Mind Your Business - Part 14

Memories of his sister in law's fury broke him into bits. The little bit courage he had was lost.  The sorrow gripped his heart and churned it. He only felt pain , regret and guilt. Once he reached home, he began to pack his bag and leave for good. He didn't want his family to face anymore trouble.

When he reached the main door, he found Sheila and kids outside, waiting to enter inside. "Where are you going?", she asked. "I am leaving the house. I am leaving the family. I don't want you to face anymore troubles because of me.", he sobbed. Sheila held his bag, preventing him to leave. "Sorry! I have been selfish. I only thought about my kids and husband. I forgot about mother. I forgot about Sakshi and you. Don't leave. Don't punish me like that.", she said softly, trying not to cry.

Vicky dropped his bag on the ground and hugged her. " I am sorry. I will never ever be such irresponsible person.", he said. "It's okay. Now don't repent on what's done. We will fight this evil together.", she said.


***  At the hospital ****

Sakshi sat on the chair next to ICU where Shekhar was kept on observation. She didn't know what to do. Her family was in mess. The spirit was dangerous and powerful. She didn't know who the spirit was, what it wanted, why it was doing this or how she could fight it. For the first time, she was clueless of the situation. She was binding force of the family. Now she sat helplessly without any idea what to do.

Today, watching her family break in front of her, made her miserable. She didn't knew that Vicky's innocent mistake could hurt a life or make one's life miserable. She had to do something fast before the matter becomes any more worse.

She drank several cups of coffee. She was still at the same place where she was. She had mentally rejected all the ideas she had. As she walked to and fro on the corridor, she came across of an old woman praying silently to the small idol of Lord Ganesha in her hand. "Only God can save us.", the old woman said softly triggering an idea to Sakshi's mind.

(To be continued)

Mind Your Business - Part 13

The night darkness was slowly diminishing as ray of the sun appeared. The pink clouds was melting slowly into blue sky. Sheila had already started her day. She had prepared breakfast for everyone and morning tea for Shekhar. She had called him several times to the breakfast table. He had not arrived. She checked for him everywhere except mother's room. She was scared to go in.


She was worried. "Is he okay? Hope everything is good?", she thought. She waited at stairs towards the mother's room. She was contemplating on whether to go or not. He was nowhere to be found. The room was last option. She had to do something. But she worried about mother's action. She was about to take one step when someone placed a hand on her shoulder.

She turned excitedly, thinking it was him. But her smile didn't stay longer. It wasn't him. It was Sakshi. "What happened?", Sakshi asked. "I am looking for Shekhar. He is nowhere around. I searched the whole house except mother's room.", Sheila replied. "Don't worry. I will go.",Sakshi said. Sheila stopped her, saying that she would accompany her. " I don't want to you go alone.", Sheila added.

They entered the room. Mother was sleeping peacefully. But Shekhar was nowhere. They checked the whole room. "Where could he be?", they thought loudly. Suddenly they heard a thud at the hall.  Everyone rushed toward the place where they heard the sound. It was Shekhar's body. His clothes were stained with blood. Sheila stayed numb like a stone. Vicky covered the kids from the view. Sakshi knelt down near the body to check the pulse. Shekhar was alive. The pulse was weak.

 They had to rush to the hospital. Shekhar was in critical state. After many hours in operating room, there was slight hope. The doctors promised to do everything to make him okay. Sheila hadn't spoken a word. She was in shock. The kids cried uncontrollably.Vicky and Sakshi tried to console her and get her out of the shock.

Sakshi asked Vicky to take the kids and Sheila home while she stayed at the hospital. "No! I won't go with him. I will stay with Shekhar.", Sheila growled. Sakshi and Vicky were astonished. "I won't let him take my kids too. He will get him killed like he did with my husband.", she added. Sakshi rubbed  Sheila's shoulders gently to calm her. But Sheila didn't stop. She caught hold of his collars and growled," You are the reason why we are in this mess. Why did you come? You bought the ghost and the trouble to the house. You made a mistake and we are facing all this." Sakshi calmed her down and released her clutch from Vicky's collar. "How many lives will you take? Go away!", Sheila screamed at him. Vicky ran away, sobbing uncontrollably.

(To be continued)

Mind Your Business - Part 12

There was a loud cry. It was Sheila. Everyone left what they were doing and rushed to see Sheila. Their mother had pulled Sheila's hair from behind. The pain was unbearable. She felt as if head would pop any moment. She tried hard to free herself but mother's grip was too strong. Shekhar tried to save his wife. He tried to coax her as well as free her fingers that gripped Sheila's hair. Strangely, he was unable to beat her strength.

Finally, Sakshi slapped mother hard. It was first time she had raised her hand on a elder and the elder was her mother. She felt guilty but she convinced herself that it was necessary for her to do so. She kept telling herself that she had slapped the demon and not her mother. Everyone were surprised. Mother slowly loosen the grip and fell unconscious. Shekhar tried to wake her up. But she was 

"How dare you slap your mother?", Shekhar growled. "I had to. I had free Sheila and mom from the demon.", she said meekly. He looked confused and said,"What do you mean?" "Mom is possessed by the demon", she cried. "How can you be sure?", he asked. She narrated everything that Vicky had told her. She also added her observations she had come across. "Why didn't you say anything, Vicky? Why did you keep quiet all this while?", he asked Vicky. 

Vicky looked down. He couldn't look at his brother. He was ashamed. He knew he had committed a sin. He still looked down as he spoke, "I was scared! I was scared that you would not believe me. I didn't how would you all react. Trust me, I wanted to inform you all but fear stopped me. I feel ashamed. I feel sinful." Shekhar took few steps and stopped close toward Vicky. He brushed his hair gently and said, "We are family. We would never leave you alone in any situation. You can count on us."

The day passed quickly. There was no horrific incidents. Mother had slept peacefully. She was normal after the last attack. She had breakfast and lunch as usual. Everyone was relieved. But this was just for a while. As the night arrived, everyone became alert. The kids were scared while the grown ups tried to console them , but they were scared themselves. After dinner, Shekhar decided to check on mother. Sheila initially tried to persuade him to let her join him . But he wanted to be alone with mother.  After  brief argument, she decided to let Shekhar to be with his mother alone. She was doing fine. She was sleeping. He sat on the chair next to her bed. The rest of the family stayed downstairs. Within minutes, everyone had slept where they had stayed.

 Suddenly Shekhar woke up to giggling of child. It seemed like the kid was playing chase game on the passage near the door. When he turned back, he saw a shadow running and giggling. He assumed it to be one of his kid. But it seemed strange to him that a kid would play at wee hours of the night. He got up to check. He followed the shadow until it stopped next to a wall. Later, it disappeared. Shekhar rubbed his eyes and smiled at the thought that he was dreaming. As he turned back towards the room, something pulled his hand towards the wall. He tried to look back and free himself. But he couldn't . He tried to scream. There was no voice inside. He stared helplessly with one of his hand outstretched into the air as he was slowly swallowed into the wall.

(To be continued)

Mind Your Business - Part 11

Their mother lost consciousness after she spoke. Shekhar sat next to his mother on the bed while Sheila rushed to get medicines and glass of water. Sakshi took the kids into their room and comforted them. Later she visited Vicky at his room. Everyone were confused. "What was happening"., they thought. 

They were deeply disturbed. Everything was normal till yesterday. With the house shaking, the TV flipping channels itself, the light flickering and then their mother acting weirdly, nothing made sense to them. There were too many questions to answer. Apart from this, they were very worried about the children. 

When Sakshi entered his room, everything was scattered. Vicky sat on his knees on the floor.  His face showed stains of tear droplets. Sakshi felt sorry. She had thought that bringing him home would change his mood. But it was making him more depressed. She gently touched his hand to let him know her presence. He looked up and said weakly, "I am sorry. It's all because of me."

Sakshi hugged him and consoled," Don't be too hard on yourself. What happened yesterday or today was not due to anyone. It was beyond our understanding." " No! I bought the miseries on our family. This demon... is causing all this.  This is not happening yesterday. It's happening since six months. It killed my friend and now it is torturing mother.", he cried.

"What are you saying? Have you gone mad?", she asked in bewildered tone. He looked at her with fear. He feared about what she would think of him. He feared whether she would believe him or consider him mad. He feared a innocent lie about the trip he had taken with his friends and hidden truth about the demon would break their relationship. But he couldn't stay quiet any longer. "Remember, I told you I was visiting Jog falls with friends. I lied to you. We had visited a small house in a village outskirt of city. It had a room that was haunted by dangerous demon as per the folklore. It was just for adventure and to see whether that folklore was truth or lie. It killed Ronny. Then it followed me to the city and tortured me. Now it's behind mother."

Sakshi listened intently. She was shocked. She slowly understood the illusions she had yesterday, weird behaviour of her brother and the reason behind why his room was always cold. She didn't know whether she should yell at Vicky for his carelessness or console him for bearing the torture of demon without letting his family know.  She hit him mercilessly on his back and then hugged him. They cried relentlessly.

(To be continued)

Mind Your Business - Part 10

Mother stared at her with intense hate.  Her eyes were wide open. Anger burst from her gaze. She would have ripped Sheila if Shekhar wouldn't have intervened. Sheila was scared. She couldn't understand what happened to her beloved mother in law whom she had served loyally. Shekhar held her hand before she could raise to hit Sheila.

She fell unconscious. Her head rested on Shekhar's chest while he guided her towards her room. Everyone followed him. They were concerned about mother's health. No one could come out of shock. Everything took place suddenly and fast for anyone to react. What happened in living room or why mother reacted strangely towards Sheila was beyond anyone's imagination except for Vicky. Vicky knew what was happening but still he kept quiet.

He had seen fury in mother's eyes. The anger within mother was not hers. It was demon inside her. He was guilty for making his mother suffer. He was guilty for not informing the others about it. He wanted to share it but he was tight lipped. He was scared about his family's reaction as well as their judgement about him. He didn't have courage to face the blame of being solely responsible for all the horrifying events . He didn't want to face the truth - he had bought the demon into the house.

As mother slept, other stayed awake.  No one could sleep due to what had happened. Any small movement of the door/ window or tiny cries of insects would scare everyone. Everyone stayed with mother. Next morning, everything turned normal. Last night episode did affect everyone but it couldn't dampen their spirits to start a new day.

They waited anticipatedly  for mother to open her eyes.  She opened her eyes widely. The eyes were filled with shock. It seemed like as if something hit her. Everyone asked her about her health. She didn't reply. No one asked her about yesterday. They didn't want to strain her. They were deeply affected. She didn't reply or nod. She lay on the bed like statue.

When Vicky gently rubbed her head, mother grabbed his other hand. She held it tight for him to withdraw himself from the grip. His heart thumped. He was confused. Everyone tried to help him out of her grip. But it was too tight. She turned her eyes towards him and spoke, "Don't you pretend to care about others or me. If you really love your family, why don't you tell them about me? Don't you feel guilty seeing your mother tortured like this?" Her voice was deep. The tone was half feminine and half manly.  She slowly loosen the grip on his hand.  He freed himself and ran as fast as he could towards his room. She laughed creepily after saying those words. Everyone looked at each other in confusion and shock.

(To be continued)