Haunted House

 In the outskirts of the small town of Birganj, Suman lived in a rented house. He recently came to live there after getting transferred from his hometown of Jalpaiguri. He worked in the Post Office of Birganj. Every Saturday he used to return his home in Jalpaiguri and again come back on the Monday morning to join his duty. He was about 25 years old and a Bachelor. So he had enough idle time to read stories, novels and watch movies in televisions. As he was a newcomer to the locality he had no friends, excepting two of his colleagues in his office he did not know well anybody there. So he sometimes used to walk alone in and around the locality. One day after office, he went out as usual and after walking around for half an hour he saw a tea stall near the Railway Station and felt thirsty.

The tea-stall was a big one and many people were enjoying the evening cup of tea and were talking to themselves loudly. He entered and took a seat in the last bench at the corner of the room and ordered two toast biscuits and a big cup of tea. Suman was very much fond of tea and used to drink more than 10-12 cups a day. While he was enjoying the tea, one man came and sat on the other end of same bench and ordered a bread-toast and a cup of tea. Suman noticed that, the man was busy with his mobile phone and was searching something in it. But after two-three minutes Suman finished his cup and stood up to go out. Suman called him to give place for going out and the man looked at his face and told—“You seem to be new here, I never saw you before here.” Suman replied,--“Yes you got it right, I am new here.” The man then continued, “ What do you do? And where do you live? You can come to my house if you get time, my house is near and we can have a good time by chatting together.”

But as Suman never feels at ease with the unknown persons, he didn’t show much interest and smilingly told him—“ Well it will be no problem for me as I also live here, so we can meet on another occasion.” The man smiled and told—“ That’s okay, but will you please give your phone number, if you don’t mind?” At this point Suman was a little reluctant and was in an uneasy situation because that man was completely unknown and moreover he himself was a newcomer here. But guessing his hesitance the man smiled and told—“Don’t worry, you need not to give your number now, if we meet again then it can be seen, good-bye.” At this gesture Suman became surprised and a little bit ashamed of himself. 

                 Anyway Suman returned his rented house and ordered his servant to make chicken-curry and sat on chair and pulled the story book of ‘Saradindu Bandyopadhyay’. An hour later his servant called him to come to the dinner table to have the dinner. While he was enjoying the dinner his servant asked him,--“Why were you late in returning from your walk today, did you go far?” Suman told him—“ No, I didn’t go far but I went to the big tea-stall near the station to have a cup of tea, but why are you asking this?” His servant Rahim, who was a nice behaved old man, told him—“No, I am asking you because it is not a good place to roam about late in the evening, and moreover you are new here.” At this, Suman smiled and said—“Don’t worry Rahim Chacha, I am not a little boy, I won’t lose my way, better you also eat and go to sleep.” But Suman noticed that Rahim Chacha was not satisfied with the answer but replied nothing and went back to kitchen.

                           For next fortnight his routine was very similar and became a regular customer gradually at the tea-stall. To be precise, the tea was delicious there and much better than that of Rahim Chacha’s. Rahim Chacha forbade him once more not to return late but he couldn’t tell him that the tea was much better there. In this way, days passed and he made a routine of going to that tea-stall and return late and Rahim Chacha also became habituated with that and didn’t say anything more. But one day while he was having his cup of tea, that man whom he met a few weeks earlier, entered the stall and sat beside him and ordered a cup of tea. But, by this time the young man became acquainted with the atmosphere and faces of that tea-stall and didn’t hesitate to greet that man and started talking about various topics. Suman came to know that, that man’s name was Rakesh Pakrashi and was about 65 years old. He also got acquainted with Suman’s name and profession. He invited Suman to visit his home where he lived alone with his servant. And one thing Suman discovered that they both had a common hobby of visiting the haunted houses. One day Suman visited on an evening to Mr Pakrashi’s house and Mr Pakrashi greeted him smilingly and guided him inside, where Suman found that the house was a desolate type with very few furniture and in an untidy condition. Mr Pakrashi asked his servant to bring tea for them. 

                         They were discussing some common features of this locality when his servant brought three plates of Singara and three cups of tea. Suman was surprised to see that and Mr Pakrashi noticed that and told—“You must be surprised to see three cups of tea, well my friend Umesh will come shortly, as he comes regularly to my house at this time.” He couldn’t finish his words when they heard a knocking at the door. A tall man entered the room. Mr Pakrashi introduced Suman with Mr Umesh Sanyal a retired bank manager. Suman found Mr Sanyal as a man of immense personality and sharp features. While they were discussing various topics, Suman did notice that although Mr Pakrashi was the owner of that house but it was Mr Sanyal whose decisions were full and final there. 

                         Anyway after a while Mr Sanyal raised the main topic of visiting the haunted house nearby on next week. Mr Sanyal also discussed about his various experiences about his visits to other haunted houses. Suman was completely engrossed with the topic, when suddenly they heard a knock at the door ajar of the room. Mr Pakrashi Answered, “Come in.” Suman saw the smiling face of Harihar the servant again with a tray of three cups of tea. Suman was very surprised and glad as well and asked Harihar,--“How could you understand that we need this right now?” Harihar didn’t say any word, only smiled but Mr Pakrashi told that—“He is very experienced in this house and can read our mind.” But surprisingly Mr Sanyal was not very mused and asked the servant to go and do his duty.

                          On the following day Mr Pakrashi called Suman over phone and told, “On the coming Saturday we are going to spend whole night in the haunted house.” Suman hesitated but agreed finally to that proposal and wanted to gather information regarding the haunted house. He raised the matter in the tea-stall and some men told that every year one or two murders were committed there. This information was baffling to Suman. Why murder had been committed there every year and why Mr Sanyal and Mr Pakrashi were very eager to spend whole night there? It was true that Suman also expressed his eagerness about visiting the haunted house but he never wanted to spend whole night there. He tried to defer the schedule by sometime citing some personal problems but both the men tried to instigate Suman by saying “Are you scared to spend a whole night there? Don’t worry we both will be with you, you won’t be alone there.” Thus, by saying this they laughed at him vociferously. 

              So, in this way, Suman was somewhat pressurised and mesmerised as well to become agreed half-inclined. On the weekdays Suman remained busy in the office in the days but every night he used to think how to avoid the schedule as he had an uneasy feeling about the whole night staying in the haunted house, but he couldn’t manage to refuse to go particularly in front of Mr Sanyal’s personality, apprehending that if they would call him a coward after expressing interest once.

                     At last came the much awaited Saturday, although Suman felt that the Saturday came too early. At about 10 A.M. Mr Pakrashi called Suman over telephone to be prepared at 8 P.M. as they would come to start their journey towards their destination. Then also Suman got a chance to tell them bluntly that he wouldn’t be able to go there but some strange inhibition prevented him to utter that. Then Suman thought that why he won’t be able to go, was he afraid? But again he thought that he once visited a rural burning ghat alone at midnight and kept a symbol of proof for his friends who crosschecked it the next day and admitted that he was the most courageous lad amongst them. By thinking that Suman gathered courage and was preparing for the night stay. He took a torch, a candle, a lighter and a little bottle of carbolic acid in case of snake attack. At just 8 P.M. Mr Pakrashi called him and he joined them with a bit of nervousness. After walking about 20 minutes, they reached that house. That house was in a desolate place. The gate was under lock and key and a high boundary wall was around the house. One thing made Suman more nervous was that, if something would happen a shout for help wouldn’t reach anybody’s ear. As the gate was under lock and key we couldn’t enter inside, but strangely Mr Sanyal simply twisted the lock and broke it down as if he was picking up a fruit from a tree.

Anyway they entered into the compound and again the door was found tightly shut. Suman tried to open the door by pushing it hard but he could do nothing, then Mr Sanyal came and pushed the door open. Suman became astonished as Mr Sanyal was not heavily built and moreover he was an aged man but still he possessed immense strength. Another thing Suman kept noticing that Sanyal never spoke with him tonight so far.

                     

    After entering inside, they found the rooms understandably were very stuffy and dusty. They chose one room and sat on the floor. Suman tried to light a candle but both of them vehemently deterred him to do that, citing the reason that any light and sound would spoil the chance of seeing or feeling the presence of spirit if any. So they remained silent in the pitch dark. But after about half an hour Suman became restless and asked Mr Pakrashi, “You told that, you came here earlier also; have you ever felt any presence of spirit here?” But nobody answered his question. Suman asked again, but the result was same. Then again he asked, “Are you here or not?” But still no sound came. Then he tried to light the torch, but suddenly two very powerful hands gagged his throat and Suman couldn’t make any sound. He tried to dislodge those hands with utmost power but in vain. The young man tried to kick the attacker but couldn’t strike. Gradually he began to suffocate. Suman’s hands and legs got numbed and he was sure about his death and was awaiting it. His eyes were getting closed but suddenly he could see a big flash of light but lost his consciousness completely. 

                      When Suman finally woke up, he saw he was lying in bed in his rented house. He saw Rahim Chacha was standing by his bed. The young man asked, “What happened to me? And how I came here?” Rahim Chacha told that, “Despite my repeated warnings you regularly came home late and fell prey to the disguised evil spirits of Mr Sanyal and his accomplice Mr Pakrashi.” Surprised by this, Suman kept asking questions one after another. “Then how did you save me?”Suman asked. Rahim Chacha answered, “I reached there with a fire-torch with which I burnt their body to finish them forever.” Suman again asked,” But, tell me, how could you know that I will fall prey to those evil spirits, Rahim Chacha?” Rahim Chacha replied smilingly, “We were friends and we all died in a car accident 10 years ago.” Listening this, Suman again fell unconscious.