Her Shattered Dreams (A thriller story)

Chapter 8

"No, I am not Raju!! my name is Jeeva” he yelled back. “NOOO!!!” screamed the voice “you are my Raju, born again to save me!!”. Jeeva looked at Siddharth. Gathering some courage Siddharth asked “fine, so be it. Why are you troubling him now? He is not your Raju anymore, he is Jeeva, and He belongs to someone else. The room went quiet for some time “I agree” echoed madhu’s voice “I am not going to trouble him in anyway… All I want is to get out of this place and annihilate the ones who prevented me from living a full life with Raju”.

“What do you expect me to do? Firstly.. what happened to you?” questioned Jeeva. “Throughout my life, I was always shamed of my colour, I loathed living my whole life with this skin. I was not happy at all... I was never treated different by my parents or siblings, but the comments making rounds in my community always made me sad and lonely that's when "YOU" my Raju came into my life as a blessing. Talking to Raju made me feel free… Wanted.... He was the first person to say to me that Colour doesn't make any difference, he told me that I was the most beautiful girl in this village.. that was what made me fall for him and the feelings were reciprocated… one day Raju proposed to me. I felt like the luckiest girl on earth, We would often sneak out to speak …. my brother noticed it and warned us. Caste and reputation was more important to him, so Raju and i eloped... I took all the money and jewels that my parents had saved for my wedding. I was filled with hopes and dreams of a future together. We lodged into this hotel. We were so happy, had a whole life ahead of us…. we planned to get married the next day.

Raju stepped out to buy mangal sutra for our wedding. We never thought what started out as a beautiful day would turn into a tragedy. It was an hour since Raju had left . someone rang the room bell, I opened it hoping to see the love of my life instead I saw 2 men standing, I asked them who they were, they pushed me hard on the floor, beat me senseless and tied me up. I was bleeding profusely…. they took all the money and jewels. I begged for them to let me go…. One of them took a pillow and smothered my face with it, I managed to push the pillow away and yelled at them that Raju will not spare them but what came out of their mouth next killed me instantly, they laughed out loud and said “ohhh you poor poor girl…”… one of them pulled out the mangal sutra from his pocket… “we have already killed him… he won’t be here to save you anytime soon”. I went numb.. I could only feel the tears running down my cheeks, they pressed the pillow against my face. I struggled to breathe, but I did not resist... living in a world without my Raju with me did not make sense anymore. My heart stopped beating and that minute my soul came out of my body, one of the two, who was apparently also an enchanter bound my soul here. I’ve spent 27 years bound in this room…restless…not knowing what to do..… With hopes of living at least the afterlife with my love. Jeeva and Siddharth were tongue tied at Madhu's story. “But I don't remember any of this. How are you so sure that I am your Raju?” questioned Jeeva.

“You may look different now, your face, smile everything has changed but your soul your heart belongs to me… the minute you came near this building I was elated!!”. “Let’s say We trust you, we agree your dreams were shattered but that's the past… what do you expect him to do now? He has a family to take care of?” asked Siddharth. “I agree, all I need is to do take vengeance on those who killed me ad raju for which I should be free from here” she replied. “but what can Jeeva be able to do? Questioned Siddharth. Before the ghost could reply Jeeva intervened “fine, if its gonna stop you from troubling me again… tell me how I can help you?” “Jeeva don't get yourself into deep shit” warned Siddharth. Jeeva ignored his friends pleas...

Madhu was happy “you should find the enchanter who killed me, only he can release me from here... one of the 2 guys owned this hotel” she said. Jeeva and siddharth were stunned. “Yes but he is dead and you have to find the other person” she said. “Fine, I promise I will do that for you…” said Jeeva and walked towards the door, “Raju I will be waiting for you” replied Madhu.

Siddharth and Jeeva walked to the reception, Jeeva banged the room key on the table. The hotelier glared at them. “How did your father die?” Asked Jeeva. Why does that matter you?” He replied. Don't you raise your voice at me… you’re the son of a murderer!! Roared Jeeva. Hotelier lunged forward and caught hold of Jeeva by his collar “how dare you!!” Jeeva pushed his hand away and said “I know everything, I can make out that you have nothing to do with this, but I am sure you know about this murder and your father's involvement in it.. so better tell me who the other person is and I will spare you.

Hotelier thought for a while.. he sighed “my father was sent to prison for this, he was punished and now he is no more”. We already aware of that… I want to know about the other person who was involved in this murder… who is he? Where can we find him? And what is he doing now? Asked Jeeva.