KHEL – THE WRITINGS
by
VISHAL GOSWAMI
The immense doors of the Haveli opened a crack under Krish’s push. Dust loosened itself off them and floated into the air. The three others coughed and waved in the air to keep the dust away from them. Krish pushed again, assisted by Amit, and the door slowly yawned open into a vast dark, open space. Thunderclouds rolled overhead and a flash of lightning, like a camera flash, brightened the house through large windows. The interior settled like a picture in their minds in that moment. More flashes of lightening followed creating more photograph like images in their minds. They strained their eyes in the otherwise dark, lifeless space trying to make a sense of the surroundings.
“I think it’s going to rain heavily,” Anjali forecasted.
“Thunder clouds don’t pour,” Krish commented. “Garajte Badal baraste nahin. It’s simple science my dear. Gotta be logical and scientific,” he said, putting his muscular arm around her and dwarfing her small frame, next to his tall and huge body.
“Then why are we here? What’s scientific about this?” Anjali snapped widening her big eyes angrily, a reaction she was well known for, apart from other spontaneous ones.
“That’s what we are here to prove that spirits are a science and not superstition,” Krish answered pinching her cheek.
“I’ve already started thinking of stories to tell back home, since we won’t be experiencing anything really,” Amit said, winking at Ayesha and scratching his goatee, lately a constant attraction for him to play with. Ayesha stood with her hands at her small waist, her long ponytail tickling her back as she moved her head. She rolled her wide eyes and smirked.
They switched on their powerful flashlights and three beams of light cut through the living area illuminating a broad flight of stairs exactly opposite the entrance, at the far end, leading to the upper floor. Krish turned on his handy cam and the comparatively weaker camera light, joined the trio.
They looked around in awe at the high ceiling, huge living area, and broad cylindrical, intricately carved columns. The walls were adorned with large, old paintings, animal heads protruding from the walls, beautiful marble, brass statues; old swords, shields, and guns hung on the walls. Paint peeled off the ceilings and walls in some places, while some parts had large patches of mould and mildew for water seepage. A chandelier hung in the centre of the ceiling, relieved of the support of one of its hinges. Dust and cobwebs covered it and it was missing crystals and light bulbs. It would have seemed grand. Other light holders in various spots were in the same state. A stale, damp smell crossed their nostrils and Anjali sneezed as she inhaled it.
Their four flashlight beams crisscrossed the living area, scouting it out completely to their satisfaction before entering. After all, it was a well-known haunted house on the small hill station, or so were the stories they had heard. They decided to explore it for their new endeavour, making a pilot for a ‘True Ghost Stories’ series, as the ones they saw on National Geographic and other channels.
A thin layer of dust carpeted the entire Haveli and they left shoe marks on the floor as they entered. They explored the area and they used small pieces of cloth from their kits to dust and clean the objects, paintings and other artefacts to get a better look. To their left the space extended emptily halting at the foot of three high, broad windows set equidistance from the corners and each other. There were cracked glasses and missing pieces in all of them, small cobwebs capped the corners. The hinges and locks were rusted jamming the windows in place. At a right angle to the windows was a big grandfather clock, covered with dust. Amit cleared some of the dust with his hand and saw the inactive hands stuck at 1:30. The pendulum hung below motionless. A few feet away was a door, slightly ajar and Amit pushed it open. It was empty except for a single bed and a small shrine like thing in the corner. He walked around the empty room and stopped at the shrine. He could make out some small broken idols covered with dust. With nothing else interesting, he left the room.
To their right, just round the turning at the foot of the stairs, a fireplace sat cold and quiet. A few logs rested in its darkness, accompanied by a rusted can of kerosene. Long prongs hung on a holder, standing by its side. Old, black and white family photographs covered the wall above it. Krish scanned them and proceeded to uncover the furniture surrounding the fireplace. He removed the dusty sheets revealing an antique and uncomfortable looking set of three sofas. Behind them close to the windows on that side, was an eight chair huge dining table set with a candle stand. Directly behind the head of the table was an open door exposing a big kitchen, with a storage room in a corner. It was dirty and neglected as the rest of the house. An old, rusted and dried up tap sat at the edge of a long pipe, protruding from a fungus covered wall. A cracked, old, and yellowed sink lay below it, awaiting a flow of water that had long since stopped. Krish walked into the storeroom and looked around. To his [v1] right, she spotted a double door. He [C2] shone the flashlight on the floor and carefully walked to the doors avoiding the odds and ends that lay it. He tried pulling the door and attempted to open the lock on it. But it was rusted and firmly in place. He gave up and returned to the others in the living area.
They explored the house, up and down. They explored the rooms upstairs. There were ten rooms. Most of them were locked with age-old iron locks. Three rooms were without locks. Two were about the same size and empty. One room seemed to be the master room. It was the largest of the three and had a four-post bed in it. A mirror with a chest of drawers, two of them semi-open, filled a corner. One side of a wall was covered with cupboards, open and empty except for dust and cobwebs. They looked around using their flashlights and the slightest sound made them jumpy. Krish scared them a few times by making eerie sounds. He once disappeared for a moment and jumped at them from inside a closed cupboard, when they opened it to explore. The girls screamed in terror and Krish and Amit rolled in laughter.
They passed the corridor again on their way down and Anjali stopped in front of a small flight of stairs leading up into darkness. She directed the flashlight up the stairs. It was a long way up, almost twenty stairs. It ended at a locked door. Anjali stared at it for a moment and felt the hair on her neck and hands rise. It was eerie and she felt drawn towards it. She shook the feeling and moved on. She had barely taken few steps and a sound stopped her. It was a metallic sound. She strained her ears to hear it above the sound of the heavy rain. Then, she heard it again. This time more clearly. It was like chains clanking and being dragged around. She stepped back and looked up at the locked door. The sound had emanated from there and echoed down along the narrow walls around the stairs. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder and she jumped in fright.
“Just the attic and it’s locked,” Amit said and passed her. Anjali shrugged and followed him.
They continued exploring for a good fifteen to twenty minutes before settling down.
#
“Everything in place,” Amit declared, as he finished setting up the last of the cameras on a stand attached to an energy-reading device, a temperature reader, and a sound recorder.
“Upstairs done,” Ayesha announced, as she quickly climbed down the stairs, after installing the third of the video cameras in the corridor.
“We’ve got ten cameras and twenty connected equipments and three video cameras installed, covering all major points in the Haveli,” Krish stated sitting in front of the fourth camera, his own handy cam.
“Four of us are involved in this ghost hunting pilot project. Amit,” he introduced and turned the camera towards him. Amit waved into the camera. “Ayesha,” the camera turned to her, as she landed down the stairs and strode towards Krish. She waved and said hi.
“Anjali,” he introduced her sitting on one of the sofa chairs, they had dusted to spend the night on. “She is also the financer or rather supplier of our project’s equipments,” he said and laughed. Anjali showed a middle finger to the camera. “All the equipment has been borrowed from her father’s film equipment supply company – without his knowledge of course,” he informed and laughed again.
“Yeah right,” Anjali remarked. “I’m sure it’s difficult to notice so much equipment missing right,” she said sarcastically.
“Well the three of us did manage to finance the other equipments didn’t we?” Krish commented and turned the camera on himself.
“Finally, I’m Krish, the visionary and leader of this project.”
“When did you become the leader?” Amit complained from the background.
“More like copied the idea from Discovery or National Geographic than envisioned it,” Anjali added.
“They are just jealous of me, so let’s ignore them and get to the point; the story behind this Haunted Haveli,” Krish said annoyed.
“This an abandoned Haveli on the little known hill station of Bhramdev,” he began. “It belonged to the Nawab of Chandarpur,” he said, walking towards a huge painting on a wall, on one side of the hall. He turned the camera towards it. A man with stood in royal clothes, with a sheathed sword hung at his waist. He had a short beard and moustache and a stern look on his face, he stood alongside a throne like chair, on which sat a slim pretty woman in a rich, heavy saree, adorned with jewellery, but with a very sad looking face.
“This is a painting of him and his wife,” Krish said.
“Hey we don’t know that,” Ayesha disagreed.
“Isn’t it obvious,” Krish turned and said.
“Anyway, the Nawab and his family spent time here, in their vacation home during the summers. Nothing interesting there. The haunting story is about an old woman, who belonged to a nearby village and was found guilty of black magic practice and sacrifices, young children and sometimes of men and women too. She was executed under orders from the Nawab himself,” he continued.
“She is said to have cursed the Nawab’s family before being beheaded and haunted the Haveli since. The Nawab never ever returned for any purpose and their Haveli has been abandoned since. We have been helped by a local, who claims to have seen and heard things here. He decided not to spend the night here and will return in the morning. The property is huge, but has undergone years of neglect and the fury of the weather. Much too overgrown grass, the farther side of the property behind the house and in front has turned into woods with dense trees.”
“Tonight we plan to lure out this ‘Chudail’ as the locals call her.
Suddenly, a loud crash brought them to their feet. Anjali screamed in fright followed by the shattering sound of thunder that tore through the sky. One camera positioned nearby was triggered by motion sensors and rapidly began clicking, the bright flashes illuminating the living area. They froze in their place.
“What was that?” Ayesha asked. “Here,” Amit shouted. Krish focused his camera in the direction. Amit stood near a stag head that had fallen on the floor. He pointed to a spot high on the wall, where it had fallen from and knocked over a huge brass vase.
“How did that happen?” Ayesha demanded.
“Probably vibrations from the thunder,” Amit answered. “At least we know that the equipment is working perfectly.” Without bothering to pick up the objects, he walked back to the sofa and collapsed.
“Krish checked the energy monitor readings and temperature fluctuations. “ Nothing here,” he announced. “Amit’s right.”
Anjali sat down on the sofa and opened her backpack. She opened it and searched inside for a moment. Her hand reappeared holding a packet of biscuits.
“Anyone?” she offered opening it and popping one in her mouth. Amit leaned forward, picked two, and settled back comfortably in his place. Krish was fiddling with his camera and did not respond.
Ayesha stood at one end of the living area at a large window, near the dining table, staring out. She could see occasional lighting licking the mountaintops in the distance.
“Isn’t it odd,” she noticed turning away from the window. “The thunder stopped suddenly since that thing fell.”
“What’s the connection?” Krish asked.
“Nothing, just saying,” she defended and turned to the window. “It’s raining,” she said, as she saw drops appear on the dusty window. Within minutes, there was a heavy downpour.
Chapter 2
Ayesha stood near the dining table staring out of the large window, lost in her thoughts. An occasional flash of lightening licked the mountaintops in the distance, illuminating the surrounding for a second. It was almost 2:00 a.m., it had been raining continually for the past two hours. She thought she could sleep if she closed her eyes for a few minutes. A strong breeze found its way through a few broken panes of the other window along the same wall making the old, torn, white sheers, dance and appear ghostly. Puddles of water had also formed at the bottom of the windows from water brought in by the breeze.
She could hear Krish somewhere in the Haveli calling out, “Chudail, Chudail where are you?” She smiled at his eagerness and turned around. Amit was shaking his head to the tune of music he was listening to on his IPod.
Somehow, her attention was drawn towards the dining table in front of her. “What’s this?” She wondered aloud. Didn’t see it before,” she said surprised.
“What’s it?” Anjali asked without looking, her attention absorbed in her phone game.
“Playing cards,” Ayesha replied, dusting a pack lying in the centre of the table. “Didn’t see them before, and I’m sure I had checked this side.”
“Chudail, time to show yourself, come on out now,” Krish called out, as he made his way back to the living area and walked towards them, camera on recording mode.”
“Can you stop that nonsense,” Anjali shouted.
“Why? Are you scared?” Krish teased leaning towards her. Anjali ignored him.
“What’s Ayesha doing?” Krish questioned and walked to her. His camera light blinded her and she blocked it with one hand. “Check this,” she said motioning towards the cards.
Krish focused the camera on the cards and a round patch of light surrounded them.
“Let’s play,” Ayesha said suddenly, pulled a chair and sat down.
“Krish shut his camera and sat down opposite her. The three candles on the table provided sufficient light.
“What do you want to play?” Krish asked, as Ayesha began shuffling the cards.
“I just thought of a game,” Ayesha said, dealing a few cards to both. She left the pack in the centre. “Pick a card, if I have it, I do what you ask me to,” Ayesha explained, adding, “ same for me.”
Krish picked a card, “Eight of Spades.”
“Don’t have. Five of hearts,” said Ayesha, looking at the card she picked.
“Nope,” Krish replied.
They went through few more turns until Krish struck.
“What do you want me to do?” Ayesha asked. “Nothing funny,” she said sternly pointing a finger in his face. She saw the mischievous look on Krish’s face.
Krish took a deep breath and leaned back. “Okay. I want you to dance on an item number. Sexily, on the table,” he said, slamming his open hand on the table.”
“What,” Ayesha shouted incredulously.
“Your game,” Krish smiled and winked.
“What happened?” Amit asked switching off his music. Anjali had jumped to her feet.
Krish explained the game, Krish, and Anjali burst into laughter. “You asked for it Ayesha baby,” Anjali teased.
Amit provided the music from his IPod and Ayesha climbed on the table and moved sexily on an item number. The three of them laughed and clapped.
Amit and Anjali joined them and they continued playing and making each other do awkward things.
“Whoever has this card will drink five shots of booze,” Amit said.
“I got it,” Krish announced. He produced a bottle of vodka from a backpack on the table.
“Don’t you think we shouldn’t be drinking?” Anjali questioned.
“Shhhhhhh! Amit gestured putting a finger on his lips. Suddenly, there was a weird look in his eyes. Krish put the bottle to his lips and filled a mouthful. “That’s one,” he said swallowing it.
“Are you crazy? You can’t have five of those. It’s just a game. Go easy,” Anjali complained.
“Shut up,” Ayesha shouted suddenly, scaring Anjali.
There was absolute silence as they watched Krish take five mouthfuls of vodka, before he finally slammed the bottle back on the table. Anjali could feel anger rising in her. ‘Ayesha shouldn’t have shouted at her like that,’ she thought. She felt like doing something awful to Ayesha. ‘Let my turn come,’ she thought, infuriated.
“Whoever gets this card will slap the person on the right,” Krish said and Amit and Ayesha laughed unnecessarily. Anjali was seething with rage and their laughter echoed in her ears. By some stroke of luck, she had the card. She was sure it was not in her hand before, but she did not care to think. Without announcing, she stood up and slapped Ayesha, who sat on her right, so hard on her face that she collapsed on the floor along with the chair. The sound reverberated in the empty Haveli and the laughter came to a dead halt. There was complete silence.
“I got it,” Anjali said pointedly, glaring at Ayesha with smouldering eyes.
Ayesha stood up, one hand on her cheek. A trickle of blood rolled down her left corner of her mouth. Her eyes burned with anger and hatred. The light from the fireplace cast eerie shadows and gave Ayesha’s face a dreaded look. Anjali picked up the bottle of vodka, took two long sips, and settled down. The crackle of the logs as the fire devoured it was the only sound along with the sound of rain outside. Amit took a big sip and passed the bottle to Ayesha, who took one too.
“Something’s wrong. I don’t want to play this anymore,” Ayesha said and stood up.
“Shut the F#@k up and sit down,” Amit suddenly got up and pushed her back into her chair aggressively.
“What the hell,” Krish said and smashed his fist into Amit’s face. “Everyone just shut the hell up and sit down,” he shouted. “We have to continue playing,” he said with a strange look on his face, throwing his arms in the air and shaking them wildly. Suddenly, Amit jumped on him and they both began struggling on the table.
“Stop it, Stop it,” both of you,” Ayesha screamed and fought to separate them. Anjali stared blankly at them sitting on her chair. She took another sip of the vodka, as Ayesha managed to stop the fight.
“I pick the next card,” Anjali said and picked up a card.
“Chudail, Chudail, where are you?” Anjali said.
“What does that mean?” Krish asked.
“I don’t know. It’s what the card says,” she replied in a trance like state.
“The cards don’t say anything,” Krish said and snatched it from her hand. He stared in disbelief at the writing on the card. Written at the bottom were the words he had uttered jokingly around the house. “Chudail Chudail where are you?” he read the words softly.
Suddenly, there was a woman’s wail from somewhere in the house. Their hearts skipped a beat and they snapped out of their aggressive and semi-drunk states. “What is happening,” Ayesha asked terrified. Anjali and she grabbed each other, as another wail echoed around the house, followed by a soft sobbing sound.
Krish immediately picked up the camera and focused it towards the centre of the living area. They held each other and slowly walked to the sofas where their monitor was. Shadows danced in the flickering log fire making everything around them look eerie.
“Was that some animal or owl or something?” Ayesha questioned in a whisper.
“Amit grabbed the monitor and looked at it. Suddenly, the fire receded and died down in the fireplace, followed by a chilling cold breeze that extinguished the few candles they had placed around the living area. The Haveli plunged it into sudden and complete darkness. Sudden terror struck their hearts, as they feverishly groped in the darkness to find their flashlights. Once again, the wail followed by a growl echoed the high ceilings of the Haveli. They found and switched on their flashlights almost at once.
There was no sound anymore except the heavy rain outside. “It’s the Chudail, I’m telling you, it is, it is, it is,” Anjali screamed repeatedly in panic. “We are all going to die.”
“Shut up, shut up,” Amit shouted shaking her by the shoulders. “Don’t freak out. “ It’s just some damn night creature.”
“Look,” Ayesha said wide eyed and slowly pointed towards the monitor. Its readings were going haywire. Amit and Krish looked at each other and gulped.
“There is some other energy source here,” Amit confirmed broodingly.
Suddenly, their flashlights dimmed. Anjali burst into tears, as they stood huddled between the sofas facing the stairs and the rest of the living area in front of them. They slammed the flashlights in their palms, but the lights disappeared.
“Chudail, Chudail,” they heard a girl’s voice, followed by a gurgling laughter.
“I want to play,” it spoke again.
The four felt a stab of fear in their hearts, as they focused around them in the limited range of the camera light. Krish swung the camera around illuminating as much as he could.
“Look,” Amit pointed to the upper level. They saw the silhouette of a figure at the end of the corridor. Suddenly, the camera connected to the motion sensor clicked a picture with a bright flash. The light revealed nothing except an empty corridor. Again, they saw the figure in the darkness and a few seconds later, the camera clicked the picture of an empty corridor, once again.
“Why is it clicking if nothing is there?” Anjali sobbed voicing their fears.
Suddenly a camera, in the living area, just ten feet from them, clicked exposing a horrifying looking old woman, for a fraction of a second, in its flash.
The girls screamed and Krish and Amit reared back in horror. Anjali screamed in panic, pushed herself from them, and ran for the Haveli’s main door. The cameras went off rapidly clicking with bursts of the flash.
“Anjali stop,” they screamed after her. However, she was blinded by panic. She pulled at the handles of the huge doors, but they did not budge. In the blinding flashes, they saw something dark flowing towards her and grabbing her from behind.
The three of them screamed at her to lookout. But it was too late. It grabbed her feet and dragged her along the floor, screaming and kicking, as the three of them watched helplessly. A moment later, the sounds stopped.
“Anjali was right. We are all going to die,” Ayesha stammered in fear.
Krish took a few steps towards the fireplace and grabbed one of the long iron pokers that hung near it. He wielded it like a weapon and asked Amit to hold the camera. They slowly and carefully walked towards the other end of living area, where Anjali had disappeared in the darkness. The camera light illuminated the drag marks on the dusty floor. The marks ended in a corner and blood marks rose up the wall. They stopped and the camera light followed the trail and stopped at Anjali’s body hanging from the wall, a horn of a wild buffalo’s head protruding from her neck. Ayesha screamed and began crying at the sight. They could no longer make out Anjali. Her body was completely charred, as if it had hundred percent burns.
A growling sound came from the darkness on their right. The cameras began clicking along with the flashes. They saw her clearly now and Ayesha grabbed Amit so suddenly that the video camera fell from his hands, bounced on the floor and slipped into the darkness, leaving a small pool of light from it on the floor. But it was the last thought on their minds. The old woman stood halfway at the room door that Amit had explored earlier. Her grey hair fell to her shoulders on a black long dress with a white collar, her eyes were white blanks, and her body and face were thin and skeletal. Her mouth opened wide emitting a growl, revealing rotten and broken teeth. The skin on her face was wrinkled, white, and lifeless. They saw bits of her in the blinding flashes of the camera lights. Krish wielded the iron rod in his hand, but his hands shivered with fright. The cameras stopped clicking for a few seconds and they could hear her wailing and growling. Suddenly, the cameras began clicking again and she stood right next to Krish and Ayesha. A clawed hand appeared from beneath long black sleeves and swung at them ripping Ayesha’s face into shreds. Amit saw a chunk of her face dug out right inches from him. She collapsed in a heap and he shouted in horror. Krish found his voice stuck in his throat, as it was grabbed by another hand. The rod fell from his hand and he grabbed at the hand on his neck. It picked him up effortlessly. His legs kicked in the air, as he choked and disappeared into the darkness. The cameras went still.
Amit clawed his way in terror, through the darkness, unable to stop shouting. He reached the door and pulled it open with all his strength. He ran out into the heavy downpour, through the gushing water and muddy trail down the gradual slope that led to the entrance gate, where they had left their car. He heard Krish’s scream from the Haveli and continued running as fast as he could. It was dark and he sloshed through the mud in the heavy rain in great panic, pushing through the bushes and shrubs in the way. He could barely see in the darkness and the heavy rain. He slipped a couple of times, but quickly picked himself up and continued. His heart was racing and he was panting, as he ran thoughtlessly towards his only chance of getting away. There was a flash of lighting and the way became clear to him. He saw their car near the open gate. He jumped over the fallen tree that had prevented their car from reaching the Haveli.
He reached the car and removed the dark grey Innova’s keys from his pocket. He desperately fumbled to insert the key in the car door. He looked up the slope at the house and saw a figure zigzagging through the woods, down the slope with great speed.
His heart skipped a beat and suddenly his key found the lock. He quickly opened the door, slipped into the seat, and slammed the door shut. Simultaneously, the old woman slammed into his side window. Amit stared into the white blank eyes, just inches away from his face, as it growled and scraped at the window with its nails.
He inserted the key into the ignition, started the car, and placed his hand on the gearshift to put it into drive. He felt a hand on his and looked at it.
Sitting in the passenger seat next to him was the woman. He froze in mindless fear, as she let out a slow gurgling sound.
Amit’s shout was drowned by the heavy thunder and wind, as the storm continued along with the heavy rain.
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