Mind Your Business- Part 9

Sakshi looked at her brother. He looked lost. It seemed as if he was not here. There was something going in his mind. "What happened, Vicky?", she asked. Vicky replied,"Nothing!" He walked away hurriedly. There was definitely something he was hiding. "What is he hiding? Why is he not sharing it?",she thought.


"He's been acting strangely since the morning.", Sheila spoke. "I asked him so many times. He didn't say anything.", she continued. "I felt the same. I will talk to him in sometime.", Sakshi said. The sun set down. The sky turned violet pink to dark blue with moon and stars shining bright. It was the time for the devil to wake up from it's slumber.

Everything looked normal. Sakshi had forgotten the afternoon ordeal. Everyone were busy with fun activities. After playing game of UNO, they began watching a movie. It was a comedy movie. Everyone were having fun oblivious of what was going to happen next. It was silence before storm.

In midst of watching a movie, the voices of actors in the movie became deeper. It was masculine femine mixture. Shekhar switched off and on the TV to check what was wrong. It was still the same. Then he tried to flip the channels to see whether voices in other channel were the same. It was same. The kids got scared while the adults were surprised. Shekhar switched off TV to ward off the children's fear.

Suddenly lights began to flicker. The TV automatically switched on. The channel began to change automatically. A deep voice screamed from nowhere. Everything including the whole house started shake. Everyone cried in fear. They held each other and stood in center of the house. The children were protected by human chain formed by Sakshi. Sheila noticed that they had forgotten to get their mother who was resting in her room.

"What about mother? She is in the room. Someone, go and get her.", she cried. When Shekhar was about to bring her, mother arrived from her room. Her hair was untied in bun like she used to. Her eyes were red. She stomped towards Sheila and screamed in unrecognizable voice. It wasn't her. She was breathing heavily. The flares of wrath blew from her nose. Sheila was stunned.


(To be continued)

Mind Your Business - Part 8

She touched her face. Her eyes, ears, nose and mouth were all there. Vicky and Sheila rushed towards her. "What happened ?", Sheila inquired. Sakshi didn't say anything. She was in shock. She couldn't believe her eyes. "I must be dreaming.", she said aloud. "What?", Sheila asked. "I must have seen a nightmare. My face was deformed. There was no nose, no ears, no eyes.. nothing.", Sakshi said. She took huge breath to relieve herself.

Sheila hugged her and consoled," It was a bad dream. You had a hard day." Vicky was pained to see his family in this situation. He knew it was not a dream. He had to let them know this dark secret. He couldn't hold it any longer. "It's not a dream. It's real. The spirit is one who is causing all this.",he said shakingly.

"Why are you scaring her? She is already scared.", Sheila scolded him. He didn't stop. "I am saying the truth. First it killed Ronny, then it tried to hurt me and mother .Now it's trying to scare Sakshi. I don't know what it is. I don't know why it is doing or what it wants.", he continued, turning his back at both women.

Sakshi pulled his hand and dragged him to face her.  "Tell me what happened at the trip you had taken with your friends. You said you were visiting Jog falls with your friends. Where did you go?", she asked firmly. "I didn't go to Jog falls. I had gone to small house outskirts of the city. There was a room that was haunted by a spirit as per folklore.", he said.

He narrated everything that had happened in the haunted room. "It was adventure. We wanted to have fun. We wanted to do something different.", he concluded his story. . "Fun! Adventure! You lost a friend! Who goes to haunted place to have fun? I don't know what you bought in.", Sakshi said. She slapped him

He woke up to the reality. It was a dream. He was dreaming about his confrontation with his sister. He knew his sister would either slap him or disown him or not believe him. He wished he could share his concerns and worries openly with his family. But he was scared to utter anything.

(To be continued)

Mind Your Business - Part 7

Their mother cried in pain while everyone tried to ask her the reason of pain. She had never spoken a word since many years. It was usually through the sign language , she would convey her message. Today was not different. She tried best to show what had happened to her. But no one could understand. 

They could sense the physical pain. But there was something serious which remain invisible to others in the family except Vicky. Vicky remained silent. They called the doctor. However the doctor couldn't find the source of the pain. He offered medication to heal her physical pain. 

Everyone was back to routine next morning. However Vicky acted strange. He hardly touched his food or spoke to anyone. He was disturbed by his mother's pain. He knew what caused her pain. But he was scared that no one would believe him. He was frustrated that he couldn't help his mother.

Sakshi was with her kids during the morning. She had been engaged completely with Vicky. She didn't want her kids to be burden on Sheila. She was managing too many people. She had hired a babysitter to take care the kids. She missed her kids. She didn't like this arrangement. But she had no choice. Vicky was her priority now. 

Sheila was tired of convincing Vicky to have something.Vicky was stubborn. He didn't listen. He stayed aloof the whole day. Sakshi's arrival was relief to her. "I have been asking him to have something. But he is not listening. He is acting strange lately.", she said. Sakshi smiled. Sakshi played with his hair and walked into the kitchen. 

She got lunch ready for him. She helped him with the lunch like a mother helping the kid to have lunch. "Oh! So you will have food from Sakshi. But not from me.", Sheila teased. Sakshi smiled. Vicky didn't react. "Sorry. Atleast you had food.", Sheila said and gently patted him.  

As Sakshi washed her hands in bathroom, suddenly she looked at the mirror. The mirror reflection of her had no nose, no ears , no mouth and no eyes. She had no facial features. She screamed and rushed out of the bathroom.

(To be continued)

Mind your Business - Part 6

His mother's lap was heaven to his soul. He felt all his problems were going to vanish. Everything would be normal now. It was a thought. A son's trust on his mother. She was his solace in this torment situation.  But she stayed quiet. She sat still. She didn't caress him or spoke any encouraging words. She has been sitting still since many years. Suddenly she screamed in fear and pushed his face away from his lap.

Sheila consoled mother and fed her. She helped mother toward her room and helped her to sit on the bed. She assisted her with medication and helped her to sleep on the bed.  Mother was asleep in few minutes.

He sobbed while his face was bent down. Sakshi touched his forehead and patted him. She picked him gently and helped him sit next to his mother. "Don't worry. We are here for you", she said. Everyone pampered him with good food and love.  After dinner, they chatted on times they missed out as family and future plans. The time passed quickly.

"Vicky, you need to have good rest. You are not well. You need to have good sleep.", Sheila said. Vicky shivered at the word 'sleep'. He didn't want to sleep. He didn't want to go to the room. He was paranoid. "Well, I was having great time. I am not feeling sleepy. I already slept too much.", Vicky said meekly. " I know, but you need good sleep and others are also sleepy. We have whole day tomorrow. We will have fun tomorrow.", Sakshi said.

Vicky was tensed. As he slowly walked towards the room, Vicky said nervously, "I don't want to sleep alone. I am scared."  Everyone smiled at each other while kids innocently asked,"Are you scared that ghosts will come out of bed to scare you?" Vicky froze. "Go to your room, kids.", Shekhar said gently but bit firmly.

After the kids scooted to their room to sleep, Shekhar said, "I will sleep with you." He escorted Vicky to his room while Sakshi and Sheila exchanged looks at each other. While everyone were in deep slumber, something bothered the mother. Her bed constantly shook side to side. She tried to stay on the bed still. She was scared. She screamed. But there was no voice. Suddenly something pulled her up. Her body was suspended in the air. Later her body fell on the bed with thud. She screamed in pain. Everyone rushed towards her room to see what had happened.

(To be continued)