Take it easy…

Take it easy…

I never joined any such discussions that kept me haunting when alone. Whenever people began exchanging their experiences about something science is yet to prove, I swiftly moved out of their conversation. I never dropped any such comments which actually demonstrated my understanding about paranormal facts. I always wanted to be neutral.

One day, when I was busy completing a business presentation in my office, suddenly, the electricity went off. I called the security and asked them to start the generator. After a couple of minutes, I received a call from the office facility personnel that the generator had developed some technical issues and it would take another few hours to repair. That was the first time when I had to face such a situation. In no time, my anger up-surged for the facility department.

“Bloody idiots. All are inefficient in this department,” I murmured.

I was determined to complete the business presentation by the end of the day. On the very next day, I was supposed to present the same in the Head office, which was in Mumbai.

I could see my colleagues enjoying the free hours. My office was on the 10th floor. On the same floor, just outside my office premises, there was a small corridor where people used to spend their time fagging and gossiping. And I was surprised to see that their gossips had many important agenda starting from a movie’s critical appreciation to the business strategy of the organization. They also gave their verdict on the business strategy of the Senior Management or sometimes even criticized the Managing Director. Every day the people had some or the other topics to discuss. I always avoided their discussion since it had no importance in my eyes. But that day, my ear captured something which had not been discussed earlier in our office.

“After eighty-thirty, one can feel their presence…” Ankit said in his suppressed voice.

“I don’t believe it,” Sunita rejected outright.

“Okay, tell me why Shantanu  took a transfer from this office?”

“He had some problem.”

Ankit interrupted her and said, “Yeah, you know what problem? He had actually shared it only with me.”

“What?”

“One day when he was working in his work station, suddenly, all the chairs started moving towards him. He was dead scared. From that day on, he used to leave the office early and requested his transfer the very next day.” I could observe Sunita’s facial expression swing from normal to apprehensive. That day, I realized that she also believed in all these bullshit ghost stories. Her mouth was half-open, her eyes were wide and her looks were straight towards Ankit.

Ankit did not stop here but started sharing the sources of the evil spirits too and said, “Look at this building, completely deserted. At this prime area where people are ready to pay money in terms of lacs for getting a small space, this building is completely deserted… Why?

“Why?” Sunita asked innocently, following Ankit’s lead.

“Arre dumbo… all those evil spirits prevail in this building. They will never allow this place to flourish. I have also heard that even though the owner of this building is ready to sell it at half the price, he is not getting a buyer. Just imagine!”

The weather was also supporting his nonsense talk. The sky was full of tumultuous, dark and ragged clouds. It was a cold grey afternoon with a dull sky and threatening rain. The weather did not seem favorable for us. I took out a cigarette from the packet and lit it. While savoring its puff slowly, I kept my experienced ear to listen to their talks.

I had been coming to this office for the last six months but had never noticed this property, which was just adjacent to my office building. Perhaps for the first time, I was listening to their talks. If I would have been a part of their regular superfluous discussions, it was quite possible I would have heard all those things earlier. I also noticed that the giant property like this was completely unutilized, as stated by Ankit.

“What could be the reason?” the question popped up in my mind. No sooner had I thought much on this than I received a call from security. The electricity was resumed and I stepped back in to work.

I buried myself again in preparing the business presentation. My spell broke when Sunita informed me that our Boss wanted to discuss the presentation today, before presenting it in the meeting tomorrow. She informed me that we had a video conference with him. It had been scheduled at 7:30 PM but undesirably, we could not finish the work and the con-call had been rescheduled for 8:30 PM.

“Why do they make ‘women security’ policies when they themselves schedule appointments late in the evening?” She showed her dislike on the postponement of the meeting.

“What happened, why are you so irate?” I just asked to understand her concern.

“I asked my hubby to pick me from the office, but I dunno by when the con-call will get over.”

“Okay, don’t worry. If your husband is unable to come by the time we finish, I will drop you, fine?”

“Okay,” she smiled and replied enthusiastically.

By the time our con-call got over, all the employees left for the day. While we were approaching the main door of our office, we saw one employee from the operation’s team working at his workstation. That was the same place where Shantanu used to work. I moved towards him and asked, “By what time do you leave office? It is already ten-fifteen.”

“Sir, I generally leave before eight-thirty, but today I could not complete the work as there was no electricity for a long time. I have to scan all those documents and send to Mumbai today,” he said.

I did not know what came to my mind and I just asked, “Have you ever noticed anything abnormal around here?”

“Yes, Sir… so many times.”

No sooner had Sunita heard this than she came closer to me.

“What?”

“Just now three landline telephones started ringing simultaneously.”

“So what? It could be a coincidence.”

“Sir, our office timing is ten AM to five PM. The customers may even call at six or seven PM; usually, they too are aware of the office timing. I could understand one telephone ringing or if it is coincidence, in that case, maybe two… How come three phones started ringing together and then all the phones became silent together?”

“What’s the big deal in this? Nowadays most of the companies are offering 24X7 Service. The customers might have called to know something.”

“But Sir, if the query was so important for a person, only one must have called again.”

I found his reason rational. I could observe the changing facial expression of Sunita, again, as she was taking all this nonsense very seriously. I just ended my conversation abruptly and said, “Good night.”

“Good night, Sir.”

We were waiting for the lift. She had called her husband in between the con-call to update him about the time, but now, his mobile was not reachable, probably due to the extremely bad weather. She seemed restless.

“What happened? I asked.

“He left his office an hour ago. By now he should have reached here. I am not able to reach his number and my cell phone’s battery is also running out.”

“Why are you so tensed? Take it easy. I told you that I’ll drop you, so don’t worry.”

Most of the lights were off apart from a few that were still on so that one could reach the ground floor safely. Ominous black clouds covered the sky and released a heavy shower. Lightning and thunder raged with fury.

I was also feeling the chill in my spine. It was not easy to go down to the basement alone, where my car was parked. I wanted to ask Sunita to accompany me, but before I would have said something, she announced, “I’ll wait for you here.”

I did not have a choice but to go to the parking lot alone. Now my legs became heavy. My heart was thumping at double the rate. My eyes were sweeping the place thoroughly before getting down the basement, not sure what they were expecting to see. I was stepping towards my car very slowly so that if I found anything close to unnatural, I could rush to the ground floor.

Owing to the almost nil lighting, I could hardly see anything clearly. Suddenly, I saw there was some movement inside a car. I decided to rush back but the car’s door opened. A person wrapped in blankets jumped out of the car. I could barely see his face as he was wearing a monkey cap. I almost skipped my heartbeat but composed myself. I made my voice stronger and asked, “What were you doing in the car now?”

“Nothing, Sir Ji… I am a new caretaker of this building. I was feeling very cold in my room so I thought to take rest in the car, which is comparably a better place than my room.”

“Whose car is this? And how did you get the key?” “Bade Babu keeps the key with us. He is a very rich

person, he has so many cars.”

“Okay, okay. Go to your room, otherwise, I will complain to your Bade Babu,” I just interrupted his jabbering.

I exhaled a deep breath and moved quickly and confidently towards my car where there was no light at all. Although I had seen nothing, today I could very well announce that Ghosts and evil spirits exist. I was feeling very nervous. I did not know why, but it seemed that someone was following me. I switched on the flashlight of my mobile and followed the path. My body’s weight seemed no less than 200 Kgs. Finally, I reached my car. I opened the door quickly and sat in securely. I inserted the key in the ignition hole and twisted it. The moment my car’s headlight turned on, I would have had a cardiac arrest. A man was standing right in front of my car.

“Oh God, save me!” I prayed unconsciously. My entire body was shivering. I clasped the steering tightly. The klaxon of the car made me realize that my hands actually thumped on the horn.

“Sahab, this is Idris.” “Who?”

“Sahab, Idris… parking wala.” “What are you doing here?”

“Sir, I saw you were going to the basement alone. I thought you would find difficulty in identifying your car so I came down to help you.”

I thought that if this was his way of helping, I would never like to take help from him in my entire life. I had almost survived twice within a very short span of time. I drove my car to the ground floor. I signaled Sunita for getting into the car.

She was looking perplexed. She asked, “It took you almost fifteen minutes to come back!”

What would I have said that I was no different from her? I also got scared the same way as she was. I very beautifully replied, “There was no light in the basement area that’s why it took so much time. By the way… your husband did not reach? Where is he stuck?”

“I don’t know, his mobile is still not reachable,” she said and held her head down

“Why do you take so much tension? Look, I am enjoying my life, carefree… Now erase anxiety from your face and take it easy.”

The weather was still bad. Thunder was roaring and lightning was flashing across the sky. The howling of the wind was actually frightening both of us. A flash of forked lightning and a great clap of thunder came close upon each other.

She was still in a state of uneasiness and apprehension. Her gaze was down. She was barely looking at me. I was also scared, but after seeing her condition, I felt even more scared. There was an eerie silence in my car. To break this silence, I switched on FM radio. Coincidently, the most appropriate song was being aired, “Gumnam hai koi… badnaam hai koi… kis ko khabar… kaun hai vo… anjaan hai koi…” (It’s someone anonymous, it’s someone who’s infamous; No one knows who he is, it’s someone unknown) “Please reduce the volume, what kind of a song are they playing?” She murmured. But my ear caught her voice.

Suddenly a dirty prank conceived in my mind and I said, “You know Baisakhi, Na?”

“Who?”

“Arre baba, our Marketing Manager.” “Yeah.”

“Baisakhi and I were traveling last week. She shared with me something I did not believe.”

“What?”

“She had to sell her flat because she experienced so many things which our science has not proved yet.”

She looked at me and asked, “Like?”

“Like… she always noticed some long scratch mark on her husband’s back just below the shoulder – As if somebody had scratched him with big, sharp nails. But on asking him, he did not remember anything.”

She looked at me, pressed her lower lip and said in a scary tone, “What are you talking about?”

“Yes, but the strange part is that my wife also complains of the same scratch on my shoulder and back.” “Mohit! Please change the topic, I am feeling scared.” “Yes, it’s true…” and suddenly I made a face like a

C-category Hindi movie’s ghost had turned towards her and almost jumped on her shouting, “Hoooooooo!”

“Oh my God… Oh my God!” She just jumped on the seat. She was shouting like a kid. She was so scared that for a couple of seconds I believed that my face had actually turned into a ghost. I had to check my face in the looking glass to be sure everything was alright with me.

Once I was sure I wasn’t actually a ghost, I burst into raucous laughter and the same continued for a while.

“Oh God, what I did… Oh God!” I was just laughing and laughing. I did not have any words for her. I did not even realize when my entire fear evaporated. I was just laughing. But after a couple of seconds, I realized that I should not have played this kind of prank especially at that time when it was late evening, the weather was so bad and there were only a few vehicles were on the road. I calmed myself down. After that, she just held her head down, but I could realize the level of her fear. She was fidgeting with her clothes.

“Oye, don’t get so scared… Take it easy. I am Mohit and my face has also not changed… See?” And again I burst into laughter.

It was 10:58 on my watch and the rain had stopped. The cloud still seemed ominous. She looked at me and said, “Stop the car. My house is near this lane.”

I unlocked the door and she stepped out of my car, but surprisingly, she did not look back and entered the lane.

I did not like her gesture, but I could understand her sentiments. I started my car and took a left turn towards my house. I was just laughing freely on one of the scariest pranks I had ever played.

After driving a few kilometers I realized my insincere prank, which I should not have played with a woman like her who believed so much in all these things. While I was thinking of her suddenly, her number was flashing on my phone’s screen. I received the call, “Hello.”

“Mohit… I am sorry.”

“No, no, it’s okay. Actually, I should be sorry.” “No, it’s my mistake. I couldn’t inform you before

leaving the office as my mobile was switched off and my hubby had also reached our office on time. In fact, we waited for you for some time, but you did not turn up so I thought I would give you a call later on. Just now I put my mobile on charging and switched it on.”

“Oh, so now you started?” “What? I didn’t get it, Mohit.”

“No problem, your prank will not work this time.

Good night.”

I cut the phone abruptly, but my brain was ushering a new line of thought, which I did not want to step into anymore. Again, the same feeling came crept my mind which I was going through during the basement episode. A chilly sensation ran down my spine. That time I realized that I should not have played a prank on her. I was just squirming into the ocean of thoughts when suddenly, my eyes caught the fleeting glimpse of Sunita in the looking glass.

I could not muster the courage even to look back and see. My body became weightless. My brain went numb. My hands were frozen. The only thing which I remember after that is Sunita smiling sarcastically at me and saying, “Take it easy.”

After that, I don’t remember anything. When I came back to my senses, I found myself in the hospital. My family members were sitting around me. My wife put a tablet in my mouth as both my hands were plastered. There was a bandage even on my head. All my loved ones started throwing a volley of questions on the cause of my accident. I wanted to share the fact with them, but I knew that nobody would accept that. I decided to remain silent. I just said, “I really don’t remember anything. I don’t know how it happened.”

All of them had to leave as the visiting hours came to an end. My wife was looking at me with an expression, “You can hide the reality from everyone but not from me,” and I knew that.

I was so restless. I wanted to share the incident with someone who could understand me. Who could be a better person than my wife, but there was one problem. Since our marriage, I had been a strong man in front of her. How could I disclose the last night’s incident to her? I had a fear that this could shake my strong image in her eyes. While I was thinking about the incident, suddenly, the word “Hallucination” whizzed across my mind. And I seriously started thinking on that. Yes, it could be the hallucination under the spell of which I felt that I had seen Sunita in my car. I was dissecting the incident with different logics. And somewhat, I was convinced too.

Now, I was ready to share the feeling with her without any hesitation as I knew it was merely the outcome of my inner fear, which I had discovered in me on that day. I was waiting for her impatiently so that I could share the incident and get relieved with a burden, which irked for meeting a GHOST last night.

And as expected, she stepped in my cabin sharp at 4 PM by when the visiting hours started. In fact, I was just counting hours for her arrival impatiently. She was smiling at me. She came near me and perched on the chair kept near my bed.

“Now tell me, what happened that night… and don’t hide anything. You know I can smell the truth,” she said in her husky voice.

“I was just expecting this question. Don’t worry, I tell you everything,” I replied with pride. Anyway, that was all about the hallucination and my inner fear.

“Now, tell me…” she insisted.

“Do you believe in Ghosts or evil spirits?” I asked. “What?” She seemed puzzled.

“No, no. Just tell me. Do you believe or not?” I asked again.

“Yes,” she admitted.

“That’s the problem. We believe so much   in this irrational belief that sometimes we start seeing something which remains in our mind for a long time.” “Mohit, what are you talking about? I am not getting anything,” she blurted out.

“Okay, let me explain. On that day, when I was returning from office, I played a prank with Sunita. She got very scared out of it. Just to normalize her, I said so many things against the so-called ghosts and evil spirits so that she could come out from that shock. Actually, I was also scared after seeing her in shock so much,” I burst into laughter.

“Mohit, grow up, you are not a child. What would she think about you?”

“Nothing, Yaar. She knows me for a long time.” “Anyway, I did not like your act. First thing, making

her so scared and then again saying many things about them whose reality is unknown to you.”

“Whose reality? What are you talking about? C’mon, don’t take it so seriously.”

“I have heard ghosts and evil spirits exist. But one can believe only when one gets to experience them.”

I burst into laughter again, “Oh my loving wife, it’s your love for me which compels you to think like that.” And I leaned forward to hold her in my arms but my voice choked, my heart missed a heartbeat and my body started shivering when my hand ran between her body and I could not hold her in my arms. The scary chilling sensation ran down my spine. Her body was floating in the air. Her eyes were sparkling but looking at me. I was so scared at that point in time that my soul could have deceived me. I wanted to apologize to her. Suddenly, my room’s door opened and all my loved ones entered into the cabin with so much noise. I turned my look towards the door and saw my wife smiling at me. Their presence relieved me and I mustered the courage to look at her again, whoever, rather whatever she was.

Still, her gaze was fixed on me. I did not remember

when my folded hand raised towards her for an apology. She smiled and whispered, “Don’t worry, TAKE IT

EASY,” and her image faded away.