NO TRESPASSING!

Rahul, Akash, Punit & Mihir are childhood friends. They worked in different companies, but they all lived together in the same house as they were still unmarried. They worked all week and partied during the weekends. However, from past few months, all four were drowned in work and were waiting desperately for a good break. Finally, they all managed to take a week off, and they planned to go on a road trip. Rahul was supposed to meet his girlfriend's parents, so he promised his friends to join them one day later.

Akash, Punit & Mihir packed their bags, switched on their music in the car and drove off to their journey. They took breaks in between and had street food on the way, all day. They never had any specific plans. They just wanted to enjoy, and they did enjoy every bit of their time. By evening they were tired and wanted to check in to a hotel. But, as they had not made any prior bookings, it was difficult for them to find a place to stay for the night. The sky had turned dark, and still, they were unable to find a place to stay. The search made them more tired, hungry and thirsty. They ran out of food and water. They drove and crossed the city and entered the outskirts. There were neither street lights, nor a clear road. They struggled to drive through the path, and finally, the car gave up and broke down. They were so irritated but had no stamina to scream or yell in their situation. They decided to look for some help. They got out of the car and locked the doors. Switched on their torch and started walking ahead.

Punit noticed a light and smoke coming out of a chimney from a house, some distance away. He jumped out of happiness, and all ran towards the house. The nearer they went to the house, the smoke slightly vanished. By the time they reached that house, they could neither see any lights nor the smoke from the chimney. It was a single house built on a large area of land, surrounded by a barbed wire fence. There were no other houses nearby. However, this house looked abandoned but, there was a big board hung on the fence gate. Which read "NO TRESPASSING – ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK". They were creeped out and looked at each other. Mihir, insisted on checking with them for some help, as they don't have any other option right now. They rang the doorbell many times, but no one opened the door. By now, all were very hungry, and anger took over their senses. They decided to break in to take shelter. Akash, started banging the door heavily and with few more bangs the door opened.

All stood silent and waited for someone to come out. But no one came. Mihir took charge and entered the house. It was dark inside, soon he found the switches and switched them on. It was a very old building but was maintained very well. Punit was scared and requested others, ‘Guys, let's get out of here. This house looks so creepy, I don't want to stay here.'

‘Oh! Come on Punit. Where could we go now? We searched everywhere. It's peak time, and there are no rooms available in the city. I told you guys to book the room a month ago itself.' Said Akash.

‘Ya, we could have if we had any guarantee that our managers would allow us to take a break. Untill yesterday we were not even sure about this trip. So, let's not get into this fight. We can't go back now. We need a place to stay for a night. So, let's get comfortable here now and tomorrow, the first thing is to get the car ready.' Said Mihir.

‘But guys…. This house is so old and creepy. Think about it, no one lives here, but the house looks so clean and tidy. As if someone just cleaned it.' Punit raised his concern.

‘Could be that someone does take care of this house and right now he is not here. Maybe he'll come tomorrow morning. We'll apologise tomorrow. Don't worry. You think a lot.' Said Mihir with a wink.

‘Wow! Such a big house and they have many rooms. Guys, let's choose our rooms.' Said Akash, and everyone ran to each room to check.

Each one selected their rooms and went into the kitchen to find something to eat. They opened the fridge door and saw plenty of food. Happily, they served themselves the meal and walked towards the living room. Mihir had noticed the fireplace in the living hall, so he ran and took few wood pieces and placed it inside the fireplace and lit it. They sat comfortably near it and enjoyed their dinner.

After a few hours of chatting, they spoke to Rahul and updated the address and asked him to come over to this house and then together they could go to the next location. Punit and Akash moved to their rooms and plunged themselves onto their beds. But Mihir liked the house so much that he wanted to brag about his new adventure and tell his office friends about how they broke into someone's home and lived there for a night. So, he clicked many selfies wherever possible and sent all the pics to his office friends and later fell asleep on the couch in the living room.

Akash heard a noise from the kitchen so, he walked towards it to check. He slowly walked near the kitchen and saw a shadow. He said, ‘Punit! Is that you? What happened didn’t get sleep?’

But when he entered, he didn't find anyone inside. He was sure that he saw a shadow of someone. He felt someone's presence in the kitchen. He started shaking and stood silently unaware of what to do. There was an eerie silence, and soon, he heard a shrill voice coming from behind his ears which said, ‘Caught you'. He turned to see, but there was no one. He was dead scared and ran towards the door, but before he reached the door, it shut itself hard.

A few minutes later, Punit’s sleep was broken with the sound of Siri responding to a query. He woke up abruptly and looked at his phone. His phone’s light was on. He quickly grabbed his phone and saw there were a series of queries and responses from Siri. He looked around to see if his friends were playing a prank on him again. He looked under the bed, inside the cupboard & the bathroom, but no one was there. He was shaking with fear and couldn’t sleep anymore. He ran to Akash’s room and found him not on the bed. He was so scared to look for him and decided to wait until he comes back.

Mihir woke up hearing to a continuous beeping sound from his mobile. He understood that his friends had seen his pics. He picked up his phone and saw nearly 20 unread messages. Curiously he checked the messages and found everyone asking him the same question. "Who is standing behind you in your pics?" He quickly scrolled all his photographs and noticed a blurred image of a person in the background standing behind him in every single location of the pic. He was sure no one was around when he took those selfies. He also noticed a new pic in his album now, which was of him sleeping on the couch.

He jumped out of the couch and ran to Akash’s room. He saw Punit sitting in his room, and Akash was nowhere to be seen. Both discussed what happened to them and hugged each other and waited for Akash. Even after an hour when Akash didn't return they sensed something evil in this house. Their body turned cold and they couldn't feel their legs. After much convincing by Mihir, Punit agreed to go and check on Akash. They walked out of his room and saw a light in the kitchen. They walked slowly and went into the kitchen. But didn’t find him there. The lights went off, and they screamed and ran to the living room. The lights went on and off continuously. They begged for whoever was doing this to stop and show some mercy on them. Soon, they heard a voice coming from their back, ‘This is my house, and I don't spare any trespassers.’ Immediately, both were dragged forcefully inside one of the rooms, and the door was shut hard.

The next day evening, Rahul arrived and crossed the barbed wire fence and rang the doorbell. The door opened, and as soon as he entered the house, his friends welcomed him and took him inside.

‘Hey Guys, I was trying to reach you all since morning. What happened to your phones?’ Asked Rahul worriedly.

‘Network issues!!' Replied Punit making faces.

‘Wow! What a house. Whose is it anyways. How did you guys find it? Did you guys meet the owner?’ Asked Rahul curiously.

Mihir replied, ‘The owner was angry initially, but now he has permitted us to stay here and take care of this house. To keep this house clean and not to allow any trespassers.'

Rahul sat in the living room along with his friends. They talked for a while and offered him some food. After a while, Rahul wanted to use the washroom, and they showed him the way. Rahul felt something strange about his friends. Something, that they are hiding from him. He knew them from childhood. He felt something different about them. He entered the washroom and saw his friend's bodies piled up in a pool of blood. His sweat rolled down from his forehead, and his body turned cold. He took a deep breath and ran towards the main door and opened it.

Mihir asked with a sinister smile, ‘What happened? Going... somewhere?'

Rahul looked at him in fear, and his voice dropped.

Akash looked at Rahul and said, ‘Don’t you remember, we all promised to live together and die together.’

Soon the door was shut hard.