Ghosts

                              

         Trina was working in a school in Kalimpong. When her mother had expired, she did not want to stay in the same house, or the same city. Everything in the house reminded her of her mother, and it was like a gnawing pain. She had seen an advertisement in the papers, and she had applied. That is why she was now in Kalimpong, away from her beloved city and away from home.

        Winter had descended pretty early that year. Though it was just six o’clock in the evening, it seemed it was very late, as darkness had enveloped the city. After school, she had to take two children for tuitions .This held her up. She went past the Mall where the shopkeepers would be busy selling woolen blankets, shawls, and monkey caps. She loved watching them doing their brisk business, and sometimes she bought a few knick knacks for herself as she went past.

        What she dreaded was trudging up the incline of the tarred road, stretching up like a python, with nothing to disturb its somnolent, languid repose. On both sides of the road were towering pine trees, intercepted by a few bushy thickets. The wild daisies, though miniature in size, raised their heads, not to be left out in importance. But this was the stretch which infused fear in Trina, as she plodded up, tired, after the whole day at school.

        She was nervous, not without reason. She had heard umpteen frightful stories of the happenings on that pathway. They had been related in such a way that one could not doubt the veracity of what was told. In colonial times the troops had been camping in Kampong and one could go to the graveyard adjacent to the road, not very far from it. The story ran that at night the soldiers were seen tugging their coffins and marching up the slope. They were luminescent, with their skeletons showing through the transparent bodies. They marched up in solemn procession and disappeared into the darkness. There were other stories of hearing women sobbing, the shriek of terrorized children, and the whimpering of babies. Every time Trina went up the hill, her heart palpitated with fear, and she felt, if she had the energy to cover the expanse by a swift jog, she could be spared of at least a few of the agonizing moments. But people said that if one had a steel object on one’s person, the spirits would not be able to harm the individual. So she would arm herself with the keys in her hand. She would also recite a few prayers so that the unholy spirits would not be able to come near her.

        It was the fourth of October. She still remembered the date. She was going home alone. There were hardly any people on the road, being already quite chilly. She wrapped her shawl more tightly to avoid the cold air causing her to tremble, or perhaps she was trembling because she was nervous! She had hardly taken a few steps, when she heard the sound of something slithering past on the dried up leaves which were strewn all over, under the thickets. She gripped her keys tighter. It must have an innocuous snake, frightened like her, on hearing her foot-steps, hurrying for some cover. Steeling herself against all the weird sounds emanating from the forest, she proceeded further, though every bone of her body was chattering like her teeth.

But all of a sudden she thought somebody just two feet away, quickly vanished behind a massive boulder. Was there some evil character watching her, as she was climbing up, to snare her into submission? The hair on her body stood up at right angles with panic. She clenched her fist to give that character a resounding biff! Her body became taut with expectation for the worse, as she staggered up with all her adrenal working. With great trepidation she crossed the boulder, but nothing happened. She said a prayer to God and thanked Him. She thought to herself that it must have been her imagination. Mustering up more courage, she ventured forward. But what was that! It was no imagination. She did hear somebody sobbing. She tried to calm her nerves by telling herself that it might have been some night birds in the woods! With her legs feeling like buckling, she went on, for surely she had to reach her house at the top of the hill, some-how! All of a sudden, there was a blood-curdling shriek from the heart of the jungle. Was anybody torturing a little child, for it to have let out a yell like that?! Perhaps it was the sound made by the jackals.

Trina was drenched in perspiration. No, she had to carry on! But now there was no mistaking. As she stepped forward, somebody behind her, did like-wise. When she stopped, the foot-steps stopped too. This went on throughout the span of her climb. She turned round many times to see if there was anyone, but no one came into view. Did a spirit from the other world want to frighten her, or was it trying to communicate to her some unfulfilled desires, which had to be completed? She had reached the height of endurance which a human body could take. Her vision became blurred; then there was a complete blackout. She must have collapsed in a dead heap!

        The next she saw that she was in her bedroom, covered cozily in a blanket, lying in her bed. Her friend and fiancé Souvik was there looking at her with a mischievous smile. He was rattling away something which at that time was not completely lucid for her comprehension. “You are like a little child Trina, to believe in all the ghost stories. There is no such thing as a ghost, only figment of one’s imagination. Just because you had told me you were scared to climb the incline, because of the chance of the entities of the other world, materializing, I followed you at a safe distance, to be by your side if necessary, and to prove to you that ghosts don’t interfere in the affairs of human beings, and have no interest in frightening them in anyway.” Trina, much relieved, put her arms around Souvik, and rested her head on his shoulders, and said, “Thanks for being there for me like a pillar of strength. After today I suppose I will be cured of being so fainthearted.”