said he didn’t hear anything, then the man whispered something and left…..the curtain flew and then he had gone….”
They all went to see the house the next morning.
Jukta, “Bubai, do you think you brought the guitar too here?”
Deep, “Yeah Ray, I don’t forget everything like you.” Jukta, “You started again, you know, when you used to practice in the library, I did used to…” Deep said, “Yes, I know you used to look like at me like a stupid.” Jukta, “I wanted to tell you a lot. You sang excellently, if you did a song now …..”.
Deep, “Do you remember?” Jukta, “I still want to say a lot about……” She did not end the sentence, what’s the matter its being heard of continuous ringing of a bell. They noticed the sound and stood in front of a door, locked with a lock. Jukta can barely move, Nirmala suddenly comes to the front, she threatens, Deep and Jukta are very scared, Deep backs away. Anupama and Swastika saw a room on the south side, the door opened with a little push. It seemed strange, Swastika,
“I saw the rest of the doors locked but this room is open”. Anupama, “I think it was a dance hall.”
There was no furniture in the room except chandeliers and a cupboard. Suddenly, when one of them stepped one feet forward, they saw some coins arranged in a very strange manner. They did not understand anything. Sumit saw an iron door on the west porch and witnessed a horrible thing at risk, a black cat was eating a dead rat. So he screamed. Hearing that, the rest went there.
Jukta, “I told you before, no one listened to me, now face the consequences”.
Swastika, “It is as if the caretakers of this house are having a hard time staying in this house … and there is something in the house that is forbidding us to go this way and that.”
Deep, “they are always keeping an eye on our activities and stopping us to know about something suspicious.”
When the rain stopped, they heard a clear scream and sound of a gunshot which seemed to come from the open lawn near the house. They went out as soon as possible, and saw a man lying on the grass nearby, fully stained with blood. We went near him and sat down beside him. He was trying to tell something, was groaning, someone had stabbed a knife across the chest, they were feeling helpless as they couldn’t help by any means, Deep quickly went inside the house and brought some water in a small cup and put in his mouth. They saw a little far away from them the same old man standing, smiling as if he had already taken his revenge.
There was nobody around except him. They asked him and got to know later, for that boy who is a grown man now had misbehaved with his daughter several times that’s why she was mentally very disturbed and had stopped speaking to anyone, he believed she was forced to attempt suicide, it was in that room where Nirmala hadn’t allowed them to enter, there laid some pieces of his daughter. It was shocking and horrible. Both husband and wife revealed that they are no the same as they were before. nobody understood anything. when they were returning back, they found that their bus was alright, a crowd of villagers gathered in another village.
Those people were surprised that these boys and girls returned safely. they came to know that those people with whom they lived were not alive anymore. Swastika told that she suspected right. The old man told that their son was also murdered and his body was thrown into the well, their house was burnt at night when both of them were sleeping. That evening before the house was burnt, the villagers were gossiping about a dead body of a boy. The water they used, that way was closed then.
But the children were shocked to know that when they saw the house, the house appeared very old to them but they never found any trace of the burning house, as if those had vanished all of a sudden. Today also our chest trembles when we think of that night.
