Room No. 13

On a new moon night, a car was zooming on the highway road enclosed by mountains on both sides. A newly married couple enthralled with each other, moving towards their honeymoon destination, Resort ‘Paradise’ in Simla.

It was very late and their resort was still an hour away. Akshat was trying to reach as soon as possible that's why he kept on pressing the accelerator. Suddenly, the car jerked and halted. 

Riya, who must have dozed off opened her eyes a little startled. She saw her husband trying to restart the car's engine but to no avail.

 "What happen Akshat?". "I am not sure Riya, let me go and check it out" he replied and he got out of the car. He was puzzled to see everything perfect but the car still refused to buzz.

"What do we do now? This place looks so deserted, it’s very dark and I am scared". Let out Riya. 

“Hey! I'm with you. Don't be afraid. Let's walk a little and see if we can get some help” Akshat tried to reassure her. 

They spotted a building. “That's a motel. We can stay here tonight and get the car mended in the morning", suggested Akshat.

They walked to the lodge. "This building looks too old... You sure it's safe to stay here?" doubted Riya. "Do we have any choices? Looks like this is the only place we can get shelter for the night.” Akshat pronounced, despite sensing the eeriness himself. 

They went to the reception and asked for a room.

Room no. 13 was allocated to them, they got into the room, though the motel was an old building, the room looked decent.

Soon both settled comfortably and ordered dinner. “I'm famished,” said Akshat. 

They ate while watching television. Later they sat on the balcony but it was too dark to see anything beyond the lodge’s premises. 

Akshat embraced Riya from behind. As she tried to get herself freed, he tightened his grip and scooped her in his arms. 

Akshat carried Riya to the bed. 

As they were getting intimate, Akshat heard a whisper, as if someone walked past him whispering something in his ear. 

He could not make out the words. As he got stiffened, Riya opened her eyes and asked, “what happened Akki?”

“What did you whisper?”

She giggled, “you made me moan.” 

“What did you hear? I hope your ex is not haunting you,” she said dramatically.

“You need punishment for saying this” Akshat mumbled as he tightened his grip and kissed her hard. 

Akshat woke up to some sounds. 

He checked the time. It was 3 am. 

Riya was sleeping soundly. His gaze settled on the face of his wife of a few days, “my innocent beautiful darling.” 

He again heard that voice. It was clear this time. He heard a whisper " Shambhu! come and release me."

The sound was coming from just outside the window. He tried to look around. 

With the sound of the rustling of leaves, he heard a whisper once again "I have been waiting for too long.” he shrugged his shoulder, and again tried to sleep but kept on tossing and turning but couldn't sleep. 

 As the dawn broke, he called the reception to remind them to get the car mechanic. 

Riya noticed that Akshat was stressed. She asked him the reason but he didn't divulge thinking, why trouble her when he too is not sure about anything?

“It's nothing baby. It's just about the car,” he said.

They had breakfast while the mechanic repaired their car. 

At the time of making payments, Akshat casually asked the hotel manager whether he knows about some mysterious sounds in the room they stayed in?

He denied but Akshat sensed something suspicious from his looks. 

He asked the room boy, who had come to help them move their luggage to check out.

He told the story. “Saab, last year one couple stayed in this room and the husband was murdered by the wife.”

“How do you know?” Akshat prompted him to disclose more. 

“Saab, police came and did the investigation. The wife was never found. Police said, she murdered her husband and escaped with his money. She could not be found and they closed the case. They were tourists Saab, just like you. They stayed in the same room you stayed in. The room was closed for some time and recently opened for use.” 

Akshat shrugged his shoulder and left. He looked for his car keys and remembered to have left them on the reception counter. 

“I'm just coming in a minute,” he said to Riya and sprinted towards the counter to get his keys. 

It's when he heard the manager talking over the phone, “one of the guests again heard her voice. Get rid of her body else she will keep troubling.” 

A bolt of lightning went down his spine. He froze at his place.

“Akshat! Akshat!!” screamed Riya. 

“Yes!” replied Akshat trying to regain his composure. 

Riya came looking for him when he didn’t return for some time. She found him standing below the window of the manager’s room. 

His face was looking ashen.

“What happened Akki?” asked concerned Riya.

Promptly Akshat clasped the keys from the reception.

“Come, let’s leave.” He didn't want to imperil Riya’s safety so he decided to not reveal anything to her. 

Once inside the car Akshat fiddled with his car keys for a few moments and couldn’t keep the secret anymore. He shared everything with Riya. 

“We can find more information in the local newspaper. Let’s leave this place and collect information first. Then you should call your friend, Mohit.” proposed Riya.

“Ya! His father is police commissioner, he can help.” Akshat felt relaxed.

They reached and checked-in in their resort.

Immediately they started collecting the information. They searched on the internet and also looked for the local newspapers in the archives. 

This place wasn’t much away from that motel and fell in the same district. Soon, They found a small story about that incident in the archives.

What they could comprehend from different news articles was something like this-

‘A newly wedded guy, Shambhu was murdered by his wife on their honeymoon. She was identified as Roshni. Police assumed she fled with his money. Police suspect that another person must have helped her with the murder. She is at large and the police are still looking for her.’ 

Akshat was petrified reading the name. 

That female voice was calling for ‘Shambhu’. 

Something wasn’t just right.

He called Mohit and narrated the whole story and sent the links and photos of the newspapers to him.

Mohit promised to talk to his father and revert as soon as possible.

About two hours later Mr Singh, Mohit’s father called Akshat.

He shared; ‘something was amiss in the scene. That girl Roshni never reached her home or contacted anyone from the family. His team had contacted her family at the village Amarpur, MP, over the phone. The family denied any possibility of Roshni being the murderer. They said, both of them wanted to get married and both families agreed. Her family had filed a missing report but the police seemed to be getting some resistance to finding the right information from the local area.

“I think, she is also murdered and her body is still there.” Akshat shared what he overheard.

Taking the lead, Mr Singh, sent a team to that area. 

Soon the manager was cross-examined and he accepted his part in the crime. 

Roshni’s skeleton was exhumed from the motel’s backyard.

What the manager shared gave goosebumps to everyone.

‘On that fateful night, the couple decided to take a hiatus at this motel as Roshni was feeling sick. After checking in, Shambhu left the room in search of a chemist shop to buy some medicines. The manager guided him to find the medical shop. 

When he was away, the motel owner’s son and his two drunk friends barged into the room. They noticed the couple when they were checking in. though the manager of the lodge tried to stop them, he threatened him. They raped Roshni and when they were just about to leave, Shambhu returned. He tried to get hold of them. This is when one of them took out the gun and shot Shambhu. 

As Roshni saw everything, and she could recognize them, they strangulated and buried her in the backyard of the motel, a relatively deserted place. Later, they fabricated this whole story. 

They threw away Roshni’s belongings and took away the couple’s valuables.

When police arrived, the dead body of Shambhu was found in the room and Roshni was absconded as per the statement given by them. Later, they influenced the police to close the case.’

“This place is small and the owner of this place is an influential person. To save his only son he created this story with the help of the police. If I would have stood against them, they would have killed me as well, sir.” The frightened manager shared what he knew.

“I have worked really hard to grow this place. Now everything is ruined. It seemed that the soul of Roshni was still in the room waiting for the justice.” 

The manager repented. 

It was morning, and both Akshat and Riya got ready to leave for their home. 

 “I’m sorry honey, I ruined our honeymoon.” Said Akshat pulling Riya close to him.

Hey! It's ok, everything has a purpose in life. I’m glad we could do something for the poor souls. At least they are together in their afterlife.